1989 Orioles Debuts, #462-480, Why Not?

I'm going to keep rolling with these debut posts for awhile, so get used to it!

Here's my older posts in the series...
(2001, 2000, 1999, 1998, 1996, 1995, 1994, 1993, 1992, 1991, 1990)

1989 was a good year for both the Orioles and the players that debuted in the orange and black. Three long-time Orioles, Chris Hoiles, Mike Devereaux, & Ben McDonald, took the field in Baltimore for the first time and there were a number of other players who stuck in Baltimore for three or four years. 


Phil Bradley #462, 4/3/89 (1989-90)

Steve Finley #463, 4/3/89 MLB Debut (1989-90)

Kevin Hickey #464, 4/3/89 (1989-91)

Brian Holton #465, 4/3/89 (1989-90)

Randy Milligan #466, 4/3/89 (1989-92)

Francisco Melendez #467, 4/6/89 (1989)

Bob Melvin #468, 4/7/89 (1989-91)

Bob was a big league catcher for ten seasons from 1985-94, spending three of those seasons in Baltimore and was best known for his solid defense behind the plate. After his playing career ended, he stayed active in baseball first as a coach, then as a manager, for the Mariners, Diamondbacks and currently is the skipper of the A's. He won the 2007 N.L. Manager of the Year award during his tenure in Arizona. 

Mike Devereaux #469, 4/7/89 (1989-96)

Chris Hoiles #470, 4/25/89 MLB Debut (1989-98)

Mark Huismann #471, 5/23/89 (1989)

Mickey Weston #472, 6/18/89 MLB Debut (1989-90)

Mickey spent the first two of his five MLB seasons with the Orioles before moving on to play for the Blue Jays, Phillies, and Mets. As you can probably tell by his signature, Mickey is a religious guy and currently works with UPI (Unlimited Potential Inc.) "Serving Christ Through Baseball". He is also the team chaplain for the Chicago White Sox. 

Mike Smith #473, 6/30/89 MLB Debut (1989-90)

Keith Moreland #474, 7/30/89 (1989)

Dave Johnson #475, 8/1/89 (1989-91)

Stan Jefferson #476, 8/9/89 (1989-90)

Stan has quite the interesting story, both in baseball and out of it. He was a first round pick by the Mets in 1983, but never was able to consistently perform at the MLB level and played for six different teams during his six years in the bigs. He spent parts of two seasons in Baltimore, appearing in 45 games, and hit .226 with four homers. His time in Baltimore was commemorated by his appearance on a single Orioles card in the Crown set, and I hope to track down a signed copy of that one day, so this might not be the last you see of Stan around here.

After his playing career ended, he became a police officer in New York City and was on duty for the September 11th terrorist attacks in 2001. He suffered physical and psychological effects following that horrendous event and retired from the force in 2004. The New York Daily News  wrote an in-depth story about him in 2007 and it seems as though he still had his struggles at that time. I hope that everything works out for Stan; I'm very thankful for his service for our country following that terrible time. 

Jamie Quirk #477, 4/3/89 (1989-90)

Tim Hulett #478, 8/23/89 (1989-94)

Ben McDonald #479, 9/6/89 MLB Debut (1989-95)

Juan Bell #480, 9/6/89 MLB Debut (1989-91)

The Saga of Mark Huismann

So let me start by saying that Mark is an 89% TTM signer which is awesome. It's great that he takes some of his time to sign autographs for his fans and doesn't charge a dime for it. So many former players aren't nearly as accommodating as he is, and I have to give him props for it. That being said, I've sent him two TTM requests over the past year and included his Orioles Crown card in both. It's his only Orioles card, so I really would like a signed copy of it for my collection. I wrote about what happened with my first request last April. If you don't feel like clicking on the link, Mark returned an 87 Topps Mariners card instead of my Crown card.

Well, last Thursday I got another card back from Mark. Take a look.

 

He personalized my card this time around, but that's definitely not my Crown card and he's certainly not wearing an O's uniform. At this point, I don't know what to think. There are some guys out there like Hank Foiles who won't sign the Crown card because technically it's an unlicensed set and I guess the players didn't receive any money for it. Hank is the only player that I have heard this about, and I feel like it must be due to some specific grudge, but it's possible that other players feel the same way and won't sign their Crown card. Unfortunately for me, the Crown card is the only Orioles issue for some short-time O's like Mark. (He spent 8 games with the O's in 1989.) 

Well, a few weeks back, I found something on ebay that made me feel a little bit better.

 

 

But it also confirmed that Mark has signed the Crown card at some point. There's also a possibility that he takes all of the cards from the TTM requests he receives, puts them in a pile, then signs them and randomly puts them back into envelopes. So if you have a signed Huismann Crown card personalized to Ryan, I'm interested in trading with you!

And doesn't Mark look almost entirely different on the two cards? If you put the pictures side-by-side and quickly asked me if it was the same person, I would probably say no.

TTM Sort of Success-Mark Huismann

TTM Collectors...Has this ever happened to you?

Back in December, I sent Mark his Orioles Crown card to be signed. It's his one and only Orioles card, and I know he is a good TTM signer (92%), so I shipped my card off.

Last week, I found a TTM envelope waiting for me in the mailbox. JACKPOT! That's always my favorite mail to receive, with a close second being trade/goodwill packages from my fellow bloggers or readers.

I excitedly opened the envelope...and found this...


OK, don't get me wrong, I think it's awesome that Mark still takes the time to sign his fan mail. So many players do not, so good on him for signing at all. But this is certainly not the Crown card that I sent him. It's a nice Mariners card, but I suppose this means that someone else might have received my Crown card instead of their '87 Topps wood-grain awesomeness. If that happens to be you, please let me know. I'm happy to add Mark's autograph to my collection, and suppose that I will try to send another Crown card to him.

To be continued...