Brooks Robby Queensgate mystery lid

For the past six days we have been presenting checklists, pictures, etc., of heretofore uncataloged or undercataloged Baltimore Orioles regional baseball cards of the 1950s-1970s.

The initial data was shared by Maine collector Alan Strout, who is veteran O's team-specialist.

Today we close this series with a mystery item from Strout's collection.

The pictured item is a plastic lid. It measures 8" in diameter and 1/8" thick. The name "QUEENSGATE" appears at the top. The player name appears below the posterized picture. At right, the item has been authentically autographed.

"I don't know anything about it," Strout said, "but I believe it's probably late 1960s or early 1970s. I thought it was really neat."

Readers who have any information about this plastic lid are encouraged to contact either Strout or me. My email is, in coded form, scbcguy(at sign)yahoo(dot)com . 

Based on some time poking around the internet, I'm going to hazard a guess as to this item's origin.

I'm guessing this item is more recent than Alan's estimate. I'd say 1980s or 1990s. While there are enterprises named Queensgate all over the country, I think this has its origins in York, Pa., where there is a Queensgate shopping mall and where in the 1990s there was a Queensgate Cinemas theater complex.

York is less than an hour north of Baltimore. Robinson has significant baseball ties to York. He began his pro ball career in York in 1955, hitting .331 for the York White Roses, a Class B (Piedmont League) farm club of the Orioles.

Since 2006, Robinson has been part of the ownership of the York Revolution, of the independent Atlantic League.

I speculate that the plastic lid originated from the Queensgate theater in York. It may well have been the top of a really large soft drink or slushy drink, or a small bucket of popcorn sold at the concession stand. 

Again, this is just my wild-ass guess. If you have more definitive information, or even your own speculation, please share.

If you wish to contact Strout about the Orioles regionals you'll see in this series or exchange information about other O's issues, you can email him. I'm going to give his email address here in "coded" form so the robo-scanners don't add it to their spam lists. You can reach Alan Strout of Maine at (his first name)_(his last name)(at symbol)umit.(his state).edu Strout can also be reached by mail at P.O. Box 84, Kenduskeag, ME 04450.