A Bunch of Recent Upgrades

Over the past few months, I've had luck upgrading some of the autographs in my collection. A few were obtained TTM, others were had via trade, while I had to shell out a few bucks for some others. But I have at least written briefly about all of them in the past, so I'll try to keep the write-ups short.

I'll lead off with the man with the bad attitude, Albert Belle (Oriole #636). This certified autograph replaces an "Orioles" card that pictured him in a White Sox uniform, something that I could never quite get past, especially considering the number of certified 'graphs that showed Big Al in a legitimate Orioles uniform.

This Lenny Webster (Oriole #600) card came to me via a trade on Sportcollectors.net and replaced a signed Orioles postcard. Lenny had been on my need list for way too long and I was thrilled to knock off his name.

Dick Brown had also been in line for an upgrade for quite some time before I came across this awesome Orioles postcard. This replaced a cut 3x5 autograph in my collection and while Dick technically has a Topps Orioles card, it doesn't picture him in an Orioles uniform, so I feel like this postcard is as good as it will get for him.

This is the third Juan Guzman (Oriole #627) autograph that has trickled through my collection, and this one is here to stay.

Shawn Boskie (Oriole #603) was kind enough to add a very unique inscription to this signed Orioles postcard. This is definitely better suited for my collection than an Angels card.

Here is another Orioles postcard upgrade, this of the spectacled Chuck McElroy (Oriole #658), which interestingly also knocks a signed Angels card from my collection.

This Keith Moreland (Oriole #474) Crown card knocks out a Cubs card that I obtained from the 2010 National from my collection.

Chuck Diering (Oriole #12) sent me one of the more interesting TTM returns I've ever received when he added his signed business card to my request. This personalized autograph replaces an unpersonalized Crown in my collection. 

He also answered the question in my letter about his favorite Orioles memory, and it turns out he was the team's MVP during their inaugural 1954 season. 

This personalized Joe Durham (Oriole #37) card is going to stay in my collection along with the 1958 Topps card he had signed for me at an Orioles alumni signing a few years back.
 

I'm confident that this Dave Skaggs (Oriole #326) autograph is legit, unlike the one that was previously a part of my collection.

And finally, this Dave Van Gorder (Oriole #429) Red Wings card is about a 50% upgrade over the signed Reds card that it is replacing. I hope to one day finally have Van Gorder sign an Orioles Crown card for me, but I haven't had any luck so far.

Trade with GCRL

I've been on the receiving end of a few really great trades over the past few days and am excited to show off the newest additions to my collection!

The first trade that came my way is from Jim who writes an awesome Dodger blog called Garvey Cey Russell Lopes which highlights the Dodger's infield of his youth. But who am I kidding, if you are reading my blog, chances are that you've already come across GCRL. But if you haven't, click the link! Jim is truly dedicated to cards and even writes another blog called oh my o-pee-chee which covers, well obviously, o-pee-chee cards and how they are similar to or different from the Topps versions.

Jim sent me a bunch of Orioles cards, some of my set needs from 2009 Heritage and a few amazing custom cards that we he and I had discussed. I'm most excited about the customs, but am going to wait until the end to show them off.

 

Here's a small sampling of the Orioles that he sent my way, including some awesome vintage cards, an oddball Cal card, a few guys who you might have forgotten/never known wore the black and orange, a very skinny pre-roids David Segui, and a few cards from a very cool All-Time Classic set that I've never seen before. I'm pretty sure that's my first George Sisler card. 

  

I wasn't able to narrow my new stack-O-O's down to only nine cards to show off, so here's a few more. There's a really young B-Rob, a '93 Topps Flanny that I've somehow never seen, supercool sidewinder Todd Frohwirth in action, and a few newer B-Rob and Markakis cards that I didn't have in the collection.

And now, here's the highlight of our trade, in my opinion at least:

Jamie Walker's 2007, '08, & '09 Topps cards!

Why is this so exciting? Well, as some of you probably know, Jamie wasn't included in any of those Topps sets and has very few cards considering he pitched 10 seasons in the Majors. It's probably because he was a "replacement" player during Spring Training in 1994, so he isn't in the MLBPA, but so was Kevin Millar and he appeared on many more cards, so it's more likely because the card companies don't like to produce cards of relief pitchers. Jamie pitched in 162 games for the O's from 2007-09, including a league high 81 in '07, so I felt like he deserved an Orioles card. 

A little ways back, Jim asked if anyone was interested in custom cards being made for them, and I quickly submitted Jamie's name to him. Not only was Jamie a key member of the bullpen during my re-immersion in Orioles baseball, but he's also a great TTM signer, so I would like to upgrade my signed Orioles team card to a card of his own. Jim came through in a big way and sent these three customs to me, and let me say, I'm totally blow away! Outside of being on photo paper instead of card stock and lacking the pre-printed signatures, which only get in the way of autographs anyway, you can't even tell that these cards weren't in the set. Jim did an amazing job and I can't wait to send one of these to Jamie, I just don't know which one to send! 

Thank you so much Jim! I really appreciate the cards, and especially your customs. I will hopefully be sending your cards out by the weekend, but I'm afraid I can't match the wow-factor of what you sent my way.

An Awesome Envelope From Jamie

About two weeks ago, I got an email from blog reader Jamie; he's a huge Orioles fan who lives in Rochester, NY.  Some of you might be able to guess where this is going...the Orioles' AAA team was the Rochester Red Wings from 1961-2002.  Jamie regularly attended Red Wings' games from the late '80s until the O's dropped their affiliation, and he was smart enough to bring cards for the players to sign.  He checked my want list and sent me some truly awesome additions to my collection.  All 5 of these guys are tough signers and I have tried to track them down for some time now.

You all know about Albert Belle, he was crazy.  Crazy good with the bat, and just plain crazy in real life.  He was also an Oriole, so I needed his autograph.  Surprisingly, he doesn't sign TTM requests.  So getting him in this trade was great.  I wonder what he was like when he was signing for fans.  Did someone have to force him to do it?

Orange Uni alert!

Francisco de la Rosa pitched in 2 games for the Orioles during the 1991 season, he had a 4.50 ERA in 4 innings pitched.  He has pretty much disappeared, likely to his native Domincan Republic, after his playing career ended, so his autograph is very tough to track down.  There isn't much demand for his autograph outside of some crazy Orioles collectors like myself, so I doubt I will ever see a private signing with him.  He does have a pesky '92 Stadium Club card showing him in an O's uniform (also orange), so I will still keep my eyes open for that one.  He appeared too late in the '91 season to be included in the Crown set.

Why the shifty look Paul? Is someone trying to copy your curly hair/awesome stache combo?

Paul appeared in 38 games for the '91 O's and had an 0-2 record with a 5.08 ERA, including 14 games finished with one save.  It sounds like Paul might have filled the mop-up role for that squad.  Overall, he pitched for 5 different teams over his 6 year MLB career.  Interestingly, he signs the same percentage(zero) of TTM requests that Albert Belle does; I wonder what Paul has against his fans? 

Paul appeared early enough in the '91 season to be included at the very end of the Crown set.  He also has a few other Orioles cards, so again, I will try to track down his autograph on one of them.  

Mark played for the Giants and O's over his 6 season MLB career from 1990-95. His one season in Baltimore was in 1993, during which he only played in 10 games, and was sandwiched by his time with the Giants from 90-92 & 94-95.

He only appeared in 168 games over his 6 big league seasons, highlighted by 64 games for the '91 Giants; he was typically used as a reserve outfielder.  Mark doesn't have any Orioles cards, which is good because he also seems to be allergic to signing  TTM requests.  What is it with these guys? 

Kevin pitched 5 games for the the O's in 1993 and had a 5.94 ERA.  Pretty much all of his stats over those 5 games weren't very good, yet he also doesn't like to sign.  


Thanks again for the great autographs Jamie!  I really appreciate your helping the Project along!