Oriole # 1019- Logan Ondrusek

Whew, a lot of these late season additions to the Orioles roster have given me a run for my money in my attempts to add their autographs to my collection. Which has caused me to fall behind on my debut posts as well. But don't worry, I'm still here, just busy trying to catch up with all the new guys around town.

Logan Ondrusek's signing came completely out of left field, or I suppose more accurately, Japan, where he had been pitching for the past two seasons after spending parts of his first five seasons pitching for the Reds. In a very unexpected and Dan Duquetteish transaction, the Orioles signed him to a Major League deal on July 29th and designated Chaz Roe for assignment. This was right at the trade deadline as other teams were making bigger and better moves, so I think most of the Orioles fan base was beyond puzzled by this addition to the roster.

Logan made his Orioles debut the day after being added to the roster and proceeded to pitch in seven games for the Orioles over two stints with the team. Over 6.1 IP, he allowed 9 hits, 7 earned runs which worked out to a 9.95 ERA. Needless to say, things didn't go well. He was designated for assignment on August 26th and ultimately passed through waivers and ended the season at AA Bowie.

Shortly after Logan was added to the team, I was able to trade for this signed Reds card of his through a friend on SportsCollectors.Net. So it served as a nice placeholder in my collection. However, my dad quickly churned out some Old Man Cards of Ondrusek, and it was preference to save this post until I got them signed. And that's where my attempts to get these cards signed get interesting. 

During his first stint with the Orioles, from July 30-August 11, the team only had three weekday home games which I was unable to attend. Luckily, he got optioned to the AA Bowie Baysox, which is the closest affiliate to me, so I planned to go to a game there on Friday August 19th, but something came up and I couldn't make it. So I decided to go the following Saturday, 8/29. But by that point, the Orioles had recalled him from Bowie and designated him for assignment, so he was in DFA limbo when I attended that game. The Baysox final home game of 2016 was Thursday 9/1 and the day before that it was announced that he had cleared waivers and would head back to Bowie. I went to the game with my family and we waited for Logan who was one of the last players out of the clubhouse with only about five minutes to go before first pitch. Luckily, he was a nice guy and came over to sign for us as you can tell by the cards in this post. And that's my drawn out story about how Logan's signed and personalized Old Man Cards came to my collection. I hope you enjoyed it!

An Updated Steve Lombardozzi Autograph

For the first time since I scanned the autographs my dad helped me get during Spring Training, I was actually able to get my act together and organize my cards. Which pretty much means that I have some more autographs to write about, at least theoretically. I just need to find the time and motivation to write with my ever decreasing free time, but isn't that the case for most of us? Anyway, at least I can hang my hat on the fact that I've continued to stay up on the Orioles debut posts, if nothing else.

Today's autograph is of Oriole #971, Steve Lombardozzi. Steve played in 20 games for the Orioles in 2014, all but one of which was during April, but he was inexplicably pictured as an Oriole in the 2014 Topps Update set, which came out in October. Outside of my dad's OMC cards, I'm very comfortable in saying that this is the only Orioles card that will ever feature Steve.

He seemed to be a relatively big part of the O's 2014 utility infield plans when the team traded for him late in Spring Training last year, but I got the sense that he must have rubbed some people in the O's organization the wrong way since he was effectively out of the picture after April, even though he was hitting .288. He was passed up for promotion numerous times throughout the season, and didn't even get a September call-up, which was very strange considering that he was on the 40 man roster. Early in February 2015, the Pirates purchased him from the Orioles and that was the end of Lombo's strange stint in Birdland.

It was a relatively disappointing stint because Steve attended high school at Atholton, which is only about 15 minutes from Baltimore and very close to where I live. I had hoped to get a chance to talk to him about playing for his "hometown" Orioles at some point, but unfortunately, he didn't prove to be very fan friendly in my limited interactions with him, something that has been echoed to me by other autograph collectors. But luckily a fellow collector on SportsCollectors.Net was able to help me get his O's card signed and personalized, so now I can remove a name from my list that probably shouldn't have been there in the first place.

Finally Freddy

Anytime that I am able to knock a name off of my list of Orioles autographs that I need is a good day, and today, I am happily knocking Freddy Garcia's name off of that list. 

Freddy made his Orioles debut back on May 4, 2013 and served as the Orioles fifth starter for about two months before being shipped to the Braves. I never got his autograph during his time with the O's but he had a few certified autographs out there, and I purchased a Mariners auto and plugged it into my collection.

Even though he was an well-traveled MLB veteran he was only in Baltimore for about two months, so I figured he wouldn't be featured in any sets as a member of the Orioles. Then on November 14, 2013 Topps released their Heritage High Number set, with Freddy pictured as an Oriole. No matter that he hadn't been an Oriole for nearly five months, and he finished the season with the Braves. Topps made me add Freddy's name to my need list.

Then Freddy spent the entirety of the 2014 season pitching in Taiwan. So I had no chance to get this card signed. And as far as I know, he still lives in his native Venezuela in the off-season, so obviously I wasn't sending him a TTM request that way. Freddy seemed out of reach, possibly permanently.

But then, the Dodgers signed him this past March 30th to a minor league deal. A window of opportunity to get this card autographed opened and I sent it out on a consignment via a connection on SCN. And there it is, a beautifully autographed Freddy Garcia Orioles card. And it was signed none-too-soon as Freddy was released on April 22, mere days after this was signed. And now, I don't have to worry about Freddy Garcia anymore.

Oriole #658- Chuck McElroy

Today's focus is on Chuck McElroy, whom I had written about way back in 2009, but I recently upgraded his autograph in my collection to this awesome personalized Old Man Card that I was able to get autographed through a private signing on SCN. 

Pretty much all of the information about Chuck is the same as in the original post that I wrote, except this time around I also want to mention that his Orioles debut came on April 5, 2000 and he was the 658th player to appear in a game for the Orioles.

That's about all I have to add for now, but as always, I like to give my dad a shoutout for producing these awesome Orioles cards for me to get signed. Thanks old man!

Some More Help From My Friends

Autograph collecting is a lot of fun to do in-person. I love spending the day at the park and trying to add some signatures to my collection. But sometimes it can be frustrating, time-consuming, and unrewarding, as you can never say who or how many people will sign in any given day. I've had some times where I was able to get 10-15 MLB autographs but not a single one of the players I was really targeting, so while it was successful to an extent, it can still be disappointing to miss out on the autographs you really wanted to add to your collection.

This is why it's so helpful to have a network of collectors to help each other out, and my preferred site is SportsCollectors.Net, or SCN for short. I don't know how many autographs I've been able to add or upgrade in my collection from that site over the last five or so years, but I can comfortably say that number is in the 100s. Whether via private signings, trades, consignments, or 50-50s, it's amazing what a country-wide group of collectors can do to help each other out. I highly recommend the site for any other autograph collectors out there. I think it's only like $15/year, and while you still run into some scumbags/shady dealer types, by and large the feedback scores will largely give you an idea of the type of collector you are working with.

Here are some of the autographs that I've been able to add or upgrade using SCN over the past six months or so. Not too bad.

Bruce Chen 

Jason Grimsley

Ramon Hernandez

Jim Hoey

(Your eyes do not deceive you, that's the same signed card, both personalized to me. One obtained IP, the other via SCN, pretty much simultaneously, hence the double down)

Charles Johnson

Matt Lindstrom

Bob Melvin

Scott Moore

Finally...Mark Brown

Sometimes, I seem to be missing a signed Orioles card that all the other fellow O's autograph collectors already have, and that seemed to be the case with today's player, Mark Brown. I know that there are a limited number of some of these signed cards out there, so it's possible that all the others were already in a fellow collectors collection, but I was hoping that my day would come with him one day.

And finally, it has...

Not only signed, but personalized too! And a unique inscription of "Blessings". A fellow collector on SCN runs into Mark a few times a year and offered to help me out. Of course, I contacted him near the end of the baseball season last year, and he didn't see Mark again until this April, so my long wait for this signed card was made just a little bit longer. But not only did he get this card signed and personalized, he actually snapped a shot of Mark holding this card that he had just signed for me. That's about as good as it gets!

Now that I finally have a signed copy of Mark's Orioles Crown card, my other two autographs of his are available for trade if anyone is interested.

Orioles team issued postcard

'86 Topps Twins card

Chen & Hammel

While I was able to get a boatload of O's autographs on my Spring Training trip earlier this month, there were a few new players who eluded me, including a couple who are very likely to be on the Opening Day roster. 

The two main players I missed out on were Wei-Tin Chen and Jason Hammel, who were the starters of the two games I attended, which likely had something to do with how or why I wasn't able to get their autographs. Luckily, I ran into a fellow SCN grapher in Sarasota who ended up being able to help me out with both of them. Thanks Matt!

I'll start with Chen since I'm pretty sure that this is the first autograph in Kanji (I believe that's the correct term) that I have in my collection. I know that Koji Uehara would occasionally sign in Kanji, but he always signed "Koji" for me.

 Chen's signature is very unique and he will likely be one of the Orioles top pitchers this season, so I'm excited to be in a position to scratch his name off of my need list once he makes his debut.

 The other guy I missed who is a near lock for the Opening Day roster is Jason Hammel, who was acquired from the Rockies, along with Matt Lindstrom, in the Jeremy Guthrie trade. Jason signature is kind of hard to make out, but I think I see a J, an H, and an L in there.

Kyle Hudson's Off the List

Kyle Hudson made his Orioles debut last September, but at the time, only had cards that featured him with assorted Orioles affiliates. He was removed from the 40 man roster this past off-season and the Rangers claimed him off of waivers. And then 2012 Topps came out and just had to include Kyle in the set with his first, and likely only, Orioles card. So I needed to get that card signed to have my collection upgraded properly. 

And here it is...

It's a relief to cross Kyle's name off my need list almost as quickly as it was added. I had sent this card out on consignment to a fellow SCN member, and am very happy with how it turned out. I also have been told by a few fellow O's collectors that Kyle has been signing TTM this spring, but I hadn't wanted to risk it since Kyle's TTM signing habits have been hit-or-miss over the years.

So for the moment, I'm caught up on the current players who have Orioles cards. At least until Endy Chavez makes his debut and I have to get his pesky 2012 Topps Heritage Orioles card signed.

O's Acquire Jai Miller; Jo-Jo Reyes Signs with Pirates

On Tuesday, the Orioles announced they had acquired Jai Miller from the Athletics for cash considerations. He figures to compete for an outfield spot during Spring Training and must pass through waivers if he is sent to the minors. My feeling is that he is behind Endy Chavez and Nolan Reimold in the current outfield plans, so he will likely provide the team some OF depth at AAA Norfolk. Since Brandon Snyder had been traded to the Rangers the same day Jai was acquired from the A's, Miller simply slides into Snyder's spot on the 40 man roster.

Since 2008, Jai has seen limited Major League action with the Marlins, Royals, and A's, most recently playing in 7 games for the A's in 2011. He has had issues with his strikeout totals throughout his time in organized baseball and will need to continue working on that to become a successful player at the Major League level.

Also on Tuesday, the Pirates announced that they had signed 2011 Oriole Jo-Jo Reyes, #905 on the all-time roster, to a split Major/Minor contract for the 2012 season. I certainly didn't expect him to return to Baltimore since the Orioles had non-tendered him in mid-December, but I held out hope since I was never able to get him to sign a card for me in person. Luckily, I swung a trade on SCN to add his autograph to my collection. Good luck in 2012 Jo-Jo! At least you never had a card produced of you in an Orioles uniform, so no upgrade is needed for my collection.

Happy Birthday Dwight Smith

When I struggle to think of something to write, I generally check to see if any former Orioles are celebrating a  birthday. And today happens to be Dwight Smith's 48th birthday, so happy birthday Dwight.

It took me a long time to track down Dwight's autograph on an Orioles card. I picked up a signed Cubs card of his back at the 2010 National in Baltimore, and finding signed Cubs' cards of Dwight is relatively easy, but he played for the Orioles late in his career and was only featured on four cards in an Orioles uniform, so the challenge was much greater. Luckily, a fellow SCN user let me know he had this autograph available and we were able to work out a trade. If anyone is looking for Dwight's autograph on a Cubs card, mine is now available for trade. 

Waiting for a Contest Update

So, heading into yesterday's games, it certainly seemed like more than one team would have been eliminated from the playoffs by this point, but the Rays remain the only team sent home through today. The Tigers-Yankees series will end tonight, while both N.L. series will wrap up tomorrow.

Honestly, as someone who doesn't have a team in the playoffs (I'm rooting for the Cardinals in the N.L. and preferred the Rays in the A.L.) having three of the four series go all five games in pretty exciting. I'm pretty much always up for some additional baseball.

Once all the Divisional Series match-ups are decided, I will post a contest update at some point over the weekend. My only observation to this point is that FanOfReds is in trouble since he picked the Rays to win the World Series.


And now for something completely different...

I was recently able to upgrade the Adam Eaton autograph in my collection to this 2009 Allen & Ginter card, his one and only Orioles card that was released in a set that debuted after the Orioles had cut him loose.

Adam was a decent enough signer when he was with the O's and he signed this Padres card for me in person before a game, but I was never able to catch up with him after his time with the O's. He doesn't seem to sign TTM requests, so I was stuck until someone offered up the A&G on SCN.

It bothers me how many upgraded autographs I need from Orioles who played over the past ten years or so; I have some sort of autograph of all of them, but so many guys have Orioles cards released after their time in Baltimore that it almost always throws a wrench in my collection. C'est la vie.

Mickey McGuire

Since no teams have been eliminated from the postseason today (yet, at least), I don't have anything to update with the playoff bracket, but anticipate that I will have an update coming tomorrow.

To tide you over, here is an autograph that I have been trying to add to my collection for a very long time. Mickey was the last living Oriole who I did not have an autograph of, and I'm very happy to finally scratch his name off of my need list. He is featured on a card in the Orioles Crown set, so technically I could one day upgrade to that, but considering any autograph of his took so long to find, I'm not overly optimistic.

Mickey was a middle infielder who played two short stints in Baltimore; six games in 1962 and 10 games in 1967. He had 21 at-bats over those 16 games and he had four hits (all singles), two runs, two RBI and two strikeouts. He never played another Major League game and spent most of his professional career as a minor leaguer. Over thirteen seasons in the minors, he played in over 1500 games for the Orioles, Angels, and White Sox farm systems.

I'm not exactly sure why Mickey's autograph is so hard to track down, but would guess that it has something to do with a lack of supply or demand. I speculate that Mickey must not be a fan of signing, and also that not too many people are trying to add his signature to their collections. I have seen one multi-signed item on eBay that included Mickey's autograph on it, but was outbid on it.

Mickey's autograph is pretty clean and legible and I really like the flourish that he gives both of his M's. I obtained this signed index card from a fellow Orioles collector on Sportscollectors.Net and have to thank my dad for the birthday money that paid for it, thanks dad!

Oriole #906- Willie Eyre

There have been five Orioles debuts since August 3rd, when Jo-Jo Reyes became the 905th player to wear the orange and black in a game. Don't worry, I haven't forgotten about them, I've just been preoccupied with request week and the overall sad state of the current team.

 

Willie Eyre became Oriole #906 when he pitched in the August 12th loss against the Tigers. To date, he has pitched in 10 games with the O's, and is 1-1 with a 4.15 ERA and a 2/1 strikeout to walk ratio; all of his appearances have come as a middle reliever. Honestly those numbers don't sound amazing but he has been a stabilizing force out of the pen over the past month.

Willie was drafted by the Twins in 1999 and steadily rose through their farm system before making his MLB debut with the club in early 2006. He became a free agent following that season and spent the next four years in the Rangers' organization, pitching in the Majors for them in 2007 & '09. Prior to the 2011 campaign, he signed with the A's but was never called up to their big league team and exercised his opt-out clause on July 31. Four days later he signed with the Orioles and spent a week with the AAA Norfolk Tides before getting called back to The Show.

Two other interesting things about Willie...

His full name is William Mays Eyre, so it seems like he was predestined to become a baseball player, although I'm guessing his parents envisioned him as a hittter.

His brother Scott pitched in 617 Major League games over 13 seasons from 1997-2009 for the White Sox, Blue Jays, Giants, Cubs and Phillies.

I traded for this autograph on SCN and still hope to get an in-person autograph from Willie before the end of the season, but the clocking is ticking. His autograph is interesting and kind of has a high and low lasso type of thing going on.

Random Wednesday Autograph- Brian Williams

Since I was out of town and skipped this past week's Random Saturday Autograph feature, I decided to run it today so as to not disappoint any of my five or ten readers. 

Today, I'm spotlighting Brian Williams, who pitched in the Major Leagues for nine seasons from 1991-97 & '99-00, with a year pitching in Japan separating the two stints. Brian spent five seasons with the Astros, and also pitched for the Padres, Indians, Cubs, Orioles & Tigers. He appeared in all of 13 games for the O's over the '97 season and bounced up and down from AAA Rochester a few times; he had a 3.00 ERA with no decisions during his time in Baltimore. For his career, Brian had a 26-38 record and a 5.37 ERA. 

I believe that I obtained this autograph in a trade on SportsCollectors.Net. His signature isn't bad and reads something like Bi Williams but I really like the way he signs the B and whatever that large swoosh is on his last name. 

Random Saturday Autograph- Willie Morales

I've decided to start a Random Saturday Autograph feature which will highlight either a player that I don't have much to say about, or an autograph that I don't have much of a story to tell about. I never have as much time for blogging on the weekends, so these posts will be short. I hope you all enjoy them.

 

Willie Morales is a perfect player for this feature. I got this autograph in a trade, so I don't have too much to say about it, and Willie's career with the Orioles, and MLB career, lasted all of three games and eleven at-bats in the 2000 season. Two of those games were in April, the other came in September and he went 3 for 11 with a double, run scored and three strikeouts.  

And that's pretty much all I have for Willie, but since he was an Oriole, he's in my collection.  Told you it would be quick.

Aquino & Cabrera

At the beginning of the season I worked out a trade with a fellow SCN user who graphs the AAA International League.  He would try to get me Greg Aquino & Fernando Cabrera's autographs and I would send him a few bucks for his trouble.  Neither of them have any Orioles cards, so these 2008 Norfolk Tides cards are the closest thing to an O's card that I can get.  Recently, I was able to trade for an Aquino signed Orioles postcard, but I will probably keep both autographs in my collection.

Greg started the 2008 season with the Orioles and sported a 12.54 ERA in 9 games before he was designated for assignment.  He cleared waivers and spent the remainder of the season with the Tides. 

Overall, he's had a six season MLB career and has also pitched for the Diamondbacks, Brewers and Indians.  He is currently with the Charlotte Knights, the AAA affiliate of the Chicago White Sox.

I've been trying to get this card signed by Fernando for years now.  I went to a Rays-Orioles game in Tampa in late 2008 and he was signing for fans at the time, but it was before I received my '08 Tides set, so I had him sign an Orioles team card.  Eventually, I was able to trade for his autograph on an Indians card, but I was still holding out hope that I could one day get this card signed.  Well, my SCN trade partner came through and I finally have the autographed card I've been chasing for 2 years. 

Fernando pitched in 22 games for the O's in 2008 and went 2-1 with a 5.40 ERA.  He's also pitched for the Indians and Red Sox over 7 seasons in the big leagues, and is currently pitching for the Sawx AAA affiliate, the Pawtucket Red Sox.

Trade List Updates

As I sit here one autograph away from being 75% done with my task, I want everyone to know that I (finally) updated the Orioles autograph trade list on the sidebar of this site. For anyone who collects autographs, there might be something that interests you. Specifically you Orioles collectors, of course.

In addition to just updating the list with what I have, I also added detailed information about every card that I have for trade. So set collectors might be able to find something to help them out too.

I always enjoy trading so please check it out. And if you want to see all of the autographs that I have for trade, check me out on SCN, my user name is salsmanado.

The Elusive Don Welchel

Don Welchel 1982-83

I received this card in a trade from fellow Orioles collector, Tim, and I was very pleased to add Don to my collection. I know the card is personalized to Steve, and I'm no Steve, but Welchel is such a tough autograph to track down that I don't even care. My dad has been searching for a Welchel auto on one of his cards from between '82-'84 for much longer than I, and he hasn't had any luck so far. It's like his autographs almost don't exist. He is a good example of a player who had a short time with the Orioles but is now a tough signature to track down. I've never seen an autograph of his on eBay and Tim had the only autograph for trade on SCN. He doesn't seem to sign TTM any more either. If anyone out there has an extra autograph of Don, please let me know so I can try to help my dad out. Thanks!

Don was drafted by the Orioles in 1978 and steadily rose through the Minor League system until he made his Major League debut on September 15, 1982 against the Yankees; picking up his first, and only, big league win. He ended up appearing in relief in 13 games over the '82-'83 seasons. Although he continued to pitch until the 1988 season, Don did not make it back to the Bigs after 1983. His Orioles stat line is a 1-2 W-L record with a 5.88 ERA in 31 innings. He only gave up one HR and also finished three games, so he had a decent run.

A Baseball Pariah

Jason Grimsley 2004-05

If you know much about baseball, you know that Grimsley was a main reason the Mitchell Report was done. He made the sport look bad and ratted out a few Orioles players. So I don't want to say anything about him. You can look him up on your own if you feel like it!

A Wake Up Call From the Rooster

Rick "Rooster" Burleson 1987

Rick played for the Orioles in the last season of his professional career and appeared in 62 games over the '87 season for the Birds. 55 of those games he played second base and the other 7 he was the DH. His time with the O's was not remarkable but earlier in his career he was a very highly regarded player.

Between 1974-80 while with the Red Sox, Rick was one of the premier shortstop's in baseball. He came in fourth in the '74 ROY race, received MVP votes after four seasons, was voted onto the All-Star team three times and won a Gold Glove. Now that's a pretty sweet run.

He injured his arm sometime around 1981 after being traded to the Angels and was never the same player after that. But he did have some very good years and is in the record books for helping to turn a record setting 147 double plays in 1980.

After his playing days were over, Rick spent a few years as a Major League base coach and then managed for a number of Minor League teams between 1997-2007. He is currently the batting coach of the Reno Aces, which is interesting because another former Oriole, Mike Parrott is the pitching coach for the Aces. Mike signed a TTM request for me earlier this summer.