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. 

Orioles Autograph Year in Review: The Bad Signers

Just so everyone knows: I am listing these players' signing habits according to what I saw in the 40 or so games I attended this season. It's possible that these players signed at every single game I didn't attend, but I somehow don't think that was the case.

There are 3 distinct categories in this post: the "stars", the veteran relievers, and the catchers.


I will start with the "Stars":

I really like having Nick Markakis on my favorite baseball team; he is an awesome and very underrated player. That said, I have yet to see him willingly sign for the fans. Every now and then, an Orioles staff member brings him over to a group of people that are standing on the field and he will sign for them and take pictures with them, but he just flat out doesn't go out of his way to sign. This card was sent my way in a trade, but I have yet to have Nick sign something for me in person.


I did see Huff Daddy sign for a few fans at road games in Tampa Bay and Washington, but only a few and I wasn't lucky enough to be one of them. I would guess that he signed for 5-10 people each of those times, and I never once saw him sign in Baltimore. He usually ignored the fans' requests completely. He signed this card TTM for me, so at least he signs that way. But you have almost no shot of getting his autograph at a home game.


Next, here are the veteran relievers who I didn't have much luck getting to sign.


I got Baez to autograph this card at the one and only game that I saw him sign at this season. Generally, the best time to get the relief pitchers to sign is Sunday games since the team doesn't take BP, and the pitchers do some stretching and long-tossing in the OF before the game. I took the picture after I got my card signed, and he seems happy enough to be signing; he just didn't do it very often.



Jamie Walker was another veteran reliever who didn't seem to sign much. Even though he was on the Orioles for 2.5 years, he never had a card produced of him in an Orioles uniform, so I got him to sign this team card for me. I got it autographed in DC when the O's were in town in May of this year. Jamie was leaning against the stands before the fans were let in and I made a bee line to him before he realized it was time to move back to the safety of the outfield. Again, that's the only time I recall seeing him sign.


Lastly, the everyday catchers can be a tough signature to get.


As some of you may remember, Gregg began the '09 season as the Orioles starting catcher. Catchers are always busy during pre-game warm-up; they work with the starting pitchers at least 6 out of every 7 games, and that doesn't leave much time for signing. I got this card autographed by Gregg one game that he stopped for the fans while walking back from the bullpen before the game started. He seemed like a nice guy.



I hate including my favorite Oriole in this category but Wiety had the same issue that Zaun did. He didn't have much time to sign for the fans between BP & warming up the starters. He signed this card for me in Toronto, and I saw him signing the other two games of the series too. So I can advocate his road signing habits. I also think the fact that every single Orioles fan in Baltimore wanted his autograph bogged down his signing this past season. He was a pretty good signer in Frederick and Bowie last season (I had to justify his non-signing somehow, didn't I?)

A Great Sunday at The Yard

With so few homes games during the month of July (only 9, 2 of which are undesirable Red Sox games), I had to make it out to one of the Blue Jays games this past weekend and I saw a good one. It didn't feature the excitement of Melmo's walk-off HR on Saturday but was a marked improvement over Friday's shut out loss. And with Brad Bergesen on the mound, I knew the O's had a chance to win or at least stay in the game. Also, two consecutive wins going into the All-Star break would be a great way to end the first half of the season. And the team pulled it off, way to go O's!

It didn't hurt my overall enjoyment that I had my best autograph day ever at the Yard. 10 different autographs!

The key to getting autographs inside the park on Sunday games is to get there as early as possible to catch all of the bullpen guys after they work out on the field.

Danys Baez 2007-

Today was great for me as I was finally able to get Danys Baez's autograph! I was the second person he signed for (I just happened to be in the right place) but he did go on to sign for another 50-100 fans. Somehow I never got his autograph prior to Sunday and he has a really cool looking autograph.

David Dellucci 1997

David was definitely my second favorite autograph of the day. He was recently called up to the Blue Jays after he was released by the Indians earlier this season.
"Delluch" came up through the Orioles farm system and played a few games for the O's in 1997 before being drafted by the Diamondbacks in the '98 expansion draft. I heard he signed TTM so I sent my Orioles card to the Blue Jays AAA team, the Las Vegas 51s, a few weeks ago. So I got him to sign this Indians card by the Jays dugout, but at least I got an autograph!

Rich Hill signed again, look at that crazy wind-up of his...

Kam Mickolio signed too. It's really crazy to stand next to such a tall guy. That's not a kids' head in front of me; that's an adult woman standing up. I got Kam to sign one of my team cards since the only cards I had of his were the cards from the 08 Bowie set I already have signed.

This is the first time I got Albers in person. The other auto I have from him, on this same 08 Topps card, is now available for trade and was given to me by friends from this year's O's Fan Fest.


I got Berken to sign for me a few times at Bowie last year but this is the first time I got him at O's Park this season. I really like these '06 Ironbirds cards that I picked up a few weeks ago at the game in Aberdeen.


Hendrickson signed again; he is really a reliable signer at games. I think I need more of his cards at this point.


Sarfate is still on the DL, but is back in the area on his rehab assignment, so I luckily had my 09 UD card with me. He pitched in Bowie on Saturday and is scheduled to be in Frederick tomorrow. It's nice to have Dennis back as he always seems to be a lot of fun and likes to clown around with the fans.



I was also able to get Lyle Overbay and Scott Rolen (pictured above). For Rolen, I used my patented "get close a player that is talking to a friend or family member and stand near them without being overbearing but make sure you are between the player and his exit" maneuver. It almost always works, just make sure you don't get pushy or too close the conversation. This move has worked for me at least three times this year with Kris Benson, Jarrod Washburn and now Rolen. Trust me, it's an effective move. One last note about these two: it just worked out that I have seen the Jays play in Spring Training both in '08 and '09 and I had never seen these two sign for anyone. In fact, the Overbay card had been with my Jays team set for years, so what is the likelihood I would get both their autographs in Baltimore? But I'm not complaining!


And finally, here is a picture of the happy O's after their Sunday win. Have a great break guys!