My National Experience

I attended the National Card Show at the Baltimore Convention Center on Saturday and pretty much spent the entire day at the show. I easily could have spent at least another half day at the show, but I had other things to do since I recently got back from my trip. I was able to cover the entire show, but not as well as I would have liked. I also ran into fellow Orioles collector and blogger Ryan, and got a preview of his haul from the show.

For someone like myself who has such a limited collection focus, I knew going in that it would be pretty unlikely for me to find any autographs I need for my Orioles collection, but a show like this at least gave me some hope. I went in to the show with the realistic goal of knocking out the three recently-debuted Orioles that I needed; Jim Thome, Omar Quintanilla, and Lew Ford.

After looking through a few certified autograph boxes in search of the trio, I came across an in-person autograph dealer about halfway through the show. Visually, his autographs meshed well with other examples I have seen of the autographs I needed, so I pulled the trigger. It also helped that he happened to have all three of the players I needed.

Of course, as I mentioned in Monday's post, I later came across this signed Ford Tides card at one of the last booths I stopped at, so that Twins card is now available for trade.

In addition to those three guys, I came across this autograph of short-time Orioles infielder Eider Torres. The price was next to nothing and I like it much better than the autograph that was in my collection, so I made the upgrade.

So this SP certified autograph of Torres is now up for trade. 

I also found a large number of cards that I needed for my various Topps, Topps Heritage, and subset collections, but I was unable to scratch off any of the other Orioles autographs needs on my list. While I wasn't really surprised, I was still somewhat disappointed. I guess my collection is at the point where, even at a show the size of the National, no one has what I'm looking for. However, one of the dealers mentioned that he had sold a signed 1964 Lou Jackson Orioles on Thursday, so I guess that I know there is at least one out there!

Unpossible Autograph Friday- Frank Kellert

(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 a few pennies short of a dollar, says "Me fail English? That's unpossible.") 


Finally, here is the third of the three autographs my dad gave me for Christmas. (I already showed off my Lou Jackson and George Brunet autographs.)

Frank Kellert was a member of the inaugural 1954 Orioles, having come east with the franchise from St. Louis where he played with the Browns in 1953. Frank appeared in only 10 games for the Orioles, all in September, and had seven hits, including two doubles, over 34 at-bats. He played in only 122 games over his four seasons in the Majors from 1953-56, and is best known and remembered for being a member of the World Series Champion 1955 Brooklyn Dodgers. He was actually the batter when Jackie Robinson famously stole home, a play that Yogi Berra still disputes to this day, which makes him an interesting foot-note in baseball history. He certainly had the best view of the play and I believe I read somewhere that, years later, he agreed with Berra's take that Robinson was out. 

Frank enlisted in the Army during World War II and spent over three years serving his country. He even survived a torpedo attack by the Germans when he was aboard a ship in the Mediterranean Sea which caused thousands of U.S. soldiers to lose their lives. I can't imagine dealing with a tragedy like that! 

After his baseball days were over, Frank returned to his native Oklahoma and became the director of a credit union while also serving on the Oklahoma City Chamber of Commerce. He certainly led an interesting and varied life. He passed away from lymphoma at only 57 in 1976. RIP Frank.

I think that his autograph is so hard to track down because of three reasons. 

1) He was a member of a very popular World Series Championship team.

2) He died 35 years ago and was relatively young when he passed away.

3) He was a fairly obscure, part-time player during his career, so likely wasn't hounded for too many autographs.

Frank's only major issue card was his 1956 Topps card, which pictured him with the Cubs. His only Orioles card was the 1991 Crown card, which came out 15 years after he passed away, so he obviously never signed it. So this index card is in my collection for good, and Frank's name is permanently scratched off of my list. I'm very happy to have this PSA/DNA certified copy, even if it's a bit of a pain to store in my binder. 

And I have to say that Frank's autograph is amazing. You can make out every single letter and the flourishes on the F and K to start each name really give it some character. However, if I saw that F all alone, I don't think I would guess it was an "f", but rather a strange "g" or maybe a "t". Regardless, his autograph is gorgeous and I'm very excited to have it in my collection, thanks again dad!

Unpossible Autograph Friday- An Early Christmas Present

(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 a few pennies short of a dollar, says "Me fail English? That's unpossible.")

My dad gave me a Christmas present a little early this year; he has been one of the very few people who have regularly gifted me baseball cards over the years and I always look forward to what he has for me. I was blown away when I opened my gift and it contained three of the four remaining Orioles autographs that I needed for my collection. My need list is down to only 1! I have to spread these bad boys out since I've been searching for them for so long, and I will feature one each week over the next three weeks to savor their awesomeness.

Up first is Lou Jackson since this is only the second example of his autograph I've ever seen and the first I've seen in person. I also think that his signature is the most rare of the trio. The previous autograph of Lou's that I had seen was a signed 1959 Topps Cubs card on ebay that the seller wanted $1000 for, which is significantly out of my price range. If it was his 1964 Topps Orioles card (the only Orioles card of his that was released during his lifetime) I might have considered taking out a second mortgage, but not for the Cubs card.

Lou played in only 34 MLB games over three seasons. 30 of those appearances came with the Cubs in 1958-59, and the other four came for the Orioles in 1964. Lou bounced around the minors after his time in Chicago and he came to Baltimore after the O's selected him from the Milwaukee Braves in the 1963 Rule 5 draft. Following Spring Training, he broke camp with the O's but wasn't able to regularly crack the lineup, so was sent to the AAA Rochester Red Wings in mid-May, spending the ensuing season and a half with them. After the 1965 season ended, Lou signed a deal to play professionally in the Japan for the Sankei Atoms (now the Tokyo Yakult Swallows) and spent the 1966-68 seasons there. He developed some serious health problems while in Japan, possibly due to his alcohol abuse, and died in Tokyo in May 1969 of pancreatitis. He was only 33 years old when he passed away.  

Obviously, Lou's passing away at such a young age in a foreign country over forty years ago is the main reason his autograph is so hard to track down. Adding to that issue is that he was only featured on the two cards I mentioned above during his lifetime. He was posthumously featured as an Oriole in this TCMA set and the Orioles Crown set, but he quite obviously, never signed either of them.

RIP Lou.

Thank you dad for this amazing autograph to add to my collection.