My Return to Orioles Alumni Autographing

I've written about it a few times over the years, but the Orioles do something pretty awesome prior to every Monday and Thursday home game; they bring back three alumni players to meet fans and sign autographs on Eutaw Street. Due to some changed responsibilites with work, I wasn't able to make many (maybe any?) of the alumni signings last year, but I've already made it to one this season.

The Orioles don't typically announce who is signing beforehand, but a few people on collecting sites sometimes seem to get some insider info about who will be showing up. And I heard a few weeks back that John Stefero, who I needed to get a personalized upgrade of, would be in town. Also signing that night were Ken Dixon, and Chris Hoiles.

I tried to snap a few pictures of the former O's as I worked my way through the line but it was easier said then done, here is one of my first attempts, that shows Chris Hoiles being cool and standing up for a selfie with a fan. (Yes, that's definitely my first mention of the word selfie on my site.)

Here is a somewhat better shot of the three signers as I neared the front of the line. 

And here's the autograph I was after, it's always a good day for me when I can knock another personalized autograph off.

Chris Hoiles was awesome as always and signed three cards for Kalina and me. He was one of her favorite players and it's always easier to ask for her to help me out when he's involved.

I was able to snag signed postcards of Dixon and Stefero as well. As you can see in my pictures, the players generally have a pre-signed stack of them for people to grab, so I always try to not be too greedy. But when I have autographs sitting in front of me, it's hard to resist!

I only had the one card of Stefero's for him to sign, but I was just happy to get the personalized auto. Dixon signed these two cards of me, but I have to say that he always seems distracted at these signings and pays much more time talking to his former teammates than interacting with the fans. An autograph is an autograph, but a simple acknowledgement at these types of things are always nice.

I hope to be able to make at least a few more of these alumni signings throughout the season. I hope that you fellow collectors might be able to use them to improve your collections too.

Rest of the FanFest Autographs

Wow, look at me go. It's my 5th post of the month (my most since last August), and I'm showing off the rest of my Orioles Fanfest autographs, within three weeks of obtaining them. I'm on a freaking roll here. Maybe I'll get this blog back up to full steam one of these days. But for now, I'm pretty pleased to just be moving along at a medium pace.

FYI- This is probably the most scans that I've ever had in a single post. At times in the past, I would have split this into a few different segments, but I'd rather just knock them all out at once. So that's how I'm gonna do it.

Also, my scanner got a little weird while scanning some of the postcards, but whatever. It has a mind of it's own.

This first group of cards are joining my collection. Mainly for the orange uniforms, but I was really happy to finish off the Davis/McLouth celebration card too. McLouth signed it for me during Spring Training last year, so it got carried around for quite some time before it got signed. And, I can't seem to bring myself to tradeaway any of my Wieters' autographs.

 

 

These cards are all extras that I got signed and are available for trade. If you see something you like, let me know and maybe we can work something out!

 

These postcards are available for trade too...

I got this group signed for some other collectors, so they are already spoken for, but I wanted to show them off anyway, if for no other reason than to prove that I got them signed. Or something like that. 

Finally, Liam Hendriks get his own grouping in the "we-hardly-knew-you category". Liam was DFA'ed to make room on the roster for the exciting free agent signing of Ubaldo Jimenez. But the Blue Jays selected him off of waivers from the O's, so the likelihood of his appearing in a game for the Orioles, at least in the near future, took a major hit, so these Orioles autographs become somewhat of an unneeded item. No complaints here though as Jimenez is certainly an upgrade.

Quick FanFest Post

I'm sure that everyone has been waiting with bated breath for my take on this year's Orioles Fanfest, and here is quick rundown of my day, a mere four days after it occurred. But let's face it, you don't check my site for it's timeliness on current events. Without further ado...

I had purchased five autograph stations throughout the day and got a total of 48 autographs. Not too shabby! I caught a few guys walking around and picked up a few more autographs at each station, but overall, these were the guys who I was after for the day. I took care of pretty much all of the new guys in attendance and got some help from my buddy Aaron with Bud Norris, and Wayne Kirby, which would bring my total up to 50. That's not a bad day at all! 

Some of these are heading to other collectors but most are staying in my collection, and I hope to break these down over the next week or so. Here's a quick rundown:

17 Old Man Cards

9 Personalizations

3 Cards going straight into collection (Bigbie, Clevenger, Urrutia personalized)

6 New Players, who will be added after their debuts

12 Postcards

All in all, I had a great time, and I hope that you all did too. I have to thank Kalina, my dad, and my mom for their help over the course of the day. We spent a vast majority of the day at the convention center, and I think that we were all pretty tired by the end of it. And thanks again to my dad for his awesome homemade Orioles cards that I love adding to my collection!

I know that we are all certainly now ready for some baseball!

Leave me some comments about your experiences at Fanfest!