Sunday, January 23, 2011

A Case of the Sundays- Jay Gibbons


This card, along with the Geronimo Gil autograph that led the way for the "A Case of the Sundays" feature, was really the inspiration for my highlighting cards and/or autographs and/or players that I don't particularly like. This one fits all three categories.

Even before all the steroid confirmations allegations that led to Gibbons being unceremoniously dumped from the O's during Spring Training in 2008 (even though they still owed him $12 million), I never really liked him. He was one of the O's "better" players for a few seasons, but I felt like he NEVER came through in the clutch. I would rather have had Keith Osik and his .080 batting average at the plate down a run with two outs in the ninth than Gibbons. He just always seemed to let me down.

Now I won't share the nickname I had for him, because it's not very nice, but some of you might know it or be able to figure it out. The one thing I will always remember about Jay is how he managed to hit his wife with a foul ball during a game in 2006. That takes skills.

And this card, oh this card. Not to mention the autograph. One word really sums them up. Absolute crap. OK, that's two words, but it's accurate. You've got your blatant sticker autograph that doesn't fit in the with the card at all, and an autograph that isn't much more than two brief squiggles. If you held a gun to my head, I might admit that I see a J, a G, and some sort of i in there. Awful.


In other news- I have something big planned for the coming week. It's something that is long overdue. Check back tomorrow!

4 comments:

Anonymous said...

I never paid that much attention to Jay Gibbons in the major leagues. As a Mets fan, it's not like I had the occasion to watch the Orioles all that often.

Once he hit the Atlantic League circuit, I wasn't impressed with his baseball skills - based on what I saw during his time in Newark, I'm amazed that Gibbons is still playing baseball.

I was impressed with the way he handled fans who wanted to talk to him or get his autograph. A lot of guys in his situation would have blown everybody off, but Gibbons was good about taking those few minutes to talk or sign autographs. For that reason, I'm glad that he's getting another chance.

Dodgerbobble said...

How do you think we feel in Dodgerland. This guy is probably gonna be the starting left fielder. Ugh. Watching him play defense, and I use the term defense very loosley, is the saddest thing in the world. He made Manny Ramirez look like a Gold Glove winner.

And on that note, did The O's ever give a Gibbons bobblehead away? I see one on ebay once in a while, but I'm not sure if it was an SGA. If you have one you'd like to trade, let me know.

night owl said...

All I can think of when I read this is: Dodgers will be lucky to finish 3rd this year.

Orioles Magic said...

Paul- It's good to know that he was accommodating to the Atlantic League fans. I don't think he's a bad person, just a disappointing baseball player.

DB- He did get a bobblehead as far as I know but I wasn't living in Baltimore then and didn't make it to many games. Wish that I had one myself, even though I don't like him too much.

NO- At least he's proven his accuracy with foul balls...clearly don't have anything encouraging to say.