Orioles Siggy Awards

Piggybacking off of a great idea from the ladies at Dinged Corners and further inspired by Paul's Random Stuff 's addition to the field, I present to you my Orioles Siggy Awards. I have eliminated all Minor Leaguers from consideration since they would dominate at least one of my categories (most legible autograph).

Best (only) TTM Return From a Player Inducted Into the Hall of Fame in 2010:

Best TTM Return From a Player Who Was Mysteriously Not Voted Into the HOF
but Should Have Been in 2010:

Best Use of the Letter "K" By an Oriole:


Best Uniform Number Placement:


Most "Unique" Autograph:


Most Legible Autograph:

Retired:

Current:


Least Legible Autograph:

Retired:


Current(many options for this one):


Most Amusing Use of Card Space for a Signature:

Least Amusing Use of Card Space for a Signature:


Most Frightening Picture/Painting on a Signed Card :


Most Unique Personalization:

A few TTMs

As they continue to roll in, I will continue to share them with you; that's what I'm here to do!

Mike "Bird" Parrott 1977

I have to start by addressing Mike's nickname. Now obviously, a parrot is a bird, so it makes sense, but wouldn't it have been more original to work off of Parrott? Mark "the Bird" Fidrych was already pitching in the Majors so I feel like "Bird" was pretty lame for Mike.

Ok, now that I got that out of my system; Mike was the O's 1st round draft pick in 1973 but only pitched in 3 games for the Birds (haha) before he was traded to the Mariners after the '77 season. He was the Opening Day pitcher for the Mariners in 1980, and won that game, but he did not win again for the rest of the season, finishing the year at 1-16. At least the '09 O's won't let that happen with Jason Berken, will we? I mean, at least, Berken wasn't our #1 starter at the beginning of the season, right?

Mike is currently the pitching coach for the D'backs AAA team, the Reno Aces.

Jerry DaVanon 1971

Jerry was the Orioles backup infielder during the '71 season and is currently officiating high school basketball in Houston, TX. His son, Jeff DaVanon, also played in the Majors for a few seasons.

Royle Stillman 1975-76

There isn't much information to be found about Royle, he played in a combined 33 games for the Orioles over two seasons. So I will focus upon the bet I made with myself when I first saw this card. I said "I bet Royle is from California." I was right, so I got paid, by myself. Win some, lose some.

Bobby "Bo" Bonilla 1995-96

Six-time All-Star, three-time Silver Slugger, four-time MVP vote receiver (coming in second to Pirates teammate Barry "Barroids" Bonds in '90, and third beyond Bonds and winner Terry Pendleton in '91). Bobby Bo accomplished all of these things before donning the black and orange but is a guy I have always had a soft spot for; but I know you Mets fans would disagree with me. Now I did grow up liking the Pirates and then the Orioles, so that had a lot to do with it, but Bobby always had some flair or attitude to his game that appealed to me.

After a few tumultuous years with the Mets following his Pirates days, he was traded to the Orioles for Damon Buford and Alex Ochoa on July 28, 1995. Nice work on that one O's front office; but I'm serious this time. Bobby Bo was only on the Birds for a season and a half, but he did help the O's make the '96 playoffs. He signed at the Orioles Alumni Autograph tent at the Orioles game on 6/29 but I was unprepared as he wasn't on the list of possible signers, so I was really glad to find that he signs TTM.

Killer B's

Larry Bigbie (01-05)
I always liked Larry when he was an Oriole, he even tossed one of my friends a ball in the front row of the OF stands after making a nice catch to end an inning. He just never really lived up to lofty expectations (he was a first round pick) and is now possibly the biggest pariah to play for the O's. He threw B-Rob under the steroids bus during the messy Mitchell Report investigation and I'm pretty sure has been black-listed by MLB since. The last I heard he was playing in Japan.


Kurt Birkins (06-07)
Kurt was a middle reliever for the O's, and I remember we lost him on waivers to the Rays. I do love these Topps 52 cards though.


Paul Blair (64-76)
Paul is probably the greatest Oriole CF of all time and was known for his tremendous speed. He was on 2 World Series champion clubs, won 8 Gold Gloves and played in 2 All-Star games during his tenure with the Orange and Black. Not too shabby! He is to be at the O's Fan Fest this Saturday so I'm hoping to get a personalized autograph from him.

Bobby Bonilla (95-96) (Auto on Pirates card)
As a Pirates fan growing up, I was psyched when I heard that Bobby Bo was going to be an O! He and Barry Bonds* were part of the Killer B's, hence the name of the post. And since Bonds was so easy to dislike, it made Bobby even more likable to me as a kid. He only played for the O's for a brief time and seemed to be pretty "confident" of his abilities by that point but still, it's hard to hold much against a player that I liked most of my life. Also to get him from the Mets, the Orioles only had to give up Damon Buford and Alex Ochoa.


Dan/Danny Boone (90)
Outside of having probably the funniest/coolest/Coonskin-cap wearingest name of any Orioles player, I know that he only pitched in 4 games for the O's so I feel lucky that he has a card wearing an O's uni and that I have that card signed. He also seems a little old to be a "Rookie Prospect", as he was 36 in 1990.


Rich Bordi (86)
He was a pretty decent reliever for the O's in '86. Another guy I don't remember much about and I'm not sure what to say about. Kind of a funny name in my opinion.