Tuesday, January 11, 2011

Welcoming D. Lee & Kevin Gregg

Somehow, I failed to acknowledge the two players who the Orioles signed last week. I had a few things that I wanted to write about and kept pushing it back, and just remembered that I hadn't mentioned the Derrek Lee or Kevin Gregg signings yet. I'm glad that you don't look to me for breaking news...

I really like both transactions and they definitely make the Orioles a much better and more formidable team. Lee and Gregg both are additional veteran presences on the still very young team too. They will very possibly be the Orioles' last major signings this offseason, although a few bullpen/fifth starter types will likely be signed to compete for roster spots in Spring Training.


I only have a few cards of Lee and Gregg, so will need to find some more to possibly get signed throughout the season. If anyone out there has some cards of either player, I would be happy to take them off your hands.


Interestingly, one of the few Derrek Lee cards that I do have in my collection is his 1994 Signature Rookies autograph. I remember when the Signature Rookies cards came out and I freaked out because the packs included real, live AUTOGRAPHS! It was right up my alley, but I have way too many autographs of players who never cracked a Major League roster. I did manage to find a few gems like Derrek along the way and his becoming an Oriole is why I don't like to trade away autographs of players who are still active on the off chance that they might one day play for the O's.


Unless I have two of them. I'm not really sure how it happened but I have two copies of this card (out of only 7,750!). So this one is up for trade if anyone is interested. I tried to sell the double for $11 at a garage sale back in the mid-90s but didn't find any takers.

I looked up some pictures of how Derrek's autograph has changed over the years and it looks like the major differences are that his D is much more rounded and his last name consists of pretty much just an L now. Not too bad for the number of autographs that he has likely signed since 1994.

I don't have an autograph of Kevin Gregg yet, but I hope that change that at Fanfest or Spring Training. Believe me, I'll keep you all posted.

5 comments:

Justin McLeod said...

Two former Cubs. Good luck, D-Lee.

Justin McLeod said...
This comment has been removed by the author.
Orioles Magic said...

I hope that they both do well and lead the O's out of the cellar!

Anonymous said...

Nice! Good luck on the Gregg auto!

Anonymous said...

I loved the idea of Signature Rookies when they came out, but fortunately I couldn't afford to buy them.

I remember getting a lot of 20-30 signed cards for a couple of bucks in the early days of eBay - I still haven't heard of most of the players, but one or two moved into my Mets collection eventually. A few others became familiar names after I saw them play in the Atlantic League.