Baltimore Orioles

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The Baltimore Orioles are an American professional baseball team based in Baltimore, Maryland. As one of the American League's eight charter teams in 1901, this particular franchise spent its first year as a major league club in Milwaukee, Wisconsin, as the Milwaukee Brewers (not related to the second current Brewers franchise there) before moving to St. Louis, Missouri, to become the St. Louis Browns. After 52 often-beleaguered years in St. Louis, the franchise was purchased in November 1953 by a syndicate of Baltimore business and civic interests led by attorney/civic activist Clarence Miles and Mayor Thomas D'Alesandro Jr. The team's current majority owner is lawyer Peter Angelos.

The Orioles adopted their team name in honor of the official state bird of Maryland; it had also been used by several previous major and minor league baseball clubs in Baltimore, including another AL charter member franchise also named the "Baltimore Orioles," which moved north in 1903 to eventually become the New York Yankees. Nicknames for the team include the "O's" and the "Birds".

The Orioles experienced their greatest success from 1966 to 1983, when they made six World Series appearances, winning three of them (1966, 1970, 1983). This era of the club featured several future Hall of Famers who would later be inducted representing the Orioles, such as third baseman Brooks Robinson, outfielder Frank Robinson, starting pitcher Jim Palmer, first baseman Eddie Murray, shortstop Cal Ripken Jr., and manager Earl Weaver. The Orioles have won a total of nine division championships (1969–1971, 1973–1974, 1979, 1983, 1997, 2014), six pennants (1966, 1969–1971, 1979, 1983), and three wild card berths (1996, 2012, 2016). Since moving to Baltimore in 1954, the franchise has a win-loss record of 5252-5066 (with a winning "percentage" of .509) as of the end of the 2018 season.

After suffering a stretch of 14 straight losing seasons from 1998 to 2011, the team qualified for the postseason three times under manager Buck Showalter and general manager Dan Duquette, including a division title and advancement to the American League Championship Series for the first time in 17 years in 2014. However, the 2018 team finished with a franchise-worst record of 47–115, prompting the team to move on from Showalter and Duquette following the season's conclusion. The Orioles' current manager is Brandon Hyde, while Mike Elias serves as general manager and executive vice president.

The Orioles are also well known for their influential ballpark, Oriole Park at Camden Yards, which opened in 1992 in downtown Baltimore.