The Last of the Spring Training Autographs

While I had an absolute blast on my trip to Spring Training, it's hard to believe that I still haven't gotten around to posting all the scans of the cards I got autographed yet. I know that I can be a bit of a procrastinator, but this is bad. So without any further delay, here are the rest of 'em. (Aren't you glad this isn't a news site or something? I would just now be celebrating St. Patrick's Day or something.)

This post pretty much consists of autographs of coaches, and a few other cards that got skipped along the way.

Anytime you get an autograph of a Hall of Famer, it should probably lead off the post. Palmer is pretty accessible around O's games since he works on the TV broadcasts for MASN, but it's still always exciting to get his autograph. 

I'm not sure how I missed this Tillman autograph in my post featuring the other current O's but I did. And it looks like Chris was only signing one card per person this year, so I chose this nice orange uni Tides card over some other cards.

I can't honestly say when I got this card signed by Miguel. I didn't think it was on my trip but since I'm not sure, here it is!

I don't know how many different signed cards I now have that show Brady on various cards in an orange uniform, but it's more than a few.

Dave Anderson is the O's new infield instructor, and he was kind enough to sign these cards for me at minor league camp one morning. 

Scott was actually in the Orioles big league camp (I believe in 2012) trying to make the team, but faced some injuries and had to retire. He is now a coach for the short season Aberdeen Ironbirds. 

Like Palmer, Mike Bordick works for MASN and is around the team throughout the season. 

Former Oriole Butch Davis has been a minor league instructor for the O's for quite a few years now. He is currently the hitting coach for AA Bowie. 

 The Orioles sure do love to have their former players come back as instructors. Todd is a scout for the team and came into camp for a few days to work with fellow side-arm pitcher Darren O'Day on their shared unique throwing style.

Another former Oriole. Another current Orioles coach. As you can see, Mike is the pitching coach for AAA Norfolk.

You know the drill by now. Scotty pitched for the O's, and is now in the fold as an instructor in their farm system. He made a funny comment about disliking this picture of himself. Mid-80's Fleer sets seem to be full of these awkward shots.

Upgraded Orioles Spring Training Autographs

As I continue to work my way through the autographs I got during my Spring Training trip last week, I'm trying to figure out some logical ways to group the autographs.

Today's group features players who have already played in a game for the Orioles. And you'll notice that I continued my trend of requesting personalizations, and that everyone was very accommodating.

One of the highlights of my trip was getting Chris Davis to sign his 2012 Topps card, the first card that pictures him as an Oriole.

Since 2012 Topps came out in late January, I had to add Davis and Kyle Hudson to my need list, something that always bothers me with current players. And with Hudson now with the Rangers, I will have to get creative to add his signature to my collection.  

I was also excited to get Hardy's autograph, since I found him to be pretty tough to track down last season.

Jonesy continues to be an above average signer for a star player.

I continue to have luck with Chris Tillman, although a fellow collector mentioned that he seems to be getting harder to get to sign than in past years. 

I seem to go through feast or famine times in terms of getting Troy's signature, and I'm currently stuffed.

One of the more surprising autographs I got was from Brian Roberts, who is around the team, but not playing in games at this time. I snagged him leaving the complex on an off day, and he seemed to be in decent spirits considering all he's gone through in regards to his concussions. 

I specifically enjoy requesting personalizations from players who are also named Ryan. I like to see how their printing compares to their signature. In Adams' case, it's not very similar.

Josh Bell was kind enough to add the rare personalization & double inscription combo. 

Also, this is not a very flattering action shot, as Josh is kind of making a "derpface". 

One of the most unexpected autographs I got on my trip was of Winston Abreu, who made his major league debut with the 2006 Orioles. He was the 793rd player to appear in a game for the O's when he debuted on August 6th; unfortunately, he didn't have much success and had a 10.13 over seven games. This was my first in-person success with Winston.

I was happy to add personalized cards from a few of the Orioles coaches/instructors who were around Sarasota.

Brady has been a tough signer over the years, so it's nice to have him so accessible.

Chris Hoiles is also helping out during Spring Training as a catching instructor.

Alan Mills has returned to the Baltimore organization as he is poised to be the pitching coach for the short season A ball Aberdeen Ironbirds in 2012. 

I didn't recognize Alan at first since he literally looks the same now as he did on this early 1990s' card. It must be nice to age so gracefully.


I try to always be prepared with Orioles cards in case any one-time Birds are playing or coaching for the opposing teams. I lucked out with former O's pitcher and current Braves pitching coach, Roger McDowell, who was shagging fly balls down the right field line during Braves BP.

 Check out the R's in his signature and the personalization of my name. Now those are some similar R's!

2012 FanFest Pictures

My family and I all took a bunch of pictures at Fanfest. Not too surprisingly, mine were mostly of the players at the autograph stations. Sorry that some of the pictures are blurry but my dad's camera was having problems getting it's focus on.


If only we had a kid with us, we could've gotten free autographs at the kids only station of (l to r) Zach Phillips, Chris Davis, Ryan Flaherty, and Pedro Strop. I'm still trying to add signed O's postcards of Phillips and Strop to my collection, so maybe I should have seen if I card borrow a kid from someone else; anyone have one I could rent for next year?

Here is a picture from yet another station that I didn't have a ticket for. While waiting in line for the 3:20 signing to begin, (l to r) Chris Tillman, Chris Hoiles, and Matt Wieters were still signing for fans from the previous group.

And for my last picture of players whose autographs I didn't get, here are Rick Krivda (l), and Zach Britton leaving the station prior to my next group signing.

Now HERE are some players whose station I went through; (l to r) Jai Miller, Taylor Teagarden, Troy Patton, and JJ Hardy.

A few minutes before the above picture was taken, I got to see Miller and Patton introducing themselves to one another. It was a unique thing to see since frequently teammates know each other prior to being in public. And it's because of this that I know Jai's name is pronounced "Jay", not "Jeye" as I had thought.

And here is some proof that I actually went through the line. First up is me and Miller...

and Teagarden...

and Patton...

Here is my dad helping me out with Brady.

And Kalina with Matt Wieters (lucky Kalina!)

 I tried to get a picture of Kalina and Matt Antonelli but only one of them was looking. Guess which one?

Lastly are a few pictures from the previous station I went through. Below are Oliver Drake (l) and Dana Eveland.

And HOFer Jim Palmer. It's pretty cool that he still attends FanFest, but he didn't seem overly personable this year.

Tomorrow will be my last FanFest post, as I still have a few trades and purchases to show off.

My 2012 FanFest Autographs

So I spent about four hours at Orioles FanFest at the Baltimore Convention Center on Saturday and was able to get autographs from almost everyone I wanted, thanks to some major help from Kalina and my parents. I think that everyone in my group had a pretty good time, I know that I sure did! Thanks for your help guys!

Since I added so many autographs to the collection, this will be an information short and scan heavy post.

Probably the coolest autograph that we got all day was this Markakis struck foul ball that my dad snagged at a game late last season.

And he also got Kakes to sign this orange uniform card for me!

I also added signed items of many of the new Orioles to my collection. Since I like to have signed cards as well as postcards of the players, I got both whenever possible. 

A few other players had their first Orioles postcards available...

My dad was able to get a few cards personalized to me...

I was able to add a few more autographs of my favorite Oriole...

And I was able to add some trade stock too... the following are all available for trade (minus the Patton minor league card which was obtained for a fellow collector)

 

   

I will share some stories, trade items, and pictures tomorrow.