Unpossible Autograph Friday- Bob Turley & Grady Hatton

Sadly, two more former Orioles players have passed away since my last unpossible autograph post just two weeks ago. And both of the two that passed away had very kindly signed my TTM autograph requests in recent years. 

"Bullet" Bob Turley was the 1958 AL Cy Young award winner, three-time All-Star, and two-time World Series champion (he was even the '58 World Series MVP). All of those accomplishments occurred with the Yankees, but I'll look past it since it was so many years ago, and he was so nice to sign my card for me. He passed away on March 30, at 82 years old, from complications from liver cancer. 

Grady Hatton, whom I wrote about in depth here, just passed away yesterday from effects of old age. He was 90 years old, so at the very least, it's comforting to know that both of these guys lived long lives, although I don't know how comfortable Bob might have been in recent years.

I'm very appreciative that both of these men took the time to sign TTM requests. And in what has become somewhat of a theme on my blog, I will echo my statements that signatures always mean more to me when they are personalized. It just adds that little extra touch of acknowledgment for me I guess.

After my last unpossible autograph post from a few weeks back, I have finally ramped my TTM requests back up after a long hiatus. I enjoy writing the requests and putting everything together while I watch Orioles games, so they kind of go hand in hand.

I hope that both of these nice men rest in peace. Thank you both for having taken the time for your fans!




To briefly explain the misspelled/made up title of these weekly posts: Every Friday, I profile a former Oriole who has passed away. I've substituted the word unpossible for impossible as an homage to a line from "The Simpsons". Young Ralph Wiggum, who is not very smart, says "Me fail English? That's unpossible." 

RIP Flanny

Some very sad news hit yesterday when we learned that Mike Flanagan was dead at only 59 years old. And now today, multiple news outlets are reporting that it was an apparent suicide. I have no idea what might have caused Mike to take his own life but it just makes the news that much harder to accept.

I'm pretty sad about Mike's passing; I had the chance to meet him a handful of times over the years and he always seemed like a pretty nice guy and was known throughout baseball for his dry, witty sense of humor. For some odd reason, I've never done a post about Mike before today, and that makes me feel like I've done an inadequate job with my Orioles blogging over the past few years.

It's hard to rank Mike's exact spot in the Orioles pitching pantheon, except I would say that he's comfortably in the top five, along with Jim Palmer, Dave McNally, Mike Mussina, and Mike Cuellar. Flanny was the 1979 A.L Cy Young winner and was a member of the '78 A.L. All-Star team. In the all-time Orioles record books, he ranks third with 450 games pitched and 328 starts, fourth with 1,297 strikeouts and 98 complete games, and fifth with 141 wins.

Mike was involved with the Orioles off and on for the past five decades as a player, pitching coach, general manager and broadcaster. He was one of a small handful of former players who have stayed near the team over so many years and meant a lot to the franchise and the city of Baltimore. RIP Mike. You will be missed.

Orioles Hall of Fame Week- Palmer & Aparicio

I haven't covered any of the other Orioles Hall of Famers nearly as much as I've wrote about Jim Palmer, and I bet he likes it that way. I'm kidding, but if you've ever heard Jim call an Orioles game, he just can't help but weave in a few stories about the success he had during his career. And honestly, if I was as good as he was, I probably would do that same thing!

Cakes was an amazing pitcher over the 19 seasons he pitched for the Orioles, and was especially dominant from 1969-79 when his ERA never crept over 3.30 for a season. He also won three Cy Young awards, played in six All-Star games, won three Gold Gloves, and received MVP/Cy Young votes most seasons over that stretch. That's some serious dominance.

 

One of the reasons that I've covered Jim as much as I have is that he has remained a presence around the O's over the years, mainly because of his color commentating duties with MASN. Because of that, he typically signs at Fan Fest and can be seen around the ballpark every summer. It's nice for us autographs collectors to have a Hall of Famer who remains relatively accessible. 

 

Jim was elected to the Hall of Fame in his first year of eligibility in 1990, but they had to throw away three plaques before they found one that got Jim's approval. Gotta get that face just perfect, ya know.

 

I got this card on ebay back in the summer of '09 and covered Luis at the bottom of the linked post. The sticker pops in the scan but isn't nearly as obvious in person and I'm a big fan of this card and how he's wearing the old school Baltimore jersey. 

Little Louie was one of the best fielding shortstops of his era and he was terror on the basepaths too. He played with the Orioles from 1963-67, but is best remembered for the ten years he spent with the White Sox. He was elected to the Hall of Fame on his sixth ballot in 1984.

Today is your last chance to enter my contest to win the Earl Weaver autograph. Entries won't be accepted after midnight-ish. Good luck everyone!

Congrats to the Giants & Mike McCormick

Outside of my contest, I haven't really covered the World Series. It's mainly because I was fine with either team winning; I didn't have a dog in the fight. As an O's fan, I'm pretty much used to not rooting for my own team in the playoffs, so I choose a team to cheer for (this year it was the Rays, and that didn't work out) and I can root against the team's I don't really like such as the Yankees, Red Sox & Phillies. Neither the Rangers nor Giants had won a World Series in my lifetime, so I was gonna be alright with the result either way. Now if Barry had still be on the Giants, then I would've been behind the Rangers 100%. 

Anyway, I just wanted to say congrats to the Giants and all of their players and fans. I was watching the World Series parade on the MLB Network today and I'm a little bit jealous, but it looks like a great time. I can't wait til Baltimore has to shut down the city for an Orioles parade again one day.

To salute the Giants, here's Mike McCormick, one of their greatest pitchers of all time, and the only San Francisco Giant who had won a Cy Young award until Tim Lincecum did it in 2008 & '09.

Mike pitched a total of 11 seasons with the Giants over two stints during his 16 season MLB career.  During his years with the Giants, in New York and then San Francisco, he was a two time All-Star in 1960 & '61, won the '67 N.L. Cy Young, led the league with a 2.70 ERA in '60, and wins (22) in '67.  Pretty impressive stuff. 

Mike pitched for the Orioles for two seasons, in 1963 & '64, between his two stints with the Giants.  He wasn't very effective, going 6-10 with a 4.40 ERA, and was actually demoted to AAA Rochester for most of 1964.  The San Francisco air must have helped Mike on the mound or something.

Congratulations Giants!