Orioles Picture Pack Photos

My ongoing re-organization efforts have led to me coming across stuff that has been 'buried' in boxes and binders. I found a stack of  50 or so of these Orioles 50s/60s Picture Pack photos. KeyMan Collectibles' website has a nice summary of the origins of these. They were sold at ballparks and through the mail in 'packs' of 12 to 25. Most were produced by Jay Publishing. KeyMan notes they originated in the 40s but I see some online that look to be from the 1930s.

I bought sets at Manny's Baseball Land souvenir store across River Avenue from Yankee Stadium. Manny's was the 'walk-up eBay' of the day. They sold everything! Others came from Memorial Stadium concession stands or through the mail from the team. Some of the ones I'm posting originated from my purchases back then. Others I've bought through the years. All mine (and all the others as far as I know) are 5x7 pics on semi-gloss paper. Some of the Orioles shots were taken by the team's 'official' photo guy, Mort Tadder.

I thought I had one of the original team-issued envelopes but that might have fallen victim to earlier 'purges'. I came across a few pictures online of other teams photo packs:

I'll kick off with a nice early 60s Brooks Robinson picture.

I wasn't surprised that I discovered several of Brooks in my stack but I was at having three Jackie Brandt pictures. He had a nice run with the Orioles from 1960 thru 1965. He was indirectly part of the deal that brought Frank Robinson to the O's. He traded to the Phillies for Jack Baldschun who was part of the package the Birds sent to the Reds three days later. These next two photos look to be from 1962 or so.

This third Brant show him in their highly under-appreciated 1963 home uniform. Brandt played third base for the Astros in the first game I watched in the Astrodome in the summer of 1967.

Next is Tall Paul Richards. I've seen this photo a time or two (or 12). For one thing, it was used on his 1960 Topps managers card.

Hoyt Wilhelm threw his knuckleball in Baltimore from '58 thru '61 which helps me date some of these things.

Robin Roberts won 42 games for the Birds in the early 60s and few folks even remember him being there. I saw him beat the Yankees at Yankee Stadium but I'm not sure what year it was.

The sets contained many similar photos from one year to the next. Check out these two Chuck Estrada photos. Same Memorial Stadium shot with different cropping. I have multiple examples of this same thing.

Jim Gentile...my uncle loved this guy. Said he was 'a man's man'. Whatever that meant. I guess it meant he could hit the hell out of the ball.

Notice anything odd about this next one of Luis Aparicio?

Yup, pinstripes! Ack! And you can see a part of the interlocking S-O-X logo on his shirt. The photo the only Orioles one I've seen that has been altered to reflect a team change. But Jay Publishing (or whoever was responsible) did a really nice job of changing his cap.

Wes Stock was a pretty handy reliever. He was more or less a set-up guy before they called them that. Back then they went a couple of innings.

Gus Triandos was the big bat in the Orioles lineup during their early years in Baltimore. Like Brandt and Roberts, he ended his career with the Astros. Jim Gentile popped up in Houston, too. That was all Paul Richards doing as he became the team's GM.

Steve Barber had a brief run as the O's ace before Jim Palmer claimed that job.

I have quite a few photos that date from 1956/57 or so. Dick Williams is one. He had several stints in Baltimore as a player but that cap dates the shot from 1956ish.

George Kell finished his Hall of Fame career in Charm City in 56/57.

Back to the early 60s for a Ron Hansen picture. Love that sleeve patch Bird!

And we'll end this bunch with a 1963 shot of Brooks Robinson.

Tucked into the stack was this other Brooks Robinson photo. It was slightly smaller than the Picture Pack photos and on different, thinner matte paper. It's also clearly a Mort Tadder photo. He was the Baltimore area photographer whose work is easy to spot by Orioles fans. The pics he took, including hundreds of team-issued postcards, were everywhere.

I have no idea where it came from but the photo and font used are identical to the glossy Brooks photos the team sold back in the 70s and 80s. I'm guessing someone just copied and reproduced it for whatever reasons.

Orioles Black and White signed photos (pt 2)

Here are the rest of the Orioles photos I began posting on Thursday. First up is a nice Mark Belanger pic. He died way too young but given that he's the only player I ever saw smoking on the field (pregame in Arlington) I'm not surprised. If you need a drag while you are waiting your turn at BP you probably have a strong addiction.

This Brooks photo is very well known. I've seen it all over the place on Oriole publications, 8x10s, etc. I was curious about the 'CH' designation on Brooks' picture. I found a note on Brooks' SABR page that he took Billy Hunter's place on the coaching staff when Hunter took the Texas Rangers' managerial job in late June of '77. He had only six plate appearances from that point until the end of the season. I'm sure at one point I was aware that he served on the O's staff but I sure don't recall that now.

Cal Ripken Sr. in another pose I've seen. One hot day in Arlington my friend and I entered the Stadium when the gates opened. With nobody else around we spotted Cal Sr. sitting by himself, sprawled out on a couple of box seats near the Orioles dugout. We went over and struck up a conversation and he was very pleasant. I also recall that he was smoking.

My scanner cut off Dave Skaggs' name at the bottom of this shot. It was printed very lighty on a shiny white background so my scanner likely decided it was a 2014 Topps card and sliced off the border like it does on those. 

Ross Grimsley.... such pretty hair. ;-(

I saw Scott McGregor take a tough 2-1 loss to the Phillies in Game One of the '83 World Series. While I'd been to playoff games in Baltimore that was my first Series game there. I remember that I really considered driving up to Philly for the games there but I had to be back in Houston for work. McGregor got his revenge with a win in the fifth and clinching Series game up there.

Elliott Maddox. The O's traded Paul Blair to the Yankees for him. No reflection on Maddox but that was a terrible day. Terrible. Blair didn't do much more for the Yanks than Maddox did for the O's but it killed my soul to see Blair in pinstripes.

Orioles Black and White signed photos (pt 1)

A week or so ago I posted some Orioles snapshots that I had buried in my collection. A couple of odd sketch cards as well.

At the same time I uncovered them from deep in a binder of Orioles postcards I found these signed photos. The pages contained 15 black and white shots of Oriole players all approximately 3 and 3/4 by almost 5 inches.  The photos are all mini versions of the Mort Tadder 8x10s that the Orioles used in all kinds of ways and sold through the mail back in the day.

But many of the poses are new to me. I guess the years I picked up Tadder photos didn't include 1977 which seems to be the year these were issued. And that brings up another question for me. What the hell are these, exactly? I've never seen the Tadder shots in this size. Yet they don't seem to be photocopies, they are very clear and are on high quality photo paper, just like my 8 x 10s.

They don't seem to be anything done by a pro, though. They are terribly trimmed, the image size varies by a quarter inch here, a half inch there, and the text used for the names is all over the map. And I doubt they were something the team issued to players for autograph requests, they used high quality color postcards for that. I have some of those, posted one not long ago in fact. Those b&w postcards are on different stock, not like the slick photo paper used here, and they are cut perfectly, just as a team item would be. These are not postcards. I don't remember how I picked them up. Probably in one lot though, and probably from an SCD or BHN ad.

I've established them to be from 1977 based on the fact that Elliot Maddox only spent that season in Baltimore and the Brooks Robinson shot has him listed as 3B/Coach(!). 1977 was his final season and I have never seen him referred to in that way when he was a regular starter for the O's.

But no matter, I have them, they are signed and as I've said, I really enjoy having off the wall Orioles items. And these qualify. I'll post half today, the rest tomorrow. Leading off, at the top, is Dennis Martinez, aka El Presidente. I used to attend O's games in Baltimore with my ex-uncle Ralph and he got the biggest kick out of that nickname. He enjoyed repeating it with a flourish whenever Martinez got a big out. I'll always remember that.

Next is a creepy looking Rick Dempsey. Something about that 'stache and those sideburns just make me uneasy.

The rest are pretty standard Mort Tadder shots. Some are poses I haven't seen like this Mike Flanagan picture and the Billy Smith shot at the bottom.

I've seen these poses of Jim Frey, Earl Weaver and Lee May before. The Frey picture is a good example of how poorly cut these can be.

I'd love to get the lowdown of these someday but I guess it'll remain a 5 Tool mystery.

More posted tomorrow Saturday.

1974 Memorial Stadium Giveaway

The Orioles loved to publish stuff like this back in the late 60s and into the mid 70s. There were all sorts of over-sized team pictures, commemorative publications, etc. This is a four pager given out in 1974 to mark the 20th anniversary of the first home game in franchise history. 

It features pictures from Mort Tadder, box score of that first game (a 3-1 O's win!!) and short blurbs about some of the players, coaches and staff of the '54 team. The team photo takes up the back.

I have several item in this vein, mostly over-sized team photos and promotional items. I used to buy any paper Orioles related item I could find. 

Mort Tadder Photos

Mort Tadder was the Orioles' team photographer from 1961 through 2003 when he retired at 74. During those years he shot thousands of pictures of Oriole players, stars and otherwise. 

I can't remember how I got my first Tadder 8x10 B&W Oriole portrait. I can tell you that I bought many through the years from the team and from memorabilia dealers through the mail back when I was an active collector. The Orioles would send a list of available prints if you sent a letter asking for info on mail order souvenirs. I have a couple of hundred most of which are from the early/mid 60's through about 1980.  

I kept the in binders in roughly chronological order. They make a nice timeline of the Oriole roster and uniform styles. Most, but not all, have the "Tadder" word-mark in a corner of the print. Most, but not all, have the player's name below their portrait. The typography of the printed name changed through the years.

Mort Tadder did much more than just these portraits. As the 'official' team photog he shot the team's yearly picture, game action and more. I have quite a few of his other work, particularly his team photos, but the portraits are what I collected the most. He also shot the Colts while they were in Baltimore and was acclaimed for his shots of the Beatles during their Baltimore stop on the 1964 tour. He also worked with visiting clubs.

Mort's son Tim Tadder has inherited his fathers knack for photography and has a business in Southern California. He does sports photography and much more.

Some of his other pictures including an iconic Baltimore moment: