In 2004 the Orioles, mired in losing following a huge drop off from the peak in 1997 that had built through the 90’s, signed big free agents Miguel Tejada and Javy Lopez.  A uniform change to go along with this commitment to winning ways took place.  A return to winning (beyond a strong period at the end of ‘04 and the beginning of ‘05) did not.

But anyway, as redundant as it may sound by now, no major changes took place, but the little details took a swing. The caps, as it were, stayed unchanged.  Orange brims at home, black on the road.  Indeed the road uniforms incurred no fundamental changes at all.

The big change came with the home uniforms, where the placket piping was removed and the script was once again changed from black on orange to orange on black.  Likewise for the number and name on the back of the uniform.  Everything else remained the same, the arm piping, the typeface.  The uniforms were nothing if not simple.  The ’04 jersey featured a 50 year anniversary patch, but all other patches were gone (despite the database showing otherwise).

2005 brought a bit of change, introducing the alternate O’s cap, to be worn in conjunction with the black alternate on Friday night home games.  In 2006 the O’s wore black “44” stitched in their left sleeves as a tribute to the late Elrod Hendricks.  2007 was so bad I barely remember it happening.  Eventually, 2008 featured a black band around the sleeve for the late Jim McKay, but beyond that there were no changes in the main uniforms.

The only other bit of significant news of the time was the batting practice jerseys, batting practice hats, and the entrance of the Cool Base jersey, made from a double knit mesh polyester with thin panels under the arms.  Yes, it took to the first decade of the 2000’s to address that players may get a bit warm.  The O’s BP jerseys reintroduced the orange top look lost when they were changed to black in the 90’s.

Neither the alt jerseys, alt hats, or BP jerseys, BP hats, or memorials are chronicled on the database, making this all the more important.

And so that brings us to the present.  The recently released uniforms show a number of interesting features.  For one thing the tri-color piping from the early nineties is back, only instead of elastic at the end of the sleeves, it goes around just above the cuff.  It is back on the pants as well, and just a bit thinner than it once was.  A “Baltimore” word mark is on the right sleeve, and on the left is a circular Baltimore Orioles design, similar to a former logo, but with the Maryland flag inside of it.

The most significant change was the return of the Baltimore script on the road jerseys which had been absent and requested for so long.  The roadies also feature a few switcharoos, with an Orioles word mark on the right sleeve and Orioles Baseball written in the circle.  Additionally a black road BP jersey with Baltimore on the front has been introduced.

The bird changed again, however mildly, to be kind of a hybrid of the two different birds of the 90’s, and the old swinging cartoon bird has been placed on the sleeve of the dugout jackets.  Finally, the black brimmed hat has been retired.

So there’s a basic overview of the whole thing.  There’s holes to be sure, many tiny changes and imperfections occurred, so it’s really tough to track them all down unless someone has a clear recollection or photo of the event.  I invite anyone who knows stuff I missed to point it out.

I find the most interesting aspect to be the way the same basic designs, with only a few tweaks, persisted and were repeated and used again.  For my money, the perfect combo would be the home uniforms from ’95-’03 coupled with the new road uniforms, and in a fantasy world I’d have a few tweaks of my own.

But really, from the classic to the contemporary, from the ugly to the beautiful, uniforms are pretty awesome.

One final time:

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