Unpossible Autograph- Drungo Hazewood

After another extended absence from this blog, I'm back once again. And it's always a sad day when I hear that another former Oriole has passed away, but it's especially true when they were still relatively young as was the case with Drungo Hazewood, who passed away at just 53. 

Russell, a fellow Orioles autograph collector, and long time collecting friend of mine, sent me an email about Drungo's passing early yesterday, and it looks like Drungo passed away sometime on Sunday. (This write-up/obituary from the Sacramento Bee does a great job covering Drungo's life.)

In Orioles autograph lore, Drungo had retained the title of being one of the toughest autographs to track down for many years until Chris Potter, a local autograph signing facilitator, tracked him down for a signing late last year. I have no idea if Chris knew that Drungo was sick and fighting the effects of cancer, but it will likely remain the only large-scale signing that Drungo ever did in his lifetime. The Bee article touches on this, but it seems like Drungo just didn't know why or how so many people wanted his autograph since his MLB career lasted all of 6 games, so he didn't sign TTM and remained obscure enough to stay off the radar of many larger autograph promoters.

I've written about my experiences with tracking down his autograph a few times (here and here), as it was quite an adventure, and I feel very lucky to own two of his signed cards. Now that he has sadly passed away, and even though he participated in that single signing, I have a feeling that his autograph will remain one of the toughest to track down for future generations of Orioles autograph collectors.

RIP Drungo.

Some Recent Upgrades

Thanks to Chris Potter's recent signings, I was able to upgrade a few of my autographs to my preferred personalized versions. I always enjoy my autographs more when they are personalized, because I then know they were signed just for me. That makes sense, right?

Both Frank Baker, and especially Drungo Hazewood, have been tough autographs to track down in the past, and it's great that Potter was able to work out signing deals with both of them.

I can now replace the signed version of this card that I purchased a few years back that made me (rather irrationally) mad. This one has a much clearer signature than the other card, which is now available for trade, so in addition to the personalization, this is an all-around upgrade. 

This autograph replaces my much-hyped Hazewood autograph that I obtained at the 2010 National Card Show here in Baltimore. While Drungo's signature is marginally better on the other card,  the "To Ryan" aspect of this autograph trumps the quality of the signature. Autographs of Drungo once bordered on near-impossble but Chris Potter has made his signature available to the masses. Which is great as I was able to get this upgrade, but not so great now that my other card has lost some trade value, at least in the short-term.

Thanks for tracking down some tough former O's, Chris!

Nachos Grande Autograph Week Questionnaire

Nachos Grande is having an autograph week to highlight all the signatures in his collection. Since this is a blog that's almost exclusively about autographs, this seems like a perfect topic for me to chime in on. And since I've been having some issues coming up with post ideas on my own this week, I figured that this is a perfect opportunity for me to try to come up with something interesting to write about.

1.  What is the best autograph you own?

This one is really tough for me, and I honestly don't even know where to begin. I really like all of my Orioles autographs and there are probably 20-30 that I would put on top of my favorites list. Here are a few of them. 

Cal is my favorite Oriole, and Kalina gave me this card so that's double the reason to like it. 

There are many others that I really like due to their scarcity like...

and

Tom Gastall who died in a 1956 plane crash

and

Fox's autograph is tough to find as he died in 1955 and was a gift from my dad, 

so it's another double good whammy 

2.  What is the best autograph that you've ever pulled from a pack of cards?

Hands down, Scott Moore, since this is the only Orioles autograph I've ever pulled from a pack. I ended up trading my copy away for other autographs I needed and I had gotten his autograph in person a few times, but no doubt that this was my best pull.

3.  What is the worst autograph you've ever pulled from a pack of cards?
I don't really think there are any bad autographs. That being said, I've pulled a few crappy looking sticker autographs including one that looks a lot like this.

It seems that Michel had a hard time staying inside the lines, but I blame Tristar for throwing this crap in the pack as is.

4.  Do you try to get autographs through the mail?  If so, what sort of success (or failure) stories do you have?
Ha, yes, I've dabbled. Probably sent out something like 500 over the course of my life. My best success ever was probably Nolan Ryan way back in the early '90s. I would suggest sending to older players, as they are much more likely to sign than current guys.

5.  Who was the subject of your first ever autograph?
Now there's a great idea for a post. It was Miguel Garcia on a Senators card in either the very late '80s or early '90s.

6.  Do you actively collect any autographs (certain players, teams, brands, etc)?
If you're reading this on my blog, I think you already know the answer to this one. Orioles autographs are kind of my thing.

7.  Which is better:  Autographs or Relics?
Again, my answer is rather obvious. Autographs are king for me.

8.  What do you think of cut autos?
I could do without them, but I'm fine with them if they can fill a hole in my collection.

9.  What is your favorite autograph design (say in the last 5 years)?
Not sure, but absolutely prefer on card autographs. I do recall liking some sort of a stained glass looking autograph set I've seen, but don't remember what it's called.

10.  If you could get the autograph of any five people (dead or alive) who would you want a signature from (and why)?
Vern Bickford, George Brunet, Bert Hamric, Lou Jackson and Frank Kellert are the only five Orioles players who I don't have autographs of, so it would definitely be them. 

Thanks for the great post idea Chris! And if you haven't checked out Nachos Grande, I suggest you head over there now.

Nate Smith

Recently, a dealer I'm acquainted with has been trying to put together a signing with Nate Smith, who is a pretty tough Orioles autograph to track down. I bought my copy off another collector on Sportscollectors.net, and to date, it is one of the more expensive autographs I've had to buy for my collection. Luckily I had some Paypal money built up at the time, so it didn't hit me too hard out of pocket. 

Nate's MLB career lasted all of five games covering 10 days at the end of the 1962 season. In nine at-bats, he had two hits, including a double, and scored three runs. And that was it.

Since his brief time for the O's, Nate has proven tough to track down. He is another Drungo Hazewood type, although Drungo was much more heavily hyped; they both had very short stints with the Orioles and now seem adverse to signing autographs. There are a few signatures to be found out there, but they are few and far between.

National Success- Francisco Melendez

I was able to pick up this autograph from the same dealer who had the Drungo Hazewood auto that I blogged about on Monday.  Francisco "Terin" Melendez played in 9 games for the Orioles during the '89 season and he went 3-11 with a run and 3 RBI.  That was the end of his MLB career, but he had also spent time with the Phillies and Giants over his 5 seasons in the Majors.  He played in only 74 games over that that time, led by the 23 games he played for the Giants in 1988. He came to the O's from the Giants for Ken Gerhart between the '88 & '89 seasons. 

If any of my readers know Spanish better than I do, they might be able to help me figure out his nickname.  I couldn't track down the definition of Terin, and am interested to see what it means, but I'm guessing that it's slang of some sort. Francisco stayed involved with baseball after his playing days were over and supposedly was coaching a team in his native Puerto Rico, at least through 2008.  He's a pretty tough autograph to track down, especially considering this Crown card is his only O's card.  There is no confirmed address or successes for him on SCN.

My Experience at the National-Brought to You By Drungo Hazewood

Yes, Drungo Hazewood is a real person, I didn't make him up, I'm not nearly creative enough to come up with a name that unique.  That's him on this Orioles Crown card, and while the Crown card is not new to me, the addition of the autograph sure is.  Drungo wasn't signing at the National, but I did meet a dealer who had his autograph for sale. This is the first time I have EVER seen an autograph of his available ANYWHERE, so I had to add him to my collection.  He's regarded as one of the tougher living Orioles to get an autograph of, so I was extremely happy to add him to my collection.  From what I understand, he doesn't understand why anyone would want his autograph, so is just a very tough signature to track down.  This Crown card is his only Orioles card and he also appeared in a few of the AAA Rochester Red Wings team sets.  As the O's first round draft pick in 1977, think how many cards would have been made of him as a first-rounder nowadays. 

Drungo played in only 6 games for the O's during the final month of the 1980 season and had 5 at-bats, going  0-5 with 4 strikeouts and a run scored.  He tore the cover off the ball during spring training in 1980, hitting at a .583 clip and Earl Weaver felt bad that he had to cut a player who was hitting that well, but there just wasn't a roster spot for Drungo at that time.  In the Minor Leagues, he hit a bunch of homers, but also struck out a lot as he had trouble hitting breaking pitches. 

Moving on to my impression of the National, it was flat out amazing, and actually overwhelming at times.  There were hundreds of dealers who were selling almost anything sports related item that you could dream of.  If I had an unlimited budget, I could have purchased some truly one-of-a-kind Orioles memorbilia.  Since that's not the case, I focused on Orioles autographs.  Surprising, right? 

I came across a few dealers who were right up my alley, specifically, the one who had this Drungo card.  I bought a few signed Crown cards from him, and plan on staying in touch with him for other hard to get O's autographs.  There were probably 5-6 other dealers who specialized in non-certified signed cards that I also focused on.  I have a pretty good idea what many former Orioles' autographs look like, so it serves as a decent barometer for what's legit or not.  Luckily, all of the autograph dealers I came across seem like they were selling authentic autographs.  All told, I added 13 autographs and upgraded another 5 to Orioles cards.  I will be posting them all here over the next few weeks.