Some More Help From My Friends

Autograph collecting is a lot of fun to do in-person. I love spending the day at the park and trying to add some signatures to my collection. But sometimes it can be frustrating, time-consuming, and unrewarding, as you can never say who or how many people will sign in any given day. I've had some times where I was able to get 10-15 MLB autographs but not a single one of the players I was really targeting, so while it was successful to an extent, it can still be disappointing to miss out on the autographs you really wanted to add to your collection.

This is why it's so helpful to have a network of collectors to help each other out, and my preferred site is SportsCollectors.Net, or SCN for short. I don't know how many autographs I've been able to add or upgrade in my collection from that site over the last five or so years, but I can comfortably say that number is in the 100s. Whether via private signings, trades, consignments, or 50-50s, it's amazing what a country-wide group of collectors can do to help each other out. I highly recommend the site for any other autograph collectors out there. I think it's only like $15/year, and while you still run into some scumbags/shady dealer types, by and large the feedback scores will largely give you an idea of the type of collector you are working with.

Here are some of the autographs that I've been able to add or upgrade using SCN over the past six months or so. Not too bad.

Bruce Chen 

Jason Grimsley

Ramon Hernandez

Jim Hoey

(Your eyes do not deceive you, that's the same signed card, both personalized to me. One obtained IP, the other via SCN, pretty much simultaneously, hence the double down)

Charles Johnson

Matt Lindstrom

Bob Melvin

Scott Moore

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. 

A Bunch of Orioles Postcards

There are quite a few signed Orioles postcards residing in my autograph collection. While I certainly prefer autographed cards over postcards, sometimes a postcard is my best or only option. If you are a regular reader of my blog, you've probably seen a number of different Orioles postcards that were displayed over the years, but these should all be new to you.

Autographed postcards are in my collection for a number of different reasons...


For some players, it will be the only issue ever released that pictures them in an Orioles uniform.

As was the case with short-term catcher Greg Myers

 

And will likely be the case with Rapada & VandenHurk, though they still have a chance to get an O's card

Some other postcards are (hopefully) temporary placeholders until I can upgrade to signed Orioles cards...

 

  

That's Lenny Webster up top, Jason Grimsley, and Erv Palica on the bottom

Palica passed away in 1982, so his signing days are over, but he did have a few O's cards produced during his life, and I'm still hoping that one of them might turn up some day.

Webster & Grimsley are still around, although Jason seems to have crawled under a rock somewhere since he was revealed to be the informant for the Mitchell Report. I actually just added this Grimsley postcard to my collection this week, so it might take quite some time to find an actual signed Orioles card. 

Every now and then, a player will include their own "postcard" when they return my TTM request. 

 

Tom Dukes was nice enough to do just that when he returned my request last year. It's really just a picture, as opposed to a postcard, but it's in the same ballpark.

A few other postcards have stayed in my collection because they are of my (or Kalina's) favorite players.

 

 

As is the case with Wieters & Arrieta. 

And then there are the extra postcards that I sometimes add at team-sponsored signings. These three are up for trade if anyone is interested...

 

  

 

A Trade with John

OK, I'm switching the format up a little today to showcase a trade that I recently made with a reader named John. He hooked me up with a few autographs of guys who I did not have at all, and a few autos from guys that I already had but needed their signature on Orioles cards. I'm just going to write a little blurb about each of these guys, not get all up in their business like I normally do. Are you excited about this yet? Well I think you should be!

Jackie Gutierrez 1986-87

Jackie doesn't have a great signature does he? Well, who am I to talk because neither do I!
He wasn't much of a hitter over his career but was known for his exceptionally strong throwing arm.

Greg Myers 2000-01

Hold onto the bat Greg! Haha, this is probably my favorite card of the bunch and since Greg doesn't have any Orioles cards, this is perfect for my collection.
He hung around the Bigs from 1987-2005, much longer than I thought, and caught almost 900 games for seven teams over that time. He was also Nolan Ryan's 5,714th and last strikeout victim in 1993. I wonder if he held onto his bat that time?

Mike Johnson 1997

Mike was a 1996 Rule V draftee from the Expos who eventually was returned to Montreal, thus supporting my Steve Johnson argument that he will come back to the O's. He pitched for Team Canada in the Olympics in 2004 & 2008 and in the World Baseball Classic in 2009. He has literally pitched around the world since his time in Birdland and was still active in 2009, pitching somewhere in Korea.

Rich Amaral 1999-2000

Rich spent the final two years of his career with the Orioles after playing in Seattle for his first 8 seasons. He spent 10 years in the Minor Leagues before his big league debut for the Mariners in 1993 and played at least 40 games at every position except for pitcher and catcher over his 10 years in the Majors. Quite a resume!

Eddy Rodriguez 2004, 2006 & Dave Borkowski 2004

Eddy went 2-1 with a 5.40 ERA over 38 games spanning two seasons in Baltimore but Dave is the reason I am featuring this card. It's his only Orioles card, and he only got half of one! He did only pitch for one season in Baltimore but I got the chance to meet him at one of the O's FanFests and he seemed like a nice guy.

Jimmy Haynes 1995-96

Jimmy is another guy who stayed in the Majors longer than I remember. He debuted for the O's in '95 and pitched into the 2004 season with the Reds. Also, I thought he was a reliever but he started 203 of his 227 career games.

And I've already blogged about and established that I don't like Jason Grimsley, but he is now a part of my collection now.

Thanks for the awesome trade John!

A Baseball Pariah

Jason Grimsley 2004-05

If you know much about baseball, you know that Grimsley was a main reason the Mitchell Report was done. He made the sport look bad and ratted out a few Orioles players. So I don't want to say anything about him. You can look him up on your own if you feel like it!