1985 Orioles Debuts, #397-408

Compared to the few following seasons that I recently profiled, the Orioles debuts during the 1985 season  saw a few bigger names and/or players that actually stuck around Baltimore for at least a few seasons.  The highlights were probably Fred Lynn, and Alan Wiggins, but a few of these other guys had some decent success in Baltimore as well. 

Here's my older posts in the series...
(2001, 2000, 1999, 1998, 1996, 1995, 1994, 1993, 1992, 1991, 1990, 1989, 1988, 1987, 1986)

Fred Lynn #397, 4/8/85 (1985-88)

Don Aase #398, 4/8/85 (1985-88)

Fritz Connally #399, 4/10/85 (1985)

Lee Lacy #400, 5/13/85 (1985-87)

Al Pardo #401, 7/3/85 MLB Debut (1985-86)

Alan Wiggins #402, 7/5/85 (1985-87)

Phil Huffman #403, 7/13/85 (1985)

Brad Havens #404, 9/8/85 (1985-86)

Brad pitched eight seasons in the Majors between 1981-89 for five different teams and never was able to find much prolonged success at the MLB level. He was the Opening Day starter for the 1983 Twins and he was once involved in a trade for Rod Carew.

He also has a long-standing tradition of not signing TTM requests, dating back at least a decade, so I'm very happy to have his autograph in my collection.

Tom O'Malley #405, 9/8/85 (1985-86)

Tom's career was similar to that of Brad's in a few ways. He played nine seasons in the big leagues for six different teams, also including two with the O's, but never was able to get in a groove and spent much of his MLB in a back-up role. Their paths split when Tom went on to play six seasons in the Japan's Nippon Professional Baseball league following his time in the Majors. He found consistent success in Japan and was one of the league's better players during much of his time there, even winning the Central League MVP award in 1995. He hit over .300 over every season that he played in Japan.

Kelly Paris #406, 9/18/85 (1985-86)

Eric Bell #407, 9/24/85 MLB Debut (1985-87)

John Habyan #408, 9/29/85 MLB Debut (1985-88)

Lots of B's and a clarification on card pictures

So I wanted to clarify something before I start this post: from here on out, I am only going to include pictures of cards that have the player wearing an Orioles uniform. I will probably also include pictures of guys in O's minor league affiliate uni's but none from other teams. I know this is unfair to the multitude of players that don't have an Orioles card, but that is how things are going to go down from here on out. I never realized that scanning and cropping cards took so friggin' long!



Eric Bell (85-87)
He pitched one full season for the O's in 1987 and finished in the top 10 in the AL in losses, wild pitches and HR allowed. He started 34 games in his career, 29 of which were in '87 and didn't have much success overall. However, for an '87 Topps, this card is in great shape and the autograph really pops!


Juan Bell (89-91)
Juan is best known for being part of the trade from the Dodgers that sent Eddie Murray to LA. I think that he was to have been the 2nd baseman of the future but that never really panned out, since he batted only .172 in 100 games during the '91 season.


Rob Bell (07) Auto on Reds card
Rob was a relief pitcher who appears to have wrapped up his career with the O's. I remember that he was in the '07 team picture.



Armando Benitez (94-98)
Now he had a "lively' arm. I think his fastball could easily reach the triple digits, but where it was heading was more of the issue. My favorite Armando memory is of him drilling a Yankee in the back after giving up a home run and then challenging their entire team to a fight. He didn't win; but this is one of the more memorable Orioles team brawls. He has had a pretty long MLB career and compiled 289 saves. Also I wanted to mention that this Leaf Signature Series card was clearly designed to be signed across the bottom, above the Baltimore Orioles, but Armando was having none of that. He signed this card where he wanted to sign it.


Geronimo Berroa (97)
GERONIMO! He only played half of a season for the O's so I'm pretty surprised that he has an Orioles card, much less an auto card! Good for my purposes. And that's all I have to say about that.


Randor Bierd (08)
Randor the Burninator! Trogdor! Ring a bell to anyone?
Well I was able to get Randor to sign a few cards for me last season, one in Bowie and one in Tampa. Pretty much all it took was me knowing his name and asking him for his autograph. He seemed like a pretty decent guy. I know that the O's picked him up in the 07 Rule V draft from the Tigers and traded him to the Red Sox this past offseason for David Pauley.