Orioles Salute Maryland With Special Uniforms

The Baltimore Orioles showed off their Maryland-pride last night by wearing uniforms clad with the unique pattern seen on the state’s flags and other symbols.

Available for auction after the game, the uniforms incorporated the Maryland design onto the visor of the Orioles caps, as well as within the “Orioles” scripted wordmark across the front of the jersey, in the player numbers, and names.

Adopted by the state officially in 1904, Maryland’s flag contains the family crests of two important families from Maryland’s establishment, the Crossland and Calverts. Like most North American regions in the 17th Century, Maryland was founded as a colony of England by Cecil Calvert, the son of the first Lord Baltimore. The Crossland family crest is also incorporated as a salute to the family of Lord Baltimore’s mother.

It’s the second year now that the Orioles have dedicated a day to wearing uniforms for the state of Maryland, in 2017 they wore the same cap but the jerseys were white instead of black.

For several years the team was reluctant to even include “Baltimore” on their uniforms for fears of alienating their fanbase outside of Maryland, such as in the Washington, D.C. and Virginia areas; but since baseball has returned to D.C. the Orioles have brought “Baltimore” back to their road uniform as well as the addition of a Maryland state inspired patch worn on the sleeve of all their jersey designs.