Happy Birthday Mom!

It's my mom's birthday today and a little research revealed that she shares her birthday with a number of former Orioles players.

"Did I catch a Niner in there?"

I guess that JJ is a former and probably future Oriole.

Oscar was only in Baltimore for a short time but was a favorite of mine.

Jackie is closest in age to my mom, but doesn't share her actual birth year.

This is the first time that Lou has been featured on here.

Happy Birthday Mom! I hope that you have/had a great day!

Orioles Autograph Year in Review: The "I-Don't-Think-They're-Good-Signers" Updated

Added scans of B-Rob & Bass autos.

I was able to get autographs from all of these players (except KOJI!) but they didn't seem to sign often.


I have to start by addressing Koji, the second Orioles player that I did not obtain an autograph from this season. This is the card I would like to get signed if I ever get the opportunity. Also, a quick check of eBay reveals multiple Orioles certified autographs available for sale at reasonable prices. I prefer getting things signed in person, but if it doesn't work, at least I have some options.

I saw Koji sign at about two games but he drew quite a crowd, specifically from his Asian fans, so I didn't get him to sign anything for me either time. He also got injured early in the season and didn't pitch after June 23, so that also made his auto tougher to get in person. I know he was signing TTM through the season so I tried that route, but no success there yet.



Oscar signed this card for me at the Tides game I went to this season. I also sent him a TTM request while he was at Norfolk, but that seems to be gone for good. He was with the Orioles from June 7-July 12 this season and I don't recall seeing him sign while in Baltimore. But since he signed for me in Norfolk, I can't say I've never seen him sign for the fans.



JJ signed for me twice this season. Both times were early in the year before he was promoted to being the O's closer. I don't think that I saw him sign at all after he was named the closer so it could have something to do with a superstition of his or possibly he got an inflated sense of himself once he was the closer. Who knows? Not I.



This picture is from the one time this season that I saw B-Rob sign. I somehow neglected to scan the card that I got signed that day but trust me, I did get one autographed. I will scan it tonight if I get a chance.

And here it is...
B-Rob definitely falls into the category of being one of the most popular Orioles players so hundreds of people want his autograph at every game. He's a great player and definitely the focus of many female fans' attention so that leads to added competition when seeking his signature. That said, I think I only saw him sign openly like this one or two other times out of all the games that I attended.

I got Brian's auto twice this season. He signed this card for me in Toronto while he was walking back to the dugout after stretching and also signed an Allen & Ginter card for me at the last game of the season. I hope to also scan and add that to this post tonight. It looks really good, and is replacing this card as my favorite Bass auto.

Even though you can't see the borders it looks pretty nice

Those were the only two times that I can recall seeing him sign all season long. I think some of that has to do with the whole relief pitchers staying in the dugout and then walking out to the bullpen together thing. As a reminder for next season, if you are trying to get relievers' autographs, you should focus on Sunday games.

Cla "the Claw" Meredith debuts

Submariner Cla Meredith made his Orioles debut today in the 7th inning of the Orioles loss against the Yankees, after being traded from the Padres for Oscar Salazar earlier this week. He didn't start out very well by hitting the first batter he faced, Brett Gardner, on an 0-2 pitch, but followed that by allowing Gardner to steal second base, striking out Dork Jeter, allowing a single to Johnny Damon and then inducing a double play by Mark "traitor" Teixeira. No harm, no foul I guess. 9 of is 12 Chad Bradford-esque pitches were strikes.

I don't yet have Cla's autograph but hope to sometime soon. I have one, unsigned card of his, an 08 Topps Updates & Highlights card, but don't have a scan of that. So here a disturbing picture I found online (link shows other cross-dressed baseball players on MLB Red Sox blog), that is from Cla's rookie season with the Red Sox. Ballplayers have some strange ways of hazing their poor rookies.

I'm guessing that Cla is supposed to be Dorothy from the Wizard of Oz

Theory about Felix Pie's surprising improvement

While it may be reported that Felix Pie's improvement at the plate has to do with the excellent tutelage of Crow (Terry Crowley) I have a different idea about why he had an Omazing game last night.
Sidebar-And I can't continue on without giving major props to the O's. They all showed some real heart last night in the franchise's largest comeback in their 55 year history. The O's were down 10-1 and came back to beat the Red Sox 11-10. It was awesome to see but I just wish I had been there.

Back to P-yay, who came in to replace an injured Adam Jones in the top of the third inning of last night's game. The Orioles were already down 4-0 and had been held scoreless by the Red Sox pitching staff for the previous 17 consecutive innings, dating back to the April 20th Patriot's Day game in Boston. So what did Felix do during his first at-bat of last night's game? Oh, he just lined a triple to right field that scored Robert Andino from first base! The O's broke the nasty scoreless streak and I think this was the first domino in a long line to fall against the Sawx last night. Felix finished the night 2-4 with 2 RBI and has started today's game 1-1 with another RBI. He is absolved for being thrown out at second base while trying to stretch the single into a double because of last night's performance.

Oscar Salazar's 3 run HR in the 7th might have had a greater impact on the final score, but it was Felix the Cat (Luuuke's nickname for P-yay) that showed the O's that they could still scored against the Evil Empire. And yes, that title is now shared for the O's two hated AL East rivals.

Ok, so by now, you are probably wondering what my theory is regarding Felix's sudden turnaround. Well, Felix was scheduled to appear at the York Galleria Mall yesterday from noon-1pm. York is approximately 45 minutes North of Baltimore for those of you who aren't familiar with the area.
Now, as you can imagine, it would be hard for many O's fans to make it to a signing that occurs 45 minutes from the core of the fan base. I went to college in York and the baseball fans are probably 50/50 Orioles and Phillies. So the Orioles decided to take one of the last guys on the roster 45 minutes away from most of his potential fans at lunch time on a Tuesday. Needless to say, there was not a good turnout.

Luckily for me, Kalina teaches summer school and was able to go for my sake, hence these two nice autographs. But she reported to me that Felix did not seemed pleased about the few people that seemed interested in meeting him or getting his autograph. That has to bruise the ego of a Major League player. So I think a fire was lit in P-yay and he decided that he was going to live up to his potential and dominate in last night's game. Hopefully that fire will continue to burn and he will step it up for the rest of the season.

Road trip detailed: 5/23 Orioles @ Nationals, 5/24 Tides vs Red Wings, 5/25 & 5/26 Orioles vs Blue Jays

This is going to be a long post full of pictures and card scans and I am going to keep it as coherent and brief as possible. I hope everyone enjoys my baseball oriented Memorial Day weekend!

Saturday 5/23-Orioles @ Nationals-Nationals Park-Washington, DC

Adam Jones once again signed for a bunch of fans

As did Luke Scott

This was our first time seeing Nolan Reimold play as an Oriole

And as an American League fan, it was funny to see Koji bat
I wonder if this had anything to do with his dehydration/hamstring injury?

Rich Hill signed again, and luckily this time I had his card!

Adam Jones really signs a lot for a superstar

Luckily I got Chad's autograph before he is sent packing tomorrow...he seemed really nice

Jamie Walker signed for a few of us who got to him while he was leaning against the outfield wall
Interesting CAT inscription between his first and last names...

I called LOOUU over, good timing too since he is now out 6-8 weeks for finger surgery

The other players who signed but I missed out on were Aubrey Huff, Melvin Mora, and Cesar Izturis.

Sunday 5/24-Tides vs Red Wings-Harbor Park-Norfolk, VA

"The Future" Matt Wieters was as fan-friendly as he had been in Bowie & Frederick

I think Matt dedicated this single to me for making the long trip to see him!

Radhames Liz was tracking pitches in the stands and smiled for Kalina

Chris Tillman signed for fans in the concourse before the game but insisted on taking a picture with me along the first base line

I was really happy to get autographs from some of the guys on the '09 Tides who played for the O's either this season or last year.

Including...

Bob McCrory (08-09)

Kam Mickolio (08)

Jim Miller (08)

And Oscar Salazar (08)

Joey Gathright also signed but hasn't yet played in Baltimore, at least not for the Orioles

Ross Wolf, Carlos Rojas and Melvin Dorta also signed but I either didn't have cards of theirs or already had my cards signed.

Monday 5/25 & Tuesday 5/26-Orioles vs Blue Jays-OPACY-Baltimore, MD

Monday-

It was another O's Alumni Autograph day and the signees were:

Paul Blair, Bill Swaggerty & Joe Durham

It was my first Durham auto

And first time getting Swaggerty in person

We found B-Rob signing once we made it down to the first base line


MASN broadcaster Buck Martinez also signed for fans

After a few beers and fun with Kalina and Chris:
the Orioles were good enough to win the game for us!

Tuesday:

Along with the Kevin Millar auto Kalina got for me, John McDonald also signed

This is Jason Berken's first major league pitch; a called strike.

A drizzly night but the O's pulled off another win!

And I need to briefly mention the awesome walk-off HR that Nolan Reimold hit yesterday. It was the Orioles first sweep of the Blue Jays since 1994, their first 3 game win streak since last August, and their time coming back to win after trailing after the 7th inning. Way to go Nolan and the rest of the O's!