Upon the transfer of the moribund St. Louis Browns on September 30, 1953, Baltimore returned to the American League over a half century after the Orioles of 1901–02 departed for New York City, where they eventually became the Yankees.
[1] During most of its 51 seasons without a major-league team, Baltimore was represented in Organized Baseball by a top-level minor-league club, the Orioles of the International League.
For the American League franchise itself, its first season in Maryland actually was the 54th in its history: the team was originally founded as the Milwaukee Brewers in 1901, then transferred to Missouri as the Browns, who played from 1902 to 1953.
Inheriting the playing personnel of the 1953 Browns, the 1954 Orioles finished seventh in the eight-team American League with a record of 54 wins and 100 losses, 57 games behind the AL champion Cleveland Indians.
The team was managed by Jimmy Dykes, and played its home games at Baltimore's Memorial Stadium, where it attracted 1,060,910 fans, fifth in the Junior Circuit but a massive 257 percent improvement over the 1953 Browns' totals.