Joe Nowicki literally causes Friday fireworks in Bowie

The title of this post is accurate. The Baysox were up 1 in the top of the seventh inning (the last inning since it was a double-header) around 10:30pm on Friday night. Fireworks were scheduled but they had to start (or end) by 11pm. The fans were getting nervous.

Wilfrido Perez was in to close out the game and struck out the first two batters with ease. Unfortunately, he walked the next Sea Wolves batter and the following guy took him deep to take the lead in the game. He got the last out but the damage was done. It was now 10:40, the Baysox were behind and the fireworks seemed unlikely.

Melvin Dorta led off the bottom of the seventh with a quick single. There was hope in Bowie.

Adam Donachie flew out to right for the first out as the clock continued to tick away the seconds. Joe Nowicki stepped to the plate, and he wanted to end the game for the good guys. One sweet swing of the bat and the ball was over the right field fence. It was 10:45 and the fireworks started before all of the players even left the field.

Oh yeah, I also got my picture with Brandon Snyder & Troy Patton. And got some sweet autos from some of the Bowie players that I didn't already have autographs of.

Troy Patton & me


Brandon Snyder & me


Troy Patton


Melvin Dorta(who got promoted to AAA Norfolk after the game) & Fredy Deza


Robert Valido & Dave Krynzel

Bobby Livingston (who shares my exact birthday) Jonathan Tucker, Mike Costanzo
Costanzo offered to sign 100 if I had them, and then joked they would cost $50 each

Brandon Snyder-isn't this a weird looking card though?

REIMOLD!

I'm dedicating this post to Kalina who has been saying all along that Nolan was going to make it to the bigs and tear it up (the latter part of her theory hasn't been proven yet but I'm giving her the nod for always supporting him) while I, and the rest of the universe, have been firmly entrenched in Wieters World.

Well Nolan made his major league debut last night and went 1-5. Not great, but it's awesome that he got his first major league hit out of the way in his debut. I'm guessing that he kept that ball.

He had been tearing the cover off the ball all year at AAA Norfolk; batting .394 with 9 homers and 27 RBI in 31 games, so it's pretty obvious why he got the call-up. Now the only question that remains is if he is our permanent left-fielder. That should be figured out this weekend when a roster move has to be made to accommodate Rich Hill's inclusion in the starting rotation.

And of course I'm pumped that Reimold got the promotion since I already have a few autographs from him!

And here's a bonus picture after Nolan hit a grand slam for Bowie in the Eastern League playoffs last year. We were in the front row behind the dugout: almost close enough to return that high-five.


Let's all hope that Reimold has a nice long career and will be playing on a team full of young guns in the next year or two!

What's the best way to prepare glossy cards for autographs?

I'm turning to everyone in the collecting community for help on this one. Since my collection's focus is having players sign cards of themselves in an Orioles uniform and there are some players that only have one or two of those cards, I frequently come across glossy cards that I need to use for autographs.

My current technique has been using a rubber eraser to rub down the card and this seems to remove at least some of the glossy sheen but it's far from foolproof. I have also heard of people using powder (baby?) to prepare the card for signing. I don't know how this would work but have read about it on multiple sites and it seems to do the job.

Do any of you use either of these methods or do you have other thoughts on this? I figure that using a fine sandpaper would remove all of the gloss but would wreak havoc on the card: OK, that was a joke but I do need help with this.

Please comment and leave your ideas or suggestions. Any help is greatly appreciated!

Saturday Keys game

I'm still playing catch up from the weekend so here are some of the pictures and autographs I got from Saturday's Frederick Keys-Wilmington Blue Rocks game. I went to the game with a bunch of friends for the Wieters bobblehead giveaway. It's his second bobblehead but his first stadium giveaway.

Yes, this is the Wieters bobblehead in front of a picture of Wieters catching in Frederick last year

One of the highlights for me was that Steve Luebber, a one-time Orioles pitcher, was the pitching coach for the Blue Rocks. The only card he has in an O's uniform is from the Crown set and luckily I had to card ready to be signed!
After Steve rejected me, Kalina and our friend Meghan went over to try their luck.
Their female charm did the trick!
I also got my picture with Brian Matusz, who has been a very nice guy and an accommodating signer for all of the fans in Frederick. I would estimate that he signed for 50+ people.

The Keys held up their end with a two-run walk-off single by Dave Cash in the bottom of the ninth. It was a solid game by the Keys!

Here are the autographs I got at the game (along with the Matusz above):

Rowell, Renshaw & Salberg


Tucker, Flagello & Parker

Lebron & Cash

mini Rowell card

2 game sweep and CAL!

Here are some autographs and pictures from last Thursday's O's-Twins game and alumni autograph signing. I did not have autos from 2 of the 3 Orioles alumni at the game, Curt Motton and Mike Cuellar, so I knew I was going to have a good day.

Larry Sheets, Mike Cuellar & Curt Motton

It also seemed like the Twins were a very good signing team. I just missed out on Brendan Harris and Francisco Liriano (a fantasy baseball crush of mine from 2007 who signed down the line and at the end of the dugout). Luckily, Joe Nathan was an even better signer and I swear the guy signed for 150 fans and took pictures with half of them. That's pretty rare for an elite player like Joe.

Joe Nathan, one of baseball's best closers


Joe signed 2 for me, Scott Baker was also nice


As were Kevin Slowey & Craig Breslow

This game was yet another example of my Berg-itis or the Berg Flu
(Those are my tentative names for the fact that I somehow always see Brad Bergesen pitch, even when it was not my intent, and at times a surprise)

Wiggy & Mauer


And look who decided to make a surprise appearance at the game
That's Cal with his daughter Rachel. He signed for a number of fans before being escorted away by security to avoid a mob scene. I only took a picture from afar since I don't like to bother former players who come as fans, especially when they are with their families. But I will take pictures to prove I was there!

Rolling on the C's

I have some pictures and autographs from last night's O's-Twins game and alumni autograph signing but haven't scanned them yet. Hopefully I will get to that later tonight.

Without further ado, here are some more of the "C" Orioles' autos that I have:

Raul Chavez 2006

I got this card signed this past Spring Training when Raul was in the Blue Jays camp.
I think I was the only person who knew who he was and was happy to have had this card with me, since it is his only Orioles card, too bad the black sharpie blended in to the black background.

Bruce Chen 04-06

I bought this card on Ebay but have a funny story about Bruce.
I remember O's Fanfest ('05 I think) and Bruce was standing in the convention center lobby, looking lost. It was hilarious, as hundreds of fans were standing in long lines to get player autographs while one of the players was right next to them, totally out in the open. He was a very nice guy and signed for a bunch of fans once we figured out who he was.

Howie Clark 2002, 2006

Ivanon Coffie 2000

Jeff Conine 1999-2003, 2006

"Niner" was always one of my favorite players every year that he was on the team.
He had a dry sense of humor and seemed to be well-liked by teammates.
Definitely an O's HOFer in my book.

Starting the C's

Since it is taking me forever to post the autographs I already have and include posts about the new autos I get or receive; I am going to include less info about each of these guys as I add the scanned card pictures in the blog. I will say something when I feel the need but will mainly list their names and the years they played for the O's.

"D-Cab" Daniel Cabrera 2004-08
Major head case, Overall disappointment, Headhunter, Walk machine

Napoleon Calzado 2005

Paul Carey 1993
I remember getting this in person at an O's game (I guess it was '93) and Paul was really nice
Crazy card too, right? It's like the baseball Matrix!

Joe Carter 1998
People always remember Joe for his '93 World Series winning walkoff HR but I remember
Joe...for that exact same thing...

Carlos Casamiro 2000

5-1 First Nats game of '09

I made my first trip down to Nats Park this season (mainly to see Phat Albert (Pujols)) for the first time but also to enjoy the scene. And since 70% of the people who responded to my poll wanted me to post autos from other teams, here we go.

But not so fast; I am going to tie this post in with the O's. To start, here is my first Ray Knight auto on an O's card. I had his autograph on a Reds card but this card is what I prefer and since he does the MASN pre & post game show from Nats Park, it's not too hard to get his autograph at games.


Also, I got Willie Harris to sign my card. I already have his signature on an O's card but since he played 9 games for the O's in 2001, I can include him in my Orioles discussion.


I got Nationals players Elijah Dukes (on a card that shows some real emotion from a typically stoic guy) and Saul Rivera to sign my cards. I also just missed out on John Lannan & Jesus Flores. I also saw Austin Kearns & Shairon Martis signing for fans.



Chris Perez of the Cardinals also signed for me. I saw a few other Cardinals signing but didn't know who they were.



Here are some pictures from the stadium and the game:

I'm not the first person to blog about this but the new Nats statues look like they have weird tree-bark like bats & arms growing from them

JZ (Jordan Zimmermann) warming up pre-game

Albert didn't disappoint, going 3-4 on the night. He also hit a HR on this swing...

Point to the sky, Albert! You hit another one!

New O's Autos

I had a pretty solid weekend as far as my collection goes: I made a trade with fellow O's auto collector Aaron to add Paul Mirabella, Johnny Schmitz & Darold Knowles to my collection.





I also got this totally unexpected Enos Cabell auto from fellow blogger Zach at Autographed Cards. He got it at Royals Fanfest this year and is an awesome addition to my collection. Thanks so much Zach! Let me know how I can return the favor.


And finally Bob Turley was nice enough to return my TTM request, not only signed but personalized. I always get excited when a former player returns card with their signature on it; it never fails to put a smile on my face!

Calling All Collectors

I have recently picked up thousands of cards from my parent's house that my dad and I collected mainly from the late 80s to the mid 90s. I am currently (well not right now, but you know what I mean) sorting through them to figure out what I want to keep, what I want to sell, and what I should use as wallpaper. If you collect any player or team and are interested in trading or buying anything I might come across, please let me know. Most of what I have are base cards, with some inserts interspersed throughout the various sets. I will be looking to unload a majority of what I have, and I would guess that I have something in the neighborhood of 20-30,000 cards overall. I would like to trade for O's cards or O's autographs and wouldn't mind if I could make a dollar or two when things are said and done. But if you collect a player or team and don't have anything to trade, I could probably make your day and get you some new cards for free; I don't want to seem like I am trying to turn a profit on this.

If you are interested in anything I might have or have any suggestions of collectors to get in touch with that might be, I would appreciate your help.