Orioles Hall of Fame Week- Unpossible Hall of Famers

If you have been reading my blog for awhile, you know that every Friday is "Unpossible Autograph Friday" a play on words (borrowed from Ralph Wiggum of "The Simpsons" fame) highlighting autographs of deceased players. Today I'm featuring the three Hall of Famers who played with the Orioles during their career and have passed away. None of the three were inducted to the Hall as O's or are necessarily remembered for their years in Birdland, but they did play for them, so it ties in to my HOF week.

I've written about these first two players a few times, so click the links if you want to see what I've already covered.

Robin was nice enough to sign my TTM request about a year ago and I wrote about him again when he passed away this past May. He is the only HOFer in my collection who personalized anything to me. 

 

I got Roberts' signed HOF plaque card from a dealer at the National who hadn't raised the price on it since Robin passed away so I got a relative steal. 

 

My dad hooked me up with this Hoyt Wilhelm autograph for Christmas in 2009. (The write-up about Hoyt is half way down the linked post) 

I found this Wilhelm signed HOF plaque card at a flea market a few months back. I've made the argument a few times that I think Hoyt should have entered the Hall wearing a White Sox or Orioles hat over that of the NY Giants, but the decision obviously wasn't up to me.

 

This card is the only new image on this post, and Kell is the only player I haven't really covered before, so now you get something besides blurbs and links to my other posts. 

George was a excellent contact hitter who hit over .300 for his career, led the A.L. in hits and doubles twice in 1950 & '51 and won the 1949 batting title, denying Ted Williams his third Triple Crown. He was also a great defender at third base and led the league in fielding percentage at the position five times. He was a ten-time All-Star and also received MVP votes eight times. He played with the Philadelphia A's, Detroit Tigers, Boston Red Sox, and Chicago White Sox before wrapping up his career with two seasons in Baltimore in 1956 & '57. 

He came short of making the Hall of Fame fifteen times via the writer's vote but was elected in 1983 by the Veteran's Committee. After his playing career ended, George went on to find success in the broadcast booth and had nearly a forty year career behind the mic, including almost thirty years calling Tigers' games with Al Kaline.

 

You might have spotted this Kell plaque card in the same post as the Wilhelm plaque.  

Obligatory contest plug- You can enter through Sunday for the chance to win a signed Earl Weaver card. If you've already entered, I would suggest that you check the entries post to see if you've been earning any bonus entries. Some of you have figured out how to do it and are really pulling away from the pack.

Goodbye Al

 

Sadly, another former Orioles player has died this year when Al Pilarcik passed away on September 20. I couldn't find a cause of death listed, but it's always sad when a former Oriole leaves this world behind. 2010 has been an especially bad year for former O's, as Al becomes the tenth Oriole to pass away this year after Curt Motton (1/21), Bob Chakales (2/18), Frank Bertaina (3/3), Billy Hoeft (3/16), Mike Cuellar (4/2), Robin Roberts (5/6), Morrie Martin (5/25), Billy Loes (7/15), and Bobby Thomson (8/16). I'm guessing that 2010 has seen more former Orioles die than any other year.  It somewhat makes sense as the franchise started in 1954 so many of the guys who played for the team in the mid-50's are getting old nowadays.  With over three months to go in the year, I can't help but feel that Al might not be the last Oriole to die this year the way things have gone so far.

Al played all three outfield positions, but chiefly was a right-fielder, during his 6 seasons in the Majors from 1956-61. He played 517 of his 668 games with the Orioles from 1957-60,  played two stints with the Kansas City A's and finished his career with the White Sox. 

After retiring from baseball, Al spent 34 years as a high school health teacher in St. John, Indiana, where he also coached baseball, football and basketball. In his later years, he taught part-time at Indiana University.  He was inducted into the Indiana Baseball Hall of Fame in 1987.  Here's a link to his obituary. RIP Al.

Wrapping Up My Cards From The National

It only took just over two weeks, but here are the rest of the cards that I purchased at the National.  This is a random group.

First up is a Robin Roberts signed Hall of Fame plaque card.  Robin is a former Oriole, and a HOFer, so that makes this double awesome to me.  He is wearing a Phillies hat on his plaque, so that makes it a little less cool, but it was still a great pickup. Unfortunately, Robin passed away earlier this year. The dealer hadn't yet bumped up the cost after his death, so I grabbed this for only $10.

I can't recall if I have ever mentioned that I collect signed HOF plaque cards.  But I do.  I certainly don't focus on it the way I do on Orioles autographs, but if I can find them for a decent price, I always like adding them to my collection.  There have been some amazing players in the history of baseball and I have no delusions about ever having a complete collection of these things, but I like to add one here and there as it might work out. 

I had to pick up this Showalter auto for only a buck.  Haha.  Even if it's smudged and he's wearing an eyesore of a uniform, it was still worth it.  I would've paid $2-3 for his autograph on a D'backs or Rangers card, but since he was just named the O's manager the week before the show, I was happy to add this to my collection.

Somehow, I was never able to get Juan's autograph while he was coaching/managing for the O's.  He was a tough autograph compared to most coaches I have seen.  I don't particularly collect managers' & coaches' autographs if they never played for the O's, but at under a dollar, it seemed right to add him to my collection.  And talk about a snappy looking card, I can barely describe the gloriousness of this bumblebee color scheme.

Completely moving away from the Orioles, I found this great Josh Johnson autograph for only a couple dollars.  This "Clear Path to Greatness Signatures" card is one of those cards that you can see through.  Clear Path/see through, get it? In retrospect, I should've taken a picture of this in my hand so you could tell that it was clear. 

Anyway, Josh is one of those players that I don't collect, but I have a fantasy baseball crush* on since he helped me bring home the title in my most competitive fantasy league last year.  This is a sticker autograph but the clear sticker/clear card combination makes it pretty hard to see. 

*If you don't play fantasy sports, I would describe a fantasy crush as a fixation on a certain player who has performed very well for you and/or helped you win a title.  You tend to try to keep these players or draft them again, even as the get older and less productive.  Don't let me down Josh.

RIP Robin Roberts

I just read that former Oriole and Phillies great, HOFer Robin Roberts passed away today.

I featured this card and a fairly lengthy post about Robin back in January, so I don't want to repeat much of what I said then. Click on the link if you want to see what I wrote about Robin's amazing career.

Robin was a great TTM signer, all you had to do was include $10 and he would sign your card. He was even nice enough to include his signed HOF induction card along with your item. Let's face it, $10 isn't bad at all for a HOF player. Think how many guys with short, relatively inconsequential careers charge that much or more for their scribble.

SCN shows that Robin signed 93% of requests sent to him over the years, and that he signed as recently as April 30. It's good to know that Robin was a nice guy to the end. Some players today could learn something from the way he interacted with his fans. Robin will truly be missed.

HOF TTM Success: Robin Roberts

Robin Roberts 1962-65 (HOF 1976)

I recently realized that my site is severely lacking in regards to some of the most famous former Orioles. Very little action on Cal, Eddie, Brooks, Frank etc. But the problem is that I don't have any of their autographs scanned as of today. So today, I share with you my Robin Roberts autograph. Robin is nice enough to sign TTM for a small fee ($10 for cards, not sure the cost for other items) and he signed my card this past fall and also included a nice signed HOF Induction card as well.

Robin had an amazing career; his achievements and accomplishments are numerous and impressive. I'm going to share some of them with you, but can't come close to including everything. Most of his greatest accomplishments came during his time with the Phillies from 1948-61. He was inducted to the HOF in 1976 and received 86.86% of the vote.

Robin went to 7 consecutive All-Star games from 1950-56 and also received MVP votes in all of those seasons. He led the NL in wins 4 times, games started 6 times, complete games & innings pitched 5 times, strikeouts 2 times, and shutouts once. With all of those games and innings pitched he also led his league in some not so good categories such as hits & HR allowed 5 times, earned runs 3 times and losses 2 times. With the good comes the bad I suppose but his positives far outweighed the negatives.

During his three and a half seasons with the Orioles, he was 42-36 with a 3.09 ERA in 113 games (109 starts).

His career record is 286-245 with a 3.41 ERA in 676 games totaling 4688 innings pitched.


Here are some random, interesting facts about him that I found:

-He allowed 505 HRs, the most in MLB history

-The Phillies retired his #36 in 1962, while he was still an active player, it was the Phils' first retired number, and the first time an active player had his number retired since the Yankees did it with Babe Ruth

-He coached the USF Bulls baseball team from 1977-85 and led them to their first NCAA tournament appearance

-July 21 is Robin Roberts Day in Vermont- an honor he received since he played there in the Minor Leagues in the 1940s

-Has the 27th most Wins in baseball history

-Has written two books about his baseball experiences

-His hometown of Springfield, IL named their baseball stadium after him





Matt, an eagle-eyed reader of this site, brought up that Robin was not listed either on my have or need lists. I obviously have his autograph but have to thank Matt for helping me to keep my lists as updated as possible. Anytime you see something that needs fixed, please let me know. I seem to have a hard time keeping up with what I have!