Oriole #935, Lew Ford & #936, Nate McLouth

And I'm back. My "fishing trip" was a little longer than expected, but now I'm back in the saddle and ready to ramble on and on about Orioles autographs once again.

A few players made their Orioles debuts while I was away, so I wanted to discuss them today. Both of these guys are MLB veterans whom the O's promoted from AAA Norfolk.

First up is the 935th man to play in a game for the Orioles, Lew Ford, who made his O's debut on Sunday, July 29, against the A's in Baltimore. He has now played in six games with the Orioles and is still looking to make his mark for the team, but it has to be a good feeling for Lew to just make it back to the Majors.

You see, these games with the Orioles are Lew's first appearance at baseball's highest level since 2007 with the Twins. Since then, he has played in Japan, Mexico, and the independent Atlantic League twice all in an effort to make it back to "the show". Congrats to you, Lew. You continued to play the game you obviously love and you made it the whole way back to the top.

I picked up this signed Tides card of Lew at the National on Saturday, but unfortunately not before I had already purchased a signed Twins card, so if anyone still needs him, just let me know.


Nate McLouth, who had been playing with the Tides for two months, had an opt-out clause in his contract scheduled for last Friday night at midnight. Well the Orioles opted to not let him get away and called him up; they made room on the roster for him by designating Endy Chavez for assignment.

Nate made his Orioles debut in Saturday's game in Tampa against the Rays becoming Oriole #936, and immediately made his impact known, going 2-4 at the plate with a double and a run scored, so hopefully that might be a sign of things to come. If nothing else, he seems to be a nice upgrade over Chavez.

McLouth was a long-time Pittsbugh Pirate (he earned an All-Star berth and Gold Glove with the Buccos in 2008) before being traded to the Braves in mid-2009 and seeing his career take a downhill turn. He signed an off-season deal to return to the Pirates prior to the 2012 season but struggled in limited playing time and was released on May 31. He signed a deal with the Orioles on June 5th and hopefully playing in the American League can get his career back on track.

I don't currently have an autograph of Nate's in my collection but I have a line on a signed Tides card of his and should have that locked up soon.