Jamie Quirk Joins the Collection, Thanks to Zman

Zach aka zman40, who writes the blog Autographed Cards, surprised me by getting Jamie Quirk's autograph for me at the Royals' Fan Fest just over a week ago. And not only did he get this card signed, but he had Jamie personalize the card to me too. That part really blew me away. I always prefer that my autographs are personalized because it makes them mean a little bit more to me, and the fact that Zach knew that and had Jamie do it without my asking is amazing. Zach had tried to get Jamie's Crown card signed for me last year, but it didn't work out. This year he did it on his own and I can't thank him enough for helping me to scratch another player off of my list. He has one of the best blogs out there and he has so many autographed cards to show off that you never know what you might see next.

He was also nice enough to send me some Bowman Orioles cards. The Manny Machado card is definitely my favorite of the bunch. I'm hoping that he turns out to be the real deal.

Thanks for everything Zach!

A Week of Trades from SportsCollectors.Net- 87donruss helps me out

Here are some more cards from my successful trades on SCN. Today's cards are from a trade with user 87donruss, who still has many more cards I would like to trade for.

Sal Fasano 2005

The picture on this card is disappointing as it doesn't show Sal with his trademark Fu Manchu mustache. He actually looks a little strange without it and if you don't know what he normally looks like, just take one second to Google him. And then please come back to my blog.

Sal was the Orioles backup catcher for most of the '05 season behind Javy Lopez. He has played for nine big league teams over 11 seasons in the Majors, but hit the most HRs he ever had in 1 season (11) while on the O's. From what I read about him, he is universally liked and the fans in Philly especially seemed enamored by Sal.

Jay Tibbs 1988-90

Jay pitched in 50 games for the Orioles, starting 42 of them, and went 11-22 with a 4.92 ERA in those outings, highlighted by his 5-0 1989 season.

Nate Snell 1984-86

OK, for some reason I never knew that Nate was a pitcher. I know that it says "P or Pitcher" on all of his cards. I guess I don't think that he looks like a pitcher; I really don't know why but that's the truth. But it doesn't matter what I think as Nate was a pitcher either way.

He spent three of his four MLB seasons with the O's and went 6-4 with a 3.12 ERA over 82 relief appearances. Not too shabby Nate.

Jamie Quirk 1989

Jamie was the Orioles third catcher for the last two months of the '89 season, behind Mickey Tettleton & Bob Melvin. Overall, he played 18 seasons in the Majors from 1975-92 (11 of those were for the Royals), and was chiefly a backup catcher but over the years played every defensive position except for center field. In 1987 he played in 109 games with the Royals, the only time he appeared in over 100 games in one season.

He also briefly held the Major League HR record for players whose last name begins with Q but has since been passed by Mark Quinn, then Carlos Quentin.