Why Not...Again?

Since the 2012 Orioles are in a bit of a slump right now after starting out the year at such a torrid pace, I'm hoping that showcasing a few autographs of key players on the 1989 Why Not Orioles team might bring the current Birds some luck during their weekend series in Tampa. (I know that my actions on the blog have nothing to do with the team, but maybe this will make me feel better at least!)

I've limited this post to just players who I would consider "full-time" type players for the '89 squad, because when I went to pick out autographs for this post, I quickly realized that I haven't covered this era of Orioles baseball very well at all.

Starting catcher Mickey Tettleton (Oriole #453) made a huge contribution during his second season in Baltimore and led the team with 26 home runs. 

Second baseman Billy Ripken (Oriole #436) continued to prove solid defense in the middle of the diamond alongside his brother Cal, who you might have heard of before. And somehow, this is the first mention of Billy (F&#* Face) Ripken in the history of my blog. That ain't right.

Rookie Craig Worthington (Oriole #449) manned the hot corner with authority and held his own at the plate too. He came in fourth in the A.L. Rookie of the Year voting, losing to a teammate, whom we will soon cover, and finishing directly behind some kid named "Griffey". 

Center-fielder Mike Devereaux (Oriole #469) provided some highlight reel caliber catches during his first season in Birdland and became a fixture in Baltimore over the following six seasons. 

I'm using this 2010 Shorebirds coach card for this post since I've never used it on the blog before, but I'm sure this card is a much better representation of how we all remember Devo. 

Mark Williamson (Oriole #426) was the team's primary set-up guy out of the bullpen and won an insane 10 games without having made a single start. 

Brian Holton (Oriole #465) was another one of the team's primary relief pitchers but also spot-started 12 games.

His name came up recently in a collecting conversation about players who don't seem to sign TTM requests and his signature seems to be relatively tough to come by, at least on Orioles cards.

Wrapping up this post is likely one of my most egregious blogging omissions from the past four years. It seems as though this is my very first mention of the Orioles' lock-down Rookie of the Year closer, Gregg Olson (Oriole #457). It's pitiful really, how could I have never mentioned this guy before today? It is what it is, I suppose.

Anyway, Gregg was lights out during his first full season in Baltimore; he pitched in 64 games, finishing 52 of them, and amassed 27 saves while maintaining a tidy 1.69 ERA. He ran away with the 1989 A.L. Rookie of the Year award (receiving 26 of 28 first place votes) and also came in 6th in Cy Young voting while also receiving some MVP consideration.

Gregg was an All-Star in 1990 and went on to compile 160 saves over his five plus seasons with the O's. It also appears that Gregg is nearly a 100% TTM signer, so I might need to send out a request for a personalized card sometime soon. And I'm just writing about him for the first time today. Shameful.

"To Ryan"

As some of you already know, I prefer my Orioles autographs personalized to me whenever it's possible. Getting autographs can be tough enough and adding the extra personalization request can further complicate things at times. But it lets the players know that I have no intent of flipping the autographs I receive and I really like how it makes the autographs unique to my collection.

Over the years, I've added personalized autographs to my collection in a few different ways.

The two most common have been:

Public Signings/Appearances- especially when there is a small number of attendees and/or you can pay a little extra for personalization. Some of these autographs are probably 15 years old at this point.

 

Every Orioles fan has an Al Bumbry autograph if they really want one. Dude is always around town.

 

I was a Pirates fan when I was younger. Drabek later played for the O's, so this card has stuck around.

 

 I have an abnormally large amount of Rick Krivda autographs, even for me. 

I remember something about a private signings with very few attendees, many years back.

 

Dave is another guy who lives in the Baltimore area and has appeared around the vicinity for many years.

To the best of my recollection, Tackett is one of very few Orioles to have appeared during his playing days at the mall "card show" in my relatively small hometown of Carlisle, PA. Demand was pretty low for him too.

Sheets is yet another omnipresent former Oriole.

Singleton might have also made the trek to Carlisle, but I can't say for sure.

 

I got this one done through a signing on Sportscollectors.net. 

Probably the method that is responsible for the most personalized autographs in my collection is TTM requests. Players who sign autographs through the mail generally are happy to personalize as well..

 

I was really happy to come across this oddball Orioles issue of Pete Smith, even happier to see 

that he signs TTM, and happier still when he returned this to me after over 250 days.

Dave charges to sign TTM, but at least he signs.

Kelly was even nice enough to add "Best Wishes"

At just under a year, this one took a long time to get back, but I'm always happy to get those envelopes!

The third most effective way to add personalized autographs is in-person, which is easiest when the players are in the minor leagues. 

 

As is the case with former Oriole and current AA Bowie Baysox member, Armando Gabino.

 

Devo is currently a coach with the hi-A Frederick Keys; he was nice enough to personalize earlier this year.

Spring Training Autographs- Coaches & Instructors

It's pretty nice that most of the Orioles' roving Minor League instructors and coaches were at the Birds Minor League complex the day that I was there. It's a pretty easy graphing situation and most of them signed willingly.

 

I have to start with Leo Gomez. He was one of Kalina's favorite O's back in the day and he took the time to show off this card to some of the other coaches who were around. He was proving that he used to be able to field and liked his form in the picture. It was pretty funny stuff.

Devo was also around and was signing two cards per person. I conveniently had exactly two cards that I was trying to get signed. The orange uni was my top priority and the Crown is available for trade. 

 

 

 

  

 

Brady was the least willing signer, he tried to "big league" me even when I had him one on one. He eventually did sign my orange uni card with possibly the worst example I've seen of his autograph. I don't know if I would believe he actually signed this if he hadn't done it right in front of me. 

 

 

I've seen Butch at a number of Minor League games over the years, but somehow never had this card with me. So this is my first IP success from him. 

 

 

Probably the coolest progression of autos that I got was of Troy Mattes. He signed a Shorebirds card from during their inaugural season in 1996 (while they were still an Expos affiliate), a card from his big league career, and his 2010 Shorebirds coach card. I can confidently say he is the only person to be included in the Shorebirds set 15 years apart, at least besides the mascot.

 

 

 

Dave signed a few cards for me. He's probably the instructor who I've had the most success with over the past few seasons. 

 

 

 

  

 

I got Mike's autograph a few times while he was still the Baysox pitching coach, but hadn't had any luck with him since he moved up to Norfolk in 2009.

 

 

Back in 2008, I didn't often get Crown cards signed since I don't particularly collect the set, but now I know that a bunch of other collectors do collect it, so they are good trade bait. 

 

 

Denny was definitely the nicest coach/instructor I came across all day. Someone else was complimenting him on his signature while he was signing for me. He mentioned how he normally puts his uniform number in the large swoop at the end of his graph, but not on Minor League cards. Interesting. To me at least. 

 

 

New Orioles bullpen coach Rick Adair was around to observe some of the pitchers. He seems like a nice guy but didn't bat an eye at what I thought was a pretty random card. I guess he's seen them all. 

 

I found another fairly obscure card for Dickerson to sign but got the same reaction from him. Oh well.

Since neither Adair nor Dickerson ever played in the Majors, their cards are few and far between. I probably had to pay more for the unsigned cards than the signed cards are worth, but I enjoyed getting them signed. After all, I'm not into autographs for the money. It's all about having fun.

An attempt to catch up...Orioles Alumni Autographs

I am so far behind on things I want to post that if I can share half of what I have I will still be a few weeks behind. If that even makes sense.

The two main things I will try to get to this week are my pictures and autographs from the Nats Picnic in the Park two Saturday's ago and my pictures from Harold Baines' Orioles Hall of Fame induction this past Saturday. I know Steve at White Sox Cards will be especially interested in those.

But today's post will showcase the autographs I've got at the past four or five Orioles Alumni Autograph series. Most of these are available in a trade if you are interested.

And here we go...


This was the first time I ever got Dave's autograph. Nice addition to my collection!



If you are an O's fan and don't have "the B's" autograph, you are doing something wrong.



My Devo autograph collection is much larger now than it was before. My favorite is the upside down one.


Ken Gerhart, yep.



This was the first time I got Ross's autograph in person. Check out his cards from back in the day. He had some wacky hair styles. This one wasn't too bad, in comparison at least.



John Habyan, another first time in person auto.



Billy Hunter was nice as always.



Dave Johnson is always around the Yard. Another guy that any O's collector should have.



McGregor is a local guy; which equals me having 50 autographs of his. Give or take 20.



Gary is not around nearly as much so I don't have very many of his signatures. And couldn't Donruss and Fleer changed the border colors up just a little bit? Ah, the 80s.



Dave made an appearance, taking a break from his Minor League duties.



My Larry Sheets autograph collection rivals my McGregor & Bumbry collections.


Bill Swaggerty doesn't look like this at all. At least, not anymore.