Unpossible Autograph Friday- Bert Hamric, And Then There Were None

(Every Friday, I profile a former Oriole who has passed away. I've substituted the word unpossible for impossible as an homage to a line from "The Simpsons". Young Ralph Wiggum, who is a few pennies short of a dollar, says "Me fail English? That's unpossible.")  


That's right. You read that correctly, I said Bert Hamric, who, until yesterday, had been the one and only autograph missing from my collection out of the 910 players who have appeared in a game for the Orioles. 

Isn't it a thing of beauty? I nearly fell over when I opened the package and saw Bert's autograph. It's an amazing feeling to be "done" with my collection, at least until future Orioles start making their debuts in about five weeks. (Not to mention the 30 former Orioles whose autographs I need to upgrade to signed Orioles cards, as well Chris Davis and Kyle Hudson being included in 2012 Topps as Orioles.) It's pretty unlikely that I will ever have every former Orioles autograph who were pictured on Orioles cards, but that fact that I now have an autograph from every one of the 910 Orioles players is a great feeling. I've mostly succeeded in what I set out to do almost four years ago, but the collection really started about 20 years back. 


I once again have to thank my dad for the assist with this autograph. Over the years, he has helped me to add countless autographs to my collection; years ago, he would take me and my buddies to Orioles games, and these days, I can count on an Orioles autograph or two to be included as birthday or Christmas gifts, in addition to some leads on other autographs I'm trying to track down. Thanks for everything dad.


Now, I realize that this post has said very little about Bert and his career, so I will probably write about him in some detail next weekend, once my excitement level has died down and I regain some focus. 


And to top it all off, Orioles' pitchers and catchers report tomorrow. Baseball will officially be back!