A Highly Successful Bowie Baysox Meet the Team Day

The Baysox had their first of three scheduled Meet the Team days last Sunday, April 25. I always like these since they are the perfect time to get your picture taken with the players.

Kalina took my picture with...

Zach Britton

Brandon Waring

Caleb Jospeh

Wilfrido Perez

And Ryohei Tanaka

Here are all the cards that I was able to get signed (with Kalina's help). These events are great for getting a ton of autographs and are great to get the guys who are typically tough signers.


Like Joel Guzman, who prefers to avoid fans if possible. He was nice enough and didn't seem to mind signing. I was expecting him to be surly but he was cool enough.


All of the other Baysox players and coaches are normally good about signing.

Adams mentioned to Kalina that he does not like the picture on the card to the left.

Pedro's autograph didn't turn out great but I have a bunch of his signed cards so it's all good.

Rojas also used a thin sharpie but it works well on this card.



The Figueroa boys were at the same table. Kalina definitely got a picture with the two of them that she likes quite a bit.

I think she also got a picture with Tyler, who wasn't making this funny "fielding-a-ball-face" in their photo.

I think I have about 20 Komminsk autographs at this point. But since he was just sitting there...

It would be nice if Steve had any other cards that I could find. These are cool and all, but they're the only ones I have.

One-time O Jim Hoey was very cool, and even mentioned that sometimes a sharpie will smear on his UD card. Good looking out Jim!

Moe is always very nice and even tossed me a ball from the dugout during the game.

Kennie, who is the Baysox pitching coach this year, didn't sign at the official event but I caught up to him on the field. The pitching coach and that day's started never sign at the Meet the Team days since they are prepping for the game.


Zach and Wilfrido were nice enough to not only pose for pictures with me, but to sign my cards as well.

If any of you ever have the chance to get to any teams' Meet the Team events, I highly suggest that you do so. They are awesome for getting autographs or pictures. If that's not your thing, it's a great way to speak to the players for a few minutes too.

A couple autographs from the A's & Angels homestand

For some reason, my autograph motivation has been low these past few weeks. It's not that I'm being lazy about it, but I think the heat is wearing me down. It could also have something to do with all of the losing baseball I have seen this year; I have no idea. That's not to say that I haven't had a few successes...


Gio Gonzalez was cool and came over to sign for the fans during the Oakland series. I really like all of the loops in his signature which is facilitated by the multiple G's & Z's.

Andrew Bailey was also talking to someone he knew along the third baseline but since the A's warm-up shirts don't have names or numbers on them, I ID'ed him too late to get his auto.





Torii Hunter made Kalina's day on Monday by signing her Bowman Heritage card. He signed for a bunch of the fans on the field and then continued to sign at the home plate side of the dugout. Go Torii!! This is the second time the Angels have been in Baltimore this season and the second cool thing he has done. Now if only the Orioles were competitive against the Halos...



I also wish I got my own Torii card signed. I accidentally thought it was a Gary Matthews card when I glanced at it upside down. Oh well, I'm sure he will sign when he's back in town next season.

Joe Saunders knew one of the Angels fans in attendance so he was signing down the third base line. I managed to get his autograph after he signed for said fans. His signature reminds me a little bit of Paco Figueroa's due to the loops & such.

Bobby Abreu also signed at the end of the Angels dugout. I was right there but had no card. And I didn't even think to get him to sign my ticket. I told you I was off my game. It must be the heat.

Stay cool everyone!

Baysox Autographs

Somehow the autographs I got at the last Bowie game I attended, some Friday 2-3 weeks ago, slipped through the cracks and didn't get scanned until last night. So I will share them with you now. The orange bordered cards are from the 09 team sets that seem to have just been released in time for that game.

Miggy has always been a great signer, well he was at least good last year at Frederick and this season in Bowie. He is typically the first position player out of the clubhouse and seems to know a lot of the fans; he has a good personality and I hope he can continue to progress through the O's system. I got another one of my favorite 06 Ironbirds cards signed!


Mike Costanzo came to the O's from the Astros as part of the Miguel Tejada trade before the 08 season. He started this season in Norfolk but was sent to Bowie about a month into the season and has underperformed for most of the year. A possible reason recently surfaced, as he has a torn meniscus and needs season ending surgery.



Eric Crozier was signed to the Baysox towards the end of June and I was able to track down these cards before I went to Bowie. He seemed like a really cool guy and signed for everyone.
Kalina also made the astute observation that he has Popeye-like arms.



Fredy Deza has bounced back in forth between Bowie and Norfolk for most of the season. I saw him in Frederick last year; it's only a matter of time before he is sent to the Bluefield!


Adam has become the Baysox everyday catcher. He was surprised to see that I had the 08 NW Arkansas Naturals card and I told him that I recently had visited family in Springdale. He asked me about a few of the guys on the Nats, so that was cool.



Paco still has one of my favorite autographs. I really like the loopiness of it. Unfortunately, he has been off and on the DL for most of the season.



Moe is the field coach for the Baysox and is another guy who seems to have a lot of fans in the stands that talk to him and know him.



Jim pitched for the O's in the 2006 & 2007 seasons. He relied heavily on his heater at the time but is trying to develop a curveball to get back to the Majors.



Dave has been the Baysox leadoff batter and resident funny-man this season.



Oh Radhames; last time we saw ye, you were at least in Norfolk, albeit in the stands tracking pitches.
But now you have slid from AAA to AA, but at least you still sign for the fans. Even if you were the last one out of the clubhouse and only signed for me and one other fan. I hope that you can get your delivery fixed and take that electric arm back to Baltimore. At least no-hit Harrisburg again, please.

Bowie's First meet the team day of 2009

I briefly mentioned in one of my weekend Wieters' posts that I had attended Sunday's Baysox meet the team picture & autograph day.


I was lucky enough to get my picture taken with some of the Baysox biggest stars including:

Brandon Snyder


Troy Patton


& Brandon Erbe
Erbe also signed a card for me

I didn't get a picture with Jake but he did sign my card

My goal for the day was to get as many of the players to personalize their autographs for me. It was pretty easy since most of them are really nice guys like...

Ryan Keefer


Robert Valido (who asked if I was the Ryan he was personalizing the card to), Johnny Tucker and Dave Krynzel

Ryan Rodriguez only personalized one per my request


Ryan Ouellette, Paco Figueroa & Mike Costanzo (who went the extra mile with the "Best Wishes" inscription)

And only after all of this personalizing to me did I realize that there were 3 Ryan's on the Baysox. Kinda weird right? But I guess my name was just popular in the late 70s/early 80s.



I forgot to ask Brad to personalize my card
but still can't get over how his auto looks like B___ K__ K


Ambiorix didn't understand my request to personalize

Jim Hoey is on the DL so was at the game but didn't participate in the auto session


Adam Donachie was catching so I had to get him during warm-ups
Pat Egan was MIA from the table where his name was but I got him during warm-ups too
And Guillermo was signing in the concourse but he gets lumped in here

All in all it was a very successful day for Bowie autos and I had a great time.