Oriole #1024- Trey Mancini

While playing catch-up organizationally and blog-wise, it's amazing to me just how quickly my collection got out of hand. I've done my best to periodically organize and scan cards over the past year, but yet, I'm playing a game of what do I have and where is anything. The scans of my Trey Mancini autographs are a nice microcosm of my issues. I scanned all of the cards in this post around the times that I actually got the autographs, but then never labeled them. So I got to blindly click around my scanned cards for a five year period to track these down. But that's enough about me.

I'm not entirely sure how or why it happened, but I skipped past Trey's Orioles/MLB debut in late September of 2016 when writing my posts at the time. I would speculate that it was a combination of his unexpectedly late end of season call-up, well after the beginning of September when you expect to see guys come up from the minors, and my aforementioned disorganized autograph scans.

After being selected by the Orioles in the 8th round of the 2013 draft out of Notre Dame, Trey steadily rose through the Orioles minor league system, and played at every level from the short season Aberdeen Ironbirds all the way up through the AAA Norfolk Tides. Due in part to his continued ascension, he wasn't included in all of the minor league team sets so he didn't have as many cards as many of his fellow minor leaguers. Neither was he considered a can't miss prospect so Topps skipped him over with their minor league offerings. This led to a smaller number of cards for me to attempt to get signed, which only added to my issues with this post.

As you can see at this point in this post, in addition to help from my dad with his 2016 Mancini Old Man Cards, I discovered more than enough Trey Mancini autographs throughout my disorganized card boxes and scans. Trey was always a nice guy and willing signer throughout his minor league years, so I never had an issue with him signing, just with my having anything for him to sign.

After playing in five games with the Orioles at the tail-end of the 2016 season, and hitting three homers over fourteen at-bats during that time, Trey began the 2017 season as the Orioles everyday left-fielder. As a career first-baseman, he didn't miss a beat during the conversion to the outfield during Spring Training in 2017 and came in third in the American League Rookie of the Year race behind Aaron Judge and Andrew Benintendi. Not bad for a guy who was never considered a top prospect!

Oriole #1021- Parker Bridwell

I know that I'm skipping a few debuts at this point, but July/August is always a hard time of the season to keep up with autographs on the team as players are traded or acquired from other organizations and I don't have their autographs waiting to add to my collection. So I'm going to move ahead with a debut I was prepared for; that of the Orioles 9th round draft pick in the 2010 draft, Parker Bridwell.

Parker was drafted out of Hereford High School in Texas, and apparently could have been the quarterback at Texas Tech if he had chosen to go that route, so it seems like he was an all-around gifted athlete in high school. He worked his way through every level of the Orioles minor league system over the past seven years, at times seeming like a sure-fire Major Leaguer following up with other stretches where it seemed like he would never make it to the show. 

He has consistently been ranked as one of the Orioles highest prospects, owing at least in part to their shallow farm system, and was added to the 40-man roster prior to the 2016 season to protect him from the Rule 5 draft. Parker was also invited to the big league camp for the first time in 2016 so all the signs seemed to be pointing in the right direction for him. However, during the season, he battled some injuries and was also moved to the bullpen, where it seems like the team thinks his MLB future might be, so it took most of the season before he finally got the call to the O's. He made his MLB debut on Sunday August 21st against the Astros, and pitched two innings in relative mop up duty to help out the overtaxed Orioles bullpen. He gave up two hits, including a HR, and struck out two Astros batters.

I have a number of Parker's signed minor league cards from over the years, although he pitched in Aberdeen and Delmarva, two places that I didn't often get to during the years that I made it to the most minor league games. It feels nice to once again have been prepared for the debut of a new Oriole!

Parker has always seemed like a decent guy so I hope that he has finally found his way to the Orioles permanently. Good luck to him!

Oriole #1017- Donnie Hart

For the time being, I'm still waiting for an autograph of Oriole #1015, but more debuts keep happening, so I'm moving forward to write about the more recent debuts. Hopefully, I will have something to show for 1015 in the near future.

As the Orioles search for a match-up type bullpen lefty continues, Donnie Hart has become the most recent player to attempt to fill that role for the Birds. His contract was selected from AA Bowie on July 15th, and he made his Orioles and MLB debut two days later in a game against the Rays in Tampa. He went on to pitch in three straight games, and has yet to allow a run. So far at the MLB level, he has pitched 2.2 innings, and allowed 2 hits, 2 walks, and struck out 1. That 1.50 WHIP isn't great, but the 0.00 ERA will probably keep him in Baltimore for the near future.

Donnie was drafted by the Orioles in the 27th round of the 2013 draft out of Texas State University. Over four seasons in the O's minor league system he has pitched for the Ironbirds, Shorebirds, Keys, and Baysox. He appeared in 117 games, all out of the bullpen, and had a 11-6 record with a 2.27 ERA. He also appeared in the Arizona Fall League following the 2015 season, which means the Orioles considered him to be some sort of prospect. And following Jayson Aquino, he became the second straight player to debut with the Orioles directly from AA. Although Hart wasn't already on the 40 man roster, which makes this move more surprising, but I guess it says something about how the O's perceive the lefty bullpen pitchers at AAA right now.

The two autographs above are the only autographs I have of Donnie, and luck was once again on my side as I got both of these cards signed at the same Bowie meet the team day that Jayson Aquino signed for me. So the meet the team day really came through for me! Since Hart wasn't on the O's 40 man, and I had no idea that he was on their radar, we hadn't made an Old Man Orioles Card of him at that point. My dad just made Donnie's first Orioles cards and hopefully we can get them signed sometime soon.

In the meantime, good luck in Baltimore Donnie!

Oriole #1011- Ashur Tolliver

Wow, what a feel good debut story for the Orioles. Ashur Tolliver made his long-awaited MLB debut last night and pitched very well; he struck out three of the Astros he faced, and only walked one. 

Ashur was drafted by the Orioles in the fifth round of the 2009 draft, and has slowly and steadily made the climb through the minor league system. He was called up directly from AA Bowie, where he has spent most of the past three seasons. 

 Ashur was invited to big league spring training for the first time in 2016 and he rapidly signed every card I had for him. Thanks to my dad's Old Man Cards, I actually had a decent stack for him to sign, and he was ready and willing to sign each time I asked. He was very nice to the fans, and is truly an easy guy to root for.

Ashur only has had a few minor league cards over the years; he was included in the 2010 Aberdeen Ironbirds set, and the 2015 Bowie Baysox set, and that might be it. He signed well during his time in the minors too, so without the OMCs I wouldn't have had much for him to sign, and I hate passing up an autograph!

The removal of Brian Matusz from the Orioles bullpen opened up the way for Ashur to make his way to Baltimore, and I am hoping for his continued success. Good luck Ashur!

Oh, and make sure to check out this crazy play that Ashur made for the Baysox just last week. It has already been viewed millions of times online!

A Friend Makes it to the Show - Alan's Ironbirds Debut

So this probably should have been the first autograph that I wrote about after Spring Training, but better late than never right? It's not everyday that someone you know gets to make their professional baseball debut and gets featured on a baseball card. Last summer, my buddy Alan Strout won a contest through Topps to make his "Pro Debut". Here are a couple articles that describe the contest and Alan's story. 

I had the pleasure of meeting Alan probably three or four years ago on a trip to visit the Orioles Spring Training home in Sarasota, Florida. Alan and I share an interest in the Orioles, and specifically Orioles autographs. As memory recalls, Alan had found his way to the this blog and we quickly hit it off. Each of the past few years, I've enjoyed trying to collect autographs with Alan during our respective trips to Spring Training. Well, as you probably know, I didn't make the trip this year, but my parents did and look what Alan had waiting for them to pass along to me. I can honestly say that this is the first signed baseball card I've ever received that featured someone who I know on it. In all likelihood, that will probably always be the case, so this will hold a special place in my collection.

I attended Alan's debut in Aberdeen last summer and it was great to see him have the chance to sign autographs for fans on the concourse, deliver the lineup card to the umpires, and spend time in the dugout and on the field with the players. I'm sure that it was an amazing and exceptionally unique experience. I'm sure that most of us would have settled for just being featured on the card! Congratulations Alan!

Oriole # 986- Christian Walker

The most recent Orioles debut surprised me somewhat, mainly due to how late it was happening in the season. Christian Walker was just called up to the O's after they clinched the AL East on Tuesday night. He had to be added to the 40 man roster and his service clock is starting now, so you know that the team must see something that they like in him. It also is fairly directly tied to Chris Davis's positive adderall test and suspension and the need for another first baseman on the roster. 

Christian had been working at the Orioles instructional league program in Sarasota for just this type of reason. Every year the O's send a group of 10-15ish minor league position players and pitchers to Sarasota to stay fresh in case any needs come up with the big league club after the minor league season ends at the beginning of September.

This Shorebirds signed card is the only autograph I have of his right now, but it works just fine for my collection, at least until I try to get one of my dad's custom O's cards signed. Christian has been included in a few minor league team sets over the years (2012 Ironbirds, 2013 Shorebirds, 2014 Baysox & Eastern League All-star set) and he seems to be a good signer. I saw him sign for multiple people at both Norfolk Tides games that I attended this year, but didn't have any unsigned cards of his at that point. Much to my dismay at this point. But one autograph is better than none!

Christian was drafted by the Orioles in the 4th round of the 2012 draft after a successful college career with the South Carolina Gamecocks. He made his professional debut with the short season A ball Ironbirds, and spent time at every ensuing level of the O's farm system. In 2013, he progressed from the lo A Shorebirds, to the hi A Keys, all the way to the AA Baysox in a single season. (Generally, jumping two levels in a single season is a good sign.) 2014 saw Christian start the year in Bowie before moving to AAA Norfolk mid-summer. He hit a combined 26 home-runs with 96 RBI this year, and yes, that was good enough to earn the call to Baltimore.

He made his major league and Orioles debut last night, September 17, and went 1-3 with a double in the game. He did enough to be the recipient of Adam Jones' post-game pie, and it was a very cool moment for the rookie. I have a feeling that we will be seeing more of Christian in the coming seasons in Baltimore. Good luck to him.

Oriole # 976- Caleb Joseph

Caleb Joseph made his Orioles & MLB debut in yesterday's 4-3 win over the Rays in Tampa. He batted ninth and caught, which seems to me to be a somewhat rare occurrence for a player that was just called up. He did a great job behind the plate, especially considering he was working with many pitchers that he had likely never caught for in a game. Some of them he might have known from Spring Training or the minors, but he certainly held his own. He went 0-3 at the plate, but I'm sure he will get a hit soon enough!

In yesterday's post about Caleb getting the call to Baltimore after six plus seasons in their minor league system, I mentioned that I had thrown my hat into the ring to collect his cards back in 2010. That's when he received his first Bowman card. 

At the time, I had thought that it would be his first of many Orioles cards, but to date it's his only card in a major set. Of course, you all know that these Bowman sets have a ton of variations, even beyond the chrome/regular versions. This gold chrome is numbered to just 50 copies and  is the rarest one I own. I hope to snag a picture of my rainbow of these variations to add to this post sometime soon.

Caleb has been included in a number of Orioles minor league sets over the years, mainly as a member of the Bowie Baysox over the past four seasons. It has been my goal to get every one of his minor league cards signed by him, and I believe I'm pretty close to my goal.

I'm not aware of any website that catalogs a player's minor league card issues, but there are only two that I don't believe I have signed at this moment.

These minor league all-star sets always crack me up when they use the exact same image as the team set. 

But I never mind as much when an orange uniform is being worn. 

So many Caleb autographs...

And there you have it, I believe that about covers my Caleb Joseph autograph/collection, if you include the three I used for yesterday's post. But somehow I neglected to ever ask him to personalize one for me, d'oh!


Good luck in the future Caleb! My family is really pulling for you!

Oriole #937- Manny Machado

Manny Machado made his Orioles' debut in Thursday night's game against the Royals as the O's starting third baseman. He was 2-4 at the plate and scored a run. His first major league hit was a triple to lead off the fifth inning, which lead to his scoring the Orioles' first run of the game. Interestingly, Machado's debut was probably the biggest debut in Baltimore since Matt Wieters, and Wieters' first big league hit was also a triple.

Manny on third base after his triple

I feel that expectations are high for Manny's career but are tampered for the time being, especially since he was called up directly from the AA Bowie Baysox and has never played a game at the AAA level. Getting two hits in his first game won't do anything to lower what the fans will expect of him, but I personally am happy to have him in Baltimore this season. The team is in the playoff hunt and there are a few veteran players on the roster who just haven't been getting it done. If nothing else, this should light a fire under some of them. 

Manny is a very confident individual and player, so I don't expect the big league lifestyle to effect him too much. He seems to have a fairly high opinion of himself, so he will likely fit in to the Majors pretty well. 

I have had the opportunity to get Manny's signature a number of times during the time he spent with the Aberdeen Ironbirds, Frederick Keys, Bowie Baysox, and at spring training prior to this season. While his autograph has never been much to look at, there are still visible differences between his "good" and "bad" signatures. 

Here is a card he signed for me while he was playing with the Ironbirds shortly after he was drafted in 2010. Not great but not too bad. 

But then here are some of the signatures I got during his time with the Keys throughout the latter half of the 2011 season.

That last one looks like a single M and doesn't bear much resemblance to the pre-printed signature on the card. 

By no means am I trying to begrudge a player like Manny who has easily signed thousands of autographs already in his young career. It's great that he signs at all, and it's obviously not something that he needs to do. But I can almost guarantee that he will be a very tough autograph to get later in his career, especially if he achieves the level of success that I think that he is capable of reaching. 

On a slight uptick, here is his autograph that I obtained during 2012 spring training, which seems to be a return towards his early career 'graph, which is certainly a good thing. 

Good luck in the Majors Manny! I would love to be cheering for you for many years to come.

Some Recent Upgrades

Between doing some in-person graphing at games and picking up some signed cards via consignment, I've been able to upgrade a number of autographs in my collection recently, mainly of the current players on the team. 

I was able to get a few players to sign their first Orioles cards, including

Wei-Yin Chen,

 Wilson Betemit,

and Tommy Hunter.

I also "upgraded" a few of the autographs in my collection to include personalizations from the players.

Thanks to JJ,

Ryan Flaherty,

Darren O'Day, 

and Steve Johnson for personalizing their autographs.

Also, I just noticed that Steve's picture on his Bowman Dodgers card was taken at Ripken Stadium in Aberdeen, MD, home of the Orioles' short season Aberdeen Ironbirds. The only connection I can make is related to Steve being from the Baltimore area, but that still doesn't really place him at the stadium. Oh well.

I was able to finally get an "in-person" signature of DeMarlo Hale via consignment. He has handily ignored me each time I've called out to him this season.

Miguel Socolovich signed this team card for me. I only had one single minor league card of his prior to the season, which he signed for me during spring training, and couldn't pass up the opportunity at an autograph, so this works for now. At least until I receive my 2012 Norfolk Tides team sets.

Finally, Al Bumbry made an appearance at a AA Bowie Baysox game a few weeks back to celebrate his bobblehead night  (pictures coming at some point), and he was signing for everyone.

I gladly scooped up an orange uni autograph and his York Revolution coaches card.

This Week's Orioles Minor League Moves

My intent was to show off my FanFest pictures today but I ran out of time to scan everything yesterday. Hopefully, I will be displaying my haul tomorrow.

Every few weeks this offseason, I have been trying to list the O's minor league transactions. From what I can tell, here is what the O's have done since I last wrote about these moves.


They once again re-signed a few of their own minor league free agents, re-inking catcher Zach Booker, and pitcher, Will Startup.

I was happy to see they are bringing back Startup who was a fan favorite in Frederick. He also has a very comical, karate-like, leg kick during his delivery (which he was not using at the time the above picture was taken) which makes him one of the more entertaining pitchers to watch in the organization.

The team also re-signed one-time Oriole reliever, Winston Abreu, who appeared in 7 games for the 2006 Birds;

Ross Wolf, who the O's sent to the A's in early 2010 in the infamous (Jake) Fox-Wolf trade;

and Francis Beltran, a member of the 2007 Tides.

They signed a bevy of minor league free agents from other organizations. I know nothing about these guys, but will pass along what I've read. They inked 2B Travis Adair (Rangers), C Allen De San Miguel (Twins), 2B Tom DiBenedetto (Independent), 2B Peter Fatse (Independent), and OF Edgardo Baez (Nationals).

A few better known pitchers also signed with the organization. Armando Galarraga, who nearly threw a perfect game in 2010 for the Tigers, longtime journeyman reliever Dennys Reyes, and sometime Major Leaguer Oscar Villarreal all signed deals.


And as will be the case every year, some of the O's free agents signed with other teams. This week's highlight (or lowlight if you will) was Miguel Abreu's signing a deal with the Phillies.

Miggy has been a favorite of Kalina and mine over our past few years of going to various Orioles' affiliates minor league games. He has spent the majority of the past four years with the hi-A Frederick Keys and AA Bowie Baysox, which are the affiliates whose games we attend the most. He always seemed like a nice guy and never turned down an autograph request. Good luck next year, Miguel!

Jeremy Accardo split the 2011 season between Baltimore and AAA Norfolk, so this only half counts as minor league news, but he signed with the Indians.