A Return to Regular Blogging?

I don't generally pay too much attention to how often I post here; I generally try to write with some sort of regularity and will write about Orioles autographs when there is something to say. But something jumped out at me looking back at the month of April. I wrote 18 posts, which is more than I've written in any specific month going all the way back to August 2012, and it's nearly a third of the posts I wrote during the entire 2013 calendar year. There was a time last year where it really seemed to me that the blog was slowly dying.

For whatever reason, the start of the 2014 Orioles season has reinvigorated my desire to write about the Orioles and their autographs. Part of it has been the ease of writing the debut posts, which seem to pretty much write themselves, but I've also gotten into the walk-up songs again, and even looked into the player's status on Twitter. So things are really rolling along here at the GOAP. Will I keep up this pace all year? I'd have to say it's unlikely based on recent history, but at least I'm on track to post ten-ish times each month. And that ain't bad.

To celebrate my "return", here are a bunch of upgrades that I've been able to acquire recently. And it seems only appropriate to show off my dad's Old Man Cards, since they have certainly contributed to my continued passion for my collection!

I've written about all of these players in the past, so click the links on their names if you want to read about them and their histories with the O's!

Greg Aquino

Brian Bass 

Fernando Cabrera

Scott Feldman

Jake Fox

Sean Henn

Michael Morse

Omar Quintanilla

Clay Rapada

Josh Stinson

Delmon Young- big thanks goes out to my Spring Training Orioles autograph collecting buddy, Alan, for getting this one personalized for me after I flew back North

2010 Orioles Topps Team Set

For the past few years, I have looked forward to purchasing the Orioles Topps team set, you know the ones that are prepackaged and aren't part of the actual Topps master set. The Orioles cards are number BAL1-14 (or 15) and typically feature a recently acquired player or two photoshopped into an Orioles uniform; this is generally their first Orioles card, so it makes me happy. 

This year's set included the first (and to-date, only) Orioles cards of Mike Gonzalez and Cla Meredith. 

 

The 2010 Topps set has this exact picture showing Mike in a Braves uniform, but they worked a little photoshop magic to show him in an "Orioles" uniform. The hat is fine but his jersey looks more like a Giants uni than an Orioles. I'm cool with it since it's his only Orioles card.  

I got two of these signed and this one actually has the "better" signature of the two. Mike's a pretty good signer at the Yard but I'm not really sure what's going on with his 'graph. I see M____  maybe a G and then I really don't know. 

This card's inclusion surprised me since Cla was/is a middle reliever who didn't do anything to specifically stand out from the rest of the O's relief core during the '09 season. By my count, there were five other Orioles relievers (Jim Johnson (64), Danys Baez (59), Matt Albers (56), Mark Hendrickson (53) & Brian Bass (48)) who pitched in more games than Cla (29) and were on the Orioles for the entire season too. Cla's ERA was lower than those other guys but Jim Johnson was the Orioles (awful) CLOSER for the last two months of the season and he didn't get any love. Baez and Bass were out of Baltimore following the season but the other three pitchers could have a beef with being passed by so Topps could include Cla. 

Anyway, I'm happy to have his only Orioles signed card to include in my collection but I'm skeptical that he is actually wearing that O's uniform.  I think this is another photoshop job from Cla's time with the Padres.  His '08 Topps card used a similar picture and the jersey just doesn't look right.  Was Topps not able to get a photographer out to an Orioles game after mid-July?  I like that he was included but find it hard to believe that they didn't have a decent O's pic of him. 

Spring Training Autographs-Pirates-Twins Edition

Before heading south to watch the Orioles in Sarasota, I caught a Pirates-Twins game in Bradenton. McKechnie Field is one of my favorite Spring Training sites and is a very cool little ballpark. I highly suggest you check it out if you are ever heading to Florida in the Spring, or any other time for that matter. They just added lights to the park and were able to lure a Minor League team, the Bradenton Marauders, who start playing there at the beginning of April.

Leave it to an Orioles blogger to lead you to believe you will see Pirates and/or Twins autographs and then start it out with some signed Orioles cards.

Joe Kerrigan 1978, 1980

Joe has been the Pirates' pitching coach since the beginning of the 2009 season. I tried to get him to sign at a Pirates Spring Training game last season and I'm pretty sure he ignored me and I know he didn't sign for anyone. But this year, he was talking to another fan right near the fence so I held out my card, and he seemed slightly surprised that I had a card of his, but he quickly signed it. Suh-weet.

Joe pitched in 27 games for the O's over two seasons, 26 of them were in '78. He also managed the Red Sox for 43 games over the 2001 season.

Brian Burres 2006-08

Burres is in the Pirates' camp as an invitee and is trying to make the team. Brian Bass is also in the same position with the Bucs. That's a lot of B.B.'s who used to play for the O's. Ha! Now if only they were throwing BB's instead of beach balls! Now, I don't want to be too mean and I'm glad that Burres signed for me, but I don't have a lot of fond memories from his years in Birdland.

Andrew McCutchen didn't play in the game that I saw, which was disappointing, but since he didn't play, in his own words "he had nothing else to do" other than sign for us fans, so that was good. He was nice enough to also sign a ball for me.

He is one of my favorite, current non-Orioles players and I'm seriously thinking about collecting his cards. The Pirates are my National League team after all. And he seems like a decent guy.

Dmitri "Da Meat Hook" Young was in the stands at the game to watch his little bro, Delmon, play for the Twins. I normally don't like to bother guys off the field, but he was just standing along the walkway, so I got him to sign my game ticket and also got a picture with him. He seemed like a nice guy and is actually smiling in the picture.

A Huge Bass Upgrade

Brian Bass 2008-09

For all intents and purposes, I have solved my Brian Bass autograph collection issue with this awesome Orioles signed player card/postcard of him. I got it on eBay and it fits nicely into my collection, even though I prefer regular signed cards to these.

So I present to you the issue I faced with Mr. Bass and what autograph of his I should have in my collection.


This is an "Orioles" card of his, technically the only unsigned one. But I'm calling Upper Deck's bluff on this one. He's not wearing an Orioles uniform on the card and just slapping an O's logo on it doesn't make it one.


And this is his only certified "Orioles" autograph. Same problem with this one. That's blatantly a Twins uniform. I would probably prefer a half-ass photoshop job to this, although with the Twins' pinstripes, it would have looked awful. It's a pet peeve of mine when card companies obviously mix logos and uniforms.


And this is the Twins card that I got signed in person at a game last season. I really like the look of these A&G cards when they are signed and this will stay in my collection too since if I have a signed post card of a player, I still like to have a signed card of theirs as well.

So that is my explanation of my Brian Bass autograph quandary and my dislike of Upper Deck's attempts to make an Orioles card of his. He made his Orioles debut on 9/5/08 and they weren't able to make a single Orioles card of him, so I solved the problem my own way.

Adios Senor Bass

A lot of good-byes these past few days...which generally means we will be saying hello to some new faces soon enough.

Brian Bass today became the most recent former Oriole when the O's declined to offer him a contract for 2010. He was acquired from the Twins on September 5, 2008 for cash and went 6-3 with a 4.85 ERA in 53 games for the O's since then. Those are decent numbers but he seemed to have some issues last season keeping his head on straight in tight game situations, so you could only rely on him when the game was out of hand which didn't increase his value.

I listed him as a "I don't-think-he's-a-good-signer" in my autograph year in review since I only got his signature twice over his season plus with the Birds and only saw him sign one additional time that I missed out on him. As far as I know, he never had an Orioles card produced so these Twins autographed cards will stay in the collection.

Good luck with your next organization Brian.

Orioles Autograph Year in Review: The "I-Don't-Think-They're-Good-Signers" Updated

Added scans of B-Rob & Bass autos.

I was able to get autographs from all of these players (except KOJI!) but they didn't seem to sign often.


I have to start by addressing Koji, the second Orioles player that I did not obtain an autograph from this season. This is the card I would like to get signed if I ever get the opportunity. Also, a quick check of eBay reveals multiple Orioles certified autographs available for sale at reasonable prices. I prefer getting things signed in person, but if it doesn't work, at least I have some options.

I saw Koji sign at about two games but he drew quite a crowd, specifically from his Asian fans, so I didn't get him to sign anything for me either time. He also got injured early in the season and didn't pitch after June 23, so that also made his auto tougher to get in person. I know he was signing TTM through the season so I tried that route, but no success there yet.



Oscar signed this card for me at the Tides game I went to this season. I also sent him a TTM request while he was at Norfolk, but that seems to be gone for good. He was with the Orioles from June 7-July 12 this season and I don't recall seeing him sign while in Baltimore. But since he signed for me in Norfolk, I can't say I've never seen him sign for the fans.



JJ signed for me twice this season. Both times were early in the year before he was promoted to being the O's closer. I don't think that I saw him sign at all after he was named the closer so it could have something to do with a superstition of his or possibly he got an inflated sense of himself once he was the closer. Who knows? Not I.



This picture is from the one time this season that I saw B-Rob sign. I somehow neglected to scan the card that I got signed that day but trust me, I did get one autographed. I will scan it tonight if I get a chance.

And here it is...
B-Rob definitely falls into the category of being one of the most popular Orioles players so hundreds of people want his autograph at every game. He's a great player and definitely the focus of many female fans' attention so that leads to added competition when seeking his signature. That said, I think I only saw him sign openly like this one or two other times out of all the games that I attended.

I got Brian's auto twice this season. He signed this card for me in Toronto while he was walking back to the dugout after stretching and also signed an Allen & Ginter card for me at the last game of the season. I hope to also scan and add that to this post tonight. It looks really good, and is replacing this card as my favorite Bass auto.

Even though you can't see the borders it looks pretty nice

Those were the only two times that I can recall seeing him sign all season long. I think some of that has to do with the whole relief pitchers staying in the dugout and then walking out to the bullpen together thing. As a reminder for next season, if you are trying to get relievers' autographs, you should focus on Sunday games.

Autograph pictures from my trip

As I try to catch up on work, and life in general, after my trip I want to make sure I get back to posting regularly (whatever that might be). Pictures of the Orioles playing at the Skydome are forthcoming. And I do know that it's now officially called the Rogers Centre, but I definitely prefer calling it the Skydome.

In the meantime, here are most of the Orioles autographs that I was able to get in Toronto. I love going to O's road games since it is so much easier to get autographs from the Birds. These are presented more or less in order of how much I like the players, and/or whether or not I already have their autographs.

While I'm OK with the Gregg Zaun trade, I was not prepared for it, so didn't have my Moeller cards on the trip with me. I got him on this cool O-Pee-Chee Orioles checklist. But Bad Chad surprising me like that!

Felix finally signed for me at a game.

Berky got the win on Friday, which is the only reason he is ranked this high. I ran into his cousin before that game; he seemed like a really nice guy. And don't get the wrong idea, I don't know Berken but his cousin said hi since I was wearing my Orioles gear.

Dino continued to be a good signer, and to look tough in all pictures taken of him.

Guthrie signed but seems to like to mess with some of the fans by telling them he will sign and then running away multiple times.

Finally an in-person success with "The Crow"!

Also my first time getting Brian Bass in-person. I think Toronto was a good luck charm for me.


Probably the best signer on the team, LUUUKE signed for everyone, and some of their mothers.


This isn't the first time Melmo signed for me, but it is the first time this season.


Ty finally signed this card; his first in an Orioles uniform.


"Claw" signed for me! He has moved down a little on my favorite O's list as he keeps giving up runs but this is an awesome action shot of him pitching!


I think that this is now my favorite Jonesy autograph. What a great looking card.


Nolan was signing and let's just say that Kalina was a little bit happy about that.


But Wiety signed too! And I was very happy about that!
It's the first time I got him to sign since he was promoted to the O's in late May.
He signed all three days of the series too.

So, to wrap up this post; I highly recommend that, if you love the Orioles and getting them to sign things for you, you should hit the road with the team sometime. They are much more likely to sign since there are many fewer O's fans than in Baltimore and it's always cool to check out other ballparks.

Cards bought at the show & some new TTMs in!

Due to the request by the ladies at Dinged Corners, I decided to get my most recent cards pics up tonight.
I told you they weren't that exciting. I have current, but not-for long, Oriole Brian Bass and former Oriole Denny Bautista. They were cheap authentic autos so couldn't pass them up. Also, I'm positive there aren't any Bautista Oriole cards and was under that impression about Bass until I discovered an orange and black jersey card tonight.


Also, in the past few days, I got TTMs back from three great guys who all took the time to personalize them too! Thanks to Bob "Rocky" Johnson, Bobby Floyd & Tom Shopay. Floyd looks like he was pretty excited and gave me the full card auto.



And finally, here is the Steve Trachsel auto card that Paul's Random Stuff sent me last week.