Tuesday, December 9, 2014

1969 Orioles Yearbook




At the card show on Saturday I made one non-card purchase...an Orioles yearbook form 1969 that cost me $5. The thing was absolutely pristine, too. So nice in fact that it immediately took the place of this one in my publications bookcase. I wanted to make a post of it but I simply couldn't bring myself to flatten it out on my scanner so I scanned a few pages from my original and here they are.

The Orioles were a 91 win team in 1968 and finished second to the Tigers but were never actually in contention. Earl Weaver, who had a nice feature in the yearbook, took over a team in July that was six games over .500 and 10.5 games out and saw them go 48-34 but actually lose ground to Detroit. But better things were on their way in '69.

Too bad the yearbook isn't as memorable as the '69 Birds club it profiles. It's pretty run-of-the-mill as far as yearbooks go. The Weaver profile....


Coaches get a glimpse, and there was a similar page on the front office crew.....


Players got a write-up and a few pics each. I didn't scan it but Brooks and Frank Robinson were 'combined' in one profile page.


The standard roster page.....


This color photo formed the centerfold and was perforated for easy removal.


The books ends with the obligatory 'wives, special days and fun photo' section....



Even the ads were mundane. Luckily for a publications collector like me the Orioles would venture out into more ambitious yearbooks in the years to come.

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