The original cartoon bird — or “smiling bird” — came into the world at the very moment the Orioles were emerging as a powerhouse franchise. Baltimore won its first World Series title the season it was introduced, 1966. After that came Fall Classic wins in 1970 and 1983, along with American League pennants in 1969, 1971 and 1979.
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The logo was created by Hollywood animation studio Quartet Films, under the direction of animator Stan Walsh. While Walsh is often given credit as the artist responsible for this bird, the work was actually done by Paul Carlson, who was art-directed by Walsh.
In 1965, Jerold Hoffberger, who also owned Baltimore’s National Brewing Company, acquired a controlling interest in the Orioles. He brought over National Brewing advertising executive Frank Cashen to help promote the team. Cashen, later the architect of World Series winners with Baltimore and the Mets, addressed the topic in his book “Winning in Both Leagues”:
Quartet Films had previously created animated characters such as Tony the Tiger and the Jolly Green Giant, as well as the Hamm’s Beer bear.
In 1957, while working at Disney, animator/illustrator Carlson created 7 Up spokes-bird Fresh-Up Freddie. The connection between Freddie and the Orioles’ cartoon bird is uncanny:
By the late 1980s, the smiling bird had fallen out of favor. The 1988 season was the worst in Orioles history — the team began the year 0-21 and finished with 107 losses. Outfielder Fred Lynn was quoted as saying the team’s uniforms were ugly and that the caps were “the worst.”
“Look at that goofy bird on it,” Lynn said. “There’s nothing menacing about that bird.”
The cartoon bird was thus demoted, an outdated symbol of another era. Over the next 23 seasons, the Orioles posted a record of 1,714-1,941 while wearing realistic-looking orioles on their caps. It doesn’t take a marketing wizard to know what would happen next.
The smiling bird was restored in 2012, a close relative of the original one, though not an identical twin. The news was met with a generally positive response. Fans, after all, love a winner, and the fact is that the series of “ornithologically correct” bird logos that the team utilized from 1989-2011 evoked nothing but a sense of longing for better times.
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An MLB industry insider who was involved in the change recently told me “fans loved the cartoon bird, that’s always been true. And as the team started to see a potential upswing in young talent, the desire grew to make sure the success of these teams had a better connection to the successful teams of the franchise’s history. The cartoon bird was that visual connection.”
In 2012, the Orioles finished with a winning record for the first time since 1997 and made the playoffs. Nothing succeeds like success. A half-century after its debut, the smiling bird is once again associated with a winning franchise, a beloved symbol for a whole new generation of fans.
