The Crown Card Back Signing Phenomenon Continues

I've brought this up once or twice, but since Ed Farmer recently returned my TTM request signed on the back of his Crown card, I figured that it was worth bringing up again. Some guys prefer to sign their Crown cards on the back!

 

As you can see, Ed pitched in only one single game for the Orioles during his career. So this is his only Orioles card. And he signed mine on the back because the front is pretty dark, and I guess he didn't want to sign on his face. 

  

Bob Bailor took a different approach. He awkwardly signed the card over his name, even though plenty of light space seemed to be available. (Bob had some glorious mutton-chops too, didn't he?)

  

And then also signed the back for good measure. 

Ken Lehman flipped the card on its side to personalize and sign it.

He might have been able to squeeze his autograph and my name on the front in his chin/neck region, but I guess he didn't want to constrict his signature. I can respect that. 

Gordie Sundin went all out and signed right across the center of the back of the card. With that thin pen, he probably could've painted the corners a bit more. 

 

There was definitely some autograph daylight around his neck. 

This Ken Dixon autograph is unique because he signed it for me in person at an Orioles Alumni Autograph signing. If I had noticed in time, I would've asked him to sign the front, but I didn't. 

I also forgot to scan the front of the card, but as you can see from this scan that I stole borrowed from ebay, there is plenty of light colored space to sign around his cap.

That's it for now, but I'm sure that I will get another Crown card that is signed on the back to add to my collection sometime soon.

A Few More Orioles Alumni Autos & a SCN trade

Here are a few autographs that somehow slipped through the cracks when I last posted about my O's Alumni autographs with a bonus SCN trade if you make it to the end of the post!


HOFer Dick Williams has definitely been the highlight of the year. Also, from what I hear he normally charges like $35 an auto so getting it for free was awesome.

1960 AL ROY Ron Hansen has also been a nice addition to the collection.

Fruit Loops! Yes, people brought boxes of the cereal for him to sign. Baltimore doesn't forget.

I have too many Krivda autos, does anybody want or need any?

Bob Bailor 1975-76

This auto came to me in a SportsCollectors.Net trade with user cook4888. Even though it's not on an Orioles card, I didn't have Bob's auto so I was happy.

Bob only played in 14 games for the Birds over the '75 & '76 seasons, so there isn't much to say about his time in Baltimore. He was blocked by a few players you might have heard of; Brooks, the Blade, and Bobby Grich. Understandably, Bob wasn't going to displace any of those guys.

He was a utility player (as you can see by the card broadly listing his position as "infield-outfield"), and stuck around the Majors for 11 seasons. As the Blue Jays first selection in the 1976 expansion draft, Bob made his way into the Jays' record books by hitting the first leadoff HR in team history.

Bobby B. was also regarded as being very tough to strike out, as evidenced by him only whiffing 164 times in 3206 plate appearances: Bob only struck out in 5% of his at-bats! I think he could teach a thing or two to the Mark Reynolds and Ryan Howards of the world who seem to strike out 75% of the time.

After his playing career was over, Bob became a Minor League manager in the Blue Jays system and eventually was a coach on the Blue Jays from 92-95, earning World Series rings in '92 & '93.