A Great Sunday at The Yard

With so few homes games during the month of July (only 9, 2 of which are undesirable Red Sox games), I had to make it out to one of the Blue Jays games this past weekend and I saw a good one. It didn't feature the excitement of Melmo's walk-off HR on Saturday but was a marked improvement over Friday's shut out loss. And with Brad Bergesen on the mound, I knew the O's had a chance to win or at least stay in the game. Also, two consecutive wins going into the All-Star break would be a great way to end the first half of the season. And the team pulled it off, way to go O's!

It didn't hurt my overall enjoyment that I had my best autograph day ever at the Yard. 10 different autographs!

The key to getting autographs inside the park on Sunday games is to get there as early as possible to catch all of the bullpen guys after they work out on the field.

Danys Baez 2007-

Today was great for me as I was finally able to get Danys Baez's autograph! I was the second person he signed for (I just happened to be in the right place) but he did go on to sign for another 50-100 fans. Somehow I never got his autograph prior to Sunday and he has a really cool looking autograph.

David Dellucci 1997

David was definitely my second favorite autograph of the day. He was recently called up to the Blue Jays after he was released by the Indians earlier this season.
"Delluch" came up through the Orioles farm system and played a few games for the O's in 1997 before being drafted by the Diamondbacks in the '98 expansion draft. I heard he signed TTM so I sent my Orioles card to the Blue Jays AAA team, the Las Vegas 51s, a few weeks ago. So I got him to sign this Indians card by the Jays dugout, but at least I got an autograph!

Rich Hill signed again, look at that crazy wind-up of his...

Kam Mickolio signed too. It's really crazy to stand next to such a tall guy. That's not a kids' head in front of me; that's an adult woman standing up. I got Kam to sign one of my team cards since the only cards I had of his were the cards from the 08 Bowie set I already have signed.

This is the first time I got Albers in person. The other auto I have from him, on this same 08 Topps card, is now available for trade and was given to me by friends from this year's O's Fan Fest.


I got Berken to sign for me a few times at Bowie last year but this is the first time I got him at O's Park this season. I really like these '06 Ironbirds cards that I picked up a few weeks ago at the game in Aberdeen.


Hendrickson signed again; he is really a reliable signer at games. I think I need more of his cards at this point.


Sarfate is still on the DL, but is back in the area on his rehab assignment, so I luckily had my 09 UD card with me. He pitched in Bowie on Saturday and is scheduled to be in Frederick tomorrow. It's nice to have Dennis back as he always seems to be a lot of fun and likes to clown around with the fans.



I was also able to get Lyle Overbay and Scott Rolen (pictured above). For Rolen, I used my patented "get close a player that is talking to a friend or family member and stand near them without being overbearing but make sure you are between the player and his exit" maneuver. It almost always works, just make sure you don't get pushy or too close the conversation. This move has worked for me at least three times this year with Kris Benson, Jarrod Washburn and now Rolen. Trust me, it's an effective move. One last note about these two: it just worked out that I have seen the Jays play in Spring Training both in '08 and '09 and I had never seen these two sign for anyone. In fact, the Overbay card had been with my Jays team set for years, so what is the likelihood I would get both their autographs in Baltimore? But I'm not complaining!


And finally, here is a picture of the happy O's after their Sunday win. Have a great break guys!