Finally Some New Scans (Super-Delayed FanFest Autographs!)

As some of you may know, I've recently moved, and that has dropped my autograph collection near the bottom of my list of things to do. I barely touched a baseball card for a month, which is likely some sort of modern-day record for me. Add that to the fact that I also purchased a new scanner recently and it equals a major delay in getting anything scanned around here. So without further ado, here are some of the new(ish) autographs in my collection.

I'm going to start with some autographs that fellow collectors helped me out with at Orioles FanFest, which was almost two months ago at this point.

As a reminder, I purchased a number of autograph station tickets for FanFest, and got everyone that I really wanted/needed. But there were a few other players who I could use upgrades for but couldn't justify purchasing a ticket just for that reason, so a few fellow collectors helped me out.

I'll start out with the only one of the group who has actually played for the O's to this point, Lew Ford, who kindly signed and personalized one of my dad's cards for me. He signed it at a great place and the autograph really pops.

Next up is current O's batting coach, Jim Presley. I had his autograph on an Orioles postcard, but have had zero luck getting him to personalize one, which is always easier at signings like this one.

It's hard to say if the rest of these guys will ever appear in a game for the Orioles (they remind me of Matt Antonelli and Jai Miller at last year's FanFest who both signed Orioles postcards for me that don't have a place in my collection at this point since they never made it to Baltimore). 

McFarland, being a Rule 5 pick will have to stay on the 25 man roster all season, and after a rocky start to his spring, that seems unlikely, but who knows? 

Trayvon Robinson was removed from the O's 40-man roster shortly after FanFest, so he is also a long-shot to play in Baltimore. However, I do hear that he is quite a difficult autograph to get in person, so I will happily be covered if he does play for the Birds.

Finally, I swung a trade for an autograph of another player who the O's currently have in camp for Spring Training, pitcher Daniel McCutchen. This Topps Chrome certified autograph didn't scan very well, but it could fill a whole in my collection if Daniel forces his way onto the roster. 

I would certainly always rather be prepared and have an autograph of a guy who never makes it into a game for the O's than to have to scramble to track down an autograph once they are on the team. That's just how I roll; what can I say?

Another One of my Dad's Cards is Signed- Thanks Miguel!

I was able to get another one of my dad's Oriole card creations signed recently, and this one is extra special since it was his first effort at it. Miguel Gonzalez kindly signed for me at a game during the Orioles last homestand and I have now gotten two of my dad's cards signed; this one and the Lew Ford I showed off a few weeks back.

Hopefully these are the first two of many that I will be able to add to my collection. Thanks again for your creations old man!

Finally

My dad has been creating Orioles cards for me of all the new Orioles players as they have made their Baltimore debuts since Miguel Gonzalez, who debuted way back at the end of May. So about a third of my team set now consists of his self-produced cards, and I have just missed getting a few of them signed by the new Orioles. I was either getting autographs in the wrong location or the players were signing down the line and just never made it to me. Until now...

Lew Ford kindly signed one of my dad's cards for me on Thursday, so I got that proverbial monkey off of my back. For some reason, I forgot to ask Lew to personalize it to me, but luckily my dad typically sends me a short stack of his cards every time he makes some, so I have a few more of this version to get signed. If nothing else, I'm probably the only person who has a signed Lew Ford  Orioles card right now.

Thank you for all your awesome cards, Dad! And thank you Lew for being the first to sign one of his creations!

My National Experience

I attended the National Card Show at the Baltimore Convention Center on Saturday and pretty much spent the entire day at the show. I easily could have spent at least another half day at the show, but I had other things to do since I recently got back from my trip. I was able to cover the entire show, but not as well as I would have liked. I also ran into fellow Orioles collector and blogger Ryan, and got a preview of his haul from the show.

For someone like myself who has such a limited collection focus, I knew going in that it would be pretty unlikely for me to find any autographs I need for my Orioles collection, but a show like this at least gave me some hope. I went in to the show with the realistic goal of knocking out the three recently-debuted Orioles that I needed; Jim Thome, Omar Quintanilla, and Lew Ford.

After looking through a few certified autograph boxes in search of the trio, I came across an in-person autograph dealer about halfway through the show. Visually, his autographs meshed well with other examples I have seen of the autographs I needed, so I pulled the trigger. It also helped that he happened to have all three of the players I needed.

Of course, as I mentioned in Monday's post, I later came across this signed Ford Tides card at one of the last booths I stopped at, so that Twins card is now available for trade.

In addition to those three guys, I came across this autograph of short-time Orioles infielder Eider Torres. The price was next to nothing and I like it much better than the autograph that was in my collection, so I made the upgrade.

So this SP certified autograph of Torres is now up for trade. 

I also found a large number of cards that I needed for my various Topps, Topps Heritage, and subset collections, but I was unable to scratch off any of the other Orioles autographs needs on my list. While I wasn't really surprised, I was still somewhat disappointed. I guess my collection is at the point where, even at a show the size of the National, no one has what I'm looking for. However, one of the dealers mentioned that he had sold a signed 1964 Lou Jackson Orioles on Thursday, so I guess that I know there is at least one out there!

Oriole #935, Lew Ford & #936, Nate McLouth

And I'm back. My "fishing trip" was a little longer than expected, but now I'm back in the saddle and ready to ramble on and on about Orioles autographs once again.

A few players made their Orioles debuts while I was away, so I wanted to discuss them today. Both of these guys are MLB veterans whom the O's promoted from AAA Norfolk.

First up is the 935th man to play in a game for the Orioles, Lew Ford, who made his O's debut on Sunday, July 29, against the A's in Baltimore. He has now played in six games with the Orioles and is still looking to make his mark for the team, but it has to be a good feeling for Lew to just make it back to the Majors.

You see, these games with the Orioles are Lew's first appearance at baseball's highest level since 2007 with the Twins. Since then, he has played in Japan, Mexico, and the independent Atlantic League twice all in an effort to make it back to "the show". Congrats to you, Lew. You continued to play the game you obviously love and you made it the whole way back to the top.

I picked up this signed Tides card of Lew at the National on Saturday, but unfortunately not before I had already purchased a signed Twins card, so if anyone still needs him, just let me know.


Nate McLouth, who had been playing with the Tides for two months, had an opt-out clause in his contract scheduled for last Friday night at midnight. Well the Orioles opted to not let him get away and called him up; they made room on the roster for him by designating Endy Chavez for assignment.

Nate made his Orioles debut in Saturday's game in Tampa against the Rays becoming Oriole #936, and immediately made his impact known, going 2-4 at the plate with a double and a run scored, so hopefully that might be a sign of things to come. If nothing else, he seems to be a nice upgrade over Chavez.

McLouth was a long-time Pittsbugh Pirate (he earned an All-Star berth and Gold Glove with the Buccos in 2008) before being traded to the Braves in mid-2009 and seeing his career take a downhill turn. He signed an off-season deal to return to the Pirates prior to the 2012 season but struggled in limited playing time and was released on May 31. He signed a deal with the Orioles on June 5th and hopefully playing in the American League can get his career back on track.

I don't currently have an autograph of Nate's in my collection but I have a line on a signed Tides card of his and should have that locked up soon.