Unpossible Autographs-George Bamberger

So I'm starting a new recurring feature on the blog today; it's called "Unpossible Autographs" and will detail autographs that I buy or trade for featuring Orioles players who have passed away. Hence they are unpossible to get TTM or in person now. (And I know it's actually impossible, but unpossible is a Ralph Wiggum-ism from the Simpsons, and that kid makes me laugh.)

George Bamberger 1959 (died 4/4/04)

I recently bought a small lot of deceased O's autographs and will lead things off with Mr. Bamberger.

George is probably best known as the Orioles pitching coach from 1968-77. His tenure produced an amazing total of 18 20-game winners, which included 4 on the same 1971 staff. Now that's an effective pitching coach! He later was the Manager of the Brewers (78-80, 85-86) and Mets (82-83).

It seems as if George was better at teaching others how to pitch than doing it himself. He had a very brief MLB career, and appeared in only 10 games over 3 seasons; 7 of them coming with the NY Giants in '51 & '52. He pitched in only 3 games for the Orioles and racked up 1 start, 1 save and a 7.56 ERA, which really wasn't that bad for him as he amassed a cumulative ERA of 9.42. George spent 15 years in the minors, mainly in the PCL (Pacific Coast League) and won 213 games over that time.

Wikipedia features a quote that he is reported to have said and that I really like; "A triple play will take you out of an inning real quick-like." I think I am going to start using real quick-like.