Orioles Retrospective: August 27th, 1951

Yep, if you're familiar with Oriole's history, you'll realize that 1951 is three years before the Orioles actually moved to Baltimore from St Louis. But what makes the date relevant is that it was the first time that new St Louis Browns owner Bill Veeck (he bought the team in 1951) had to formally deny that he was actually planning to move the team to Baltimore, from it's current location in St Louis. That was essentially a lie, of course; part of Veeck's downfall as the Browns' owner was a failed attempt to move the Browns to Baltimore prior to the 1953 season.

According to information pieced together from the Baseball Almanac and this article, Veeck originally bought the team (which was terrible at the time) from Bill and Charlie DeWitt, with the intention of stealing market-share from the St Louis Cardinals and driving them out of town... it didn't happen. Instead, after causing a significant level of commotion with his "antics" (e.g. Eddie Gaedel, strange promotions, the failed to move the team to Baltimore), the other owners blocked his attempts to move the team, and essentially forced Veeck to sell out. A year later, the team moved to Baltimore anyway.

The following was taken from the August 27th, 1951 edition of the Baltimore Sun newspaper; it was written by Jesse Linthicum: