Recent Upgrades & Additions (Grimsley, Hall, & Hughes)

Over the past few weeks, I've been able to knock a few players off of my need list and upgrade another autograph in my collection.

I was thrilled to have finally knocked this card off of my list since this is Grimsley's lone Orioles card and this is the only signed copy that I've come across in my years of collecting. His spot in my collection had been held by a signed Phillies card and an Orioles autographed postcard, both of which are now available via trade. Jason has been staying under the radar in recent years since it was revealed that he was one of the major informants for MLB's steroids investigation. 

Finally, I have a Bill Hall autograph in my collection! I haven't made it to many games lately so my graphing has scaled back and I don't believe that I have seen Bill play in a game during his two short stints with the O's. Considering the number of certified autographs this guy has, it took me quite some time to add one to my colleciton, but I personally think that this Stroke of Genius sets is one of the nicer looking certified sets in recent years. Not only is the autograph on card, but I feel like the design really works too.

Rhyne Hughes surprised me when he was added to the AA Bowie Baysox' roster about a month ago. I had no idea that he was still in the organizaiton and I generally keep a pretty good eye on the team's minor league transactions. The last I had heard he was a minor league free agent, but he obviously re-signed at some point. 

The Baysox had a meet the team event on Father's Day and I went with my family. Rhyne kindly signed and personalized my card, although I am a little bummed that my staedtler bubbled a little bit on his last name. These 2010 Bowman cards are about the only brand/variety that I've had this issue with; the staedtler even generally sticks on chrome cards!

And I know that I've mentioned this before, but I really like having players who are also named Ryan (or Rhyne in this case) personalize to me to see how similarly they write my name. Here you can see that the capital R is fairly similar, but slightly different in his signature. 

Another One of Dad's Orioles Card Creations

A few weeks back, I showed off a Miguel Gonzalez Orioles card that my dad made for me to try to get signed. Well Miguel has been in Norfolk since I received that card, so it remains unsigned, but my dad struck  again, this time making me some Bill Hall Orioles cards.

That show him in an orange uniform nonetheless!

And he got more ambitious with the design by adding a border and bubble script Baltimore Orioles to his card.

Thanks again old man!

Moving the Collection Backwards

I'm totally relatively kind of fine when I add newly debuted Orioles to my need list. While I try to collect as many Orioles minor league autographs as possibly, sometimes players bypass the two affiliates closest to me (the AA Bowie Baysox and hi-A Frederick Keys) and go directly to AAA Norfolk and on to Baltimore as was the case with two of the newest Orioles, Luis Exposito and Bill Hall. I will gladly trade for autographs of players on the Tides' roster, but I refuse to buy autographs of AAA guys who might never make it to Baltimore. Even though I'm highly-focused on my Orioles autograph collection, I won't take it that far.

 Anyway, moving along to the point of this post, I recently found out that two of my rarer Orioles signatures  seem to not be of who I thought they were. A knowledgeable long-time collector of rare baseball autographs recently alerted me that my Carl Powis and Dick Luebke autographs are no good.

Many of the long-ago Orioles' autographs are tough to come by, and tougher still to find another signature to compare them with if I do happen across one for sale, so many times I'm flying blind when it comes to knowing if a signature is actually that of the player. I always do a google search to see if I can find a comparison, but when I can't I'm generally left to rely on the honesty of sellers. Most of the time it works out for the best, but occasionally, it doesn't. I think sometimes it's an honest mistake while other times I come across an under-handed dealer.

According to the collector who knows these things, Carl Powis's autograph looks nothing like this, so this is likely a forgery.

While this is an authentic autograph of Roy Luebke, not Dick Raymond (or as I thought) Ray Luebke.

Long story short, these guys are back on my need list and my collection is likely to be under 100% again for some time. While Luis Exposito and Bill Hall should be easy enough to knock off, I have no such hopes for Luebke or Powis.

A Slew of Debut

So of course I happened to be away over a weekend when a player made their Orioles debut in four consecutive games. I had a great time with some friends and still was able to catch bits and pieces of the games, but overall, I didn't pay attention like I normally do, so I'm playing catch-up now.


Steve Tolleson became the 923rd Oriole when he started the second game of Thursday's doubleheader against the Rangers. He went 1-3 at the plate and also started Saturday's game, going 1-4 with a double but  did commit an error at third base.

I picked up Steve's autograph during spring training this year, so he goes straight on the have list. And it's personalized to boot!

Journeyman Dana Eveland will forever be Oriole #924 after he was called up to start Friday's game against the Rays. It was a rather sloppy affair, although he somehow kept the O's in the game. He lasted six innings and allowed three earned runs, walked six, struck out two and also hit two batters.

He came on in relief in last night's game and the results were pretty similar. In just 1.2 innings, he walked two and hit two batters while allowing another earned run. Dana's stay in Baltimore is apt to be short if he continues to have those type of control issues.

I added Dana's autograph to my collection back at Orioles FanFest, so he also goes right to the have list.


Longtime big leaguer, Bill Hall was called up from Norfolk prior to Saturday's game and he started the game in left field to become Oriole #925. He went 1-3 with a late home run that provided some nice padding in a 5-3 win over the Rays.

As you can see, or rather cannot see, I don't currently have an autograph of Bill's, but he has plenty of certified examples out there that can be had cheaply, so I'm not worried about it. I'll try to get him in person and if it doesn't work, I can just drop a few bucks to pick one up online. But for now, his name is added to my need list.

Lastly, for today at least, is Oriole #926, Xavier Avery. "X" made his Orioles, and MLB, debut on Sunday and went 0-4 out of the lead-off spot. He is the only one of these four players who would be considered a prospect, and his name has appeared near the top of Baseball America's Orioles top prospect list in recent years, highlighted by being listed at #3 heading into the 2011 season. He has long been known for his speed and athleticism and is a real burner when he gets on the base-paths. The Orioles selected him in the second round of the 2008 draft.

His speed was clearly visible in last night's game against the Yankees when he again led off, but had better luck at the plate, hitting a first inning double for his first big league hit and followed it up with a fifth inning triple. Pretty solid for just his second MLB game!

Since X has played at nearly every level of the Orioles' farm system, I have multiple copies of his autograph, especially from his time with the Keys and Baysox. And as you can see, his signature doesn't consist of much more than an "X".

I made it back in town in time to catch Avery's debut on Sunday. I believe this picture was taken during his third at-bat.

At this point, I expect Avery to stick with the Orioles and bat lead-off in most of their games, at least until Nolan Reimold is healthy enough to return. As for the other three, only time will tell, but I just hope that the Orioles can continue their winning ways!