I’m going to assume your question is directed towards me, since I’ve provided the data for these sets to be added to the database. I wish there was a simple answer to your questions, but some background on Orioles postcards is needed to better understand the sets. One of my collecting passions is team issued items from the Orioles. I apologize in advance for the long post.
Orioles Alumni postcards were printed with only one purpose in mind, to provide players something to autograph for fans at select events, instead of ticket stubs, scraps of paper, etc. In 2006, Bill Stetka, Director of the Orioles Alumni, started inviting retired players back to sign autographs for fans before select games during the season. These became popular and have continued to the present. Usually, during home games on Monday and Thursday, 3-4 former players would be available to fans for about an hour before the game to sign autographs. Many times, these players lived local to Baltimore and the schedule of players appearing was last minute. Fans could bring their own items to be signed, but most people just got the postcards signed. Certain players, like Al Bumbry, appeared over and over through the years, because it was convenient. I’m sure it was easier to just keep the format the same, rather than a new design each year. The only major change occurred in 2014, when player bios and stats were added to the backs of the cards.
The Orioles have always printed their postcards on an as needed basis. Because some players appeared more often than others, a lot of the cards were reprinted from one year to the next. At times, new batches would have a different photo on the front or back, creating some variations.
To answer your questions, the only way to determine which year is which is from the combined knowledge of those of us that have faithfully collected them since 2006. Much like TCDB, these checklists have been crowd sourced. The crowd is just much smaller. Collectors attending the games would report back if any of the postcards they received had changes or if new players were signing. Often, the response was same old guys, Bumbry, Sheets and Tippy Martinez, nothing new. Ed Allan. from the Baltimore area, would compile the checklists each year, for the group. My main reason for adding them to TCDB is that we are all getting older and unless the checklists are documented the information will be lost when we are gone.
The closest baseball card set that I can relate the alumni cards to are the Topps Living sets. They are listed by year, but the format hasn’t changed. The Living set is designed to be a continuation, but I don’t believe the alumni cards are designed to be a continuous set, just an inexpensive way to provide fans an item to get signed. Orioles postcard collectors, at least in my circles, organize them by year. For example, TCDB has two sets listed in 2016 (Orioles Photocards and Orioles Alumni Photocards). I personally don’t consider them two sets, but do see the rationale for separating them.
I was going to post something about all the Orioles postcard sets, once I completed getting the checklists loaded into TCDB, but this is as good a time as any.
The Orioles have been printing postcards each year since 1954, with the exception of 2021. The main purpose of them has always been for players to have a cheap way to respond to fan mail or events sponsored by the Orioles. Unlike baseball cards, they are intended to be autographed.
The sets can be separated into several eras. We have always referred to them as Orioles team issued postcards, regardless of the format. From 1954-56, they were RPPC with a standard postcard style back. From 1957-1980, the postcards were blank backed. They were B&W until 1970. From 1970 to 1980, they are color. There are a couple spans of years, that even the veteran collectors group together (1957-1959 and 1967-1969 are examples).
From 1981-1991, the Orioles went back to mostly postcard style backs. I wish the Orioles, had followed the Phillies example by putting a date on the back of their cards, but they didn’t. Many postcards, during this time, used the same photo from year to year, making it confusing to identify years. Starting in 1987, the Orioles also included some blank back cards into the mix. I have no explanation why, except maybe these were last minute additions for call ups or new players and there wasn’t time to format them the same. The problem is that Orioles collectors consider these all one set. However, TCDB definitions of postcards and photocards, wants to consider these separate sets. They are not and in fact uncut sheets have multiple style backs printed on the same sheets. There are a couple of examples on eBay. They aren’t the best examples, but clearing show profile style backs and postcard style backs printed on the same sheet. I’m hoping that TCDB will reconsider and keep these cards together, with notes explaining them. For example, the 1990 sets listed as Orioles Photocards and 1990 Orioles Postcards are all part of the same set. I believe it’s more confusing to separate them.
From 1992 to present, the Orioles have for the most part printed action shots with profile style backs. Some sets until around 2003, are again a mixture of styles. I’m not sure why or how the decision was made within the Orioles. New graphic software in the 2000’s has pretty much eliminated that issue, as I assume it was easier to format late additions. While there have been a few format changes, generally no mixture of styles.
When I joined the site, a few Orioles postcard sets were listed, but the images and checklists contained many errors. I’ve tried very hard to slowly get, as accurate as possible, checklists from 1954 to now added to the site. Until about 25 years ago, no organized checklists for the Orioles postcards really existed. Ed Allan took information from some of the long time collectors, including Dan Even, Bob Thing, Wayne Johnson and others, and organized the sets by year. Many of those old timers had kept great records of the postcards they received from the team each year. A lot of those guys are no longer with us and thanks to Ed their knowledge wasn’t lost. Ed continued to update the checklists, with the help of others, each year until recently. We’ve continued to catalog sets each year as fellow collectors receive current cards. These checklists are considered the bible to Orioles postcard collectors.
Most of the images loaded into TCDB are from my collection. I have about 98% of the cards issued by the Orioles. Unfortunately, many of them have been autographed. Admin gave me permission to load those images, so at least collectors would have an image to compare to. I would encourage anyone, with postcards without autographs, to upload new images where possible. But please, be extremely careful to make sure the image you’re uploading is indeed the same postcard. Many, many of the postcards look very similar. I’m more than happy to help with questions.
I hope this gives, those interested in these sets, a better understanding of their history.
