Unpossible Autograph Friday- Ray Luebke

One of the more obscure former Orioles is a guy named Richard "Dick" Ray Luebke. He pitched in the Minor Leagues from 1954-63 but only cracked the Majors for ten appearances towards the end of the season with the 1962 Orioles. He final MLB stat line is an 0-1 record with a 2.70 ERA and 7 K's over 13.1 innings. One might think that with numbers like those, he could've stuck for longer in the Bigs but that wasn't in the cards for Ray.

Speaking of cards, you might wonder why I have a signed index card in my collection as opposed to a gum card as I prefer. Well, it's because Ray wasn't in the Majors long enough to appear in a card set during his life time. After he passed away in 1974 at the unfortunately young age of 39, he was included in the 1983 One Year Wonder (OYW) set

and the 1991 Orioles Crown set, so he obviously never had the opportunity to sign either of those cards. I couldn't find a cause of death anywhere, but since he died so young, I tend to think it was somehow unexpected. RIP Ray.