Baltimore Orioles fans cheer after left fielder Matt Joyce #20 of the Tampa Bay Rays couldn't catch a ball hit by Manny Machado #13 of the Baltimore Orioles (not pictured) that drove in the winning run during the fourteenth inning of the Orioles 3-2 win at Oriole Park at Camden Yards on September 13, 2012 in Baltimore, Maryland.
St. Louis to Baltimore, 1953 / Relo Rating: 7
When your rival is a hugely popular team in a middling-sized city (and when the competition owns the stadium in which you play) what choice do you have other than relocation? Answer: None! Solution: Find a city with an embryonic penchant for teams nicknamed the “Browns” (see above) and head east! That’s how it played out for this ball club, which was rechristened the Orioles when they hauled trailer nearly five decades ago. Result: Intense fan support and impressive on-field success, including multiple Hall of Fame players and World Series titles, not to mention the pioneering idea for the now-ubiquitious “retro” ballpark trend in MLB.