Unpossible Autograph Friday- Ken Lehman

 

Of course 2010 couldn't end without the news of another former Orioles player passing away. About a month ago, I broke down how bad 2010 has been in regards to deaths in the O's family, and I had to add an unfortunate addendum to that when Walt Dropo died 2 weeks later. Little did I know at the time, but Ken Lehman had passed away on December 4th.

If you read his obituary that ran in the Seattle Times, it sounds like Ken was a great guy, and extremely humble. His wife had passed away on November 11 and it sounds like the grief of losing her might have been too much for Ken to handle. No cause of death is mentioned, but that's the implication.

From a personal standpoint, it's hard to lose the players who were nice enough to sign my TTM requests, as it gives me a very brief connection to them; Ken signed this card specifically for me. He returned my request in only ten days back in the summer of '09, which is especially impressive as the card had to travel to Washington State and back.

Ken pitched five seasons in the Majors from 1952-61, including the '57-58 seasons with the O's.

RIP Ken.

The Crown Card Back Signing Phenomenon Continues

I've brought this up once or twice, but since Ed Farmer recently returned my TTM request signed on the back of his Crown card, I figured that it was worth bringing up again. Some guys prefer to sign their Crown cards on the back!

 

As you can see, Ed pitched in only one single game for the Orioles during his career. So this is his only Orioles card. And he signed mine on the back because the front is pretty dark, and I guess he didn't want to sign on his face. 

  

Bob Bailor took a different approach. He awkwardly signed the card over his name, even though plenty of light space seemed to be available. (Bob had some glorious mutton-chops too, didn't he?)

  

And then also signed the back for good measure. 

Ken Lehman flipped the card on its side to personalize and sign it.

He might have been able to squeeze his autograph and my name on the front in his chin/neck region, but I guess he didn't want to constrict his signature. I can respect that. 

Gordie Sundin went all out and signed right across the center of the back of the card. With that thin pen, he probably could've painted the corners a bit more. 

 

There was definitely some autograph daylight around his neck. 

This Ken Dixon autograph is unique because he signed it for me in person at an Orioles Alumni Autograph signing. If I had noticed in time, I would've asked him to sign the front, but I didn't. 

I also forgot to scan the front of the card, but as you can see from this scan that I stole borrowed from ebay, there is plenty of light colored space to sign around his cap.

That's it for now, but I'm sure that I will get another Crown card that is signed on the back to add to my collection sometime soon.

Catching up on TTMs

Since I have recently joined SportsCollectors.net , an excellent site for autograph collectors, I got a lot of leads on former O's who are good at signing TTM. And this has lead to an unprecedented success rate and a lot of cards coming in to my mailbox. It's awesome because it always makes my day a little bit better when I have an autograph waiting for me at home. Also, I request the autographs to be personalized to me so the guys know that I'm not trying to sell what I get from them.

Here are some of the guys who I have got my cards back from in the past few weeks:


Don Baylor 1970-75

Don had a long and accomplished career, highlighted by his 1979 AL MVP season in which he led the league in runs and RBI. He played for the O's at the beginning of his 19 year Major League career and is the only Major League player to appear in three consecutive World Series with three different teams, the '86 Red Sox, '87 Twins and '88 A's. Don played mainly in the outfield in his early years but eventually became a full-time DH and won 3 Silver Slugger awards while leading the leagues in times hit by a pitch 8 times. I can't imagine getting hit by a baseball 267 times as Don did, I bet he got some good bruises over the years.

After his playing days were over he managed the Rockies for the first six years of their existence from 1993-98 and was also the manager for the Cubbies from 2000-2002.

Dan Graham 1980-81

Dan was the O's backup catcher for two seasons who showed decent pop by hitting 15 HRs in 1980. He only played in 1 or 2 games for the Twins in 1979 before coming to the O's for Tom Chism that off season. He never again played in the Majors after 1981 for some reason.

Jim Lehew 1961-62

Jim was a submarining reliever who pitched in 8 games for the Orioles between September '61 and May of '62. It's interesting that he personalized the card along the left hand side and signed it at the bottom.

Ken Lehman 1957-58

What you say this card isn't signed? The hell it's not! It's signed (and personalized) on the back.
At first this made me a little mad but then I got over it. Most guys don't like to sign over their face and since he was using a pen, his signature wouldn't have really shown up on the front. And he did take the time to sign this and return it to me so I have no cause to be mad at Ken. He pitched in 61 games, primarily as a reliever, over the course of almost two full seasons for the Birds.

John Morris 1968

John was traded to the Orioles from the Phillies as a PTBNL (player to be named later) for Dick Hall in a trade that went down in December of 1967. He was a reliever who had a good 1968 for the O's, going 2-0 with a 2.56 ERA in 19 games. And I like the "Never Give Up" inscription; it's inspiring and original.

John Papa 1961-62

John pitched in only 3 games for the O's and gave up 5 ER in only 2 innings to finish his career with a 22.50 ERA. But Kalina likes his name and he signs TTM so he is cool with me. Also, if you Google him, the suggestions quickly get to Papa John's pizza. Mmmm pizza.

Carl Warwick 1965

Carl played 9 games for the '65 Birds but failed to record a hit in 9 games, going 0-17 at the plate before being traded to the Cubs for Vic Roznovsky. He was on the 1964 Cardinals World Series championship team.