Unpossible Autograph Friday- Clint Courtney, Oriole #6

Clint "Scrap Iron" Courtney was a catcher in the big leagues from 1951-61, and spent a majority of his career with the St. Louis Browns/Orioles franchise. He followed the team from St. Louis to Baltimore prior to the 1954 season and became one of the original Orioles; he even played in the new franchise's very first game against the Tigers in Detroit on April 13, 1954. By my numbering system, he was the sixth player to appear in a game with the franchise (four other players batted in the top of the first, making them Orioles #1-4, then I used the other player's position numbers to determine the rest of the debuts, and since Clint was the catcher (position #2) he is Oriole #6.) He hit the first home run in Memorial Stadium history and would play with the Orioles over three separate stints in 1954, '60, & '61.

Clint earned the nicknames "Scrap Iron" and "The Toy Bulldog" due to the combination of his feisty, combative style of play and his relatively small stature. He was often involved in fights on the field and accrued a number of fines during his career. He is also regarded as one of, if not the first, catchers to wear glasses on the field. In 1960, he became the first catcher to use an over-sized mitt to better catch the knuckleballs thrown by Hoyt Wilhelm; the unique mitt's invention is frequently attributed to then Orioles manager, Paul Richards.

After his playing career ended, Clint became a coach and manager, mainly in the Braves' farm system. During his time as the manager of the Richmond Braves, the team was on a road trip to Rochester, New York, when Clint suffered a fatal heart attack while playing ping pong with one of his players. He was only 48 years old at the time of his death. RIP Clint.

It took me quite a few years to track down a signed copy of Clint's 1954 Bowman card. It is the only Orioles card of his that came out during his lifetime, so I'm very glad to have this signed copy in my collection. I got it at a reduced price because the card is trimmed, but all I care about is that it's signed, so it works just fine for me. While writing this post, I noticed that Clint's jersey says Oriole's, as opposed to Orioles. Not a big deal, but just interesting, to me at least.



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." 

Orioles Hall of Fame Week- Unpossible Hall of Famers

If you have been reading my blog for awhile, you know that every Friday is "Unpossible Autograph Friday" a play on words (borrowed from Ralph Wiggum of "The Simpsons" fame) highlighting autographs of deceased players. Today I'm featuring the three Hall of Famers who played with the Orioles during their career and have passed away. None of the three were inducted to the Hall as O's or are necessarily remembered for their years in Birdland, but they did play for them, so it ties in to my HOF week.

I've written about these first two players a few times, so click the links if you want to see what I've already covered.

Robin was nice enough to sign my TTM request about a year ago and I wrote about him again when he passed away this past May. He is the only HOFer in my collection who personalized anything to me. 

 

I got Roberts' signed HOF plaque card from a dealer at the National who hadn't raised the price on it since Robin passed away so I got a relative steal. 

 

My dad hooked me up with this Hoyt Wilhelm autograph for Christmas in 2009. (The write-up about Hoyt is half way down the linked post) 

I found this Wilhelm signed HOF plaque card at a flea market a few months back. I've made the argument a few times that I think Hoyt should have entered the Hall wearing a White Sox or Orioles hat over that of the NY Giants, but the decision obviously wasn't up to me.

 

This card is the only new image on this post, and Kell is the only player I haven't really covered before, so now you get something besides blurbs and links to my other posts. 

George was a excellent contact hitter who hit over .300 for his career, led the A.L. in hits and doubles twice in 1950 & '51 and won the 1949 batting title, denying Ted Williams his third Triple Crown. He was also a great defender at third base and led the league in fielding percentage at the position five times. He was a ten-time All-Star and also received MVP votes eight times. He played with the Philadelphia A's, Detroit Tigers, Boston Red Sox, and Chicago White Sox before wrapping up his career with two seasons in Baltimore in 1956 & '57. 

He came short of making the Hall of Fame fifteen times via the writer's vote but was elected in 1983 by the Veteran's Committee. After his playing career ended, George went on to find success in the broadcast booth and had nearly a forty year career behind the mic, including almost thirty years calling Tigers' games with Al Kaline.

 

You might have spotted this Kell plaque card in the same post as the Wilhelm plaque.  

Obligatory contest plug- You can enter through Sunday for the chance to win a signed Earl Weaver card. If you've already entered, I would suggest that you check the entries post to see if you've been earning any bonus entries. Some of you have figured out how to do it and are really pulling away from the pack.

Have I Mentioned That I Like Signed HOF Plaque Cards?

It's definitely a secondary collection to my Orioles autographs, but as it's becoming increasingly harder to find new Orioles autographs that I don't already have and/or can afford, I occasionally turn my attention to these signed HOF plaques. I don't have a lot of financial resources that I can use for my collecting to begin with, so I don't think I will ever have them all, especially the more famous players or those who have been dead for many years, but I will pick up a cheap signed HOF plaque card here and there when the price is right. 

Recently, I added two deceased former Orioles who didn't enter the Hall as Orioles, but were tied to the team nonetheless. 

 

I picked this Wilhelm up from a trusted dealer at a local flea market last weekend. He's got a number of other signed plaque cards, and the prices are all reasonable, but I added Hoyt this time around since he played for the O's. He chose to wear a Giants cap on his plaque although he played for the White Sox for more years; in my opinion, the best stretch of his career came during his five season stint with the O's.

 

I came across this Kell autograph on ebay, and at only five bucks for a PSA encapsulated signature, the price was most definitely right. George spent the final two seasons of his Hall of Fame career playing for the Orioles, but the seven seasons he spent with the Tigers were certainly the best stretch of his career, so it makes sense that he chose to wear a Tigers cap. 

If anyone has any of these plaque cards to trade, let me know and I hope we can work something out!

Baltimore All-Stars

Way back in 1959, Jerry Walker & Billy O'Dell were two of the five Oriole representatives in the All-Star game; Hoyt Wilhelm, Gus Triandos, and Gene Woodling also made the squad. Ah, to have 5 All-Stars...it must be nice.


Jerry still holds the record for being the youngest All-Star game starter in history; he was only 20 when he took the hill for American League squad. Jerry outdueled Don Drysdale over three innings and earned the win. That's pretty impressive stuff right there.



Billy was appearing in his second consecutive (and final) All-Star Game in '59. He earned a hold for pitching an inning of relief, and preserving Walker's win.

The NL lineup that Walker & O'Dell shut down was pretty menacing and featured future Hall of Famers Hank Aaron, Willie Mays, Ernie Banks, Stan Musial and Frank Robinson.

Somehow, I doubt that Ty Wigginton will have the opportunity to dominate tonight's ASG like Walker and O'Dell did in '59, but we can hope that he has the chance to jack a pitch out of the park. Or at least can avoid embarrassing Baltimore. Make us proud Ty!

Post #200-My Christmas Gifts

I apologize for the delay with this post but I wanted it to be something special and a little different since it is number 200. I know that at some point these mini milestones don't mean as much but for now they still do to me. So I figured that this would be the perfect place to showcase my baseball related Christmas gifts from my awesome girlfriend and parents.

First off is a sweet photo tab card notebook that Kalina made for me that I can use for my Orioles' team set.
I first saw one of these when Zach, from the excellent Autographed Cards blog, was in town for an Orioles game. But this wasn't on my list, Kalina came up with the idea on her own. I'm freaking lucky to have a girlfriend who supports my auto habits so much! In the past, I have always used the clear plastic containers which forced me to flip quickly through and miss players at times. Now, I shouldn't have that problem!

Kalina also got me some sweet Mike Gonzalez cards to get signed this season.

And she even knows enough about autographs to get the low gloss cards!

My mom and dad (mainly my dad) hooked me up with a few new autographs for my collection, including a deceased HOFer.

Hoyt Wilhelm 1958-62 (died 2002)

I don't even know where to start with Hoyt, there's so much to say about him. He was elected to the HOF in 1985, he made five All-Star teams, he's regarded as one of the best knuckleballers of all time which led to his being the first pitcher to appear in over 1,000 games (he made it to 1,070), he won 124 games as a reliever (a record that is still standing), and he pitched in the Majors until he was almost 49 years old.

I could really say so much more about Hoyt's time with the other 8 other teams he pitched for over his other 16 years in MLB but I am going to focus on the 4+ seasons that he spent with the O's.

The Orioles selected him off of waivers from the Indians on August 23, 1958 which led to one of the best stretches of his career. On September 20th of that year, he no-hit the Yankees while pitching against Don Larsen, which was no small feat. He led the American league with a 2.19 ERA and made the All-Star team in 1959. He also made the All-Star teams in 1961 &'62, and received MVP votes for his dominating 1961 season. Interestingly, Hoyt made 43 of his 52 career starts with the O's. On January 14, 1963 he was traded along with former ROY Ron Hansen, Dave Nicholson and Pete Ward to the White Sox for another future HOFer, Luis Aparicio, and Al Smith.

Hank Foiles 1961
I really like that Bird logo on his left arm!

Hank backed up Gus Triandos on the '61 Orioles squad and played in 43 games during his only season with the O's. The Birds took him in the 1960 Rule V draft from the Tigers.

Overall, he spent 11 seasons in the Majors and played for 7 different teams, highlighted by his 1957 All-Star appearance while playing for the Pirates.

Unpossible Autograph: Al Smith

Al Smith 1963 (d. 2002)

Al Smith is probably best remembered in Orioles lore as being one of the players involved in a trade of HOF players between the O's and White Sox than for anything he did on the field for the Birds. He came to the Orioles along with Luis Aparicio on January 14th, 1963 in return for Hoyt Wilhelm, Ron Hansen, Dave Nicholson and Pete Ward.

Don't get me wrong, he was no throw-in in the trade though. He had received MVP votes in the previous three years, including a 6th place finish in 1960; he was also an All-Star for the second time in his career that season. His best season had been 1955 when he led the league in games, plate appearances and runs which earned him a third place MVP finish .

He appeared in 120 games for Baltimore, mostly in RF, and batted .272 with 17 doubles, 10 HRs, 45 runs and 39 RBI. He played in only that one season for the O's and it was definitely the twilight of his career as he only lasted one more season in the Big Leagues after it.

Al is arguably most famous for a picture that was taken during the 1959 World Series when his White Sox were taking on the Dodgers. As he tracked a ball to the outfield wall that ended up sailing out of the field of play, a fan who was going for the ball accidentally spilled his beer all over Al. It was a lot different than the intentional dousing that Shane Victorino received this past season at Wrigley Field but it was a lasting memory for him nonetheless. Al estimated that he signed that picture around 200,000 times in his life.