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.

Thank you to the 2012 Orioles!

Wow, what a ride this season was; it was truly the most amazing baseball experience of my adult life! Of course I wish that it had ended with a World Series Championship, but, especially considering the expectations entering the year, the results have to be considered a massive success. Outside of the Orioles organization, everyone around the game of baseball was predicting another last place finish for the perennially disappointing Birds of Baltimore. But the Orioles would finish the regular season with a 93-69 record, precisely flipped from their 69-93 mark in 2011. Buck Showalter continued to show his ability to turn around a franchise, as he pretty much has done everywhere else he has managed in his career, and General Manager Dan Duquette proved that he still has "it" after being out of professional baseball for a decade.

I haven't been posting much throughout the O's playoff run, initially because I was completely immersed in each and every inning of every single game, day-in and day-out, but then I almost made it into some superstitial nonsense. I'm not typically a superstitious type of person but I developed a few odd habits over the past month, including growing a rather unruly beard and wearing the same shirt and hat combo for every game that I watched and attended. I probably also drank enough beer and ate enough ballpark food to last me through Christmas, so I suppose that the playoff run being over isn't all bad.

I don't entirely expect the 2013 Orioles to duplicate this team's success, in part due to the 2012 Orioles' all-time record breaking .763 winning percentage (29-9 record) in one run games, an insane 76-0 record when leading after the 7th inning, and the resulting lack of a walk-off victory by an opposing team all season. Those are some silly stats that just won't be equaled. However, with the addition of a major free agent arm or bat, the team could be in the neighborhood of this year's record.

Even though the team wasn't able to bring home the World Series title, they sure did remind a number of Baltimoreans and Marylanders about how much fun it can be to watch a game at Camden Yards. I particularly relished how the Orioles' fans vastly outnumbered the Yankees fans at a few of their Baltimore match-ups towards the end of the season. (And it's not like it's hard to get tickets at Yankee Stadium these days, they didn't even sellout the first two games of the freakin' ALCS!) I hope that many of the fans that returned to Camden Yards this season will come back next year too, as the team really seemed to enjoy the support. 

An encouraging fact about the 2013 Orioles is that very few of the key 2012 players are set to become free agents. As far as I know, Mark Reynolds, Randy Wolf, and Luis Ayala all have contract options, and Joe Saunders, Nate McLouth, Endy Chavez, Jim Thome, Nick Johnson, Bill Hall, Lew Ford, Omar Quintanilla, Steve Pearce are all set to become free agents. In my opinion, the team will pick up Ayala's option, try to renegotiate something with Reynolds, and attempt to bring back Saunders, McLouth, and possibly Thome. So ultimately, the core of the team will remain the same into 2013 & beyond.

I obtained the autographs in this post over the last few weeks of the season, and especially Gonzalez and Saunders are excellent representatives of the Orioles' improbable 2012 playoff run. I was able to get a few more of my dad's card creations signed, and they are perfect for filling some non-Orioles holes in my collection. Thanks again for all of your work on the cards this year, dad!

Congrats again to the team, the fans, and the city of Baltimore on an amazing 2012 campaign. Let's Go O's!

Oriole #940- Randy Wolf

Randy Wolf became the 940th player to appear in a game for the Orioles when he entered Sunday's game out of the bullpen to replace the injured Chris Tillman in a victory against the Yankees in New York. He is also the 30th new Oriole to debut during the 2012 season and the 50th different player to appear in a game for the O's during this season. That means that 2012 has seen more new players debut in a game for the Orioles outside of the first two year's of the team's existence in 1954 & '55. But if it means making the playoffs, I say let's use 50 players every season!

Randy has been pitching in the Majors since 1999; he spent his first eight MLB seasons with the Phillies before bouncing from the Dodgers, to the Padres, to the Astros, back to the Dodgers, and then has spent the last two plus seasons with the Brewers. They released him on August 22, and he quickly agreed to a deal with the Orioles and spent a few days with the team before officially signing with the O's on August 31, just in time to be eligible for any possible postseason action.

Prior to Sunday's game, Randy had pitched in 371 MLB games (including 365 starts) but had never pitched in an American League game and almost always appeared as a starter. He will now be an American League reliever, so I hope that it helps him turn the corner after a relatively dismal season in Milwaukee. With an admittedly small sample size, it seems to be working, as he pitched 3.1 innings in relief, and gave up three hits, one walk, struck out one, and earned the W. That's a 2.70 ERA and 1.000 winning percentage to start his AL career. Keep up the good work Randy!