Paul Adds to My Collection

Recently, I pulled off another trade with blog reader, Paul. And by recently, I mean about three weeks ago. Yep, it took me that long to get the cards scanned and posted. So without any further delay...

Eli Marrero played in only 22 games for the Orioles at the end of the 2005 season, but did manage to hit 3 HR over that time. He played 10 total seasons in the Majors, 7 of those with the Cardinals, and nearly had his career (and life) derailed by thyroid cancer in 2000. Luckily, he was able to win his battle with cancer and it didn't even cause him to miss a full season of games. I also found out that Eli is the uncle of current Nationals prospect, Chris Marrero.

Eli's 2005 Topps Update card shows him in an O's uniform and I sent that card to him in a TTM request back at the beginning of 2009. I don't think it's coming back at this point. I still hope to get his Orioles card signed at some point, but will have to wait for a private signing since he is only a 36% TTM signer.

Steve Reed pitched for the Orioles in 2005, the final year of his 14 season career in the Majors. He is a submarine-style pitcher, which is a major plus for me, however his 6.61 ERA over 30 games for the O's made it tough for me to like him too much.

Steve also has a card that shows him in an Orioles uniform, a 2005 Topps Total card that also features Aaron Rakers. I have a better chance of getting that signed TTM since Steve signs requests at a 85% success rate.

Chris Widger doesn't have any Orioles cards, likely due to the fact that he only appeared in 9 games for the Birds at the end of the 2006 season, so this card is now a permanent resident of my collection. I really like it too; the blue sharpie works great with the Expos colors on his uniform and on the card. Chris signed this at the perfect spot too, anywhere else the blue sharpie would've disappeared into the blue on the card.

Paul's trade also included orange uniform autographs of Nolan Reimold and Jeff Fiorentino, as well as Orioles player postcard autographs of Scott McGregor and Nate Snell. Somehow I failed to scan all of those, but figured it was about time to post this trade. Thanks again Paul!