Orioles Hall of Fame Week- Earl Weaver & Contest Info

Over the past 22 months, this blog has featured thousands of autographs depicting hundreds of past, present, and possibly future Orioles players. I've mostly scanned autographs as I've obtained them, so you might have seen a bunch of obscure players, some whose careers lasted only a single game. Partially due to laziness, and partially because scanning hundreds of cards takes up a lot of time, many of the autographs that have been in my collection for many years remained in my binders, unscanned and unacknowledged. Well, that's about to change. Two weeks ago, I finally scanned the rest of the cards in my collection. So to celebrate, this week I'm focusing on all of the former Orioles who are in the Hall of Fame.

Embarrassingly, here's the break-down of how poorly I've shared my autographs of the nine modern-day Orioles who are in the Hall of Fame and the number of autographs I've shared on the site. 

Jim Palmer- 3
Hoyt Wilhelm- 2
Luis Aparicio, George Kell- 1 each
Cal Ripken Jr., Eddie Murray, Brooks Robinson, Frank Robinson, Earl Weaver- 0 (!)

Pitiful.

 

I've decided to start the week off by showing off my Earl Weaver autographs. The "Earl of Baltimore" is the only modern era Oriole to be elected to the Hall of Fame without ever having played in a Major League game. He managed the Orioles for 17 years, from 1968-82 & 1985-86, winning four AL pennants & the 1970 World Series. His managerial approach focused on pitching, defense and three-run home runs but he is probably best remembered for his explosive arguments with umpires. Footage from some of his blow-ups are still regularly played on baseball blooper shows.

 

I obtained this autograph at a card show signing when I was a kid. Unfortunately, I don't remember meeting or speaking with Earl, but I was probably too young to have had much to say. I certainly didn't know enough to talk baseball strategy back then. 

Many of you probably want to know about the contest I mentioned in the title of the post. Well, it's really easy to enter. If you comment on this post, you get an entry. If you are a follower and comment on this post, you get a second entry. If you have your own blog and spread the word about my contest, you get another entry, just share the link in the comments below. There is also a bonus way to earn entries, but I'm not going to say what it is. (Hint- Participate throughout the week.)

The winner will get this Earl Weaver autograph and a stack of cards from the team of their choice. 

Disclaimer- the picture below is borrowed from ebay, but I have a copy of the card. It's a 2005 Topps Chrome Uncirculated Autograph. Good luck everyone!