See Ya Sarfate

Dennis Sarfate was designated for assignment on Wednesday to make room for Miguel Tejada on the Orioles 40 man roster. Interestingly, Sarfate was one of 5 players acquired for Miggy just over 2 years ago.


I recently came across a picture that Kalina took of me and Sarfate at a Rays game in September 2008 that I wanted to get signed. It figures that I didn't find it before O's FanFest last week but what can I do now? He will probably be selected off waivers by another team so I might try to send a copy of the picture TTM to get him to sign it.





I just really wish that he had a few more cards that pictured him in an O's uniform since I got this same one signed so many times.


But thanks for being a good signer, Dennis. I will miss that about you. Good luck wherever you end up.

TTM Success- Rex Hudler

Rex "Wonder Dog" Hudler

1986

The Yankees traded Rex and Rich Bordi to the Orioles on Decemeber 12, 1985 in return for Gary Roenicke and Leo Hernandez. He played in just 14 games for the Orioles, all of them during the 1986 season, and was used almost exclusively as a late-inning defensive replacement or pinch-runner. He only had one at-bat over those 14 games, but luckily there is this Orioles Crown card to confirm that he spent time with the O's.

Rex played for 6 Major League teams over a 13 season career in the Majors but played in 100 games just once while on the '91 Cardinals. He was primarily a second basemen but spent time at every position besides pitcher and catcher.

For the past ten seasons, Rex was the color commentator for the Los Angeles California Angels of Anaheim. His contract was not renewed by the Angels & FSN West after last year so Rex is currently a broadcasting free agent.

He signed my TTM request in 37 days and I really like the "Go Hard" inscription. It's always nice to see something unexpected and different with someone's autograph. Thanks for signing Rex!

A Danny Clyburn Kind of Day

Danny Clyburn 1997-98

Danny Clyburn is one of those guys that I remember some people had high expectations for, but things just didn't seem to work out. It's kind of like my day today, I was going to get up early and make a nice breakfast for myself before work but then my snooze button didn't work and I overslept. There's not much that Danny or I can do about anything at this point, but it leaves me feeling a little "meh".

Danny was drafted in 1992 by the Pirates in the 2nd round, and as a Pirates fan at the time, it seemed like he was going to be the next big thing. He never even made it to the Majors with the Pirates and was traded twice before making his big league debut with the Birds in 1997. The Reds traded him to Baltimore with another Minor Leaguer for Brad Pennington in 1995. That trade sure seems like a push looking back on it.

Danny ended up playing in only 13 games for the Orioles over his 2 seasons in Baltimore and struck out in nearly half of his at-bats with the team. He was traded to the Devil Rays for Jason Johnson before the '99 season and played in 28 games for Tampa that season which was his last taste of the Major Leagues. He continued to play for the Newark Bears of the Independent Atlantic League through the 2004 season before apparently hanging up his spikes.

As I hope that tomorrow starts out better than today, I wish Danny better luck with his post baseball career.

UPDATE 2/7/11- Unfortunately, Danny was shot and killed today in Lancaster, SC. A suspect is in custody. I'm sorry that your luck didn't improve Danny. RIP.

Unpossible Autographs-The Long & Winding Road of my Woodie Held

Woodie (or Woody) Held 1966-67 (died 2009)

I finally have a Woodie Held autograph in my collection and it's been a long, strange trip to make that happen. I have to start by saying that Woodie unfortunately passed away last June from brain cancer at the age of 77.

My journey to get his autograph started last April when I sent him a TTM request with this card below enclosed. It's the only Orioles card of his that clearly shows him in a Baltimore uniform, so it would be the best fit for my collection, even though it has the pre-printed autograph already on it.

I did not know that Woodie had been battling cancer so was disappointed to get my request returned-to-sender within the next week. It was the first RTS I had received in my current quest for TTM autographs.

Eventually, I read online why Woodie was not signing TTM requests and I felt bad about having sent my request, but I had no way to know so there wasn't anything I could have done differently.

Woodie sadly passed away after his long battle with cancer on June 10, 2009. I knew that I now had to turn to "the bay" to get his autograph. He had been a pretty good TTM signer through the end of 2008 so there were plenty of autographs available but not many on Orioles cards and none on the specific card I wanted, so I waited. Eventually I found this signed O's Crown card at a reasonable price and had to jump on it. I've complained in the past about the Crown cards that use pictures of players in other teams uniforms when there were clearly Orioles pictures out there, but I finally had my Woodie Held autograph.

Woodie played in 82 games for the O's over his 1.5 seasons in Baltimore and was also on the '66 World Series champion roster, but didn't appear in any of those games. Interestingly enough, he also held the Indians' HR record by a shortstop with 85 round-trippers until Jhonny Peralta passed him just last year, only a little more than a month before he passed away.

Rest in Peace Woodie, I'm pleased to finally have you in my collection.

A Quick Chris Richards Post

I don't have much time today but still wanted to get a post in, so I present to you-

Chris Richard 2000-02

Chris was a member of the O's for 2+ seasons and I remember hearing that he had a pretty high opinion of himself during his time in Birdland. He has been a AAAA type player for most his career and had his best year while with the Orioles in 2001, which was also his only full season spent in the Majors. To date, he played 242 of his 280 career MLB games for the Birds.

I got these two cards signed when he was a member of the Rays and they were in Baltimore at the end of the '09 season.

Looking Back at FanFest

I had a really great and successful time at FanFest and feel like that point came across pretty well in my recap post on Saturday.

However, I did have somewhat of an issue with the way the autograph stations were set up this year. If you have never been to an O's FanFest in the past, what they always did was to hand out a schedule of who was signing when and where to everyone as they arrived. That way you were able to plan out your day depending on whose autograph you were trying to get. For someone that was looking for specific players, that worked the best for me. This was how it had been done as far back as I remember; I definitely remember getting Cal's autograph that way at a FanFest in the mid-90s.

The only downfall to how it was done in the past is that everyone signed during the same 2 hour window. So if you wanted Cal, and the other two or three players at his station, then that's pretty much all you were going to get.

This year, no schedule was announced ahead of time. There were four separate autograph stations (all with an A & B line) and it was announced one hour ahead of time as to who would be at each station, with each line being limited to 250 people. For example at Station 1, 3 or 4 players would sign from 11-12 in the A line and then 3 or 4 would sign from 12-1 in the B line. This was done to try to avoid a throng of people congregating at the stations at any specific time for the fan favorites like B-Rob, Markakis and Wieters. But by early afternoon, people were lining up at each station long before it was even announced as to who was going to sign there hoping that it was someone they wanted. So the system had pretty well fallen apart halfway through FanFest. For those of you who went, what were your thoughts on this system?

At the very least, they should have let the people who lined up in anticipation of who might sign at the stations to enter the queues. For example, as the people who lined up for the noon signing in the B line emptied that queue, the other people who lined up for the 2 o'clock signing in the B line were not allowed to enter the queue until the signers were announced. The people pretty much just created their own lines that made navigating through the crowd a challenge while the B line was nearly empty. It seemed pretty silly to me.

Have I lost anyone yet?!? I know this will be a confusing post if you didn't attend FanFest.

On a positive note, congratulations to the Orioles for attracting over 12,000 fans!! That's encouraging since many people this town normally ignore the O's in favor of the Ravens. Now I hope to see everyone from FanFest at the Yard over the summer. Go O's! Orioles Magic!

2010 Orioles Fanfest Recap

Good evening everyone, I hope that all of you Orioles fans out there had a great time at FanFest today. I know that I did! I have to thank my parents and my fiance for helping me to get all of these autographs.

First off, for the Bearded Orioles fan that had to work today, I present to you some crazy pictures of Nick Markakis.


It was like Peter Griffin's beard from that episode of Family Guy. Some sparrows were nesting in it.



I was able to finally get my first in-person Markakis autos too. It's about time!


I also got my first autographs from Kevin Millwood & Garrett Atkins. I got them both to sign a baseball card, from the Rangers and Rockies respectively, as well as an O's player card to add to my collection. That's the best I can do until they have Orioles cards, probably in the late 2010 sets.





Atkins didn't exactly look thrilled to be there. I mean, I understand that signing autographs for hundreds of fans isn't exactly thrilling but this was his first impression to O's fans. Step it up buddy!



Nolan Reimold signed his first official Orioles cards for us too. Kalina kind of liked getting to see him and got her Reimold jersey signed too.



Dino also signed his first O's card to add to my collection.

For some reason, he thought that signing this card in silver sharpie would make the autograph "stick" to the card better. I wiped all my cards down so it wouldn't have mattered in my case but I get where he's going and respect that he noticed something like that.


JJ mentioned that every time he sees the card on the right that he wants to add a mustache to it. I said, go ahead and do it but I think he thought I was kidding so he didn't. Maybe I will try again at Spring Training.


I really like the Topps 206 for autographs. So I got Pie to sign both his base card and the Piedmont mini.


The last time we saw Lou was in Frederick at the game on my birthday while he was on his rehab assignment.


I really wish that Sarfate had more than two Orioles cards. I have gotten this card signed a number of times now.


Erbe was the only prospect that I got a signature from. I hope that he moves up to AAA this year so he can pitch for the O's soon.



Frohwirth is the only O's alumni autograph that I got and I believe this card is my first in-person auto from him. You know I like those submarining pitchers!

I picked up a flex plan of tickets to Frederick Keys games that netted me this sweet new Matusz bobblehead, too.


All in all, things at FanFest were a little wild and unorganized but now that I've had a few hours away from the lines and crowds, I had a great haul of autos, cards, and goodies.

Thanks again to my Mom, Dad and Kalina. You guys are great for helping me out with my autograph collection (obsession). Oh, and Mom thanks for the Andino autograph (haha).

HOF TTM Success: Robin Roberts

Robin Roberts 1962-65 (HOF 1976)

I recently realized that my site is severely lacking in regards to some of the most famous former Orioles. Very little action on Cal, Eddie, Brooks, Frank etc. But the problem is that I don't have any of their autographs scanned as of today. So today, I share with you my Robin Roberts autograph. Robin is nice enough to sign TTM for a small fee ($10 for cards, not sure the cost for other items) and he signed my card this past fall and also included a nice signed HOF Induction card as well.

Robin had an amazing career; his achievements and accomplishments are numerous and impressive. I'm going to share some of them with you, but can't come close to including everything. Most of his greatest accomplishments came during his time with the Phillies from 1948-61. He was inducted to the HOF in 1976 and received 86.86% of the vote.

Robin went to 7 consecutive All-Star games from 1950-56 and also received MVP votes in all of those seasons. He led the NL in wins 4 times, games started 6 times, complete games & innings pitched 5 times, strikeouts 2 times, and shutouts once. With all of those games and innings pitched he also led his league in some not so good categories such as hits & HR allowed 5 times, earned runs 3 times and losses 2 times. With the good comes the bad I suppose but his positives far outweighed the negatives.

During his three and a half seasons with the Orioles, he was 42-36 with a 3.09 ERA in 113 games (109 starts).

His career record is 286-245 with a 3.41 ERA in 676 games totaling 4688 innings pitched.


Here are some random, interesting facts about him that I found:

-He allowed 505 HRs, the most in MLB history

-The Phillies retired his #36 in 1962, while he was still an active player, it was the Phils' first retired number, and the first time an active player had his number retired since the Yankees did it with Babe Ruth

-He coached the USF Bulls baseball team from 1977-85 and led them to their first NCAA tournament appearance

-July 21 is Robin Roberts Day in Vermont- an honor he received since he played there in the Minor Leagues in the 1940s

-Has the 27th most Wins in baseball history

-Has written two books about his baseball experiences

-His hometown of Springfield, IL named their baseball stadium after him





Matt, an eagle-eyed reader of this site, brought up that Robin was not listed either on my have or need lists. I obviously have his autograph but have to thank Matt for helping me to keep my lists as updated as possible. Anytime you see something that needs fixed, please let me know. I seem to have a hard time keeping up with what I have!

RIP Curt "Cuz" Motton

Another member of the Orioles family unfortunately passed away last night. Curt Motton lost his battle with stomach cancer and passed away at the age of 69.



I had the opportunity to get Curt's autograph at one of the Orioles Alumni signings at a game this past season (he's pictured at the front right of this picture) and he seemed like a really nice guy. He earned the nickname "Cuz" during his playing days because he treated everyone like family.

Curt spent 268 of his 316 MLB games with the Orioles and was used primarily as the right-handed pinch hitter during his two stints with the Birds from 1967-71 & 73-74. He was on the 1970 World Series Champion O's and was also a member of the pennant winning squads of 1969 & 1971.

Curt was the O's first base coach in 1991 and also spent time as a scout for the organization. Rest In Peace Curt, it seems like you made a lot of people happy during your time with us.

TTM Success- Al Pardo

Al Pardo 1985-86

On June 17 of last year, I sent out this TTM request to Al. A few months later, I pretty much figured that I was not going to see it again, but I was wrong. Last Friday, January 15th, a TTM envelope was in my mailbox and I got excited as I always do when I get a return. But I was very surprised to see Al's card, I had figured that it was a goner. But 212 days after I sent it out, I had a personalized Al Pardo autograph, his only confirmed success on SportsCollectors.Net and my longest wait for a successful TTM request to date. Sweet.

For whatever reason, I seemed to think that Al had a longer and/or more successful career than he did. He played in only 53 games for the Orioles(50) & Phillies(3) over four seasons in the Bigs. He was a backup catcher for the Birds over the latter part of the '85 season and middle of the '86 season and received 126 of his career 129 at-bats over that time.

Interestingly, Al is one of only three players in MLB history to have been born in Spain. He is the only batter from Spain to play in the Majors and fittingly enough leads all Spanish born players with 1 HR, 129 ABs, 6 R, 4 RBI, 2 doubles, 17 hits, etc. He is actually the only Spaniard to even have an AB, so he leads all of the offensive categories. I now have an autograph from the most successful player from Espana in MLB history and that's cool with me.

2 Days Until FanFest!
41 Days Until the First O's Spring Training Game!!

2010 Orioles Promotion Announced!

Taking a brief detour from displaying my Orioles autographs, I had another Orioles related item to get excited about today, the release of the 2010 promotions!

Now, in case you might not know, I do not just collect Orioles autographs but also Orioles bobbleheads so I am very excited that there are FOUR! 4!! bobbleheads on this season's giveaway schedule. There is a full size Matt Wieters bobble that will be given away on June 30, and 3 mini bobbles of the O's excellent outfield trio that will be given away on three different dates over the course of the season. Nolan's date is May 26, Jonesy's is June 24, and The Stick's is August 5th. That's another 4 to add to my collection! That will be my fourth Wieters, my first Nolan, my second Jonesy, and my third Markakis. Once pictures are online, I will share them here.

Another giveaway that jumped out at me is the replica Brooks Robinson jersey on July 17. Awesome! T-Shirt Tuesdays make a return this season (I'm predicting Wieters, Matusz, Tillman, Millwood, Atkins and Gonzalez), and there are also four hat giveaways.

I'm borderline way too excited for some Orioles baseball right now and can't wait for FanFest!
(Sorry for all of the exclamation points in this entry but I'm jonesin' for some O's)

3 Days Until FanFest!
42 Days Until the First O's Spring Training Game!!

TTM Success- Bob Harrison

Bob Harrison 1955-56

Wow, I really don't have much information to share about Bob. I do know that he clearly doesn't mind signing on his face, and this is definitely one of the most blatant examples of this that I have come across so far. At least he didn't try to squeeze his signature into the top corners of the card.

Bob appeared in only two games for the Orioles, a relief appearance in '55 and a start in '56, neither of which went very well. Interestingly, the relief appearance lasted 2 innings and the start only lasted 1.2 innings. He allowed 3 hits in both outings and gave up 5 earned runs over his 3.2 combined innings and also walked 9 batters. He pitched in the O's Minor League system until retiring after the 1958 season.

4 Days Until Orioles FanFest!
43 Days Until the First O's Spring Training Game!!

Peter John Smith

Pete Smith 1998

I used Pete's middle name in the title to differentiate him from the Pete Smith who pitched for Boston in the early '60s. Just to avoid confusion, ya know.

This Pete Smith was drafted by the Phillies in the first round of the 1984 draft and was traded to the Braves after the 1985 season. They hoped that he would develop into a front of the rotation starter along with Tom Glavine and John Smoltz but Pete's career path didn't go in that direction. He ended up pitching in the Majors for 11 seasons, 7 of those with the Braves, but had a career record of 47-71 in 231 games, including 163 starts.

Pete came to the O's in a trade from the Padres for Minor Leaguer, Eric Estes, on June 9, 1998. His time with the Orioles was the only part of his career he spent in the American League and he retired after his half-season in Birdland. (No jokes about that one, please)

In his half season with the O's, Pete went 2-3 with 2 holds, a blown save and a 6.20 ERA in 45 innings; he appeared in a total of 27 games including four starts. I notice that he also allowed 7 HRs over those games, so maybe it was time to hang up the spikes. Those are some Guthrie-esque HR totals. Oh yeah, I went there! Zing!

Albie "Little Man" Pearson

Albie Pearson 1959-60

Albie was the smallest baseball player of his era, and possibly of all time (outside of any stunts that Bill Veeck might have pulled) but he was able to have a pretty good career anyway. He was listed as being only 5'5" and 140 pounds which earned him the nickname "Little Man" from Ted Williams among others.

He is probably best remembered for being the 1958 AL Rookie of the Year while with the Washington Senators. He was traded to the Orioles in the middle of the '59 season in exchange for Lenny Green. While with the O's, he played all three outfield positions and was a regular member of the lineup for the rest of the 1959 season. He also started 1960 in Baltimore but was sent to the Minor Leagues in the middle of the season before being called back up in September. The expansion Los Angeles Angels (yes, they were briefly called that upon their inception before changing the moniker to the California Angels in 1965) drafted Albie away from the Orioles following the 1960 season. He had the best year of his career with them in 1963 and earned his only All-Star berth as well as a few MVP votes.

After he retired from baseball, Albie became an ordained non-denominational minister and has started numerous churches around the world. He also started the Father's Heart Ranch for abused or neglected boys. Nice work Albie.

2010 Orioles FanFest Signers Announced

Today the list of current, former and future Orioles' players that are appearing at FanFest was released.

In alphabetical order from Roch's blog...

Current & Future O's:

MATT ALBERS
ROBERT ANDINO
GARRETT ATKINS
MICHAEL AUBREY
JOSH BELL
BRAD BERGESEN
JASON BERKEN
ALBERTO CASTILLO
BRANDON ERBE
MIKE GONZALEZ
JEREMY GUTHRIE
DAVID HERNANDEZ
RHYNE HUGHES
JIM JOHNSON
ADAM JONES
NICK MARKAKIS
BRIAN MATUSZ
CLA MEREDITH
KAM MICKOLIO
KEVIN MILLWOOD
LOU MONTANEZ
TROY PATTON
FELIX PIE
NOLAN REIMOLD
BRIAN ROBERTS
DENNIS SARFATE
LUKE SCOTT
BRANDON SNYDER
CHORYE SPOONE
CRAIG TATUM
CHRIS TILLMAN
JUSTIN TURNER
MATT WIETERS
TY WIGGINTON


Current Coaches:

TERRY CROWLEY
JEFF DATZ
ALAN DUNN
RICK KRANITZ
JUAN SAMUEL
JOHN SHELBY
DAVE TREMBLEY


Former Players:

PAUL BLAIR
MIKE BORDICK
DON BUFORD
AL BUMBRY
MIKE CUELLAR
RICK DEMPSEY
KEN DIXON
JOE DURHAM
TODD FROHWIRTH
DICK HALL
RON HANSEN
CHRIS HOILES
BILL HUNTER
DAVE JOHNSON
RICK KRIVDA
CALVIN MADURO
SCOTT McGREGOR
JOHN MILLER
TIM NORDBROOK
JOE ORSULAK
JIM PALMER
BOOG POWELL
GARY ROENICKE
LARRY SHEETS
NATE SNELL
JOHN STEFERO
BJ SURHOFF
BILL SWAGGERTY
FRED VALENTINE

I'm really excited because I don't have autographs of Atkins, Hughes, Millwood or Tatum and can use upgrades on Bergesen, Bordick, Frohwirth, Markakis, Mickolio and Tillman. I don't know if I will be able to get them all but I am going to try.

Also, Zach inspired me to put an offer out there in the blogosphere to help others with their collections. I don't think that I will be able to cover everyone by any means but I will try to cover as much as possible. If you are interested in anyone I listed above, please comment on this post. I just ask that you are a follower on this blog and I will do what I can to help you out. Also, I will need to receive any items that you would like signed in the mail by next Friday. If you need my address, email me at salsmanado at gmail dot com. If I get too many requests for specific players I will have to say no to some later requests but I will do what I can.

And Now For Something Completely Different...

Gordie Sundin 1956

Here is my Gordie Sundin autographed card.

What? You don't think it's a signed card?

Well it sure is, just not on the front.

I have seen a few players do this with these Crown Cards since most of the light areas on the card faces are concentrated on the faces and some players don't seem to like signing on their face. But then again, some others don't seem to mind signing all over the facial region.

Gordie's Major League career lasted all of one very brief and unsuccessful appearance when he was only 18 years old. With the O's trailing 8-1, he entered the 8th inning of the game on September 19, 1956 in a mop up role but it seems that he forgot his mop back in the bullpen. He walked two batters and did not record an out before being pulled from the game. Billy O'Dell came in after Gordie and allowed one of those walked batters to score. Gordie never made it back into another Major League game, so his career stat line is left with an ERA and WHIP of infinity.

Kevin at the awesome Orioles Card "O" The Day blog did a post on him last fall and reports that Gordie married a member of the 1956 US Figure Skating after his baseball career, so at least that's something good!

Little Brandon Fahey

"Little" Brandon Fahey 2006-08

This guy was one of my favorite players of recent years, not really due to any of his accomplishments on the field but rather due to his body type. Now, I'm not saying that I have a habit of noticing these kinds of things on other guys but it's pretty obvious when said player is listed at 6'2" and 160 pounds, which probably means that he's more in the 145-150 pound range. The dude looked like a string bean in a baseball uniform and he played well enough to make it to the Major Leagues. It's always encouraging to see players that aren't pure muscle make it to the Bigs, in the vein of Fahey and a guy like Kevin Millar towards the other end of that spectrum. "Little Brandon" was my own nickname for him and I think it was quite appropriate.

He filled a super-utility role over parts of the three seasons he spent in Baltimore, and played mostly shortstop but also spent time in left field, right field, second base, and third base. I had the pleasure of seeing one of his two Big League homers with my family at the game on Sunday June 4, 2006, and it was even sweeter as it was against the Yankees in a rare Orioles victory against the Evil Empire.

Brandon played in 189 games for the O's over his three seasons with the team, including a season high 91 in 2006. He hit .224 with 18 doubles, 54 runs and 36 RBI over those years. He also struck out almost three times as much as he walked but had 9 sacrifice hits in 2006, which was good for 4th in the AL and I sincerely doubt any Oriole has surpassed that total since. The current guys aren't very good at bunting and situational hitting. Maybe they will be this coming year, who knows?

A couple of other things that I found interesting about him are that he was a member of the 2002 Texas Longhorns baseball team who won the National Championship and that his dad, Bill, was a Major League catcher for 11 seasons in the '70s & '80s.

The O's granted Little Brandon his free agency following the '08 season and he signed a Minor League contract with the Blue Jays in January of '09 but doesn't appear to have played in the Majors or Minors at all for them last year. Wherever he might be, I wish him good luck! You are an inspiration to all skinny baseball playing kids everywhere!

Unpossible Autograph- Dave McNally

Dave McNally 1962-74 (died 2002)

It's about time that the greatest left-handed pitcher in Orioles history makes an appearance on my blog! Dave's 181 wins are the second most in team history, behind only HOFer Jim Palmer's 268 and are by far the most by a lefty.

He won 20 or more games in 4 consecutive seasons from 1968-71, and was one of 4 O's starters to do so in 1970, along with Palmer, Pat Dobson and Mike Cuellar. As far as modern Orioles records go, he has made the second most starts (384) again behind Palmer, has the third most complete games (120), second most shutouts (33), and sixth best ERA (3.18) (among pitchers who started at least 100 games for the O's).

He also made 3 All-Star teams, came in the top 4 of Cy Young voting in three consecutive years ('69-71) and received MVP votes four times. His best season was probably 1970 when he led the league in wins and games started.

Dave also contributed to the O's World Series Championship seasons in 1966 & '70. In his only start of the '70 WS, he even hit a grand slam and won the game for himself! And yes, that bat is in the HOF since that's the only time a pitcher took care of everything in a World Series game.

Over his career, he won 12 decisions in a row three different times including once when he made it all the way to 17 straight winning decisions. That's amazing! Roger Clemens is the only other pitcher to have ever done that. Crazy stuff. I don't think I appreciated just how good Dave was until researching this post.

Very, very impressive stuff. I definitely say that he is the second best Orioles pitcher of all-time behind Cakes.



Dave also did something to clear the way for today's players in every sport to make the money that they do. He, along with Andy Messersmith of the Dodgers, challenged the Reserve Clause,
which basically said that once a player's contract ended, they were still property of that team unless they negotiated a new contract with that same team or asked to be traded or released. The link explains it in much more detail if you are interested but to sum it up, their challenge led to the advent of free agency as we know it so that all teams could bid for a player's services.

Dave passed away due to lung cancer on 12/1/02 in Billings, Montana, where he had lived his entire life. I wish I had appreciated your career more while you were still with us!

A Stacy Jones Sunday

Stacy Jones 1991

Although he only pitched in 4 games for the O's in 1991, he is remarkable in the Oriole Universe for one reason; he is the only Orioles player ever whose name was Stacy.

In those four games he made one start, pitched 11 totals innings, didn't earn a decision and had a 4.09 ERA. He briefly resurfaced in the Majors for 2 more games with the White Sox in 1996 but that was the end of his Major League career.

I might also add that he is a tough autograph to track down so I was once again relegated to "the bay" for success with this one.

Orioles Siggy Awards

Piggybacking off of a great idea from the ladies at Dinged Corners and further inspired by Paul's Random Stuff 's addition to the field, I present to you my Orioles Siggy Awards. I have eliminated all Minor Leaguers from consideration since they would dominate at least one of my categories (most legible autograph).

Best (only) TTM Return From a Player Inducted Into the Hall of Fame in 2010:

Best TTM Return From a Player Who Was Mysteriously Not Voted Into the HOF
but Should Have Been in 2010:

Best Use of the Letter "K" By an Oriole:


Best Uniform Number Placement:


Most "Unique" Autograph:


Most Legible Autograph:

Retired:

Current:


Least Legible Autograph:

Retired:


Current(many options for this one):


Most Amusing Use of Card Space for a Signature:

Least Amusing Use of Card Space for a Signature:


Most Frightening Picture/Painting on a Signed Card :


Most Unique Personalization: