Baltimore Orioles (minor league)

The minor league Baltimore Orioles was a baseball team based in Baltimore, Maryland from 1903-1914. The 1914 season featured the professional debut of local son Babe Ruth, but competition from the Baltimore Terrapins of the Federal League forced owner Jack Dunn to sell Ruth and many of his other players, and relocate the team to Virginia. Dunn returned to Baltimore in 1916, and created a new team that lasted until 1953. In that year, the major league St. Louis Browns moved to Baltimore and became the Orioles themselves. The second minor league team relocated to Virginia, much as its predecessor did.

Baltimore Orioles in "The House That George Built"
Minor league baseball player George Ruth started his career with the Baltimore Orioles in 1914. Shortly after his debut, plans for a new Federal League team in Baltimore panicked Orioles owner Jack Dunn, who, fearing the possible new competition, considered selling various players, Ruth among them. However plans for a Federal League expansion into Baltimore fell through, and Dunn decided not to sell Ruth's contract. Ruth remained part of the Orioles until the mid-1920s, when Dunn sold him to the Philadelphia Phillies.

Ruth lamented that his youth had been wasted with the minor league Orioles.