Great Minds Think Alike

Ryan, genius behind “O” No, Another Orioles Blog, and I, obviously have one major commonality. We are both gifted writers. Our genius aside, we also share a love of our Orioles. I have always enjoyed trading with Oriole collectors more than others because I know my Birds will be finding a good home. It also means that I will likely have a few cards they need and vice versa.

That was definitely the case here. But Ryan got to the vintage party before me and he has been busy snatching up lots of O’s. I was quite happy to take 28 pre-1970 Birds and 31 post-1970 Birds off his hands. I broke them down to pre and post ‘70 because at the moment I am only pursuing the former.

My thought process:
The older cards will only become rarer with time and increase in value, making it a more costly venture. I want to try and get them earlier and decrease my expenses. Newer cards will go through a similar change but not as exaggerated in my mind. Then when I have a good grasp on the oldies, move forward in time. I will not however break into the 1980’s. I want this part of my collection to remain “classic” and in my mind the only thing classic in the 80’s was Cal Ripken’s rookie cards (got ‘em).

So without further adieu, my pre-1970 Vintage Orioles haul from Ryan.








Each year when Heritage arrives on shelves, collectors and bloggers debate the merit of the design and how horrible/awesome the originals are. I think every set pre-1970 is awesome. It’s because of the era, the level of play on the field and the history. Technology was a long way off to make these cards “pretty” or “cutting edge”. I think they did a hell of a job with film, presses and artist renderings, while lacking computers, graphic designers and digital formats.

My vintage Orioles hat off to the pioneers of the hobby I love so much.