Making Good On Oquist

Every now and then, I come across a player whose autograph I never scanned and I've never written about them over the course of my blogging. It's pretty rare at this point, but it still happens occasionally, as it did on Tuesday, when I profiled the players who had debut for the Orioles during the 1993 season, and poor Mike Oquist's autographed card was left out of the fun.

Sorry for the crappy picture but I will get this scanned eventually

So here it is! I know the picture isn't perfect, but once I fire up the scanner for the pile of other cards that need scanned, I will upgrade this image too.

Mike pitched the first three seasons of his MLB career with the Orioles before briefly playing for the Padres,  and then spent his final three seasons with the A's. He became Oriole #535 when he debuted on August 14, 1993 and had a 5-4 record with a 5.04 ERA for the O's over 47 games and mostly appeared in relief.

He was a starter for the majority of the years he spent in Oakland, and unfortunately had one of the worst starts in modern baseball history on August 3, 1998 against the Yankees. In five innings, he gave up 16 hits and 14 (14!!!) earned runs, including four homers. He obviously had a very long leash for the game, whether due to the bullpen's unavailability or something I guess, but it's so rare to see a starting pitcher tagged for so many runs.  He gave up only one run in the first before getting shelled for seven in the second and five more in the third. Shockingly, he didn't give up a run in the fourth, but they scored once more in the fifth to wrap up his line. But oh well, you can't win 'em all!