Unpossible Autograph Friday- Bill Miller

Bill is faced with the unenviable task of following up last week's U.A.F. when I featured the three deceased Orioles HOFers. Anyone would pale in comparison. At least Bill has two solid nicknames, "Lefty" & "Hooks", to help him out. Also, I think this is the only card in my collection that is signed in pencil, so that makes it unique to me.

I really like the look of these '55 Bowman cards; I think the old school wood panel TV kind of reminds me of the console unit my parents had when I was growing up. It didn't even have a remote! I don't think I could handle that anymore, but it was still a nice TV back then. I remember "inventing" a channel changer made out of a few used wrapping paper tubes. It only kind of worked, but it wasn't a bad accomplishment for me at that age. Or now for that matter, I'm not much of an inventor. But I digress.

Bill pitched in the Majors for four seasons from 1952-55, spending his first three seasons as a member of the Yankees who won the World Series each of those seasons. Following the '54 season he was among the 17 players who were traded between the Yanks and O's and he wrapped up his career with the comparatively dismal '55 O's who finished with a 57-97 record and in seventh place in the 8 team American League. Since the O's never have worn pinstripes (thank God) you can tell his card was "photoshopped" to picture Bill in an "Orioles" uniform. It's the closest thing to an Orioles card that Bill has since his Crown card looks like this.

Ugh. Apparently, no one bothered to take a picture of Bill in an Orioles uniform during his stint with the team. The juxtaposition of that hat on a Crown card just looks so wrong. It's times like this that I'm happy I don't specifically collect the Crown set like a few others out there. I wouldn't be able to enjoy having a card like this in my Orioles collection.

Bill passed away in 2003 at age 75. RIP Bill.