1986 Orioles Debuts, #409-420

Man, 1986 was a fairly blah year in regards to the players who debuted with the Birds. Not a single one of the twelve new players played more than three seasons in Baltimore and I would be hard pressed to list a star in the bunch. A few guys had decent big league careers, but not due to their brief stints in Birdland.

Here's my older posts in the series...
(2001, 2000, 1999, 1998, 1996, 1995, 1994, 1993, 1992, 1991, 1990, 1989, 1988, 1987)


Jackie Gutierrez #409, 4/7/86 (1986-87)

Rich Bordi #410, 4/7/86 (1986)

Juan Bonilla #411, 4/7/86 (1986)

Juan played six seasons in the Majors between 1981-87, most notably spending the first three seasons of his career with the Padres; he came in 4th in the 1981 National League Rookie of the Year balloting for them.

He mostly played second base, but played a fair amount at third in his single season with the Orioles. Overall, he played in 102 games and hit .243 during his stint in Baltimore.

Juan Beniquez #412, 4/9/86 (1986)

Rex Hudler #413, 5/15/86 (1986)

Odell Jones #414, 7/8/86 (1986)

Tom Dodd #415, 7/25/86 MLB Debut (1986)

Tony Arnold #416, 8/9/86 MLB Debut (1986-87)

Ricky Jones #417, 9/3/86 MLB Debut (1986)

Ken Gerhart #418, 9/14/86 MLB Debut (1986-88)

Carl Nichols #419, 9/14/86 MLB Debut (1986-88)

Mike Kinnunen #420, 9/15/86 (1986-87)

Random Saturday Autograph- Tony Arnold

Tony's smiling(?) face has been staring at me from my scanned cards folder for about a year now, but I've just never had much to say about him. Thank you Random Saturday Autograph feature for being the perfect outlet for a player like Tony. 

Tony pitched for the O's in 1986-87 and appeared in 38 games out of the bullpen. He finished 13 games during that span but never recorded a save. And that was it for Tony's time in the Majors; he finished with a 0-2 record and a 5.06 ERA.  

He has been a Minor League pitching coach for the past 20 season, including the last 17 in the Indians farm system, and filled that role for the Hi-A Kinston Indians during the 2010 season.  I went to at least one  Frederick Keys-Indians game this past season and normally I check to see if any of the coaches are former Orioles, but I overlooked Tony somehow. 

I'm pretty sure that I got this card in a trade with fellow Orioles autograph collector, Pol, who sent me a ton of autographs last year. Tony signs pretty well TTM too but was never included in a major release, so this Crown card is his only non-minor league card. His signature is absolute crap, I can't really even tell which end is his first name.  No offense Tony, but I don't feel like you've signed THAT many autographs over the years.