Monday, December 14, 2009

Unpossible Autograph: Steve Barber

Steve Barber 1960-67 (d. 2007)

First off, I owe an apology to my awesome girlfriend who got this for me as a birthday present. You see, the thing is that my birthday is in September and was more than three months ago at this point. I had intended on posting this right away but since the baseball season was still in full swing, this card got filed away. She's not mad that I didn't post it immediately but I feel that I owed it to her to have it up within a month or so. But since I can't change the past, without further ado, I present to you my autograph of Steve Barber.

Steve pitched in the Major Leagues for 15 seasons for seven different teams and is mostly remembered for his seven and a half seasons with the Orioles' "Baby-Birds" at the beginning of his career.

He grew up in Takoma Park, MD which probably assisted in the Orioles' decision to sign him as an amateur free agent in 1957. He made his first Birdland appearance during the 1960 season, and things looked promising from the start, as he received MVP votes after the '60 & '61 seasons. He had a number of notable accomplishments over his Orioles career which included becoming the first O's pitcher in modern history to win 20 games in 1963, taking part in a combined no-hitter (along with Stu Miller) in a losing effort in 1967, making two All-Star teams in '63 & '66, leading the Orioles in wins in '61, '63 & '66, and carrying the team to it's first World Series title in 1966. Unfortunately for Steve, elbow tendinitis kept him from pitching in the Series but he was a main reason that the team made it there. Overall with the Orioles, he went 95-75 with a 3.12 ERA.

After his playing days were over, Steve moved to the Las Vegas area and worked driving children with disabilities for the Clark County School District. Steve died from complications of pneumonia on February 4, 2007.

2 comments:

kasliwi said...

You're welcome :)

R.I.P. Steve...you were a good man.

Orioles Magic said...

Yes he was...