2012 Orioles Draft Signings- Updated

Here is an updated list of the Orioles draft pick signings. There hasn't been a ton of action over the past week and they are still working towards signing their first and second round picks and can now begin negotiations with their 4th and 7th round picks since the College World Series has ended, but a few later round guys have signed. The new signees are highlighted. 

Below (in bold) is who they have signed so far, along with their twitter handles, where applicable.

1st Round (4th overall) Kevin Gausman @KevinGausman
2nd Round (65) Branden Kline @Half_n_Half16
3rd Round (99) Adrian Marin @Adrian_Marin8
4th Round (132) Christian Walker @CWALK01313
5th Round (162) Colin Poche @colinpoche
6th Round (192) Lex Rutledge @LexRutledge
7th Round (222) Matthew Price @MattPrice22
8th Round (252) Torsten Boss @T_Boss07 
9th Round (282) Brady Wager
10th Round (312) Joel Hutter @jhutter28 
11th Round (342) Kevin Grendell
12th Round (372) William Waltrip @Billz_W18
13th Round (402) Wade Wass @WadeWass_10- has said that he is returning to school
14th Round (432) Sean McAdams
15th Round (462) Derick Velasquez- will be tough to sign
16th Round (492) Luc Rennie @lucrennie20
17th Round (522) Nick Grim @NickGrim28CP
18th Round (552) Sam Kimmel
19th Round (582) Josh Hader @jhader17
20th Round (612) Ryan Ripken @RydinMahPine -  has said that he is returning to school 
21st Round (642) Julian Service @jservice13
22nd Round (672) Will Howard @will_howard1
23rd Round (702) Gene Escat
24th Round (732) Tommy Richards @TR_38_BU
25th Round (762) Alexander Simpson @5creede5
26th Round (792) Lucas Herbst @LaidBckLuke4
27th Round (822) Anthony Caronia
28th Round (852) Dennis Torres
29th Round (882) Jake Pintar
30th Round (912) Anthony Vega @_AO34_ 
31st Round (942) Anthony Bazzani
32nd Round (972) William Russell 
33rd Round (1002) Colton Plaia- I'd say it's very unlikely he signs
34th Round (1032) John Sewald @johnnysewald17
35th Round (1062) Charles Porter
36th Round (1092) Peter Irvin- reports from his school that he will not sign
37th Round (1122) Derrick Bleeker @DBleeks9
38th Round (1152) Jack Graham @jackaarongraham  
39th Round (1182) Scott Kalush
40th Round (1212) Raymond Hunnicutt

Unpossible Autograph Friday- Harry Byrd, Oriole #52

Harry Byrd pitched in the Major Leagues for seven seasons between 1950-57 and played for five different teams during that time. His best year was his rookie season in1952, when he went 15-15 with a 3.31 ERA for the Philadelphia Athletics and won the A.L. Rookie of the Year award for his efforts.

Harry came to the Orioles as part of the massive 18 player swap between the Orioles and Yankees prior to the 1955 season. He made his Orioles debut on April 16, 1955 and went on to appear in just 14 games for them before moving on to the White Sox, who selected him off of waivers from the O's.

This 1955 Bowman card is the only "Orioles" card that came out during his lifetime, so it is a permanent member of my collection. Harry is clearly wearing the Yankees pinstriped jersey, but at least Bowman made the effort to put the Oriole bird on his cap.

After his baseball career ended, Harry returned to his native South Carolina where he worked as a construction foreman before passing away at age 60 in 1985 due to lung cancer. His hometown of Darlington named a road after him that has since been renamed for fellow major leaguer Bobo Newsom.

RIP Harry.


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 not very smart, says "Me fail English? That's unpossible." 

1999 Orioles Debuts, Orioles # 634-655

1999 was yet another season with quite a bit of turnover in Baltimore, and 22 different players made their Orioles debuts that year. Unlike the 2000 & 2001 reviews that I've done, this list features a number of big name veteran players, although none of them are best remembered for playing for the O's.

Also, I will unofficially declare that Opening Day 1999, April 5, was likely the single day with the most Orioles player debuts, at least outside of the first game in franchise history in 1954. In that 1999 game, the O's had a new catcher, first baseman, right fielder, designated hitter, second base defensive replacement, and four relief pitchers all make their black and orange debuts in a span of nine innings.

To put that in perspective, there are nine full seasons in franchise history that saw fewer debuts than the nine that occurred in that single game.

Charles Johnson #634, 4/5/99 (1999-00)

Will Clark #635, 4/5/99 (1999-00)

Albert Belle #636, 4/5/99 (1999-00)

Jeff Conine #637, 4/5/99 (1999-03, 06)

Ricky Bones #638, 4/5/99 (1999)

Mike Fetters #639, 4/5/99 (1999)

Jesse Garcia #640, 4/5/99 (1999-00)

Jesse played in 31 games for the Orioles, split between the '99 & '00 seasons before being traded to the Braves. He ended up playing sparingly in the Majors every season through 2005, but never received regular playing time. 

Also, I'm a huge fan of the orange background of this Fleer Tradition card. It's something that card companies should do more often.

Heathcliff Slocumb #641, 4/5/99 (1999)

Heathcliff pitched in the Majors from 1991-2000, spending time with eight different teams. His best seasons were 1994 & 1995 during his stint with the Phillies, and he earned the only All-Star berth during his career in '95.

He is best remembered around baseball as being part of one of the most lop-sided trades in history when the Red Sox sent him to the Mariners at the 1997 trade deadline in return for Derek Lowe and Jason Varitek, who would go on to help the Sawx win the World Series in 2004 while Heathcliff was on the decline of his career.

This Orioles signed 8x10 is holding a place in my collection until he (hopefully) signs his one-and-only Orioles card during an upcoming private signing.

Mike Timlin #642, 4/5/99 (1999-00)

Rich Amaral #643, 4/8/99 (1999-00)

Doug Linton #644, 4/11/99 (1999)

Delino Deshields #645, 4/11/99 (1999-01)

Gabe Molina #646, 5/1/99 (1999-00)

Gabe pitched in 29, rather ineffective, games for the Orioles during parts of two seasons in Baltimore to the tune of a 1-2 record and a 7.50 ERA. He went on to play in a handful of games for the Braves and Cardinals.


Tommy Davis #647, 5/14/99 (1999)

No, not that Tommy Davis who also played for the Orioles. I call this guy Tommy Davis 2. I'm quite sure that Tommy signed this card for me TTM back when I was on my mid-'90s autograph requesting kick because I'm pretty doubtful that I came across Tommy during his two weeks in Baltimore.

For years, I thought that this Tommy played in the Majors much longer than the five games that he made it into, I guess mainly because he appeared on a handful of cards as an O, and I incorrectly tied his card appearances in with success at the Major League level.


Jason Johnson #648, 5/20/99 (1999-03)

Jason Johnson pitched five years for the Orioles during the height of some of their darkest days in recent history and was victimized, at least somewhat, by the shabby team surrounding him. He went 34-53 in an Orioles uniform over 133 games, mostly as a starter, but had a somewhat respectable 4.84 ERA.

To date, he pitched 11 seasons in the Majors with eight different clubs and has a 56-100 record with a 4.99 ERA in his career. As of last season, he was still attempting to pitch in the Atlantic League but finished the season with an 0-6 record and a 10.92 ERA, so I'm guessing he has called it a career.

Mike Figga #649, 6/5/99 (1999)

Al Reyes #650, 7/25/99 (1999-00)

Jim Corsi #651, 8/3/99 (1999)

Derrick May #652, 8/21/99 (1999)

B.J. Ryan #653, 8/29/99 (1999-05)

I'm surprised that this is the first time I've discussed B.J. on my blog. He was one of the Orioles best relievers during the mid-2000's and I always have had an affinity for fellow "Ryan's" even if it's a last name. And his locker plate is on the doorway over my bedroom, so it really worked out nicely for something like that.

In 2005, he saved 36 games for the O's and had a 2.43 ERA which was good enough to earn him and All-Star nod. He left Baltimore for Toronto following that season and the Jays signed him to the largest contract ever for a relief pitcher up to that time. But they ultimately got burnt on the contract as B.J. missed more than a year's worth of games due to injury and was released before the end of the five year deal.


Matt Riley #654, 9/9/99 (1999, 2003-04)

Brian Falkenborg #655, 10/1/99 (1999)

Another One of Dad's Orioles Card Creations

A few weeks back, I showed off a Miguel Gonzalez Orioles card that my dad made for me to try to get signed. Well Miguel has been in Norfolk since I received that card, so it remains unsigned, but my dad struck  again, this time making me some Bill Hall Orioles cards.

That show him in an orange uniform nonetheless!

And he got more ambitious with the design by adding a border and bubble script Baltimore Orioles to his card.

Thanks again old man!

2000 Orioles Debuts, Orioles # 656-681

To continue the new posting method that I started last week, I'm going to cover all of the Orioles players who debuted during the 2000 season in this post.

2000 was a big year for player debuts in Baltimore, and 26 different players made their debut in black and orange during the season. This year might also be one of the best examples of why I've opted to start posting so many autographs in a single post. I have very little to say about this group, at least not much that I've not already written about in the past. Let's just say that the 2000 Orioles were a largely forgettable team.

Mike Trombley #656, 4/3/2000 (2000-01)

Mike's only "Orioles" card doesn't picture him in an Orioles uniform so I took the half-step upgrade to this Orioles signed 8x10.

Buddy Groom #657, 4/3/2000 (2000-04)

Buddy pitched out of the bullpen in Baltimore for five seasons and was pretty decent for the most part. One of the most interesting numbers I came across in his Orioles stats was the number of games he appeared in was always divisible by 10 (70, 70, 70, 60, 60). Weird right?

He also holds the major league record of appearances (786) without a single plate appearance.


Chuck McElroy #658, 4/5/2000 (2000-01)

Pat Rapp #659, 4/6/2000 (2000)

Calvin Maduro #660, 4/7/2000 (2000-02)

Tim Worrell #661, 4/7/2000 (2000)

Jose Mercedes #662, 4/9/2000 (2000-01)

It took me quite some time to track down a signed Orioles card of Jose, but I finally did last year. He was still pitching in the Mexican Leagues through last season but I wasn't able to find any stats for him this season, so maybe he has finally hung up his spikes after a 20 year career.

Willie Morales #663, 4/9/2000 (2000)

Greg Myers #664, 4/22/2000 (2000-01)

Mark Lewis #665, 4/27/2000 (2000)

Luis Matos #666, 6/19/2000 (2000-06)

It's pretty sad that Matos is probably the second most "notable" Oriole on this list, as his career was largely disappointing. He always seemed to have the potential to take his game to the next level, but just never was able to do so, mainly due to his propensity to get injured and miss games.

He is still actively playing ball, and has been a member of various Mexican League teams over the past five years.

Darren Holmes #667, 6/29/2000 (2000)

Darren pitched in 557 games for eight different teams over his 13 season MLB career, but only five of those games were with the O's during the 2000 season. His Orioles ERA was 25.07, so suffice it to say, things didn't go well for him in Baltimore.

Ivanon Coffie #668, 7/15/2000 (2000)

John Parrish #669, 7/24/2000 (2000-05, 2007)

Parrish pitched in 153 games for the Orioles, mainly out of the bullpen, over parts of 6 seasons, and wrapped up his Orioles career with a 12-12 and 4.52 ERA. Sadly, what I remember most about him is that he grew up in Lancaster, PA which is near my hometown of Carlisle.

Melvin Mora #670, 7/29/2000 (2000-09)

I've featured a few cards, and a bobblehead, of Melmo over my years of writing this blog, but it appears as though I've never written an in-depth post about him. Now isn't the time, nor place, but it's something that I will have to correct in the near future. He was one of Kalina and my favorite players on the Orioles during the mid to late 2000's.

Ryan Kohlmeier #671, 7/29/2000 (2000-01)

Ryan Kohlmeier led the 2000 Orioles team with 13 saves. A stat like that doesn't give me a good feeling about the makeup of the bullpen.

Brook Fordyce #672, 7/30/2000, (2000-03)

Brook was chiefly a back-up catcher during his 10 year MLB career that he spent with five different teams, Just over half (312) of his 623 appearances came during the three and a half seasons he spent in Baltimore, during which time he occasionally was the starter.

Chris Richard #673, 7/31/2000 (2000-02)

Carlos Casimiro #674, 7/31/2000 (2000)

Trenidad Hubbard #675, 8/2/2000 (2000)

Trenidad played for nine different MLB teams over his ten season big league career, so is a true definition of the word, journeyman. He rarely found regular playing time in the Majors, but was obviously a good enough player for so many different teams to take a chance on him.

He appeared in 31 games for the 2000 O's before moving on, and I actually only discovered that he was pictured as an Oriole on this MLB Showdown card earlier this year. Luckily, a fellow collector alerted me to the card's existence right before someone on SCN was holding a signing with Trenidad, so I quickly bought the card, and got it signed and personalized in a span of only a few weeks. That's an open and shut case in my Orioles autograph world.

Leslie Brea #676, 8/13/2000 (2000-01)

Jay Spurgeon #677, 8/15/2000 (2000)

Apparently, I've never scanned my autograph of Jay, and that has me questioning if I even have one, although I'm fairly certain that I do. To be continued on this one...

UPDATE: I found my, and took a picture of, my Spurgeon autograph. We can all rest well now.

Mike Kinkade #678, 8/23/2000 (2000-01)

The highlight of Mike's baseball career was likely being a member of the Gold Medal winning baseball team during the 2000 Olympics. He played parts of six seasons in the Majors from 1998-2003, but rarely received regular playing time.

He was a super utility player and appeared at six different positions, including catcher, during the 2001 season for the O's.

Fernando Lunar #679, 8/29/2000 (2000-02)

Karim Garcia #680, 9/6/2000 (2000, 2004)

Luis Rivera #681, 9/20/2000 (2000)

Vlad Continues to Appear on O's cards!

Since Vlad is pictured as an Oriole in 2012 Topps Series 2, a set that came out a full eight months after his final game in Baltimore, it's starting to make me wonder how many more Orioles cards he will get. I believe he is scheduled to appear in this year's Allen & Ginter set, probably also as an Oriole, but I kind of hope that's it. This was supposed to be a mini-collection!

Unpossible Autograph Friday- Dave Pope, Oriole #62

I've been attempting to countdown the "unpossible" Orioles autographs in reverse order of their debuts, at least when no former O's pass away within that week, but I got a bit out of order two weeks ago when I profiled Oriole #41, Gene Woodling, a few weeks too early. Oh well, no big deal, but had to call myself out on it. So up this week I'm getting back on track with Oriole #62, Dave Pope.

Dave played in the Major Leagues between 1952-56 with the Indians and Orioles. He made his Baltimore debut on June 15, 1955, becoming the 62nd player to appear in a game for the O's. He spent parts of the 1955 & '56 seasons with the O's, having been traded to the O's from the Indians in mid-1955 and was sent back to the Indians during the 1956 season.

Prior to Dave's time in the Majors, he played one season in the Negro Leagues. His brother, Willie Pope, also played in the Negro Leagues and seemingly had a distinguished career there. 


Dave also served in the Army during World War II prior to his time as a professional baseball player.

He passed away in 1999 from complications of leukemia and was 78 at the time of his passing. RIP Dave.


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 not very smart, says "Me fail English? That's unpossible." 

2001 Orioles Debuts, Orioles #682-700

So for a long time I've struggled to come up with anything interesting to say about some of the Orioles players that I don't have any personal memories of, or that played in Baltimore for such a short time that there wasn't much to say about them. This is how I'm going to cover many of the remaining Orioles autographs that I have yet to display, by grouping them by debut year. It's straightforward and relatively simple.

So without further ado, here we go...

In 2001, 19 players made their Orioles debut, from Pat Hentgen on Opening Day to Tim Raines Sr. in the season's final week. Here are all of them, with their debut number, debut date, and Orioles years.

Pat Hentgen #682 4/2/2001 (2001-03)

Willis Roberts #683 4/4/2001 (2001-03)

I almost literally have no memories of Willis and honestly, guys like him are why I decided to do these types of posts. I wasn't closely following the O's during his time in Baltimore and it's possible that I never saw him pitch in a game. So that's my "memory" of him. 

Jay Gibbons #684 4/6/2001 (2001-07)

John Bale #685 4/14/2001 (2001)

Chad Paronto #686 4/18/2001 (2001)

Jorge Julio #687 4/26/2001 (2001-05)

Josh Towers #688 5/2/2001 (2001-02)

I remember Josh much more-so for the five seasons he spent with the Blue Jays than his one plus season in Baltimore. He wasn't particularly successful at any of the stops during his career but he did pitch parts of eight seasons in the Majors. After bouncing around between Independent and Internationals leagues, he just retired following the 2011 season.

Brian Roberts #689 6/14/2001 (2001-current)

Larry Bigbie #690 6/23/2001 (2001-05)


Tony Batista #691 6/26/2001 (2001-03)

John Wasdin #692 7/1/2001 (2001)

Sean Douglass #693 7/18/2001 (2001-03)

Douglass pitched in 22 games for the O's during his three seasons in Baltimore, and like Roberts, I don't really have much to say about him. 

Kris Foster #694 8/3/2001 (2001)

Rick Bauer #695 9/2/2001 (2001-05)

Willie Harris #696 9/2/2001 (2001)

This is a pretty shabby autograph isn't it? I might need to look into an upgrade. 

Geronimo Gil #697 9/8/2001 (2001-05)

Casey Blake #698 9/22/2001 (2001)

Casey Blake didn't blossom as a player until after his extremely brief six game stint with the O's at the tail-end of the 2001 season. I'm not sure why he didn't get more of a chance in Baltimore, but he had also passed through the Blue Jays and Twins systems twice before he found regular MLB playing time with the Indians in 2003. 

Tim Raines Jr. #699 10/1/2001 (2001, 2003-04)

Tim Raines Sr. #700 10/3/2001 (2001)

Miguel Gonzalez Knocked Off the List

I recently acquired this autograph of Miguel Gonzalez for my collection. You might recognize it from my post about Miguel's debut a few weeks back. And thanks to fellow Orioles autograph collector, Russell, who gave me the lead on this card, it's now a part of my collection.

I never had a chance to get Miguel's autograph in-person during his short time with the O's, but I am prepared for the opportunity if or when he gets called back to Baltimore. For now, this autograph knocks his name off of my need list, which is something that always makes me happy!

And if anyone out there cares, my new approach to posting has been pushed back to tomorrow. Try not to get too excited about the debut!

Getting Back on Track

My autograph posts have been lacking lately, and for that, I apologize. I will hopefully get back to a more regular posting schedule tomorrow as I will be trying a new posting approach to display autographs from many of the players that I might not have a lot to say about individually.

I hope the new method towards posting will light a fire under me to get this bad boy rolling again. 

Kind of like how Vlad is attempting to resuscitate his career with Toronto. But hopefully my attempt is successful.

2012 Orioles Draft Signings

While the big league O's continue to shred the competition and remain in the American League playoff picture, I've been staying on top of their signing of the players they selected in the 2012 draft.

Below (in bold) is who they have signed so far, along with their twitter handles, where applicable.

1st Round (4th overall) Kevin Gausman @KevinGausman
2nd Round (65) Branden Kline @Half_n_Half16
3rd Round (99) Adrian Marin @Adrian_Marin8
4th Round (132) Christian Walker @CWALK01313
5th Round (162) Colin Poche @colinpoche
6th Round (192) Lex Rutledge @LexRutledge
7th Round (222) Matthew Price @MattPrice22
8th Round (252) Torsten Boss @T_Boss07 
9th Round (282) Brady Wager
10th Round (312) Joel Hutter @jhutter28 
11th Round (342) Kevin Grendell
12th Round (372) William Waltrip @Billz_W18
13th Round (402) Wade Wass @WadeWass_10
14th Round (432) Sean McAdams
15th Round (462) Derick Velasquez- will be tough to sign
16th Round (492) Luc Rennie @lucrennie20
17th Round (522) Nick Grim @NickGrim28CP
18th Round (552) Sam Kimmel
19th Round (582) Josh Hader @jhader17
20th Round (612) Ryan Ripken @RydinMahPine - very unlikely to sign
21st Round (642) Julian Service @jservice13
22nd Round (672) Will Howard @will_howard1
23rd Round (702) Gene Escat
24th Round (732) Tommy Richards @TR_38_BU
25th Round (762) Alexander Simpson @5creede5
26th Round (792) Lucas Herbst @LaidBckLuke4
27th Round (822) Anthony Caronia
28th Round (852) Dennis Torres
29th Round (882) Jake Pintar
30th Round (912) Anthony Vega @_AO34_ 
31st Round (942) Anthony Bazzani
32nd Round (972) William Russell 
33rd Round (1002) Colton Plaia- I'd say it's very unlikely he signs
34th Round (1032) John Sewald @johnnysewald17
35th Round (1062) Charles Porter
36th Round (1092) Peter Irvin- reports from his school that he will not sign
37th Round (1122) Derrick Bleeker @DBleeks9
38th Round (1152) Jack Graham @jackaarongraham  
39th Round (1182) Scott Kalush
40th Round (1212) Raymond Hunnicutt

Sticky Vlad's

I don't know much at all about the 2011 or 2012 Topps Stickers sets other than that Vlad was included in both sets so I needed them for my collection. They took some time for me to track down so they don't seem overly prevalent.

Vlad clearly didn't enjoy picture day in 2011, or maybe he felt degraded by being made into a sticker.

The 2012 edition features an action shot that looks like Vladdy just fouled a ball down the left field line. It's an improvement but still not great.

Unpossible Autograph Friday- Dave Boswell, Oriole #272

The Orioles family lost another member this past week when former Orioles pitcher Dave Boswell passed away on Monday from a heart attack. He was 67 years old.

Dave pitched in the Majors from 1964-71, mostly for the Twins, but also appeared briefly with the Tigers and O's at the end of his playing career. An arm injury knocked him out of baseball when he was just 27 years old.

He led the American League with a .706 win percentage in 1966 when he went 12-5 with the Twins and was generally known to give up a lot of hits but also struck out a large number of hitters. His time with the Orioles was at the tail-end of his career and didn't last very long. He made his Baltimore debut on May 29, 1971 and finished out the season with the Orioles; he went 1-2 with a 4.38 ERA over 15 appearances.

Unfortunately, his career was marred by a few off the field incidents, including a 1969 fight with his manager Billy Martin that left them both needing stitches. I know that Martin had a reputation as a fiery guy, so it's hard to assign blame to either party but it sounds as though Dave might have had a bit of a temper himself.

Since his time with the Orioles was so short, this Crown card is his only Orioles card. He had signed a copy of it in person for me at an Alumni Signing at Camden Yards a few years back but I am trying to upgrade to personalized autographs whenever possible. Interestingly, Dave had just returned this TTM request to me a mere nine days before his passing. I would have to guess that it was among the last autographs he signed in his life, so it makes it even more special to me.

RIP Dave

Welcome Back B-Rob

I apologize for the lack of posts over recent days, but I have some family visiting from out of town on top of a kitchen remodeling project so I've been short on time and sleep. My brain is not functioning at quite 100%, but I'd be remiss to not acknowledge the return of longtime Orioles lead-off man Brian Roberts. He has missed over an entire calendar year's worth of games battling back from multiple concussions that severely effected his ability to participate in daily activities, let alone play baseball at the highest level.

Well he made it all the way back to the Majors and went 3-4 with an RBI in last night's game against the Pirates. He has long been a spark plug for the rest of the lineup and can only help a team that was already 8 games over .500 on the season. This is an exciting time to be an Orioles fan!

Thank you Dad!

You might recall that I mentioned last week that current O's reliever Miguel Gonzalez didn't have any cards produced of him, even though a few readers later pointed out that he does seem to have a single Cedar Rapids Kernels minor league card that is relatively hard to find.

Well my dad is a regular reader of the blog and decided to do something about Miguel's not having a card so he made a few copies of this "card" for me, including a few extra copies to give to Miguel. My dad is constantly doing nice things for other people, and this is certainly no exception. Dad, thank you so much for giving me the opportunity to get an Orioles autograph of Miguel, I really appreciate your help!

Minor League Rehab Successes

Over the past two weeks, multiple members of the Orioles have been rehabbing with some nearby minor league affiliates. And knowing that this is one of my best chances to get autographs from these guys, you know I ventured out to try my luck. And I didn't come away disappointed. 

The AA Bowie Baysox had three Orioles players on their roster two weeks ago, so I hit up a few games. 

At the first game I attended, I was lucky enough to get B-Rob's autograph. He has been a tough autograph to get in recent years, so counted myself lucky to get him. 

I got the other two O's rehabbers at the second Baysox game I attended,  

and was very happy to upgrade my Mark Reynolds autograph to this personalized card, 

and to get Endy Chavez to sign his 2012 Orioles team set card.

Former Oriole Cesar Devarez is a coach for the Baysox, and while I've gotten his autograph a handful of times over the years, I never asked for a personalization until now.

Terry Crowley is some sort of minor league instructor for the O's this season and he also makes occasional appearances at the minor league games. This time around I lucked out and upgraded my autograph of his as well. When I asked him to personalize "To Ryan" he asked if that was me or my son (I don't have any kids, if you care), and I fessed up and said it was me and that I was a collector. Hey, I know that not too many adults are out there still getting autographs, but there ain't no shame in my game.

Unpossible Autograph Friday- Gene Woodling, Oriole #41

Gene Woodling played seventeen very successful seasons in the Major Leagues between 1943-62, missing the 1944 & '45 seasons due to military service during World War II. He played for the Indians, Pirates, Yankees, Orioles, Senators, and Mets during his career, and was a member of five consecutive Yankees' World Series winners between 1949-53. He was also a coach for the '66 Orioles World Series winning team, so he was part of six championship squads during his time in baseball, which is quite an accomplishment.

He had two stints in Baltimore during the mid to later parts of his career, first in 1955, then again from 1958-60. He arrived in Baltimore as a part of the massive Orioles-Yankees 17 player swap prior to the '55 season and he made his Orioles debut on April 11, 1955 which was Opening Day that year. He was a fixture in the O's outfield for the duration of his time in Baltimore, and played in 460 games for the Birds over his three and a half seasons in town. He was an All-Star for the O's in 1959, the only time he was a member of the mid-summer classic during his career.

After Gene retired from playing the game, he became the O's first base coach between 1964-67 and also served as the hitting coach in 1967. He went on to work as a scout in the Yankees and Indians systems and is known for signing Thurman Munson. He is also credited with helping to set up the MLB pension fund.

Gene passed away on June 2, 2001 at 78 years of age. RIP Gene.

His autograph was one of the first that I purchased when I began to get back into collecting Orioles autographs some time in 2006 or 2007. He appears to have been a very good signer as his autograph is still rather easy to find, even over a decade after he passed away, which is not the case for many players.



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 not very smart, says "Me fail English? That's unpossible." 

2012 Orioles Draft Wrap, with Twitter Info

The 2012 MLB First Year Player Draft wrapped up yesterday after 40 rounds of selections. In past years, the draft went 50 rounds so it felt at least slightly shorter this time around.

I started doing this on Tuesday, so figured that I may as well finish it up today. Here are all forty of the O's draft picks, along with their Twitter handles, if they are members of the site. In my opinion, it's a cool way to see how the players react to being drafted.

1st Round (4th overall) Kevin Gausman @KevinGausman
2nd Round (65) Branden Kline @Half_n_Half16
3rd Round (99) Adrian Marin @Adrian_Marin8
4th Round (132) Christian Walker @CWALK01313
5th Round (162) Colin Poche @colinpoche
6th Round (192) Lex Rutledge @LexRutledge
7th Round (222) Matthew Price @MattPrice22
8th Round (252) Torsten Boss @T_Boss07 
9th Round (282) Brady Wager- the streak appears to be broken...
10th Round (312) Joel Hutter @jhutter28 
11th Round (342) Kevin Grendell- nope
12th Round (372) William Waltrip @Billz_W18
13th Round (402) Wade Wass @WadeWass_10
14th Round (432) Sean McAdams- not as far as I can tell
15th Round (462) Derick Velzquez- two in a row no-go's
16th Round (492) Luc Rennie @lucrennie20
17th Round (522) Nick Grim @NickGrim28CP
18th Round (552) Sam Kimmel- nope
19th Round (582) Josh Hader @jhader17
20th Round (612) Ryan Ripken @RydinMahPine (Yep, that's Cal's son)
21st Round (642) Julian Service @jservice13
22nd Round (672) Will Howard @will_howard1
23rd Round (702) Gene Escat- another no
24th Round (732) Tommy Richards @TR_38_BU
25th Round (762) Alexander Simpson @5creede5
26th Round (792) Lucas Herbst @LaidBckLuke4
27th Round (822) Anthony Caronia- no dice
28th Round (852) Dennis Torres- still no
29th Round (882) Jake Pintar- our first three in a row no's
30th Round (912) Anthony Vega @_AO34_ 
31st Round (942) Anthony Bazzani- he's not in on the fun
32nd Round (972) William Russell - neither is "Steel", but he is bench coach John Russell's son
33rd Round (1002) Colton Plaia- another three straight, lame
34th Round (1032) John Sewald @johnnysewald17
35th Round (1062) Charles Porter- no
36th Round (1092) Peter Irvin- nope
37th Round (1122) Derrick Bleeker @DBleeks9
38th Round (1152) Jack Graham @jackaarongraham  He is the O's Minor League Ops Coordinator's son
39th Round (1182) Scott Kalush- not happening
40th Round (1212) Raymond Hunnicutt- not, but he has one of the cooler names of all the draftees