My Return to Orioles Alumni Autographing

I've written about it a few times over the years, but the Orioles do something pretty awesome prior to every Monday and Thursday home game; they bring back three alumni players to meet fans and sign autographs on Eutaw Street. Due to some changed responsibilites with work, I wasn't able to make many (maybe any?) of the alumni signings last year, but I've already made it to one this season.

The Orioles don't typically announce who is signing beforehand, but a few people on collecting sites sometimes seem to get some insider info about who will be showing up. And I heard a few weeks back that John Stefero, who I needed to get a personalized upgrade of, would be in town. Also signing that night were Ken Dixon, and Chris Hoiles.

I tried to snap a few pictures of the former O's as I worked my way through the line but it was easier said then done, here is one of my first attempts, that shows Chris Hoiles being cool and standing up for a selfie with a fan. (Yes, that's definitely my first mention of the word selfie on my site.)

Here is a somewhat better shot of the three signers as I neared the front of the line. 

And here's the autograph I was after, it's always a good day for me when I can knock another personalized autograph off.

Chris Hoiles was awesome as always and signed three cards for Kalina and me. He was one of her favorite players and it's always easier to ask for her to help me out when he's involved.

I was able to snag signed postcards of Dixon and Stefero as well. As you can see in my pictures, the players generally have a pre-signed stack of them for people to grab, so I always try to not be too greedy. But when I have autographs sitting in front of me, it's hard to resist!

I only had the one card of Stefero's for him to sign, but I was just happy to get the personalized auto. Dixon signed these two cards of me, but I have to say that he always seems distracted at these signings and pays much more time talking to his former teammates than interacting with the fans. An autograph is an autograph, but a simple acknowledgement at these types of things are always nice.

I hope to be able to make at least a few more of these alumni signings throughout the season. I hope that you fellow collectors might be able to use them to improve your collections too.

Spring Training Orange Uni Autographs

You might or might not know that one of my mini autograph collections focuses on Orioles/O's affiliate cards that picture players wearing orange uniforms. I don't generally like to spend much money on the collection but will get orange uni cards signed when I can. Here's my haul for my Spring Training trip.

I'll start out with a few players who have played for the O's at some point.

Headlined by current/former Oriole Brian Roberts.

Chris Hoiles was in camp as a special catching instructor and he signed a number of cards for me.

As I mentioned the other day, Alan Mills is back in the organization as a pitching coach. 

And Ryan Minor is still around as the manager of the Shorebirds. 

Josh Bell was kind enough to sign a couple cards for me on my trip. 

Next up are some top prospects...

Xavier Avery really seems like he doesn't like signing and it shows in his signature. It's insane how different his autograph is from that pre-printed version.

Dan Klein is continuing to recover from surgery (tommy john maybe?) that he had last year. 

Next up are a few guys battling for roster spots in big league camp...

Including John Hester, who is one of Kalina's favorites since he is a nice guy.

And Steve Johnson, who is trying to become a second generation Oriole, following in the footsteps of his dad, Dave. 

One of my personal favorites it Caleb Joseph, who should make the jump to AAA this season. 

And probably Kalina's absolute favorite O's minor leaguer, Car-los Ro-jas!

The 2011 Norfolk Tides team set was absolutely rife with orange uni cards, so I was obviously a big fan!

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.

Orioles Fan Fest Recap

Three days later, I'm finally getting around to writing about my 2011 Orioles Fan Fest experience. At least three other Orioles bloggers have already wrote about it, so I really hope that you weren't waiting for my account of it.

Overall, I had a good time but it seemed like there was a little less to do than in past seasons. I spent most of my day in autograph lines, which is exactly where I wanted to be, so I was happy. And I got everything signed that I had hoped to get, so it was a nice little day. Not many people seemed to have a problem paying the $15 per autograph station since you knew you were guaranteed an autograph of whomever you wanted. It's obviously not as good as free, but it's better than wanting a Matt Wieters autograph and ending up with Robert Andino instead (sorry Dino!).

 

Speaking of Wieters, the highlight of my day was getting his SI cover signed. I carried this issue around in my gameday backpack during the entire 2010 season but didn't see Matt sign at a single O's game. It feels nice to finally have this autographed, and I hope to get it framed sometime soon.

Also signing at Wieter's station were Craig Tatum and Dick Hall. I got Tatum's autograph for Austin and Hall's autograph for Zach of Autographed Cards.

 

Lucky for me, the guy behind me in line didn't want Tatum's autograph, so he got my card signed for me. 

Next up was Zach Britton, Kevin Gregg, Jake Arrieta and Boog Powell. The Arrieta autograph was for Aaron, who collects Orioles Crown autographs and any other O's autographs he can get. The Boog autograph was for Paul, who just won the Earl Weaver autograph contest. The Gregg and Britton autographs were for me.

 

 

I was able to snag a signed O's postcard of Gregg as well as getting my card signed. I have to say that, out of uniform, Kevin looked more like a large banker than a baseball player.

 

Even though I had prepped my card, Gregg's autograph didn't "stick" well. It wasn't the only problem I had with the Orioles provided sharpies. I think next year I will have to bring my own. 

 

 

Zach was promoted to AAA Norfolk before the 2010 Baysox team set came out, so I was happy to finally get this card signed. 

While I was at the Britton-Gregg-Arrieta-Powell autograph station, my dad was nice enough to help me out by going to the Jeremy Accardo-Jason Berken-Willie Randolph-Jim Palmer station. 

The Accardo & Randolph cards are joining my collection, while my dad got Palmer to sign one of the spots in his 1983 O's program and a Berken card that was also for Austin.

My dad was also able to snag an extra signed postcard of Berken & Palmer. Note to Jason- I know that you're pretty accommodating with fans' autograph requests and all, but look at your signature compared to Palmer, who I think has signed a few more items than you over the years. Let's work on our penmanship a little bit.

My last autograph station was for JJ Hardy, Brad Bergesen, Mark Reynolds & Dick Hall. Hall was late showing up and I was one of the first people in line for this one, so I missed him this time around. Luckily, I didn't need him for anyone.

 

 

 

It was my first time getting Hardy's and Reynolds' autographs and they both seemed like decent guys. I especially like Hardy's autograph, even though it looks like it's either missing the JJ or H. I can see one or the other in there but not both.

Bergesen's autograph was for Ryan, the blogger behind "O" No!!! Another Orioles Blog, who I had the pleasure of catching up with for a few minutes. He seemed to have had a good time as well, and has been posting about his Fan Fest experiences for the past few days. He was nice enough to bring me a box of cards with some of my set needs as well as some obscure Orioles cards. Ryan- your thank you box should be on it's way by early next week. 

 

 

Last up, the Aberdeen Ironbirds, the short season A affiliate of the O's, were giving away a signed 8x10 of your choice if you could name every Oriole pictured on their autographed 8x10s. I conveniently didn't tell them that the Orioles, and their autographs, were kind of my thing, so Kalina ended up with this nice Chris Hoiles autograph.

 

All-in-all I had a great time and added a bunch of nice new autographs to my collection. I was happy to help a few fellow bloggers fill some autograph holes in their collections too. Thanks need to go out to my parents and Kalina for tagging along and doing some waiting around as I scurried around the convention center. Now I can't wait for the season to start!