Have I Mentioned That I Like Signed HOF Plaque Cards?

It's definitely a secondary collection to my Orioles autographs, but as it's becoming increasingly harder to find new Orioles autographs that I don't already have and/or can afford, I occasionally turn my attention to these signed HOF plaques. I don't have a lot of financial resources that I can use for my collecting to begin with, so I don't think I will ever have them all, especially the more famous players or those who have been dead for many years, but I will pick up a cheap signed HOF plaque card here and there when the price is right. 

Recently, I added two deceased former Orioles who didn't enter the Hall as Orioles, but were tied to the team nonetheless. 

 

I picked this Wilhelm up from a trusted dealer at a local flea market last weekend. He's got a number of other signed plaque cards, and the prices are all reasonable, but I added Hoyt this time around since he played for the O's. He chose to wear a Giants cap on his plaque although he played for the White Sox for more years; in my opinion, the best stretch of his career came during his five season stint with the O's.

 

I came across this Kell autograph on ebay, and at only five bucks for a PSA encapsulated signature, the price was most definitely right. George spent the final two seasons of his Hall of Fame career playing for the Orioles, but the seven seasons he spent with the Tigers were certainly the best stretch of his career, so it makes sense that he chose to wear a Tigers cap. 

If anyone has any of these plaque cards to trade, let me know and I hope we can work something out!

Unpossible Autograph Friday- Valmy Thomas

2010 continues to be a very bad year for former Orioles as Valmy Thomas became the 11th former O to die during this calendar year.  He passed away on October 16th in his native US Virgin Islands. 

Valmy played in the Majors from 1957-61 and is the only player in baseball history to play five seasons in five different cities.  He played for the New York Giants ('57), San Francisco Giants ('58), Philadelphia Phillies ('59), Orioles ('60), and Cleveland Indians ('61).

Valmy was actually shot by another man when they were both competing for the same woman and almost died in 1962 but luckily survived the shooting.

RIP Valmy.

TTM Success- Don Leppert

Don was nice enough to sign my TTM request, and answer the question in my letter about his playing career in only 22 days last fall. I asked him what it was like when he played for the O's and he said it was "Fantastic! So many Hall-o-Famers during my time-Mantle-Ted Williams-Bob Feller-Yogi Berra-Whitey Ford-Don Larsen-(Willie Mays in Spring Training)".

He played 40 games for the O's in 1955 and had 8 hits over 81 at-bats.  There was actually another Don Leppert who played in the Majors from 1961-64.  What's the likelihood that there would have been two big leauguers who played in the same time period with the same, seemingly unique, name?  Crazy stuff.

Don was included in the 17 player trade (the largest in baseball history) between the Orioles & Yankees on December 17, 1954.

Thanks for signing Don!

You Say Goodbye, I Say Hello

On Tuesday, the Orioles announced that righty reliever Jim Hoey was added to their 40 man roster, presumably to protect him from the Rule V draft. Jim pitched for the O's in parts of the 2006-07 seasons and has been fighting his way through various injuries since then. I would certainly expect that there will be more additions and subtractions to the O's 40 man over the coming weeks and my guess is that Matt Albers, Armando Gabino, Chorye Spoone, Pedro Viola, Pedro Florimon and Rhyne Hughes are the most likely to be removed, but time will tell. 

The O's also allowed a number of players to become Minor League free agents, including...

 Mike Hinckley

 Chris George

 Joel Guzman

 Scott Moore

and Dennis Sarfate.

Hinckley, George, and Guzman were all signed as Minor League free agents before the 2010 season and never made it to Baltimore.  

Moore and Sarfate both played for the Orioles at times over the past three seasons.  

None of these moves surprised me besides letting Sarfate go. The O's have a pretty deep bullpen and he didn't crack the 2010 Major League roster but he saved 20 games and had a 2.73 ERA for the AAA Tides. 

Willie Greene

A couple (or eight) months ago, Kirk over at Eutaw Street Cardboard posted a few cards that his brother, Todd, had sent him for his Orioles autograph collection. Apparently Todd collected autographs some years back, and they're now just taking up space at his place, so he sent some former Orioles Kirk's way. One of those former Birds was Willie Greene, and Todd just happened to have an extra Willie auto and sent it my way for a few bucks.

So here's my Willie Greene autograph. Willie played nine seasons in the Majors from 1992-2000, spending the first six and a half seasons with the Reds before jumping from the Orioles to the Blue Jays to the Cubbies at the end of his big league career. He played in all of 24 games for the O's at the end of the '98 season, typically coming in as a late inning defensive replacement. 

Thanks for the trade Kirk & Todd!

Andy Van Slyke Private Signing

Recently, a fellow autograph collector on Sportscollectors.net hosted a signing with Andy at a golf tournament and I was very happy to knock him off of my need list. If you're an autograph collector and you've never checked out SCN, you are missing out. They don't pay me anything to say this, but it's my favorite site for researching TTM information, trading with fellow collectors, and learning about private signings that are being held around the country. So click the link, and then come back to finish reading my post!

Anyway, Andy is only about a 1% TTM signer and never returned the request I sent him in April 2009, so I don't think that one will ever come back. At the time I sent it, Andy was in his fourth season as the Detroit Tigers first base coach. I also tried to get his autograph when the Tigers were in Baltimore for a series during that season, but even though Andy was standing next to the left field wall at one point during batting practice, he didn't sign for me, or anyone else. 

I was a big fan of the Pirates growing up, which I know isn't very common for older O's fans who experienced the Orioles heart-breaking World Series losses to the Bucs in 1971 & '77, but that was before my time, and since Sid Bream was from my hometown of Carlisle, PA, I was a Pirates fan back then.  Besides Sid, Andy was one of my favorite players on the the team and I still have a cracked bat of Andy's that I bought at a Pittsburgh collectors store back in the day.

Andy played in the Major Leagues for 13 season with the Cardinals, Pirates, Orioles & Phillies and is best remembered for his 1988-93 seasons during which Andy was a three time All-Star, five time Gold Glove winner, three time MVP vote getter, and two time Silver Slugger. He also had one of the most powerful arms in all of baseball, and supposedly could reach 100 mph from the mound during batting practice. 

His time in Baltimore was very short; he only played in 17 games at the start of the '95 season before being traded to the Phillies, but he was a big enough star that there are four or five cards that depict him in a Orioles uniform. And now his autograph is a part of my collection, after all of those years, I'd say it's about time.

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.    

Unpossible Autograph Friday- Jim Hardin

Jim's death is one of the more tragic stories in Orioles history. He was only 48 at the time of his death on March 9, 1991 when the propeller failed on the plane he was flying and the plane crashed. From what I could find about the crash, it sounds as though Jim steered the plane away from a baseball field where kids were playing and instead crash landed in an unoccupied construction site. He is at least the second Oriole to die in a plane crash, the other was Tom Gastall in 1956. Jim's family does a great job of keeping his memory alive by maintaining a tribute website about his life and career. 

Jim pitched in the Major Leagues from 1967-72 and was with the Orioles from '67-mid '71. He was a member of the 1970 World Series Championship O's but didn't appear in a game during the series. Over his five seasons in Baltimore, he went 38-28 with a 2.95 ERA, and won a career high 18 games during the '68 season.

As far as this card goes, it looks like Jim had a pretty clear signature, and really accentuated the J & H at the start of his name. Unfortunately, the pen Jim signed with was running out of ink, but I'm just happy to have his autograph at all.

RIP Jim.

TTM Success- Joe Price

 

Joe Price signed my TTM request in 215 days. It was nice to get my card back; sometimes I doubt I will get anything back past the 100 day mark. Unfortunately, when Joe personalized my card my name got smeared a bit, but I'm just happy that he signed for me.

Joe was a relief pitcher from 1980-90 with the Reds, Giants, Red Sox, and finished up his time in the bigs with the O's. He spent his first seven seasons with the Reds, so most people might remember him for his years in Cincy. During his one season in Baltimore, he had a 3-4 record with a 3.58 ERA in 50 games pitched.  Those stats would have made him one of the best relievers on the 2010 Orioles, but I digress.  

Thanks for signing Joe!

Congrats to the Giants & Mike McCormick

Outside of my contest, I haven't really covered the World Series. It's mainly because I was fine with either team winning; I didn't have a dog in the fight. As an O's fan, I'm pretty much used to not rooting for my own team in the playoffs, so I choose a team to cheer for (this year it was the Rays, and that didn't work out) and I can root against the team's I don't really like such as the Yankees, Red Sox & Phillies. Neither the Rangers nor Giants had won a World Series in my lifetime, so I was gonna be alright with the result either way. Now if Barry had still be on the Giants, then I would've been behind the Rangers 100%. 

Anyway, I just wanted to say congrats to the Giants and all of their players and fans. I was watching the World Series parade on the MLB Network today and I'm a little bit jealous, but it looks like a great time. I can't wait til Baltimore has to shut down the city for an Orioles parade again one day.

To salute the Giants, here's Mike McCormick, one of their greatest pitchers of all time, and the only San Francisco Giant who had won a Cy Young award until Tim Lincecum did it in 2008 & '09.

Mike pitched a total of 11 seasons with the Giants over two stints during his 16 season MLB career.  During his years with the Giants, in New York and then San Francisco, he was a two time All-Star in 1960 & '61, won the '67 N.L. Cy Young, led the league with a 2.70 ERA in '60, and wins (22) in '67.  Pretty impressive stuff. 

Mike pitched for the Orioles for two seasons, in 1963 & '64, between his two stints with the Giants.  He wasn't very effective, going 6-10 with a 4.40 ERA, and was actually demoted to AAA Rochester for most of 1964.  The San Francisco air must have helped Mike on the mound or something.

Congratulations Giants!

Playoff Contest Winner!

Thanks to everyone who entered the contest. Everyone seemed to enjoy it, so it will probably become a yearly thing around these parts.

Without further ado,  I present to you the winner of the inaugural Great Orioles Autograph Project Playoff Bracket Pick 'Em Contest:

 
Brian, of  Play at the Plate fame, pulled off the win based on his tie-breaker selection of the series going 6 games. As a Rangers fan, I'm sure that he would have preferred to have his team actually win the World Series, but I hope that winning my contest is somewhat of a minor consolation prize for him. And since Night Owl only lost based on the tie-breakers, I plan to send him some cards for coming so close.  Based on his post today, I don't think Greg really cared for the result of the World Series either.

Brian-email me so I can get your address and an idea of what I can send you to cheer you up.  Greg-I have some cards put aside for you already that we had emailed back and forth about a couple months ago, so they will finally be heading your way.

Thanks again to everyone who entered!

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.