Manny!

One of my favorite things about chasing autographs at Spring Training is that it seems like the time of year when star players are more likely to take the time to sign. I don't know exactly what it is, but in my experience, players who rarely or never seem to sign in Baltimore typically do take the time for the fans in Sarasota. One great example of this is Manny Machado, who signed at least 4 different times that I saw over my five days around Sarasota. That's pretty impressive.

I talked to a few fellow autograph collectors about why players seem to sign more in Spring Training during my time in Sarasota, and there seems to be a few thoughts. Overall, it's a more relaxed up-close experience than during the regular season. Players know the games don't count and most regulars only play about half a game each day, at least for the first half of March. There are smaller crowds and everyone is a little closer the action. Some combination of those events seem to make most players more open to taking the time to sign for fans.

I can still recall some family trips to Florida in the early/mid '90s when you could practically hang out with the players, before Spring Training became the more hyped and inviting experience that it is now days. And things will never be like that again, but it's still a nice change of pace from how things are in Baltimore. I'm sure that some of you out there can remember how things were with players in the 1950's, '60's, & '70's when, from what I hear, players were much more like average Joe's than the highly paid star athletes they are now.




I really like who Manny took his time on the dual signed Bundy card, giving the "full" M M auto, that is about as good as it gets for Manny's signature. I was happy to help my buddy, fellow O's autograph collector, Aaron, finish off that card, as he left town the day before I did. The funny part about it is that I have carried around my own version of that card, signed just by Bundy, for some time and had just stopped bothering with it by the end of last year. Oops! I guess I know to at least bring it next Spring!


And to wrap things up, here are the signed OMC Audry Perez autos that I forgot to include in yesterday's post.




I don't really have a plan for how I'm going to show off all of the autgoraphs I got in Sarasota. In the past, I might have grouped them in some way, but I think this year, I'm just going to post what I have scanned and go from there. I think it's best to just keep the momentum going and show off some autographs, at least as opposed to lapsing back into inactivity.

Rest of the FanFest Autographs

Wow, look at me go. It's my 5th post of the month (my most since last August), and I'm showing off the rest of my Orioles Fanfest autographs, within three weeks of obtaining them. I'm on a freaking roll here. Maybe I'll get this blog back up to full steam one of these days. But for now, I'm pretty pleased to just be moving along at a medium pace.

FYI- This is probably the most scans that I've ever had in a single post. At times in the past, I would have split this into a few different segments, but I'd rather just knock them all out at once. So that's how I'm gonna do it.

Also, my scanner got a little weird while scanning some of the postcards, but whatever. It has a mind of it's own.

This first group of cards are joining my collection. Mainly for the orange uniforms, but I was really happy to finish off the Davis/McLouth celebration card too. McLouth signed it for me during Spring Training last year, so it got carried around for quite some time before it got signed. And, I can't seem to bring myself to tradeaway any of my Wieters' autographs.

 

 

These cards are all extras that I got signed and are available for trade. If you see something you like, let me know and maybe we can work something out!

 

These postcards are available for trade too...

I got this group signed for some other collectors, so they are already spoken for, but I wanted to show them off anyway, if for no other reason than to prove that I got them signed. Or something like that. 

Finally, Liam Hendriks get his own grouping in the "we-hardly-knew-you category". Liam was DFA'ed to make room on the roster for the exciting free agent signing of Ubaldo Jimenez. But the Blue Jays selected him off of waivers from the O's, so the likelihood of his appearing in a game for the Orioles, at least in the near future, took a major hit, so these Orioles autographs become somewhat of an unneeded item. No complaints here though as Jimenez is certainly an upgrade.

Quick FanFest Post

I'm sure that everyone has been waiting with bated breath for my take on this year's Orioles Fanfest, and here is quick rundown of my day, a mere four days after it occurred. But let's face it, you don't check my site for it's timeliness on current events. Without further ado...

I had purchased five autograph stations throughout the day and got a total of 48 autographs. Not too shabby! I caught a few guys walking around and picked up a few more autographs at each station, but overall, these were the guys who I was after for the day. I took care of pretty much all of the new guys in attendance and got some help from my buddy Aaron with Bud Norris, and Wayne Kirby, which would bring my total up to 50. That's not a bad day at all! 

Some of these are heading to other collectors but most are staying in my collection, and I hope to break these down over the next week or so. Here's a quick rundown:

17 Old Man Cards

9 Personalizations

3 Cards going straight into collection (Bigbie, Clevenger, Urrutia personalized)

6 New Players, who will be added after their debuts

12 Postcards

All in all, I had a great time, and I hope that you all did too. I have to thank Kalina, my dad, and my mom for their help over the course of the day. We spent a vast majority of the day at the convention center, and I think that we were all pretty tired by the end of it. And thanks again to my dad for his awesome homemade Orioles cards that I love adding to my collection!

I know that we are all certainly now ready for some baseball!

Leave me some comments about your experiences at Fanfest!

2013 Topps Heritage Orioles

As I promised yesterday, here is a breakdown of the Orioles included on the 2013 Topps Heritage Checklist. And my comments on each inclusion, whether you want my opinion or not.

Nick Markakis- pretty standard, has probably represented the O's in almost every Topps set in the past 7 years, except '13 Series 1
Jason Hammel- only his third O's card, but also third consecutive Topps appearance ('12 update, '13 series 1) to decrease my excitement
Manny Machado/Dylan Bundy RC- both have multiple O's cards but first combo card would like great if both sign it
J.J. Hardy- pretty much another one you expect to see, but like Markakis was also left out of '13 Series 1
Jim Johnson- if he pitches like he did last year and remains the closer, he should be in most sets for the forseeable future
Buck Showalter- absolutely deserved, but likely included because the 1964 set this series is modeled off of included managers
Nolan Reimold- a bit of a surprise as he didn't play in any games last season after April 30th, this would be logical spot for McLouth card
Tommy Hunter- similar situation to Hammel, this is his third nearly consecutive (he was in '12 Series 2 instead of Update) Topps card
Luis Ayala- see Hammel & Hunter; dear Topps, this was a nice spot to give O'Day/Strop their 2nd O's card instead of giving Ayala his 3rd

By this point in the set, I was rather pissed about how the set was taking shape. A few guys with not many Orioles cards, but nothing earth-shaking nor first-timers.

Miguel Gonzalez- Until this guy! Finally, a deserving player being given his first O's card. And his MILB cards are few and far between too
Chris Tillman- deserves the inclusion after finding himself last year, but one of many of his O's cards
Joe Saunders- and here is the dagger, an official Orioles card of a guy who left town; it's always a chore to get cards signed once they leave
Adam Jones SP- Kind of surprising to see Jonesy as a short print, but I have plenty of his cards, so it's all good
Wei-Yin Chen SP- same with Chen, but I don't have quite as many of his cards, might need to track this one down

In addition to these base cards, two other Orioles insert cards caught my attention: a Clubhouse Collection relic card featuring Chris Davis (possibly commemorating his day on the pitching mound in Boston), and a Chris Tillman error short print, that likely will feature some sort of photo variation.

So there you have it, my official take on the Orioles included in the 2013 Topps Heritage set. Here's what I said after my review of 2013 Topps Series 1 "However, I was expecting to see Nate McLouth and Miguel Gonzalez featured for the first time as Orioles, especially after last year's playoff run. And it's strange that both Nick Markakis and J.J. Hardy were passed over, but you can't include everyone in every set. But, if it was up to me, I would have included Markakis, Hardy, McLouth, Gonzalez, and probably Wei-Yin Chen, Ryan Flaherty, and Wilson Betemit over the combination of Reynolds, Arrieta, Hoes, Andino, Matusz, Ayala, and Chavez." So it appears that I nailed the inclusion of Markakis, Hardy, Gonzalez, and Chen, as well as the players who possibly shouldn't have been included, minus Ayala. But when is Nate McLouth going to get some Orioles card love? Topps generally loves taking advantage of the former star comes back to make a postseason impact story, and I'm shocked that McLouth didn't make the cut in either of the 2013 sets. 

And mainly because I don't want to write back to back image-less posts, here is an autographed 1964 Topps Orioles card of Bob Saverine, to show the basic template for the 2013 set. Bob played in six MLB seasons between 1959-67, including 170 games over parts of four years spent with the O's. He holds the American League record for having gone 0-12 in a 1966 doubleheader during his time in Baltimore, and definitely seems to have made it to the big leagues more for his defensive prowess than his skills with the bat.

Dylan Bundy's First Bobblehead

One of my most pleasant surprises from Orioles Fanfest came in the form of a bobblehead, that of the O's 2011 first-round draft pick, Dylan Bundy. As far as I'm aware, this is Bundy's first bobblehead, so that makes me like it even more (as if I need another reason to justify my love of bobbles).

The bobblehead is one of two (the other being Manny Machado) being given away by the Frederick Keys, the hi-A affiliate of the O's. As of now, the only way to get either bobble is to purchase some sort of season-ticket package from the team. Luckily, the lowest tier of being a season ticket holder is a booklet of ten tickets that can be used throughout the course of the season, and since Kalina and I attend approximately five Keys games, this worked out perfectly. I chose the Bundy over Machado because I don't think the Machado looks much like him, and, again, this is my first Bundy bobble. But if I get my way, I'll add the Machado bobble as well at some point down the road. 

The AA Bowie Baysox have run a very similar ticket + bobblehead promotion for the past 3-4 years, and that has become somewhat of a Christmas present tradition to me from my parents, so maybe this Keys promotion could join that moving forward. This also makes me think that I have yet to show off the Baysox 2013 bobble of Manny Machado, which really looks like him and is one of the better minor league bobbles I've seen. 

Here are a few more shots of the bobble, for your viewing pleasure.

I feel like I'd be remiss if also didn't mention that I love how Bundy is featured in an orange uniform too. As you probably know, I prefer when the O's and their affiliates rock the orange.