Yes, yes, the Baltimore Orioles were a minor league team in 1903....but what prompted the line in the first place?
Was it in the original novel?
If so, I'm guessing that the father was a baseball fan and that the Orioles were perhaps the farm team of the Browns or the Cardinals.
If the screenplay writer came up with the line on his own, then it's a bit more perplexing.
Even in 1944 the Orioles were not yet a major league team.
Maybe he said it to show Esther just how ridiculous her statement was. After all, he was a lawyer and well paid and kept his family well fed and well dressed in their big beautiful house. Minor league ballplayers made next to nothing. I'm sure the character just said the first team that came into his head.
"You cannot boil a llama and expect it to taste like a grilled monkey".
I thought it was a clever scriptwriter's tying together of baseball history and a major plot point of the movie. The original Baltimore Orioles played 2 seasons in Baltimore from 1901-1902 before being moved to New York City in 1903. The move to New York was very unpopular in Baltimore and occurred because new ownership forced the move when they got a stadium in NYC. This team was renamed the New York Highlanders and later again renamed the New York Yankees.
The MiLB team called the Baltimore Orioles played in the old stadium vacated by the MLB team. At this time in baseball history, there were many rival leagues battling it out. I don't think there was any formalized minor league farm system with affiliates as we have today. Prospects probably went to the highest bidder.
I have always thought that it was a nod to the family's reluctance to their moving to New York City due to the father's career advancement.
You make a very good case. However, at the time that the line was delivered, Mr. Smith had not been offered the job in N.Y.
"You cannot boil a llama and expect it to taste like a grilled monkey".