An attempt to catch up...Orioles Alumni Autographs

I am so far behind on things I want to post that if I can share half of what I have I will still be a few weeks behind. If that even makes sense.

The two main things I will try to get to this week are my pictures and autographs from the Nats Picnic in the Park two Saturday's ago and my pictures from Harold Baines' Orioles Hall of Fame induction this past Saturday. I know Steve at White Sox Cards will be especially interested in those.

But today's post will showcase the autographs I've got at the past four or five Orioles Alumni Autograph series. Most of these are available in a trade if you are interested.

And here we go...


This was the first time I ever got Dave's autograph. Nice addition to my collection!



If you are an O's fan and don't have "the B's" autograph, you are doing something wrong.



My Devo autograph collection is much larger now than it was before. My favorite is the upside down one.


Ken Gerhart, yep.



This was the first time I got Ross's autograph in person. Check out his cards from back in the day. He had some wacky hair styles. This one wasn't too bad, in comparison at least.



John Habyan, another first time in person auto.



Billy Hunter was nice as always.



Dave Johnson is always around the Yard. Another guy that any O's collector should have.



McGregor is a local guy; which equals me having 50 autographs of his. Give or take 20.



Gary is not around nearly as much so I don't have very many of his signatures. And couldn't Donruss and Fleer changed the border colors up just a little bit? Ah, the 80s.



Dave made an appearance, taking a break from his Minor League duties.



My Larry Sheets autograph collection rivals my McGregor & Bumbry collections.


Bill Swaggerty doesn't look like this at all. At least, not anymore.

Catching up on O's Alumni Signings in time for tonight's 1989 "Why Not" alumni signing

I know that I have somewhat dropped the ball on showcasing my Orioles Alumni pictures and autographs. So today I am going to cover the most recent signings that I failed to blog about.

As a refresher, the Orioles have been holding these signings at every Monday & Thursday home game this season in the MASN tent on Eutaw St. Between two & four former Orioles and coaches show up for an hour, between 1.5 and 30 minutes till first pitch, to sign for fans. It has been awesome and a major boon to my project over the course of the season. Without further delay...


Monday July 27-Ross Grimsley, Gary Roenicke, John Habyan & Ken Gerhart

Gary Roenicke Ross Grimsley

Ross was a very nice guy. He smiled at most of the fans and was joking around with people. Gary showed up late and definitely acted like a former ballplayer. In my brief encounter with him, he seemed a little full of himself.

Ken Gerhart John Habyan

Ken was a nice guy, and joked with Kalina that he was going to charge her for signing with a blue sharpie. John seemed cool, but a little quiet. I feel like Ken looks the same as he does on the 20 year old cards I was having him sign while I wouldn't have recognized John at all.


Thursday July 30-Larry Sheets, Jimmy Williams (1B coach from 81-89) & Bill Swaggerty

Larry Sheets Jimmy Williams Bill Swaggerty

Since this was a day game, Kalina was in charge, and I wasn't at this signing. But I have met Sheets and Swaggerty before and they were both nice. I keep trying to type Sheetz as opposed to Sheets. Maybe I'm hungry, I don't know.

Monday August 10- Dick Williams, Joe Durham & Billy Hunter

Dick Williams Joe Durham Billy Hunter

Joe & Billy have done this other times this season, and Billy is especially nice. I felt bad for these older guys since this was a very hot day.

Getting HOFer Dick Williams to one of these signings was a big deal. He normally charges something like $35 per auto so I was pumped to get my card signed for free.


Dick was just elected to the HOF last year; but for his time as a manager which wasn't with the Orioles, but he was on the O's during his playing days. Since I just visited the Hall, I said something like "I was just at the HOF and got to see your plaque. I thought it looked pretty good." To which Dick replied "So did I." Funny stuff. I also found it humorous that Dick was drinking a Heineken Light during the signing. (It's not pictured above because he was hiding it under the table.)



Tonight is a 1989 O's mini-reunion signing, with Mickey Tettleton, Mike Devereaux, Dave Schmidt & Dave Johnson all signing on Eutaw St. I hope to see you there!

Alumni Autograph Pictures & new TTMs in!

To start out, I want to mention that two players made their Orioles debut yesterday: Chad Moeller & Robert Andino. Add those two to the list of guys I don't have autographs from!

So here are the pictures of the players and autographs my girlfriend, Kalina, snagged for me at the game yesterday. While I have some Bumbry & Tippy autographs from over the years: it's pretty funny that Billy Hunter sent back my TTM on Monday when I had no idea he was scheduled to be at the Yard on Thursday!

Tippy, Bumbry & Hunter

From Kalina's first hand info, Mr. Hunter is a very nice guy and seemed pleasantly surprised to see the card she brought him to sign. Prior to seeing this card, I had no idea that Billy had been a base coach for the O's at one point!



This is a great card of Tippy, he normally was clean shaven but decided to rock a pretty sweet mustache in '86 or '87! He threw out the first pitch of the game after he was done signing.

And the always entertaining Al Bumbry, who later appeared on MASN's pre-game show!



I also got my 2nd recent Oriole TTM request back in this John Halama card. He has a pretty cool, loopy signature and signed within about 2 weeks.


And Mr. Mele was also kind enough to return my request. He signed in about a week and his signature seems to be pretty consistent with what it was when Topps used it for this original card back in the 50s.


Let's hope the O's can continue their winning ways by taking the series from the new AL East powerhouse Tampa Bay Rays this weekend. See you at the Yard!

Time for the Brooms & Alumni Autograph Series

Since the O's have a chance to sweep the Yanks for the first time in like 4 years, it's hard not to be excited today. The O's have won the first two games of the season the right way, with good starts from Guthrie & Koji and by mashing the ball off of CC and Wang. It would be excellent to start the season 3-0, especially to the detriment of the Yanks.

I've also been meaning to write about the newly implemented Orioles' Alumni Autograph Series which will bring over 20 former O's players out to the Yard to sign autographs throughout the season. This is a perfect year for this to start for me since it coincides with my refocused autograph project. While I have autographs from most of the guys that will be appearing, there are 4 or 5 that I have yet to add to my collection, so I'm pumped.
Two or three players will be at the MASN booth on Eutaw Street from 1.5 hours until 30 minutes prior to the first pitch during every Monday and Thursday home game. Today was the first appearance with Al Bumbry, Tippy Martinez & Billy Hunter signing; my awesome girlfriend was able to get them all for me while I was at work!

Here is the complete list of players that will be signing throughout the season:
(* indicates an auto I need)

Paul Blair
Al Bumbry
Ken Dixon
*Joe Durham
Ross Grimsley
Dick Hall
*Ron Hansen
Bill Hunter
Dave Johnson
Rick Krivda
*Calvin Maduro
Tippy Martinez
Scott McGregor
*John Miller
*Curt Motton
Tim Nordbrook
Joe Orsulak
Larry Sheets
John Stefero
Bill Swaggerty
*Jimmy Williams

So come out to the Yard and check out the past players. It should be a fun season!

TTMs Sent & Opening Day pics

So with my initial success at receiving autographs from Cory Doyne & Billy Hunter on Monday, I thought it was time to send out a few more requests. So this morning, requests went out to Bobby Floyd, Woody (Woodie) Held, Don Hood, Bob Johnson & Tom Shopay. They are all guys that played for the O's in the 60s or 70s so I'm hoping that the success rate is decent with them.

I also wanted to share a couple of my favorite Opening Day pictures

Markakis' intro with fireworks

Lineups from both teams

You ready to get rocked CC?

TTM-SUCCESS

So after watching my O's dominate on Opening Day I returned home to discover I had some mail. My first returned TTM requests!

Cory Doyne signed in 10 days from Harvey Meiselman's home address listing.

Billy Hunter signed in only 4 days from Harvey's address listing.

Needless to say I was pretty excited. What a great start!

More TTMs sent & a few additions

So I sent out a batch of TTM requests last night that are targeting vintage Orioles players. The first group I mailed are Billy Hunter, Duane Pillette, Don Lenhardt, Bob Hale, Sam Mele, Bob Turley and Hal Brown; all played for the Orioles in the 50s and/or 60s. I hope that they enjoy hearing from a fan of one of the teams they played on. I am way too young to have ever seen them play but still obviously need their signatures for my project.

I received a Bob Kuzava autograph in the mail that I had purchased on Beckett last week. It's a 04 Bowman Heritage Signs of Glory certified auto and I was pretty excited when it came. I hope to scan in a picture of it tonight to show it off. Apparently only 55 of these were signed by Bob so I'm happy that I was able to snag one of them.

Also, I had somehow not included the Jeff Ballard auto and a Shawn Boskie autograph on an Oriole Park card when I posted my last total so I am now up to 36.4%! That's 314 down, 549 to go...