Tuesday, March 22, 2016

Rolling Along with Spring Training Autos

Here are a bunch more of the autographs I got on my trip to Spring Training. Again, this is a pretty random group of autographs, but they are the ones I had time to scan! At least they are presented in alphabetical order...


I had a talk with another collector in Sarasota, and we both find it strange that Brad Brach has been a regular MLB reliever since 2012 and has just a single 2012 Topps card to his name at this point. Such is the life of a middle reliever I suppose.



Odrisamer Despaigne was a great signer throughout my trip. He seemed to sign every time he was asked and had a nice attitude about it. As far as I could tell, he couldn't speak much English yet, but was a nice guy, and even managed to personalize one of my old man cards!




Kevin Gausman signed a few times during my trip, and as is my conundrum every spring, I don't want to bring too many cards of any given player, so I ran out of his cards to be signed after day 1. Oh well.



I only saw Adam Jones sign once, but luckily I was right there for it. He never seems to be too interactive, but has been a relatively good signer over his career.



Awesome story about Caleb Joseph; he was driving a beater pick-up truck around Sarasota. Literally, it was the oldest, dingiest car in the lot, well behind what even the office staff and clubhouse guys were driving. The Baltimore Sun did a story on it, and it turns out that it's a 2000 Mazda B2500 with almost 200,000 miles on it. You keep being awesome Caleb.



Chris Lee was definitely in the conversation of being one of the best signers that I saw too. I think he signed 6-7 times over the 5 days I was in town.



I had no idea before heading to Sarasota, but some fellow autograph collectors warned me about how Andy Oliver had been a tough autograph to get in the past. He seems to have improved his signing habits, as least somewhat, as my dad got him to sign before I got to town and he signed once for me as well.



Rick Peterson was so impressed by my dad's OMC that he asked for one for himself! It was a pretty cool experience for my dad to talk to Rick about his card making process!



The last time Todd Redmond was with the Orioles in Spring Training 2013, I came across him at the minor league camp, and he would only sign for those of us there who knew who he was. Luckily I passed his test then, and he seemed to be a bit more willing to sign this time around.



Nolan was kind enough to not only sign for me, but to take a quick selfie, as he has long been one of my wife's favorite Orioles. Thanks Nolan!



B.J. Surhoff has been surly as long as I have been crossing paths with his since he was on the Orioles in the mid 1990's. That being said, I do have quite a few of his autographs, but he typically seems like he would like to be anywhere else when he is signing. I always hear about his dry sense of humor, so maybe I'm misreading the situation, or maybe not.

2 comments:

adiddle said...

Hi Ryan my name is Alan and I have been following your bog since last year and love it. I also follow Kevins Orioles card of the day for years. I like you are in the process of getting every card signed for a player no matter what kind. I have a friend that help me with the Orioles minors team sets so that give me some help. I am a season ticket holder for the Somerset Patriots( I live in NJ) of the Atlantic League and I catch players as they go through here if not on cards I have them sign my Baltimore Orioles book 40 years of Magic from 33rd street to Camden Yards. Keep up the good work as seeing your posts gives me more push to get the signatures and still enjoy my favorite team

Orioles Magic said...

Hi Alan- Thanks for the message-I love hearing from fellow autographs collectors, especially anyone whose focus is also on the Orioles! Certainly a number of former Orioles have played in the Atlantic League over the years, so that is probably a great place to get autographs. Good luck with your collection!