The Baltimore Sun is reporting that the Orioles are filing paper work with Major League Baseball to replace the word “Orioles” on their away jerseys with the word “Baltimore”. The Orioles have not had their city name on their road uniforms since 1972. Orioles fans have been clamoring for the word “Baltimore” to be returned for almost four decades, and it looks like we will finally get our wish. The change will take effect next season.

The tradition is for the home jerseys to have the mascot name on the front while the road uniforms have the name of their city or state (or in the case of the Rays, a nearby body of water).1 Most teams follow this convention. A few — such as Baltimore and Milwaukee — do not. I like the tradition because it maintains the connection between the team and its geographical location. Baseball, more than any other sport, has always been a place where you root, root, root for your home team. Increased mobility and cable TV have changed this to a certain extent, and you will always have people who cheer for whichever team is winning regardless of whether or not they have any connection to that city.2 But true fans root for their home team whether they are winning or losing.

I became a Baltimore Orioles fan in 1995 when I moved to Baltimore to do my doctorate at the Johns Hopkins University. I had been a baseball fan all my life, but I had never lived in a city or state with a major league team. They became my home team and will remain so for the rest of my life. I have rooted for them in good times (the mid-1990s with Ripken, Palmeiro, Alomar, Anderson, Mussina, and Wells) and through the bad times (the decade of losing seasons they have had since 1998). I still have to stifle the urge to yell “O” when singing the National Anthem at stadiums other than Camden Yards. I teach my kids baseball the Ripken way (fundamentals, fundamentals, fundamentals). And please don’t mention the name Jeffrey Maier around me.

Although I live in Massachusetts, I have not joined the giant bandwagon that is Red Sox Nation. For me, it is a matter of faith.3 I don’t understand carpetbaggers who change their team affiliation whenever they move to a new town.  Cheering for a winning team means little if you haven’t also been with them during the down times. If I can wait 2000 years for the return of Jesus Christ, surely I can wait a few years for the return of a winning team in Baltimore.


  1. The Tampa Bay Rays have the distinction of being the only team in MLB that is not named after a city or state. The team plays in Tampa, which is situated on the banks of Tampa Bay. [back]
  2. Evidence of this can be seen in the large number of Yankees fans who were not born in or around New York City. [back]
  3. Chicago Cubs fans know what I am talking about. [back]
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