"Meet Me in St. Louis" blooper or non-sequitur

Was watching the 1944 movie "Meet Me in St. Louis" as a sort of holiday tradition for the umpteenth time last evening.

Early in the movie, when Mr. Smith, the father played by Leon Ames, comes home from work after just losing a case (he's a lawyer) he jokingly tells his younger daughters that he'd rather be playing first base for the Baltimore Orioles.

The time period is supposed to be the summer of 1903, about 9 months (as stated in the movie) prior to the St. Louis World's Fair of 1904.

Other than it's curious as to why he mentions Baltimore Orioles rather than the two home town teams in existence at that time - the St. Louis Cardinals or the St. Louis Browns, after just a cursory investigation, it appears the Baltimore Orioles weren't even in existence in 1903. 1902 was their last season in Baltimore before moving on a little bit north to become the infamous New York Highlanders and then, of course, the New York Yankees, for their first season in 1903.

Anyone else ever notice this, or have an explanation for the discrepancy?

After the ML franchise left town, the Baltimore Orioles became one of the greatest minor league franchises ever, perhaps surpassed only by the San Francisco Seals. Also note that the Orioles were not a major league franchise in 1944 either, so this is almost surely a reference to the relative obscurity of playing in the minor leagues. It actually makes a lot of sense if looked at in that context.