1906 Baltimore Orioles

1906 Baltimore Orioles

http://www.baseball-reference.com/register/team.cgi?id=c385b8a3

PLAYER OF THE DAY - John McGraw

PLAYER OF THE DAY - John McGraw

http://www.baseball-reference.com/managers/mcgrajo01.shtml

Cumberland Colts

Cumberland Colts - year unknown. If you have further information, please share and contact the website below.

http://www.blueridgeleague.org/pictures.asp

1902 St. Louis Browns

1902 St. Louis Browns

http://www.baseball-reference.com/teams/SLB/1902.shtml

PLAYER OF THE DAY - "Sockless" Buster Keaton.

"Sockless" Buster Keaton. Not an Oriole, but awesome. Colorized by Ken Mars

PLAYER OF THE DAY - Frank Kitson

PLAYER OF THE DAY - Frank Kitson

http://www.baseball-reference.com/players/k/kitsofr01.shtml

1913 St. Mary's Industrial School calendar.

1913 St. Mary's Industrial School calendar.

Babe Ruth circa 1902

Babe Ruth circa 1902 just after he entered St. Mary's Industrial School.

1914 Federal League Baltimore Terrapins

1914 Federal League Baltimore Terrapins signed ball

1920 St. Mary's County baseball team

1920 St. Mary's County baseball team

1891 Johns Hopkins University baseball

1891 Johns Hopkins University baseball club on Homewood campus.

PLAYER OF THE DAY - Gene DeMontreville

Gene DeMontreville

http://www.baseball-reference.com/players/d/demonge01.shtml

1894 Baltimore Orioles

http://www.baseball-reference.com/teams/BLN/1894.shtml

Fun with nicknames!

Fun with nicknames! Generate your own "19th Century Orioles nickname!"

 http://rumandmonkey.com/widgets/toys/namegen/14660/#.VqqpqfkrKUn

1946 Roy Campanella (HOF) scouting report

1946 Roy Campanella (HOF) scouting report to the Dodgers on Larry Doby (HOF) and Joe Black (ROY '52). 
"Dear Mr. Finch, 
                   Everything is fine with me. I truly hope its the same with you. Concerning Doby, he can hit, run and throw very good. Hits with a lot of power, but needs to learn how to pull. I've seen him hit home-run in Ruppert Stadium, Newark also Shibe Park, Philadelphia. He has a nice personality, good habits and is intelligent. At present I am watching a right hand pitcher of the Elite Giants. His name is Joe Black, 22 years old, attends Morgan College in Baltimore, Md. He spent three years in service pitching for Tommy Bridges [sic] team and was the only negro on the team. He has an exceptionally good fast ball, good change, good curve ball. Very good disposition. He's very apt to catch on. I will send you a report later on this week about him. Also, I will be too [sic] you the beginning of next week.                                                                Respectfully yours, Roy Campanella 
                                                                - P. S. The home-runs Doby hit were in the left-field seats." 

Found on the Robert Edwards Auction site. This really blew my mind when I saw this. Campy was one of the greatest catchers ever. If anybody could spot a good player, it'd be him! Doby and Black were a heck of nice a pair to pick. The Elite Giants were PACKED with talent back then.

PLAYER OF THE DAY - Frank Foreman

Frank Foreman "The Pride of Hampden" (May 1, 1863 – November 19, 1957) Baltimore Orioles 1885, 1889, 1892, 1901-1902

http://www.baseball-reference.com/players/f/foremfr01.shtml

PLAYER OF THE DAY - Lefty Grove

1921 Lefty Grove

http://www.baseball-reference.com/register/player.cgi?id=grove-002rob

1887 - John McGraw at 14 years old

1887 - John McGraw at 14 years old in Truxton, NY in front of the hotel he lived in after he left home. Three years earlier his mother and three siblings died from diphtheria. The family was split up when John's father became inconsolable and dove to the bottom of a liquor bottle. Earliest known photo of McGraw. (tintype reprinted in the Elmira Telegram 1910)

1878 - Baltimore Police capture a "Ghost"

May 5, 1878 - Baltimore Police capture a "Ghost" who turns out to be Andrew Lint running around rooftops in his underwear supposedly trying to catch a ghost himself. From The Sun.

1754 - The first reference to cricket being played in Maryland.

1754 - The first reference to cricket being played in Maryland.

“Last Week a Cricket Match was play’d in Mr. Murdock’s old field in Prince George’s County, between Eleven of that county, and Eleven South River Gentlemen (from Anne Arundel County) and that the Prince Georgians were Beat.”
                                                      -Maryland Gazette, November 14, 1754

1945 Baltimore Orioles schedule

1945 Baltimore Orioles schedule at Memorial Stadium.

1871 - The Wharton Trial. Van Ness Poisoned!

Sensationally scandalous events shocked Baltimoreans in June 1871 when former Pastimes Base Ball Club player Eugene Van Ness was poisoned! The incident lead to the investigation of Elizabeth Wharton, the landlord of another poisoning victim a few days before, retired U.S. Army General William Scott Ketchum. Van Ness worked as Elizabeth Wharton’s accountant at Alex Brown & Son and had gone to visit the ailing Ketchum, who was also a client, at Wharton’s boarding house. After sharing a glass of beer with Wharton and a few of her friends, Van Ness became violently ill and was unable to leave. One of the guests noticed a white substance in the glass that was later identified as Tartar Emetic, a toxic poison. Elizabeth Wharton was called into suspicion immediately as the recent mysterious deaths of her husband, and both a daughter and son, had never been satisfactorily explained. Eugene Van Ness eventually recuperated, but the much older General Ketchum died on June 28th causing a fervent uproar from a community who howled for immediate justice. 

The investigation dragged on for weeks as forensic evidence was thin as rumors and hearsay circled through the press. Elizabeth Wharton was finally charged on July 12th, the day before she was booked to leave on a ship bound for Europe. Ketchum’s body was autopsied and after a thorough analysis, a lethal dose of poison was discovered in his system. The defense argued that Ketchum died of natural causes and that the case was purely circumstantial, while the prosecution sought to prove that he had owed Elizabeth Wharton money as the motive for murder. The prosecution presented conflicting supporting medical evidence, which the defense was able to refute, and after a long deliberation, the sympathetic jury found Mrs. Wharton... Not Guilty!