Plugging a Hug(h)e(s) Hole in the Collection

I like to think that I'm pretty on top of my Orioles autograph collection in regards to which players have been featured on Orioles cards, and who hasn't, so I know what autograph should be in my collection. I always prefer signed O's cards whenever possible. 

Of the 942 players who have appeared in a game for the Orioles, I would like to think that I'm aware of the Orioles card status of all of them. But every now and then something seems to slip through the cracks. One of these issues occurred recently when I came across this autograph in my collection. 

This signed Phillies card of Keith Hughes might not seem to be an issue, but I knew that Keith was also included in the Orioles Crown set, which means I was essentially "missing" an autograph that I hadn't even known that I needed for my collection.

The good news is that Keith is a great TTM signer, and he nicely signed and personalized his only Orioles card for me. Crisis averted. And my collection was once again, relatively complete.

The Orioles' Mike Young

While sorting through some of my unposted autographs recently, it came to my attention that I have never shown off an autograph of former Oriole, Mike Young. That just didn't seem right to me as Mike seems to spend at least some of his time in the Baltimore area and I have seen him around Oriole Park a handful of times in recent seasons. 

So to rectify the lack of Mike Young information, today's post is all about him. 

Mike was the Orioles first round draft pick (11th overall) in the 1980 draft. He would go on to play parts of six seasons for the O's from 1982-1987 and the '85 season was far and away the best of his MLB career as he hit 28 homers with a .273 batting average. Overall, things never quite worked out for Mike with the organization that once had such high hopes for him.

He was traded to the Phillies during spring training in 1988 in return for Keith Hughes, Rick Schu, and Jeff Stone. He went on to also briefly play for the Brewers and Indians before wrapping up his playing career with one season in Japan.

As far as I know, he is currently operating a charity to encourage childhood fitness. Good luck with that, Mike! And here's to hoping that you continue to make some appearances around Camden Yards.

A Week of Trades from SportsCollectors.Net- Swap with Twiztidkegs

Today's trade came from fellow Orioles collector Twiztidkegs. He seems to focus on collecting Orioles minor league autos but also has a good collection of other MLB signatures.

Mike Timlin 1999-2000

You're not surprised that Timlin played for the Orioles are you? He played for every single MLB team right? But seriously, Mike did play for 6 teams over 18 Major League seasons, including two on the O's around the turn of the millennium. He signed a Minor League deal with the Rockies in 2009 but was recently released, so it appears that he finally has to hang up his spikes for good.

Mike was the Orioles closer from the start of the '99 season until he was traded to the Cardinals on 7/29/2000 for Chris Richard & Mark Nussbeck (?). Now there was a trade that really built the Birds for the future.

He currently holds the all time record for appearances (1058) by a right-handed reliever and is 7th on the all-time list behind 6 lefties. He won four World Series Championships in his career; 2 in Toronto at the beginning of it ('92 & '93) and two at the end with Boston ('04 & '07). He also finished 6th in the ROY voting in 1991.

Omar Daal 2003

While Omar had a decent MLB career, pitching for seven teams over 11 seasons, he was not good in his last big league season, and of course that was with the O's. After signing a two year contract prior to the '03 season, he went 4-11 with a 6.34 ERA in 2003 and didn't pitch in 2004 due to shoulder surgery. Maybe that was for the best.

Tim Laker 1997

Tim was very briefly the Orioles backup catcher behind Lenny Webster, while Chris Hoiles was on the DL, from late June-mid July 1997. I was a huge fan of the Birds at that point and I don't remember Tim being an Oriole at all. Maybe it was because he only appeared in 7 games and went 0-14 at the plate in his short stint with the Birds.

He was one of the former players named in the Mitchell Report and admitted to using and apologized for using PEDs. Of course he pointed the finger at the always reliable for roids, David Segui. Tim is currently a roving catching instructor for the Indians.

Dickie Noles 1988

Another guy that pitched for the Orioles towards the end of his career, Noles posted an 0-2 record with a 24.30 ERA in only 2 games with the Birds in 1988. To get an ERA that high, Dickie had to give up 9 earned runs in only 3.1 innings over two starts.

One funny thing I found about him is that he was effectively traded for himself when the Cubs sent him to the Tigers in 1987 for a PTBNL. They couldn't work out a deal for who that player should be, so the Tigers just returned Dickie to the Cubs. What a deal that was for both teams. Baseball-reference.com refers to this transaction as a loan. Haha.

Dickie did have some alcohol related problems while on the '83 Cubs; he and a teammate assaulted a cop after drinking one night. This led to Dickie injuring his knee and spending 16 nights in jail; he had to enter rehab after that incident. The good news is that he has since turned his life around and is now a special consultant for the Phillies & MLB. He even travels around to minor league teams to warn them against the dangers of alcohol and drug abuse. Nice turnaround Dickie!

Keith Hughes 1988

Keith backed up Joe Orsulak in right field and pinch hit for the Birds over the course of the '88 season. He hit his only 2 career homers while on the O's.

J.R. House 2007

J.R. has managed to play parts of 5 seasons with 3 different MLB teams but has only appeared in 32 games and amassed 60 at bats over that time span. The majority of those games & ABs were with the Orioles in 2007 when he appeared in 19 games and had 38 ABs and also hit the only 3 HRs in his big league career.

Ricky Bones 1999

This card is personalized to me, so how did I get it in a trade you ask? Well, around the same time that I got this trade in the mail, I also got this TTM request back from Ricky. So double Bones(bone-us) for me! The non-personalized card is now available for trade if you want it.

Even as an Orioles fan, I most remember Ricky pitching for the Brewers in the mid to early '90s. He also represented the Brew Crew on the 1994 AL All-Star team. Maybe I just don't want to remember his stat line for the '99 O's since he went 0-3 with a 5.98 ERA.

Ricky was also named in the Mitchell Report but surprisingly didn't blame David Segui. He is currently the Buffalo Bisons pitching coach and signed my TTM from the team address.