The Baltimore Orioles are an American professional baseball team based in Baltimore, Maryland. The Orioles compete in Major League Baseball (MLB) as a member of the American League (AL) East division. One of the AL's eight charter franchises when the league was established in 1901 with President Ban Johnson; this particular franchise spent its first year as a major league club in Milwaukee, Wisconsin as the Milwaukee Brewers before moving to St. Louis, Missouri to become the St. Louis Browns. After 52 often-beleaguered years in St. Louis, the franchise was purchased in November 1953 by Baltimore business interests led by Clarence Miles. The franchise officially moved to Baltimore for the 1954 season and adopted the historic "Orioles" name in honor of the official state bird of Maryland. The Orioles name had also been used by several previous major and minor league baseball clubs in Baltimore, including the franchise that would eventually become the New York Yankees. Nicknames for the team include the "O's" and the "Birds".