Who is the man: The Baltimore Orioles were the defending World Series champions entering the 1971 season. They defeated the Cincinnati Reds in five games in the 1970 World Series.
Can ya dig it: Three pitchers on the 1970 Orioles won at least 20 games, Mike Cuellar (24), Dave McNally (24) and Jim Palmer (20).
Right on: Among the players I can spot in this team photo are Mark Belanger (top row, 2nd from left), Jim Palmer (top row, 3rd from left), Frank Robinson (top row, 4th from left), Boog Powell (top row, second from right), Paul Blair (top row, far right), Andy Etchebarren (middle row, far left), Merv Rettenmund (middle row, 6th from left), Don Buford (bottom row, far left) and a young-looking Davey Johnson (bottom row, far right).
You see this cat Weaver is a bad mother: Orioles manager Earl Weaver is dead-center on the bottom row.
Shut your mouth: I cannot find Brooks Robinson in this photo. He's No. 5. He was kind of a big deal in 1970-71.
No one understands him but his woman: The man in the jacket with the gray hair is longtime Orioles trainer, the late Ralph Salvon. Salvon seemed to show up on every televised Orioles game that I saw as a kid in the '70s and '80s. Therefore, he was one of the few trainers that I was aware of back then.
(A word about the back): It doesn't seem right to lump records by George Sisler in with the Orioles.
Is that Mike Cuellar two over to the right from Frank Robinson in the top row?
ReplyDeletenice. Good timing too... I just acquired the OPC version of this card for my set a couple of days ago.
ReplyDeleteCould be Cuellar. That guy is wearing a 3 on his uniform and Cuellar wore No. 35. It's hard to tell as his face is blurry.
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ReplyDeleteThat is very odd that Brooks Robinson is not in that photo. Perhaps an investigation is in order.
ReplyDeleteVery nice start.
ReplyDeleteGreat start, and a nice design touch, putting the post title in all lower case letters, just like player names on the cards.
ReplyDeleteThe card forgot to include the 1901 Milwaukee Brewers; the original location of the franchise.
ReplyDeleteThis card reminds me that most my childhood was under Baltimore Oriole dominance of the rest of the AL...Now its been a long time since a winning record.
Nice start to the new blog. I am excited to see the cards as outside of the Giants and a few of the star cards, I haven't seen many from this set.
ReplyDeleteI was born in 1971 and this is a set I hope to put together in the near future.
Yay, glad to see this the '71 blog up and running. Happy New Year!
ReplyDeleteI think #1 should always go to the WS champs. For purposes of honor for 29 teams...and just to get them out of the way if it's the Yankees.
ReplyDeleteWho is the guy standing behind Weaver's right shoulder, man, he's about 6-8 inches taller than everyone else in that row!
ReplyDeleteI think it's starting pitcher Dick Hall, who wore No. 29 in 1970 and is 6-foot-6.
ReplyDeleteWow - you learn something new every day. Today I learned that the Orioles started out as the Brewers not the Browns.
ReplyDeleteOne other thing I'd note - I bet in 1971, it did make sense to include Browns records with Orioles. It had been less than 2 decades since the switch.
I wonder - do the Ravens include older Cleveland Browns records? I hope so, only because it would make Cleveland fans uncomfortable. I always root for discomfort of Cleveland fans.
I think as part of the approval-to-move-to-Baltimore process, Browns' owner Art Modell was prohibited from keeping the name "Browns" and all the previous Cleveland Browns records.
ReplyDeleteThe current Cleveland Browns consider the "old" Browns' records as part of THEIR franchise, even though in actuality, THEY were the new team, not the Ravens.
(I also didn't know the Browns were the Milwaukee Brewers in 1901 until this blog post.)