Last week, I wrote about how I finally tracked down an autograph of tough-to-find Mickey McGuire. Well, in that same transaction, I was also able to finally add an autograph of John Anderson to my collection. To that point, John was one of the 6 former Orioles whose autograph had eluded me.
John pitched parts of three seasons in the Major Leagues for four different teams between 1958-62. He pitched in five games for the '58 Phillies, four with the '60 Orioles, and split the '62 season with the Cardinals (five games) and Astros (ten games).
In John's four games with the Orioles, he pitched 4.2 innings of relief, and gave up 8 hits, 4 walks, and 7 earned runs which worked out to a 13.50 ERA.
His minor league baseball career stretched from 1952-67 and he spent parts of four seasons pitching in the O's farm system for the Miami Marlins and Rochester Red Wings between 1959-62.
John's only major issue card release was in the 1962 Topps set that lists him as a member of the Cardinals, but I'm pretty sure that he is wearing an Orioles uniform in the image that Topps used. The one piece of his hair that is sticking almost straight up adds some flair to an otherwise boring card. The '62 rookie star adds some pizazz too I suppose.
John was also included in the 1991 Orioles Crown set, but I couldn't find an image of that, and I never scanned my own copy since it's not singed. Theoretically, since he was alive for seven years after the Crown set came out, there might be a few signed copies of it somewhere, but as I understand it, John disappeared for many years after his playing career and was only found again by collectors shortly before his passing, which is why his autographs are so scarce.
I'm very happen to finally have any autograph of John's in my collection and once again have to have to thank my dad for my birthday autograph funds which allowed me to add it to my collection.
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