Unpossible Autograph Friday- Dave Philley

I came across some sad new last weekend when I read that Dave Philley, who had been the oldest living Oriole, passed away. He was 91 years old, and had lived a nice long life, but I never like to hear about a former Oriole's passing. Dave had been nice enough to sign and personalize this Orioles Crown card for me back in 2009 and I had my card back in just one week from when I sent it.

Dave played 18 seasons in the Majors between 1941-1962, and missed almost four complete seasons between 1942-45 due to his military service during WWII. He played for the Orioles in 1955-56 and again in 1960-61; when he made his Orioles debut on July 3, 1955, he was just the 67th player to appear in a game for the O's.

He is best remembered for being a plus defender in the outfield, but it was back in the time before the Gold Glove awards were issued, so he never had the chance to earn any hardware for this fielding prowess. He also became an excellent pinch-hitter later in his career and still holds a few pinch-hitting records. His eight consecutive pinch hits in 1958 is tied for the single season record, and when he began 1959 with a successful pinch hit in his first at-bat, he set the MLB record with 9 consecutive pinch hits, a record that has held up for over 50 years. I also read that his 24 pinch hits and 72 pinch hit at-bats in 1961 are American League single season records, but wasn't able to confirm it.

Now that Dave has passed away, the oldest living Oriole title is passed on to Wally Westlake, who is just slightly older than Eddie Robinson; while both are currently 91 years old, Wally was born slightly over a month before Eddie.

RIP Dave, thanks for taken the time to sign for me (and many others) over the years.

"To Ryan"

As some of you already know, I prefer my Orioles autographs personalized to me whenever it's possible. Getting autographs can be tough enough and adding the extra personalization request can further complicate things at times. But it lets the players know that I have no intent of flipping the autographs I receive and I really like how it makes the autographs unique to my collection.

Over the years, I've added personalized autographs to my collection in a few different ways.

The two most common have been:

Public Signings/Appearances- especially when there is a small number of attendees and/or you can pay a little extra for personalization. Some of these autographs are probably 15 years old at this point.

 

Every Orioles fan has an Al Bumbry autograph if they really want one. Dude is always around town.

 

I was a Pirates fan when I was younger. Drabek later played for the O's, so this card has stuck around.

 

 I have an abnormally large amount of Rick Krivda autographs, even for me. 

I remember something about a private signings with very few attendees, many years back.

 

Dave is another guy who lives in the Baltimore area and has appeared around the vicinity for many years.

To the best of my recollection, Tackett is one of very few Orioles to have appeared during his playing days at the mall "card show" in my relatively small hometown of Carlisle, PA. Demand was pretty low for him too.

Sheets is yet another omnipresent former Oriole.

Singleton might have also made the trek to Carlisle, but I can't say for sure.

 

I got this one done through a signing on Sportscollectors.net. 

Probably the method that is responsible for the most personalized autographs in my collection is TTM requests. Players who sign autographs through the mail generally are happy to personalize as well..

 

I was really happy to come across this oddball Orioles issue of Pete Smith, even happier to see 

that he signs TTM, and happier still when he returned this to me after over 250 days.

Dave charges to sign TTM, but at least he signs.

Kelly was even nice enough to add "Best Wishes"

At just under a year, this one took a long time to get back, but I'm always happy to get those envelopes!

The third most effective way to add personalized autographs is in-person, which is easiest when the players are in the minor leagues. 

 

As is the case with former Oriole and current AA Bowie Baysox member, Armando Gabino.

 

Devo is currently a coach with the hi-A Frederick Keys; he was nice enough to personalize earlier this year.