Upgrading the Collection Thanks to Old Man Cards

As many of you probably already know, my dad has been making "Old Man Cards" for me to try to get signed for the past few years. They typically feature Oriole players who were never pictured on any other cards in an O's uniform, effectively making them the only cards of many of them as a member of the Orioles. Oh, and they're awesome and I really appreciate his contributions to my collection. As always, thanks dad!

Here are some recent additions to my collection thanks to Old Man Cards. Since I don't have as much time on my hands as I used to, most of my posts moving forward will likely be more heavy on pictures than words. But after all, this is an Orioles autograph blog, and most of the visitors to my site are here to see autographs, not read my rambling posts. So without further ado...

Yes, that says Bryan. Yes, I still will consider it "personalized". Close enough.

As I get many of these cards signed by fellow SCN members on consignment, the personalizations don't always get done, but I'm still happy to have Orioles cards signed by the Dana Evelands of the world.

Unfortunately, Dan signed this card on the black part of his uniform, but it is signed and personalized. There aren't many picture options when a guy only plays in three games as an Oriole.

Francisco never made it to Baltimore from Norfolk last season, but I'm prepared in case he ever does!

I think this was my third attempt at getting this card signed and personalized, but Clay finally cooperated!

Who else do you do you know that has a signed Orioles Miguel Socolovich card? Who else do you even know that remembers that Miguel Socolovich was an Oriole?

I should have figured it out from my difficulty in getting him to sign anything while he was in Baltimore, but it sounds like Danny is a pretty tough signature to get. He apparently refused to personalize this card for me.

Who I'm Rooting For

As a diehard Orioles fan, I get a little bit sad come playoff time every season that the O's don't make it. But let's face it, I'm used to them missing the playoffs by now; Baltimore baseball has been ending at the beginning of October for what feels like forever. The Rays have been a nice fallback option for me in recent years, and I know that it's strange to like two teams in the same division, but the Rays, and specifically a Scott Kazmir jersey t-shirt, brought me and my now fiance together, so the team holds a special place in our relationship.  Now that the Rays have been eliminated from playoff contention, it wasn't too hard for me to pick out the remaining teams that I am rooting for. I hate hate hate the Yankees and I'm tired of the Phillies being the best team in National League. So I'm pulling for a Rangers-Giants World Series. I know it's unlikely, but I can hope right?

To show my support, here are a couple cards representing both teams.

 

Although not a Rangers card and having shown this card previously, Ron Washington, the Rangers' manager, is a perfect representation for his team. Ron took over the helm for the Rangers in November 2006 and the team has improved in each of his four seasons. His tenure is obviously highlighted by this year's playoff appearance and the first Rangers' playoff series win in team history, dating back almost 50 years to when the organization was still the Washington Senators. 

Ron is a great TTM signer, and this is his only Orioles card, so I was thrilled to get it back in only 22 days last August. I'm not really sure what's going on with his signature is though; as best as I can tell its an R W--g t--.

Jim Brower is my Giants representative because this is the only Giants card I have scanned right now. He spent two and a half seasons of his 9 year MLB career with the Giants from 2003-05.  2004 was his best year in the Majors when he led the league with 89 relief appearances while maintaining a 3.29 ERA and finishing with a 7-7 record. He briefly (and disastrously) pitched for the Orioles in early 2006, appearing in 12 games and allowing opponents to put up crooked numbers in 8 of those games, which worked out to a 13.86 ERA. Ugly. 

Jim pitched for 8 teams over his 9 MLB seasons, with his last big league appearance coming with the Yankees in 2007. He is apparently still pitching and spent the 2010 season with Italian Serie A1 team, Rimini, with whom he threw an Opening Day no-hitter against Grosseto. I honestly had no idea that Italy had a baseball league, I thought it was all about soccer futbol over there, but I'm glad that Jim has found some success. He has a fairly legible autograph, and you can almost make out every letter in his name. 

GO RANGERS & GIANTS!

Back to the B's

I know that I have gotten away from updating my current autograph collection due to FanFest, incoming TTMs, Opening Day and the O's Alumni Autograph excitement but now I will get back to it and finish off all of the "B" players. Sorry for the long post!


Mike Bordick (97-00, 01-02)
I need to start by saying the Mike Bordick is awesome. I was always a big fan of his, mainly due to his slick fielding. He set records as a SS for most consecutive errorless games (110) and chances (543). At the most demanding position on the field, that is a crazy accomplishment! The O's liked his fielding so much that they moved Cal from SS to 3B to accommodate Bordick; and if you aren't familiar with the O's organization in Cal's latter years, it is amazing that they did anything to displace him. Another interesting note about Bordick is that when the O's traded him to the Mets during the 2000 season, Melvin Mora was one of the players the Orioles got in return from the Mets. Bordick then re-signed with the O's after the season so it was a win-win!


Phil Bradley (89-90)
Phil's playing days were a little bit before I was old enough to appreciate his great fielding. He only played about 1.5 seasons on the O's, coming in a trade from the Phillies and then being sent to the White Sox.

Leslie Brea (00-01)
He pitched in only 8 games for the O's and amassed an ERA over 12. That's why I don't have much else to say. But I want to add that I feel it's a stretch to refer to any of the three guys on this card as "Vintage Rookies". Brea also came from the Mets in the Bordick-Mora trade.


Chris Britton (06)
Chris was a "big" reliever for the O's in 06, and by "big" I'm referring more to his girth than his clutchness. He is listed as one of the heaviest players in baseball history at 275 lbs.
In all fairness he had a pretty good '06 season, appearing in 52 games and sporting a 3.35 ERA. After the season he was traded to the Yankees, for Jaret Wright and a cool $4 million, since the Orioles had plenty of bullpen help but not enough starters. Anyone recall how Jaret Wright worked out for the O's? Neither do I...


Jim Brower (06) auto on Giants card
Brower was another reliever for the O's during the '06 season. He wasn't nearly as successful as Britton, sporting an ERA of 13+ and lasted only 12 games.



Kevin Brown (95)
This version of Kevin Brown is (most likely) the pre steroid user, and obviously a predecessor to the guy the Dodgers made baseball's first $100 million man in the late 90s'. I got this autograph at a game and from what I recall he was pretty approachable and accommodating with fan requests. Good on ya Kevin.



Damon Buford (93-95)
I must first address that this is one of my first autograph experiences with a glossy card. I didn't know to rub it down, erase it, or do anything else to prepare it for an autograph. And this still bothers me fifteen years after I got this at a game. Sad, right? Damon was a great signer and how excited does he look on this card?
He never did too much on the field but was part of trade with Alex Ochoa to the Mets that brought Bobby Bo to the Orioles in '95. Damon was later signed back to the O's as a free agent in 2001 but never got into a game.


Don Buford (68-72)
Damon's dad Don had a much more accomplished stint in the black & orange than his son did. He finished in the top 30 in MVP voting 3 of his 5 years and he is regarded as one of the better lead-off men the Orioles have ever had.



Freddie Bynum (07-08)
Fr-EDDIE was a super utility player for the past few seasons. As I recall it, he hit a HR in one of his first at-bats leading to high expectations from me. Things didn't really work out but I was able to get his autograph at a BaySox game last summer.



Tim Byrdak (o5-06)
Since Tim wasn't ever featured on an Oriole card, I figured that using his Lynx card was the second best thing. He was a pretty good middle reliever in '05 but not so good in '06. He is still pitching in the Majors, and is currently on the Astros.



Eric Byrnes (05)
Since the O's were one of 3 teams that Byrnes played for in '05, I was pleased to find a signed Orioles card of him. He was pretty awful during his time on the O's with a batting average below the Mendoza line (.192). Byrnsie has been an exciting player over the course of his career but couldn't get things going in Baltimore. He has had some up and down years for the D-Backs but had a stellar 2007 season.
Also interesting that the O's traded Larry Bigbie to the Rockies for Byrnes.