2010 Orioles Autograph Year in Review

Starting today, I am going to review the signing habits of the 45 players who wore the Orioles uniform during the 2010 season. I will try to limit my judgment to only their signing habits at the Major League level during this season, although I'm sure that some past successes/failures with each individual could slightly cloud my opinion. I can only base my judgments on the 35-40 games I attended this season, so it's possible that the players signed very differently at every game I didn't attend, but I somehow don't think that was the case.

I did this same thing last season, starting on 10/15 and continuing through 10/27 and I'm a few days behind last season's schedule but should still be able to wrap this up in about a week. If I don't start this now, I will start to forget how my autograph season went, and the posts will become rather pointless.

Last year, I used nine categories to separate the players, but looking back at things, two of the categories are very similar, so I will combine them. Here are the categories (and explanations) of what I will use this season; the 2009 categories are linked if you're interested. 

Inconclusive/Undetermined- These are the players who either played only a few games for the O's who I didn't get a good feel for their signing habits or I wasn't able to get a good read on how often these players' signed over the season. This will mainly focus on bench players, injured types, and players who weren't cut out to wear the orange and black. I just never determined their signing frequency or figured out their habits, hence the name of the category.

Bad Signers- Pretty simple explanation here. These guys just don't seem to sign.

I Don't Think They're Good Signers- Players who I got autographs from or saw signing, but didn't seem to sign frequently. 

Hit or Miss Signers- These players seemed to be very streaky in regards to their signing habits. Maybe they signed multiple times one week but then not at all again for months. It could have something to do with how their performance on the field was going, or what was occurring in their personal lives; but whatever the case, they signed much better at some times than others.

Small Sample Size Good Signers- Some seemed to be good signers but weren't with the team long enough for me to figure out if I just got lucky or if they normally sign a lot.

Kinda Good Signers- These players all signed for me multiple times over the course of the season. They seemed to sign willingly, at least sometime, so they get bonus points for that.

Good Signers- These guys consistently signed throughout the season.

Best Signers- The players who were the most reliable signers throughout the course of the season. They didn't sign at every game by any means but I probably saw them sign at an average of 1 out of 5 games throughout the year. And that's pretty good for today's current major league player.

I hope that everyone enjoys the review.  Check back soon for the next post!