1984 Orioles Debuts, #386-396

Oh boy, 1984 was not a banner year for new Orioles players. There was pretty much Larry Sheets, and I guess one could mention Nate Snell and Ken Dixon, who both stuck around in Baltimore for a few years, but beyond that, there are quite a few "who's that?" type of players.

I might need to consider starting to cover multiple years in these posts, both to add some meat to them and to bump up the number of pictures. But that's not going to happen today.

Here's the older posts in the series...
(2001, 2000, 1999, 1998, 1996, 1995, 1994, 1993, 1992, 1991, 1990, 1989, 1988, 1987, 1986, 1985)


Wayne Gross #386, 4/2/84 (1984-85)

Tom Underwood #387, 4/7/84 (1984)

Orlando Sanchez #388, 5/20/84 (1984)

Mark Brown #389, 8/9/84 MLB Debut (1984)

John Pacella #390, 9/1/84 (1984)

Vic Rodriguez #391, 9/5/84 MLB Debut (1984)

Ron Jackson #392, 9/7/84 (1984)

Larry Sheets #393, 9/18/84 MLB Debut (1984-89)

Nate Snell #394, 9/20/84 MLB Debut (1984-86)

Jim Traber #395, 9/21/84 MLB Debut (1984, 86, 88-89)

"The Whammer" played in parts of four seasons with the Orioles before moving on the play in Japan and Mexico. He played in 264 games during his time with the O's, and played mostly first base.

Probably the most notable thing that occurred during Jim's playing career is an incident in Japan in which Jim charged the mound and the pitcher retreated all the way to the outfield.

He is currently an Oklahoma City Sports Radio host, and seems to be a bit of a blowhard from some comments I've heard from other collectors.

Ken Dixon #396, 9/22/84 MLB Debut (1984-87)

The Time is Right

Today seemed like an appropriate time to show off the three remaining autographs in my collection that picture players wearing Cardinals or Rangers uniforms.

I need to start with Orlando Sanchez since this is the only Orioles card of the trio and because I'm rooting for the Cardinals to come back and win the series.

I guess no one thought to get a picture of Orlando in an Orioles uniform during his four game stint with the O's in 1984. He played parts of the 1981-83 seasons for the Cardinals and saw his last big league action in Baltimore; he appeared in 73 total games over his four years in the Majors.

Rick Helling spent eight of his 12 MLB seasons with the Rangers, and is one of only three players to have won 20 games in a season for them, which he accomplished in 1998 when he went 20-7.

He spent part of the 2003 season with the Orioles and was largely unsuccessful pitching for the Birds, but certainly wasn't the only pitcher from that period of time who couldn't find success in Baltimore. He is pictured on a few cards as an Oriole, so I'm hoping to upgrade to one of those some day soon.

Last up is Fernando Tatis, who began his big league career with the Rangers in the late '90s. He is best remembered for being the only player to hit two grand slams in one inning, a feat he accomplished off of Chan Ho Park during his time with the Cardinals in 1999. He appropriately also holds the record for most RBI in one inning.

Tatis played for the Orioles in 2006 and also was featured on a card in an Orioles uniform, so one day I would like to upgrade this signature as well.

Some Difficult Foreign Autographs

I recently came across a dealer on eBay who supposedly has some good connections in Central America and the Caribbean to track down former big leaguers who live in relative hiding from the autograph community. I really have no idea how the mail system works down there, but I guess this guy travels around getting autographs. Sounds like a pretty good gig to me. My dad also helped me out with one of these guys. His help is ALWAYS appreciated and I know that he enjoys tracking down these autographs as much as I do sometimes.

I will lead off with the card my dad gave me as a gift.

Orlando Sanchez played 4 seasons in the Majors but only appeared in 73 games over that time, the last 4 of which were for the '84 Orioles. 59 of his 73 games were with the Cardinals, so the majority of the few cards he has show him in a Cardinals uniform. He has an O's Crown card but it shows him in a Cardinals hat, so it's hardly an O's card.

He has managed and coached in the Mexican Leagues since his playing days ended. I found information that lists him as the Manager of both the Mayos de Navojoa of the Mexican Pacific League and the Saraperos de Saltillo of the Mexican League. If anyone is ever heading to one of those teams' games, let me know and I'll send you my Crown card! (Not expecting this to actually work out)

Carlos played for the Angels, Mariners and O's during his 3 seasons in the Majors, and 129 of the 237 MLB games he appeared in came with the '78 O's. There isn't much else out there about Carlos, but he was apparently a pro with the chewing tobacco. Look at that chipmunk cheek! How could he even breathe?

Sergio played 10 of his 16 games in the Majors for the O's in '72 & '73. He also had a 6 game cameo for the Dodgers in '76. He was much more successful during the 19 seasons that he played for the Naranjeros de Hermosillo. He was inducted into the Mexican Professional Baseball Hall of Fame(click the link if you know Espanol and want to read Sergio's HOF bio), so I guess he was good. He has coached and managed in the Mexican Leagues as well, so that could have helped him with the MPBHOF induction.

Here is the most accomplished player of the group, Mr Melvin Mora's uncle. No, I kid, I'm quite sure that he's not related to MelMo, but they are the only 2 O's who have the surname Mora.

Andres played professional baseball for over 20 years and hit 419 homers in the Mexican Leagues, which is the third most of all-time. That's some impressive stuff and was likely a large part of the reason that he was elected to the Mexican Professional Baseball Hall of Fame(same deal as above).

He played between 73-77 games for the O's each season from '76-'78 and had some success at the Major League level but never enough to stick for a full season. He also played 9 games in 1980 for the Indians.