Orioles Playoff Memories

With all of this playoff research surrounding my postseason bracket contest, I've become nostalgic about the Orioles' last playoff appearance, way back in 1997, when they went wire-to-wire and won the A.L. East title.

Here are the autographs I have of some of the players on the club...

 Bordick was always great with the glove, and it's nice to still see him around the team as a special instructor

I tend to remember Scott being a little better than it seems he was during his years in Baltimore, but he had a solid '97 season, going 16-7 with a 3.69 ERA

Is this an Orioles or Dbacks card? Believe Beckett says Dbacks, but it's the only one that shows him in an Orioles uni...I'll allow it.

 Where have you gone Jeffrey Hammonds? Your signature is awesome by the way.

  Wait, who? I honestly don't remember Charlie.

Ah, the good old days when Mussina's name didn't bring up such conflicting memories. He was probably the Orioles' last true ace and they sure could use someone new to fill that role.

I can't believe that Arthur Rhodes is still pitching in the Majors. And he's in the playoffs for a second consecutive season, albeit with a different team this year. Ah to be a lefty and know how to throw strikes.

I generally remember Jeff as a Twin, but he was a versatile utility player for the Orioles for three years. 

 

And I don't think I'm alone in remembering Jerome mostly as a Cub. His career peaked early when he took home the Rookie of the Year honor for the Cubbies in 1989.

Jackpot!

So while I was back in PA at my parents house over the weekend, I was going through a bunch of my old baseball cards and came across a stash of signed cards that I had forgotten about. Included in these were a bunch of autographs of former O's, but the cards that were signed were when they were on other teams. I know that I said that I wouldn't generally share the pictures of these cards, but since this was such a pleasant surprise, I decided to show them via collage.

Al Reyes, Jeff Reboulet, Ryan McGuire, Lenny Webster, John Wasdin, Jerome Walton

Jim Corsi, Shawn Boskie, Mike Boddicker, Tito Landrum, Mike Fetters, Terry Crowley

Also, Joe Altobelli, who never played for the O's but nevertheless is on an O's card:
The Reyes & Boskie are upgrades over autographs I already had for both players, but the rest are new to me. So that is 9 new O's autographs there and then with the addition of the the three returned TTM requests below from Duane Pillete, Don Lenhardt & Bob Hale my total number of O's autos up to 336! That is 38.9% of my goal and a nice increase for a weekend!





Dave Trembley was also nice enough to sign for me at Friday's game!