Unpossible Autograph Friday- Arnie Portocarrero, Oriole #124

Arnie pitched six seasons in the Major Leagues with the Philadelphia/Kansas City A's from 1954-'57 and the Orioles from '58-60. He became the 124th player to appear in a game for the Orioles when he made his Baltimore debut on April 20, 1958 and went on to pitch in 71 more games for the Orioles. He went 20-20 with a 4.35 ERA during his time with the Orioles. 


It took me quite a long time to track down Arnie's autograph and I'm not exactly sure why. He did pass away at the relatively young age of 54 back in 1986, before the autograph boom, so I guess that has a lot to do with it. Many of the more difficult autographs to track down for players of his era had to do with their playing for extremely popular teams (Yankees/Brooklyn Dodgers), or being part of a storied World Series winner, but neither was the case for Arnie. I had seen a few signed copies of this card available for sale before I bought this one, but I didn't want to pay the asking price of a few hundred dollars for them. 


Anyway, I'm happy to have his autograph in my collection at this point. Rest in Peace Arnie.






To briefly explain the misspelled/made up title of these weekly posts: 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 as sharp as a bowling ball, says "Me fail English? That's unpossible."