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.

TTM Success- Ted Gray

It feels like forever since I've done one of these posts.  It's mainly due to the fact that I haven't had the time to send many requests out lately, which obviously decreases the number I can get back.  So here we go...

Ted Gray pitched in the Major Leagues from 1946, 1948-55 and spent 8 of his 9 seasons with the Detroit Tigers.  He made the 1950 A.L. All-Star team but unfortunately ended up getting the loss in the game.  He served in the Navy during WWII and pitched for the Navy All-Stars; a highlight of his time with that squad was striking out 19 Army All-Stars during one game in 1945.  

Ted's final season in the Majors must have been a tough year for him as he was released by the White Sox, Indians, Yankees and Orioles during the course of the '55 season.  Ted pitched in just 9 games for the Orioles between late July and mid-September and went 1-2 with an 8.22 ERA.  

He signed my TTM request in 70 days and did a nice job filling the empty space on my Crown card.  His signature is a little squished but at least he has a short name to fit into that small space.  Thanks for signing Ted!

An Awesome Bobblehead Breakdown

I had nothing to do with putting this together, but I love bobbleheads.  Bobblehead informational breakdown=amazing.  Check out Flip Flop Fly Ball for the the entire post. 

September Call-Ups

The first wave of Minor League call-ups should arrive in Baltimore today with Nolan Reimold, Robert Andino and Brandon Snyder joining the Orioles from the AAA Norfolk Tides.

Nolan is returning to Baltimore after he was sent to Norfolk following a slow start to the 2010 season with the O's.  His problems continued with the Tides for a month or so after he was demoted but he really heated up over the past couple months.

Reimold had a breakout 2009 season for the Birds after making his Major League debut on May 14.  He was a Rookie of the Year candidate before succumbing to an achilles problem late in the season.  Nolan is one of Kalina's favorite players so she's just a little excited that he will be back in town.

Andino was designated for assignment late in spring training to make room for Julio Lugo on the O's roster.  He cleared waivers and has had a great year in Norfolk with his bat (13 homers, 76 RBI) but not so much with his glove (31 errors).  Since he wasn't on the 40 man roster, a corresponding move has to be made, but I'll get to that later.

"Dino" was with the O's for the entire 2009 season and mainly provided middle infield depth.  He filled in for an injured Cesar Izturis and received regular playing time from late May through early July. 

This is Brandon's first big league call-up so when and if he makes it into a game, it will be his MLB & Orioles debut.  He was the Orioles 2005 1st round draft pick; he has risen steadily through the organization and played at every affiliate level over the past six seasons.  Over his time in the minors, he has had some great seasons to go along with a few disappointing campaigns.  His 2010 season at Norfolk had only been OK, .257 with 9 homers and 43 RBI, so I'm a little surprised that he got the call to come to Baltimore.  I guess it's about the time in his career where the O's front office needs to figure out if he has a future in the Big Leagues. 

Kalina and I saw him play many times in Frederick and Bowie, and the few times I got to speak to him he seemed like a nice guy.  I hope that things work out and we will be seeing him play in Baltimore for years to come.

With the good news, comes the bad.  Lou Montanez was designated for assignment to clear room on the 40 man roster.  Things just have never worked out for Lou with the Orioles.  It seems like every time he had an opportunity to get playing time, he would do really well, but then get hurt pretty quickly, or he'd already be hurt when a roster spot opened up. 

Lou appeared in between 26-38 games for the O's over each of the past three seasons, with his longest and most productive time coming in 2008.  That was also the season that he won the AA Eastern League Triple Crown with Baysox.  Good luck wherever you end up Lou!  

My First York Revolution Game

I went to college at York College of Pennsylvania in, well York, PA, but in the years before the independent Atlantic League York Revolution came into existence.  I think the team started up a year or two after I graduated, and I've always wished that the team was around during my time in York.  I've always loved baseball and feel like I would have really enjoyed working for the team in any capacity during my college years. 

Partially because it hasn't worked with my schedule and partially because they are about the 5th furthest professional baseball team from where I live, I hadn't made it to a York Rev game until this season, when I finally made it to a game on Sunday July 18th. 

If you're not familiar with the Atlantic League, it's an unaffiliated independent league and consists of 8 teams located in New York, New Jersey, Pennsylvania and Maryland.  Fellow blogger Paul, who has been a trade partner and frequent commenter over the past few years, is the blogosphere's resident Atlantic League expert.  So click on his link if you are interested. 

Tim "Rock" Raines is the manager for the Newark Bears, who were in town to play the Revolution.  He is one of the main reasons that I chose that game to attend because I still needed his autograph on my Orioles card.  And as far as I know, this is his only O's card, so I didn't want to send it out in the mail.  Tim is a great TTM signer, but you have to send a $5 donation.

The funny thing about this card is that it's almost always listed as Rock's card on Beckett and other places that list such things. You can see the little RC (rookie card) designation under Fleer Platinum which obviously couldn't apply to Rock, but the stats on the back are from Rock's career; it seems like someone at Fleer was confused!   Both Tim and Tim Jr. played for the 2001 O's, so I can see where the confusion might come from, but this card obviously pictures the elder Tim.  Anyway, we waited down the third base line for Tim to come out to the dugout and Kalina shouted his name as soon as she saw him.  He came over and signed for a few fans, so it was really nice to get my card signed.

Tim was one of the greatest lead-off hitters and base-stealers in baseball history and his 808 steals ranks 4th on the all-time list.  He was also a 7 time All-Star and is a candidate to one day make the Hall of Fame; he received 30.4% of votes (of the 75% necessary for induction) in 2010. 



The York Revolution also have a few connections to the Orioles with their manager, Andy Etchebarren, and one of their starting pitchers, Matt Riley.  The Rev were holding a "Meet the Team" autograph & picture session at the game I went to, so I was able to get all of my Etchebarren and Riley cards signed, with some help from Kalina and my parents.

Andy Etchebarren had a 15 year career in the big leagues, 12 of those were with the Orioles in 1962 & 1965-75.  He was a two time All-Star and was a member of the '66 & '70 Baltimore World Series Championship teams.  Andy, who split time behind the dish with Elrod Hendricks for many of his years in Birdland, formed the battery with many of the best pitchers in Orioles history such as Jim Palmer, Dave McNally, Mike Cuellar, Milt Pappas and Steve Barber.  He must have been doing something right. 

Matt Riley will be remembered in Baltimore more for what could've been than what was.  He was the Orioles third round pick in 1997 and absolutely dominated every level of the Minor Leagues that he pitched in.  He was still only 19 years old when he was called up to the O's at the end of the 1999 season.

Matt was never able to match his success in the Minors at the Major League level and a combination of a cocky/entitled attitude and three Tommy John surgeries had knocked him completely out of affiliated baseball by the end of the 2008 season.  When I handed him this card to sign, he joked with a teammate about how he used to be someone worthy of being on a "Who to Watch" card. 

 I got a few extra autographs from Matt & Andy, so if anyone is interested in trading for these, just leave a comment.  It's funny to see an Oriole besides Cal wearing the number 8 like the card in the bottom right corner. 

The Right Place at the Right Time

Recently, well three weeks ago, the White Sox came to Baltimore for a three game series.  Greg Walker is the White Sox hitting coach.  He has a single Orioles card, this Crown card, which he earned by appearing in 14 games for the 1990 Birds.   He doesn't sign TTM and I've never seen this signed card available anywhere.  There are plenty of his signed White Sox cards out there, but I wanted his Orioles card signed.  A White Sox 'grapher that I meant on SportsCollectors.net had been working on getting this signed for me in Chicago for a few months, but hasn't had any luck yet.


Luckily, I had an extra copy of Greg's Crown card and brought it to Camden Yards prior to the Friday game.  Most, but certainly not all, coaches are pretty good signers if you can get within shouting distance of them, especially if they are with the visiting team.  I went down near the White Sox dugout and kept my eyes open for Greg.  I tried to find a recent picture of him online, but I couldn't find anything that gave me a definite idea of what he looked like.  So once a coach came out of the tunnel that kind of looked like the picture on the card, I held my card up and shouted out to him, hoping that I guessed right.  It was Greg!  And he came right over and signed my card. The other people trying to get autographs didn't know who he was, so no else else bothered him, but I got my guy. 

Greg had a 9 season Major League career from 1982-90, and played all but his last 14 games for the White Sox.  He split time at first base and DH and led the American League with 163 games played in 1985.  He has been the White Sox hitting coach since 2003 and was a member of their 2005 World Series Championship team. 

Sunday Pictures

A couple of days ago in my post about Rick Vanden Hurk's Oriole debut, I posted some pictures I had taken while getting autographs on Sunday.  Well here are a few more...

Mark Hendrickson was the first player out on the field and the first guy signing autographs

This is a pretty cool shot of Guthrie warming up with bullpen catcher Ronnie Deck.   Gut avoided all the autograph seekers after his session though...boo!

Mike Gonzalez signed for some fans.  I'm not sure what's going on with the girl's yellow hair in front of me.

Here's Armando Gabino making some sort of slapping/smacking motion while talking to Vanden Hurk and Matt Albers.

And here's Armando signing for the fans

Unpossible Autograph Friday-Curt Blefary

So I've decided to make every Friday here on the blog, an "Unpossible Autograph Day".  If this is your first time checking my site out, an Unpossible Autograph is my term for an autograph of a former Orioles player who has passed away, thus making their autograph impossible unpossible to get anymore.  You can obviously still purchase an autograph of theirs, but they will never sign any additional cards.  I got the term unpossible from Ralph Wiggum on the Simpsons; he is awesome. 

Curt Blefary's career arc was the opposite of many other players as his rookie season was his best and his success decreased with each passing year.  He won the 1965 A.L. Rookie of the Year for the Orioles, and is one of 6 Orioles players to earn the honor.  Can you name the other 5?  Don't cheat!

Curt spent the first four seasons of his eight year MLB career with the Orioles and was a member of the '66 World Series Champs.  Frank Robinson gave him the nickname "Clank" for his defensive shortcomings and he never really found a position that suited him.  He would've been an ideal designated hitter, but his career ended in 1972, one year before the DH rule came around.  He played over 200 games in left field, right field and at first base and also caught and played a few games at second and third base.  He was only behind the plated for 66 games over his career but something clicked between him and Tom Phoebus on April 27, 1968 as Phoebus threw a no-hitter against the Red Sox. 

After his playing career ended, Curt aspired to be a coach but never got the opportunity so instead held a laundry list of jobs including being a sheriff, truck driver, bartender and night club owner.  Curt died at only 57 years old in 2001 from complications of pancreatis.  His final wish was to have his ashes scattered at Memorial Stadium, but it was already being torn down at the time of his death.  Luckily, the Babe Ruth Museum came through and supplied the home plate used in the final game at Memorial Stadium and it was placed in the exact spot as Curt would have remembered it.  At the ceremony, his wife Lana said "He loved Baltimore, and he loved his fans, he was a lifelong student of the game." RIP Curt. 

I also wanted to mention that this card is the first PSA/DNA certified autograph in my collection.  It's nice to know that it is authenticated but I generally don't like to pay the extra amount that it costs.  Generally, I will compare other autographs that are available so that I am reasonably sure that the auto is legit.  I also try to do a little research on the sellers to make sure there other items for sale appear authentic.   I was able to win this card for a decent price on ebay so it was worth it this time around. 

Upgrading Matt Wieters

I have been a big fan of Wieters ever since the Orioles drafted him with their first pick (5th overall) in the 2007 draft.  He's my favorite current Oriole and I was able to get his autograph multiple times during his time with single A Frederick and double A Bowie over the 2008 season.  But back then, Matt didn't have any cards that pictured him in an Orioles uniform, so I've been in need of an upgrade for some time now. 

Matt has some sort of exclusive deal with Tristar, or one of those companies, so he hasn't been included in either of Topps 2009 or 10 base sets, or any of their insert sets for that matter.  Matt was included in a few high end 2009 Upper Deck releases like Icons and he was also included in the mysterious 09 UD "Update" set.  A quick search of ebay will show that these cards are in the $20-30 range unsigned, so that's too much for me to buy just to have him sign.  Give me the cheap stuff.  So I waited, and then 2010 UD came through; even though they actually did a good job hiding any Orioles logos on this card, I still consider it an O's card.

I've had this card with me at every O's game since Spring Training, hoping to get Matt to sign it, but he is a pretty tough signature to get these days.  Since he starts about 6 days a weeks and helps to warm up the starting pitchers, there isn't a good time inside the stadium when he signs.  I hear that he occasionally will sign on days that he's not starting, but I like to see him play and typically go to games when he is starting.  I run into a Catch 22 with that problem.

Anyway, I was finally able to get my 2010 UD card signed on Saturday August 7th.  Matt was scheduled for a signing at an AT&T store in Columbia, MD, which is about 15 miles southwest of Baltimore, and I knew that it was my chance to get my card signed.  Luckily, I didn't have any plans that morning, and since the signing was scheduled from 12-1, I knew I should get there early.  I arrived around 10:30am and was around the 50th person in line.  By the time the signing started at noon, the line wrapped the entire way around the strip mall, so I was happy that I got there when I did.  Matt was really nice and briefly talked to each fan as they got his autograph. 

I had hoped to get my Wieters Sports Illustrated signed too, but it was a strict one per person limit.  Maybe next time...

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. 

An Awesome Envelope From Jamie

About two weeks ago, I got an email from blog reader Jamie; he's a huge Orioles fan who lives in Rochester, NY.  Some of you might be able to guess where this is going...the Orioles' AAA team was the Rochester Red Wings from 1961-2002.  Jamie regularly attended Red Wings' games from the late '80s until the O's dropped their affiliation, and he was smart enough to bring cards for the players to sign.  He checked my want list and sent me some truly awesome additions to my collection.  All 5 of these guys are tough signers and I have tried to track them down for some time now.

You all know about Albert Belle, he was crazy.  Crazy good with the bat, and just plain crazy in real life.  He was also an Oriole, so I needed his autograph.  Surprisingly, he doesn't sign TTM requests.  So getting him in this trade was great.  I wonder what he was like when he was signing for fans.  Did someone have to force him to do it?

Orange Uni alert!

Francisco de la Rosa pitched in 2 games for the Orioles during the 1991 season, he had a 4.50 ERA in 4 innings pitched.  He has pretty much disappeared, likely to his native Domincan Republic, after his playing career ended, so his autograph is very tough to track down.  There isn't much demand for his autograph outside of some crazy Orioles collectors like myself, so I doubt I will ever see a private signing with him.  He does have a pesky '92 Stadium Club card showing him in an O's uniform (also orange), so I will still keep my eyes open for that one.  He appeared too late in the '91 season to be included in the Crown set.

Why the shifty look Paul? Is someone trying to copy your curly hair/awesome stache combo?

Paul appeared in 38 games for the '91 O's and had an 0-2 record with a 5.08 ERA, including 14 games finished with one save.  It sounds like Paul might have filled the mop-up role for that squad.  Overall, he pitched for 5 different teams over his 6 year MLB career.  Interestingly, he signs the same percentage(zero) of TTM requests that Albert Belle does; I wonder what Paul has against his fans? 

Paul appeared early enough in the '91 season to be included at the very end of the Crown set.  He also has a few other Orioles cards, so again, I will try to track down his autograph on one of them.  

Mark played for the Giants and O's over his 6 season MLB career from 1990-95. His one season in Baltimore was in 1993, during which he only played in 10 games, and was sandwiched by his time with the Giants from 90-92 & 94-95.

He only appeared in 168 games over his 6 big league seasons, highlighted by 64 games for the '91 Giants; he was typically used as a reserve outfielder.  Mark doesn't have any Orioles cards, which is good because he also seems to be allergic to signing  TTM requests.  What is it with these guys? 

Kevin pitched 5 games for the the O's in 1993 and had a 5.94 ERA.  Pretty much all of his stats over those 5 games weren't very good, yet he also doesn't like to sign.  


Thanks again for the great autographs Jamie!  I really appreciate your helping the Project along!

Wrapping Up My Cards From The National

It only took just over two weeks, but here are the rest of the cards that I purchased at the National.  This is a random group.

First up is a Robin Roberts signed Hall of Fame plaque card.  Robin is a former Oriole, and a HOFer, so that makes this double awesome to me.  He is wearing a Phillies hat on his plaque, so that makes it a little less cool, but it was still a great pickup. Unfortunately, Robin passed away earlier this year. The dealer hadn't yet bumped up the cost after his death, so I grabbed this for only $10.

I can't recall if I have ever mentioned that I collect signed HOF plaque cards.  But I do.  I certainly don't focus on it the way I do on Orioles autographs, but if I can find them for a decent price, I always like adding them to my collection.  There have been some amazing players in the history of baseball and I have no delusions about ever having a complete collection of these things, but I like to add one here and there as it might work out. 

I had to pick up this Showalter auto for only a buck.  Haha.  Even if it's smudged and he's wearing an eyesore of a uniform, it was still worth it.  I would've paid $2-3 for his autograph on a D'backs or Rangers card, but since he was just named the O's manager the week before the show, I was happy to add this to my collection.

Somehow, I was never able to get Juan's autograph while he was coaching/managing for the O's.  He was a tough autograph compared to most coaches I have seen.  I don't particularly collect managers' & coaches' autographs if they never played for the O's, but at under a dollar, it seemed right to add him to my collection.  And talk about a snappy looking card, I can barely describe the gloriousness of this bumblebee color scheme.

Completely moving away from the Orioles, I found this great Josh Johnson autograph for only a couple dollars.  This "Clear Path to Greatness Signatures" card is one of those cards that you can see through.  Clear Path/see through, get it? In retrospect, I should've taken a picture of this in my hand so you could tell that it was clear. 

Anyway, Josh is one of those players that I don't collect, but I have a fantasy baseball crush* on since he helped me bring home the title in my most competitive fantasy league last year.  This is a sticker autograph but the clear sticker/clear card combination makes it pretty hard to see. 

*If you don't play fantasy sports, I would describe a fantasy crush as a fixation on a certain player who has performed very well for you and/or helped you win a title.  You tend to try to keep these players or draft them again, even as the get older and less productive.  Don't let me down Josh.