Some More Help From My Friends

Autograph collecting is a lot of fun to do in-person. I love spending the day at the park and trying to add some signatures to my collection. But sometimes it can be frustrating, time-consuming, and unrewarding, as you can never say who or how many people will sign in any given day. I've had some times where I was able to get 10-15 MLB autographs but not a single one of the players I was really targeting, so while it was successful to an extent, it can still be disappointing to miss out on the autographs you really wanted to add to your collection.

This is why it's so helpful to have a network of collectors to help each other out, and my preferred site is SportsCollectors.Net, or SCN for short. I don't know how many autographs I've been able to add or upgrade in my collection from that site over the last five or so years, but I can comfortably say that number is in the 100s. Whether via private signings, trades, consignments, or 50-50s, it's amazing what a country-wide group of collectors can do to help each other out. I highly recommend the site for any other autograph collectors out there. I think it's only like $15/year, and while you still run into some scumbags/shady dealer types, by and large the feedback scores will largely give you an idea of the type of collector you are working with.

Here are some of the autographs that I've been able to add or upgrade using SCN over the past six months or so. Not too bad.

Bruce Chen 

Jason Grimsley

Ramon Hernandez

Jim Hoey

(Your eyes do not deceive you, that's the same signed card, both personalized to me. One obtained IP, the other via SCN, pretty much simultaneously, hence the double down)

Charles Johnson

Matt Lindstrom

Bob Melvin

Scott Moore

A Case of the Sundays- Ra-moan Hernandez

Since it's Super Bowl Sunday, I'm guessing that this won't be a huge blog reading day for many people. And if there's ever a post I don't care if anyone sees, this would be it.

Ramon is probably my least favorite Oriole of the past five seasons and that's saying something considering he has to compete with the likes of the awful Russ Ortizes and Victor Zambranos of Oriole-dom. Dude never blocked the plate nor really seemed to be playing very hard. Not the type of "veteran presence" that will promote winning in the clubhouse.

It's appropriate that my autograph of his is bubbled and pretty awful all around. I tried to send him a TTM request to get an upgrade, but couldn't think of anything nice to say. And to think, I was excited when the Orioles signed him. Stupid.


Go Steelers, mainly because this Vikings fan will never support the Packers.

Minor League Members of the O's 40 Man Roster- Craig Tatum

While technically you could argue that Craig shouldn't be considered a Minor Leaguer since he made his Major League debut with the Reds last season, he has never played for the O's so for my purposes, I am considering him a Minor League guy. The Orioles claimed him off of waivers from the Reds on November 20, 2009 and he will be trying to make the O's as their backup catcher for the 2010 season.

Craig grew up in Hattiesburg, Mississippi and was a standout pitcher and batter during his years at Hattiesburg High School which earned him the title of the Mississippi Gatorade Player of the Year. He attended Mississippi State and earned second team All-SEC honors as a sophomore which led to the Reds selecting him in the third round of the 2004 amateur draft.

Interestingly enough, Craig earned his first promotion to the Reds on 7/19/09 when my favorite player ever (no, I'm just kidding, I wasn't a fan) Ra-moan Hernandez injured his knee and went on the DL. He appeared in 26 total games for the Reds and hit only .162.

One negative about Craig is that he played high school baseball with Jonathan Papelbon and still trains with him in the off-season.

ra-MOAN

I have been putting this off for a long time as I have a well-documented dislike of this guy, but he was an Oriole so here it is. I'm not going to write much about him since that might be misinterpreted as putting forth some effort, something that he refused to do for the Orioles. And I sure as hell will not be blocking the plate! You know what I'm talking about...

Orioles Autograph Year in Review: The Best Signers

Well, this will be my last year in review post. I hope that everyone has been enjoying them but I think I might have lost some interest as I haven't got a comment in about a week. But regardless, I will soldier on and complete my review. Whether you like it or not!

These guys were the most reliable signers throughout the course of the season. Now they didn't sign at every game by any means but I probably saw them sign at an average of 1 out of 5 games throughout the year. And that's pretty good for today's current major league player.

So without further delay, here they are. The best of the best!


I have to start out with my boy, LUUUUKE Scott. He was easily the best Oriole signer on the year and seems to really enjoy signing too. I would estimate that I saw him sign 15-20 times in the 50 or so games that I went to. I am giving him my inaugural "Best Orioles Signer of the Year" award. He's a very positive guy and never ignored the fans; even on days that he wasn't signing, you could count on at least a smile and a wave.

Keep up the good signing habits Luke!

Apparently, Matusz and Tillman have become very good friends even though they never played together in the Minors and were only on the O's together for about two months. From what I hear, they spent a lot of time together and luckily for me, are both very good signers. That is somewhat rare for hotshot prospects and the fact that they both are easy to get is great for me.


Matusz signed for me in Frederick, Bowie and Baltimore this year. That's my first auto-trifecta!



Chris signed for me in Norfolk and Baltimore this year, as well as in Bowie last season. That's not too bad either and he has a pretty cool autograph too. I hope that these two guys continue signing throughout their long, productive careers for the Baltimore Orioles!


Chris was trying to look like he didn't want to be in the picture with me, but I know otherwise.



Dino was another player that I would consistently find signing. As the backup infielder, he had some extra time on his hands throughout the season and made good use of it. One of my favorite memories of him is the day he was goofing around with two little kids whose dad was trying to take a picture of the three. He stuck his head through the railing and was making funny faces. The kids couldn't get enough of him.



Even though Rich was injured and away from the team for almost half the season, I was able to get his autograph 3 times. Of course I got an Orioles card of him immediately after he was hurt so I am still hoping to get it signed sometime soon. Will he be back with the O's in 2010? I do not know.



Although both Wieters and Zaun didn't sign very often since they caught almost every day while they were with the team, their backup, Mr. Moeller, had the time to sign and sign he did. It took me a while to get him for the first time on the season but after that, I seemed to get his autograph every other game! Or something like that...



Justin Turner was one of the players who came over in the Ramon Hernandez trade. If you've read my blog for any amount of time, you should know that I wasn't a big Ramon fan. So that in turn (ha) makes me a Turner fan. He seemed to be a great signer after his September call-up and even got a little excited to be recognized and hounded for autographs. Keep up the good work Justin!




Sean Henn was another guy who didn't make his O's debut until later in the season but signed frequently once he was with the club. I'm not a big fan of getting Yankees cards signed but they are certainly better than nothing. Especially the A&G card turned out really well.



Well, there you have it. I reviewed the signing habits of all 48 players who suited up for the Birds in 2009. Hopefully, I will still be doing this little blog after the 2010 season and will again share my review. I hope that you all enjoyed it!

TTMs, the Week of Insanity Continues...

Are you getting bored with these TTM successes? I hope not since I have to get through a few more today and tomorrow...and then I will move onto something else. Today I am focusing on some of the more recent players that have signed for me.

Roberto Alomar 1996-98

Alomar is definitely the best TTM success I have had so far who doesn't charge to sign. You can get all kinds of HOFers and stars to sign but they pretty much all expect something in return, so I was pleasantly surprised to find out that Robby signs.

He is regarded as one of the best all-around 2nd basemen of all time and has myriad awards and accomplishments to back up that claim. Some of them include: 12 straight All-Star teams, 10 Gold Gloves (an MLB record for a 2B), 4 Silver Sluggers (2nd most all-time for a 2B), 2 World Series Championships, and 2,724 hits (51st on the all-time list). He will likely make it into the HOF next year.

Unfortunately, Robby's time in Baltimore was marred by a nasty incident with umpire John Hirschbeck. He was ejected from a game for arguing a called third strike when Hirschbeck either used a racial slur or called him a fa#@ot. Alomar responded to that by spitting in Hirschbeck's face. Ugly stuff man, people were mad at Robby after that.

He was with the Orioles the last time they were relevant and helped the team make it to back-to-back ALCS's in 1996 & 97. Honestly, I could have the meanest 25 jerks ever put together on a roster right now and still be fine with it if we won a World Series. I am that desperate at this point.

Alberto Castillo 2007

OK, this gets a little confusing so stick with me. This is not the Alberto Castillo currently on the Orioles. The current Alberto is a pitcher who was born in Cuba, I did a post about him a while back.

This Alberto Castillo is the catcher who backed up Ramon Hernandez between April 3-June 21 of the 2007 season. I can't say I remember him very well, so don't really expect anyone else to either. He appeared in only11 games and batted .161 so it's easy to forget about a guy like that.

He has kicked around the Majors since 1995 and although he hasn't played in the Bigs since his time with the Birds in '07, he signed from the Newark Bears' address and was still trying to make it back to the Show as of earlier this season. Alberto has played with 8 teams over 12 Major League seasons, but only appeared in 418 games; still that's not too bad. I couldn't even make it past Little League!

3 New Orioles to add to the list

Three players made their Orioles debuts in last night's O's game in Boston. I don't want to talk about the game at all except for mentioning the new Birds. I have very little good to say about the game last night, it was total crap.

In order of appearance:

The Orioles claimed Chris Lambert off waivers from the Tigers on August 20, 2009 and he made his O's debut last night with 2 outs in the bottom of the third inning with one runner on.

His stats for Detroit in 11 games over the past two seasons: 1-3, 7.90 ERA, 2.049 WHIP

His stats for the O's last night: 13.50 ERA, 1.500 WHIP, 1 HR, 1 BB, 2 ER in 1.1 innings pitched. Only 12 of his 23 pitches were strikes

Chris Lambert does not give me a good feeling in my belly. He might only be an Oriole for a brief amount of time. And yes, Core Contrarian did warn me.



Justin Turner came to the Orioles in the Ramon Hernandez trade this past offseason. That automatically makes him OK in my book. He made his major league debut in the top of the 7th inning last night, replacing Melmo in the lineup and at third base. He went 0-2, striking out swinging in his debut AB and lining out softly in the ninth. Hey, that's still better than Ramon Hernandez, and probably Ryan Freel, combined!




Guillermo Rodriguez or G-Rod as we referred to him as at Bowie this season, made his Orioles debut as a defensive replacement for Matt Wieters in the bottom of the 6th inning. He also struck out to end the game (and the misery) in his only plate appearance.

He played 39 games for the '07 Giants in his only other Major League action to date. He is a minor league veteran who has played in 852 minor leagues games over the past 14 seasons so it's always nice to see a guy like him make it to the Bigs.


As you can see I was able to get G-Rod's autograph a couple of times while he played for the Baysox, so I am happy to add him both to the list of players who played for the O's and to the list of players that I have autographs of. It's always ideal for me to be able to do that since it makes my project so much easier.


*I stole the scans of the Lambert & Turner cards from Ebay. I try to avoid this but i had no choice as I had no pictures of either.

A Week of Trades from SportsCollectors.Net- Rockinace Two Times

I know that I have mentioned SCN and it's awesome website before, but this week I am going to share some of the trades I have made with fellow collectors to showcase my successes. It costs about $15 for an entire year to use the site and you get TTM success rates, player's addresses, trading options with other users, and many other features. Most of the users on the site are active and helpful, so it's worth your time to check out if you are an autograph collector.

Now that I'm done giving their site some free advertising, I will share some of the trades I have made on there over the past month and a half since I joined.


My first trade, and shortly thereafter a second trade, was made with a guy who goes by rockinace.

The first trade netted me Aaron Ledesma and Chad Paronto, while the second one brought Ron Jackson and Adam Stern my way.

Aaron Ledesma 1997

Aaron was the utility infielder on the '97 Orioles squad, mainly backing up Robbie Alomar at second base. He hit the only two HRs of his career that season while wearing the orange and black and was the 62nd pick by the Devil Rays in the expansion draft after the season.

He is currently a coach on the Scranton Wilkes-Barre Yankees.

Chad Paronto 2001

Chad was drafted in the 8th round of the 1996 draft by the Orioles and made his Orioles debut in 2001. He went 1-3 in 24 appearances, and finished 9 games for the O's that season. The Indians selected him off of waivers following the 01 season so that was it for Chad and the Orioles.

Chad has bounced back and forth between the majors and minors over the past 7 seasons but appeared in a couple of games for the Astros this season. Keep the dream alive Chad!

Ron Jackson 1984

While Ron had a 10 year long Major League career, only the last 12 games of it were with the Orioles. The Birds signed him in August '84 and he finished out the season with the club, appearing as a pinch-hitter and third baseman.

Ron has made a career out of being a Major & Minor League hitting coach, notably for the Red Sox from 2003-06. That, of course, made him a member of the '04 Red Sox that broke the "Curse of the Bambino" by winning the World Series.

Adam "Canadian Babe Ruth" Stern 2007

Did you just blink? If so, you missed Adam's cameo for the Orioles. He has one of the strangest stat lines I have come across while doing my project. Now, I kind of remember this from when it happened but Adam appeared in two games for the Orioles but only as a defensive replacement; he never got an AB! That's weird.

In case you are wondering how Adam was brought into the Orioles fold, he was the PTBNL from the Javy Lopez trade at the end of the 2006 season. Wow, between Lopez & Ramon Hernandez, the O's went through some lean catching years. It makes me even more thankful for Wieters!

Since there isn't anything else to say about his time on the Orioles, here are a few other notes I found about Adam.
-Trot Nixon gave him his nickname, but I can't find the story behind it
-he played for Team Canada in the 2004 & 2008 Olympics, as well as the 2006 & 2009 World Baseball Classics
-on August 8, 2005, appeared in a game for the Red Sox with Kevin Youkilis & Gabe Kapler, setting an American League record for most Jewish players on the field at one time
-is only the second Jewish Canadian player in MLB history, following Goody Rosen who played in the '30s & '40s mainly for the Brooklyn Dodgers

Aren't you impressed that I found that much to write about a player who never even hit for the Orioles? Are you still with me? Anyone?

But the Keys Lost 2/2

Here are the rest of the autographs I got at Friday's Keys game:



The cards on the left and right are very similar but Nate switched in up in the 06 Ironbirds card in the middle.



Here Ryan Rodriguez makes another appearance. These cards are proof of his brief time in Bowie but he is back in Frederick, where he probably belongs.


Kennie Steenstra is the Keys' pitching coach and has been for the past two seasons. Somehow I never got his autograph before and had been toting this card around for 1.5 seasons. He is normally in a rush to get to the field to work with his pitchers. Come on Kennie, what's more important, signing an auto for me or making your pitchers better?



Bobby Stevens is fielding in this picture. I don't know much about him and have no insight to share. Sorry for the poor effort here.



Jake Stevens was drafted by the Braves in the 3rd round of the 2003 draft. This is his first season in the O's organization and he did not pitch at all last season after being released by the Braves, so he is trying to make a comeback this year. I really like the card on the right for some reason; it's like he is mesmerized by the baseball.



Brandon Waring was traded to the Orioles this past offseason along with Ryan Freel and Justin Turner from the Reds in exchange for Ramon Hernandez. There haven't been many Orioles that I don't like but I would've been happy to trade Ramon for his weight in excrement. He played such uninspiring baseball that it brought down everyone around him. Freel was a bust but hopefully Brandon and Justin will help out the Birds for years to come. Brandon hit a HR in the game and he plays a position that will likely be open in Baltimore starting next year.



Robbie was named the O's minor league player of the month for June. This was my first time seeing him and he seemed a little cocky. It was a snap judgment so I hope I'm wrong but who knows. I will get back about this next time I see him play.



Rick started Friday's game and was a little shaky. He was drafted in the 6th round of the 2008 draft and has already jumped from Aberdeen to Frederick in just over a year so I would expect some growing pains. And check out that crazy leg kick!