The first success was from Ray Barker, who played a single season for the O's in 1960. He also played for the Indians and Yankees over his four seasons in the Bigs. With a $5 signing fee, Ray signed and personalized my request and got it back to me in only five days.
Steve Reed was my second success; he personalized, signed and returned this card in only seven days, which is pretty amazing as it had to travel from Maryland to Colorado and back.
I had recently traded for a signed Padres card of Steve, but this Orioles card is obviously an upgrade for me. It's a double bonus card too since Steve is wearing an orange uni and is shown in the middle of his sidearm pitching motion.
This card is a perfect representation of the lengths I will go to for my collection. I already had Bob's 1981 Topps card signed, and this Crown card uses the exact same photo as the Topps card. I guess no pictures of Bob in an O's uniform exist since he only played in eight games for the O's in 1979. So even though both cards use the same picture showing Bob, mouth agape, in his Sox hat, I had to have this one signed for my collection since it's his only "Orioles" card.
Bob returned my card in ten days, but unfortunately didn't personalize it as I requested.
Elliott Maddox kindly personalized and signed my card in eleven days. I added $5 to my request which always helps, but I was happy to add Elliott's only Orioles card to my collection. He played 11 seasons in the Majors for the Tigers, Senators/Rangers, Yankees, Orioles, and Mets.
This card is actually the second TTM request that I sent Rich's way. I normally try to avoid sending multiple requests to the same player, unless they didn't sign the first time, so as to not have the player think I'm greedy and ruin their signing habits for everyone. Yes, I'm looking at those of you who ALWAYS send seven cards to be signed. I think that's a bit excessive.
Anyway, Rich signed and returned my request back in March when I sent a Twins card. At that point, I didn't think any Orioles cards existed of him. Then, about two months ago, a friend of the blog by the name of Riley contacted me about a set of Orioles Hershey cards. They appear to be some sort of giveaway and are approximately the size of an index card. But they're really awesome and the set includes the only Orioles cards I have ever come across for multiple players, including Rich. So I sent this off to him and now it's a part of my collection.
