Orioles Autograph Year in Review- The Best Signers

This will wrap up my review of the 2010 O's signing habits, which I started just about two weeks ago. Last year I included 8 players in this best signers group; this year it's down to 7, but it's still about 15% of the players who played for the O's this year which isn't bad. 

Luke is once again the player who signed the most over the course of the season. I'm pretty much at the point where I try to let other fans get his autograph since I've got his signature so many times. He always seems like a nice guy and talks to the fans while he's signing. I listed Luke in this category last season too, but he really deserves his own category. 


The following three relief pitchers signed almost every Sunday during the season (Sunday's are the day pitchers can warm up on the field since there's no batting practice).

Albers has been inconsistent on the mound over his time in Baltimore, but he's typically been a good signer at least.

I put Hendrickson in the good signers category last year, but this year he took his signing to the next level.

Ohman was sent to the Marlins at the trade deadline, but he signed very frequently before being sent to Miami. I think he signed every card I had of him before the trade, so I was fine with it.

I've heard that some other people had trouble getting Cesar's autograph this year, but not me. He was always the first player to come back to the dugout after B.P. and would normally sign early on. Cesar really upped his signing game this season; I listed him in the kinda-good category last year.      

 

Dino only spent the last month of the season in Baltimore, but he signed enough over that time to get listed here. He was in this category last year too, making him the second back-to-back best signer.  

 

Bergy was the rare Orioles starting pitcher who signed regularly this season. He would sign on some Sundays and in between his starts too.  

I hope that everyone enjoyed the review and I will now get back to my regular blogging schedule, whatever that might be. 

Oriole # 884- Rick Vanden Hurk

Rick Vanden Hurk made his Orioles debut this past Sunday against the Rangers, and pitched a scoreless 7th inning, striking out two straight batters after walking leadoff hitter Julio Borbon.  He managed to pick off Borbon after the walk, so it was a fairly impressive debut.  Rick had been called up to the Orioles from the AAA Norfolk Tides on August 16th, so he had to wait 6 days before appearing in a game for the O's.  I asked him before the game how the waiting game was going and he said "I just go with the flow", so it doesn't seem like it bothered him very much. 

Getting a ball to warm-up with, maybe an extra to toss to the fans too?

I got to Sunday's game early to try to get some autographs.  If you don't know, Sunday's are the best day to get the Orioles relievers' autographs since there isn't any batting practice and the pitchers warm up on the field.   Most weekdays, the relievers walk straight from the dugout to the bullpen and rarely sign.

Thanks for signing Rick!

The Orioles acquired Rick in a trade deadline move with the Marlins this past July that sent Will Ohman to Miami.  Rick has been a starter most of his Major and Minor League career until this season, when he has come out of the bullpen in his three big league games.  He pitched for the Marlins during every season from 2007-10 but bounced back and forth between the Major & Minor Leagues over that time.  He was only 22 years old when he made his MLB debut in 2007, and was the youngest player in the National League when he debuted. 

Rick was born in Eindhoven, Netherlands and is the only current and one of only 7 all-time Dutch born players in the Majors.  He didn't appear to have any sort of accent when I briefly spoke to him prior to Sunday's game.  It was EXTREMELY hot on the field, so nobody was saying much, but he seemed like a nice guy and signed probably 100-200 autographs. 

Some Recent Orioles Autographs

Since I've been behind with almost all my collecting related activities for this entire baseball season, I haven't been able to scan or show off my current Orioles autographs as I've been getting them at games. So I am going to dump them all into this one post. Sounds like a plan to me. So here we go!




My new thing is trying to get these O's postcards signed, specifically by players who don't have any Orioles cards, like Ohman and Castillo (who has been sent to AAA Norfolk since he signed this for me). Berken's only Orioles card is from the 2010 Topps When They Were Young insert set, so I only give that card half credit as an O's card since the picture of him as a kid dominates the card.

And speaking of guys who are no longer with/on the team...

I intended to have this card scanned for my "Goodbye Dave" post. That obviously didn't happen, but here it is now. I wonder what Dave is up to these days?

Tillman is currently biding his time with the Tides. I was happy to get him to sign this card for my orange uniform collection.

Jeff Datz, the O's bench coach, signed for me for the first time all season. I don't think he's a tough signer, but he is just always in the dugout. I have a few more copies of this card, which is his one and only MLB card, and hope to get another signed since this J turned out very dry.

I got my first in-person C-Pat autograph too. I've seen him sign one or two other times but was in the wrong place to get him then.

Ty signed for me for only the third time since he's been with the O's. He's a tough autograph to get most of the time, and in retrospect, I don't really know what I chose this card to get him to sign. It's pretty blah. Oh well.




It's possible that any of these three guys are sent to Norfolk (or released in Albers' case) to make room for the starting pitcher needed for this Saturday's game. Garrett Atkins would be the most logical guy to get rid of in my opinion, but what do I know?

Luke was the man once again. I know that this is an 08 Heritage short print, and that I probably should have just kept it with my set and all, but look at all that orange! It needed to be signed. And now it's going with my orange uniform autograph collection. I know he's not wearing an orange uni, but it's orange enough for me. It's my collection so I get to make the rules.

Both Cesar and Julio Lugo signed at the same spot the day I got this card autographed. Since this is my 5th Cesar and I still need Lugo on my Orioles postcard, I would gladly have switched up which autograph I got, but that's not how it works. I hope to get Julio sometime soon though.

Guthrie continues to be a good signer. Again not sure why I chose this boring card to get signed, but I did. Can't do anything about it now.



I continue to get lucky with Jonesy. I've heard others say that they've had trouble getting him to sign but I seem to get him 4-5 times a season. I like how he looped his #10 in with his signature on the top card. Oh, and Kalina, I put Jones at the bottom of the post just for you. Let's just say that Kalina doesn't appreciate his "attitude", "hustle" or constant focus on chewing gum/blowing bubbles.

The Orioles Won a Series...At Home...And It Was a Come-From-Behind Win!

So the Orioles won an amazing game today. Definitely their best victory of the year. Hands down. Two guys received much deserved shaving cream pies...

This guy, who gave the Orioles a one run lead with his grand slam in the bottom of the 8th inning. I think LUUUUUUUKE is starting to heat up, which is slightly obvious now that he has homered in back to back games.

And this guy, who was just called up from AAA Norfolk yesterday, but seems to have provided a much needed spark to the team. He homered and threw out the would-be tying run at the plate to end the game. I was skeptical that bringing up Corey would make a difference, but honestly, we haven't won two games in a row very often this season, so I'm practically in love with him right now.

And there had to be someone to catch Patterson's throw and block the plate to stop that tying runner from scoring. Who was it? My boy, Matt Wieters. The throw was slightly off-line but Wiety had the plate blocked and delivered an amazing sweeping tag to put this game into the books. He had entered the game as a pinch-hitter for Craig "French-Fried Per-" Tatum and I'm not positive that Tatum would've made that play. That was a play for a big guy, someone like Wiety to make.


Will Ohman delivered both shaving cream pies, and the one that Patterson received was especially spectacular. Will had shaving cream in two towels and applied one to each of Corey's cheeks for a ridiculous, exaggerated white mustache look. And Corey was the consummate professional, continuing his interview with Amber Theoharis for another couple minutes with the shaving cream relatively intact.

O what a day to be an Orioles fan. It sucks most of the time, but today it is pure bliss.

In-Person Autographs from O's First Week

I finally had time last night to scan some of the autographs that I got over the O's first homestand. Without further delay...


This is the first Ohman autograph in my collection, so it was the highlight of the series for me. He seems like a cool guy, and does a great Harry Caray impersonation. He added Colossians 3:17, which says "And whatever you do, whether in word or deed, do it all in the name of the Lord Jesus, giving thanks to God the Father through him."


I have a few Matusz autographs in my collection, but this is his first Orioles card. Hey 2010 Upper Deck, I knew you had to be good for something!


This is also Cla's first Orioles card. It's from the 2010 Topps Orioles team set; he doesn't have a card in the regular Topps release so his inclusion in the team set was a nice surprise.


The Topps team set also included Gonzo's first "Orioles" card. It's just a Photoshop job of his Braves card in the regular set, but is an upgrade to my collection.


Bergy has a number of O's cards from the fall Update set releases, and I chose this one to get since he's rocking the Orange Uni. I missed getting Brad's autograph in Spring Training so this is the first signed O's card of his in my collection. And I have to add that he did something very nice for a little kid at Monday's game. He signed the kid's ball and then took it into the dugout to get the rest of the team to sign it. I think he must've gotten 20 signatures for the kid. Brad's a great guy, he just needs to regain his 2009 form on the mound.


I got my first in-person Tejada autograph at Sunday's game. I was the last person that he signed for before running back to the dugout right before the game started, so I figured that I got the rush job on his autograph.


But no, that appears to be his normal signature. I got this one at Monday's game and it might be marginally better but still looks like an exaggerated MT. You can do better than that Miggy!


Even though he was already in my collection, I was happy to add an in-person upgrade of Jose Bautista from the Jays' weekend swing in Birdland.


And these two guys have made multiple appearances on the blog but are popping up again since I was able to add autographs of them wearing the glorious orange uniforms.


David is looking good so far this year...



And Hey Hey Hey, not so much. He better "shape up" soon or he will be heading to Norfolk.

A Good Autograph Weekend and the Return of the Orioles Alumni Autograph Series

I had a pretty good autograph weekend; I would actually call it great if the freaking O's had managed to win a game. I haven't had a chance to get anything scanned yet but I spent time getting autographs at both the Baysox-Flying Squirrels game on Saturday and the O's-Blue Jays game yesterday.

At Saturday's Bowie Baysox game, I got a total of 14 Baysox players to sign 17 cards for me, and I especially enjoyed talking to new backup catcher, Phillip Britton and new reliever Armando Gabino.

I brought a Hawaii Winter League card of Britton that he hadn't seen for a while and he went on and on about it. He seems like a really nice, talkative guy and I'm looking forward to watching him on the Baysox this season.

I had a cool experience with Gabino in Spring Training, when I had a Twins minor league card of his that I don't think that he had seen for a few years. He showed it to a few other players in the dugout in Sarasota and seemed like a nice guy. In Bowie, Armando again seemed like a cool person and was talking to everyone as he went down the line signing. Earlier on Saturday, I had picked up 2 of his 2010 Topps Finest cards to get signed. He mentioned that he hadn't seen the card before, so I offered one of them to him and he was very appreciative of it. In retrospect, I probably could have asked for a ball or something, but I'm glad that he liked the card. I saw him pull it out of his pocket and look at it at least twice once he went to the bullpen area. And I now have a favorite member of the 2010 Baysox, you're the man Armando!

Luckily, the Baysox are one of my team's that know how to win, and they pulled out a back and forth game with an 8th inning three run homer from Joel Guzman, who seems like he will be a tough signer, and a rocky yet successful save from a favorite of this blog, Wilfrido Perez.


Sunday's continue to be the best time to get autographs of the members of the Orioles bullpen and I got 10 different autographs from members of the 25 man roster. I got my first autograph of Will Ohman, my first Orioles cards signed of Cla Meredith, Mike Gonzalez, and Brian Matusz and was also able to get my first in-person Miguel Tejada autograph. Pretty exciting stuff and I will be posting the scans and pictures over the next week or so.


Tonight also marks the return of the Orioles Alumni Autograph Series to Camden Yards. If you don't know or don't remember, former O's will be signing autographs at the MASN tent on Eutaw Street before every Monday and Thursday home game. JACKPOT! I just hope they are able to bring in some different players than last year, but I won't complain about getting some guaranteed autographs any day! No list of signers have been posted yet, but I hope to get an idea of who is signing sometime soon.

New Players On the Orioles Opening Day Roster

And I'm not talking about guys like Garrett Atkins, Kevin Millwood or Mike Gonzalez who I have been counting in my total number of Orioles players since they were signed. Barring a tragic injury or untimely death, we all knew that they would be making the team out of Spring Training, so I have included them in my total number of Orioles players since the day they signed with the club.
Is it right to include guys like that in my total? Yes, I think it's fine; it could be slightly misleading at most, but this is my site so we play by my rules.



The three guys that made the team that I didn't expect to see in Baltimore are Will Ohman, Craig Tatum and the newly acquired Julio Lugo. The fact that David Hernandez and Jason Berken made the Opening Day roster were also a bit of a surprise but from my autograph standpoint, I have been able to get them to sign multiple times in person. I do not have an autograph of Ohman or Lugo so they are going to be my primary focus at the beginning of the season. I have been able to obtain a signed card and Orioles player card of Tatum through trades, but would like to get his autograph in person as well. Once Ohman, Tatum and Lugo officially appear in a game wearing the Orange and Black, I will add them to the running total of players that have appeared in a game for the Birds. Right now that number sits at 873, but it will likely soon be 876.

I'm ready for some Orioles baseball!