Spring Training Personalized Upgrades

While I've continued to hope that my posting here will get back to the 5-6 days a week level it was once at, it's becoming more and more evident that 1-3 days a week is going to be the norm. I've just had less free time, mainly due to different hours at work, so it is what it is. I have no plans to completely shut things down, so I'll continue to limp along for the time being. But don't worry, I'll still be giving you your occasional Orioles autograph fix!

Up today are a number of the personalized autographs that I was able to get on my Spring Training trip. Many of these guys are current or recent Orioles, but a few of the coaches played for the team many years back. I'm currently on a push to "upgrade" as many of the autographs in my collection as possible to include personalized inscriptions. I've always enjoyed the added touch and since I'm luckily still sitting at 100% for my collection, I have a little bit of freedom to work within the collection for the time being.

My favorite cards that I got signed on my trip were the "Old Man Cards", the cards that my dad custom made for me of many of the Orioles players who have never and/or will never receive O's cards in a major release.  You'll see a number of his cards below. Thanks again dad!

For what it's worth, both Exposito and Teagarden are surprisingly hard autographs to get (maybe it's a catcher thing?!?), while Ryan Flaherty was the best signer I saw amongst the current Major League guys.

Post #1000, Celebrating Some Orioles Debuts

I noticed a few weeks back that I was nearing this milestone number of 1000 posts, a number that I never expected to reach when I began writing about my Orioles autograph collection back in March 2009. Just under three and a half years later, I have reached that crazy number of posts and wanted to take a minute to thank all of the fellow bloggers and my readers who have kept me going all this time. I couldn't have made it this far without all of you. 


I have no idea how long I will keep blogging. I know there are some days that I don't feel like writing while other times the words just flow from my fingertips. I do know that I'm nearing the end of Orioles autographs that I have yet to show off here. I don't like to re-run images too often, so if I ever clear out my scanned autograph folder, that might mark an end of sorts, but I'll cross that bridge when I get to it. Until then, thanks again to everyone who has taken the time to read one of my posts, I really appreciate it!


To celebrate this milestone post, I had been attempting to think of something special to write about and wasn't able to come up with much. But then a trio of players made their Orioles debuts this weekend, including two rather special ones, and my decision was made for me.

Relief pitcher Miguel Socolovich was called up to the Orioles prior to Saturday's game and made his O's and MLB debut in the 10th inning of Saturday's marathon 13 inning game to become Oriole #931. He pitched 1.2 innings and gave up two hits, one run and struck out one.

Miguel had been signed by the Orioles as a minor league free agent this past offseason and had been tearing up the competition at AAA all season long so the call-up was much deserved. It's very possible that he gets sent back to the minors in the coming days to make room for one of the starting pitchers the O's will need, but at least he got his debut out of the way.

At this point in his career, he doesn't have many cards that feature him, including no major set releases yet, but I was lucky and happened to have this Birmingham Barons card of his in my minor league collection. I got it signed on my spring training trip, so I was able to add Miguel's name directly to my have list.

Taylor Teagarden made quite the splash in his Orioles debut, also during Saturday's game. He has been injured all season and was just activated from the DL prior to the game. He came in as a defensive replacement in the 11th inning, after starting catcher Matt Wieters was removed for a pinch-runner in the bottom of the 10th, and he played in the final three innings of the game to become Oriole #932. He had two at-bats in the game and struck out swinging in his first trip to the plate and a few of those swings looked a little uncomfortable.

However, in his second at-bat, he crushed the game winning walk-off home run to seal the 13 inning victory for the O's. From Roch's post on MASNsports.com: "According to Elias, Teagarden was the first Oriole to hit a walk-off home run in his first game with the club. He was the first player in the majors to do it since Joe Randa with the Reds on April 4, 2005." Awesome.

And it provided quite the post-game sound bite for FOX when Teagarden uttered "Oh shit" on the broadcast after receiving three shaving cream pies from his teammates. 

The most significant debut of the weekend, at least from an emotional standpoint, was that of Steve Johnson, Oriole #933. Steve's dad, Dave, pitched for the Orioles from 1989-91, so they join the small fraternity of father-son Orioles combos. On top of that, Steve was born and raised in Maryland, so he joins the equally small group of MD born Orioles. And to top things off, his dad has been involved with various Orioles-related radio and TV broadcasts in recent years, so the fans have had access to Dave's joy and frustration throughout Steve's assent to the big league club. 

Dave is the type of guy who wears his heart on his sleeve, and his on-air emotional reaction when the Orioles acquired Steve (along with Josh Bell) from the Dodgers for George Sherrill at the trade deadline in 2009 ranks near the top of recent Orioles broadcasting moments. Dave's frustration with the Orioles repeatedly not calling up Steve, even when it seemed like he was a deserving candidate, were also obvious at times, but I enjoyed the realness of Dave's commentary. He tried to remain objective about it, but you could tell that it ate at him.


Well, the Johnson family had their moment when Steve finally appeared in his first MLB game during Sunday's contest against the Tigers, and it seemed O-so-fitting that his debut would come during a home game in front of the Baltimore crowd. He received a nice ovation from the hometown fans and it made for a nice moment in an otherwise disappointing loss. Steve pitched the final two innings of the game and gave up just one run on a Miguel Cabrera home-run, while walking two and striking out two. Steve was sent back to the minors after the game, but at least he got his MLB debut under his belt.

Who Will Be the First Player To Make Their Orioles Debut in 2012?

One thing that we all know is that some players will make their Orioles debut during the 2012 season, but what he don't know is who will be the first. My assumption, which generally has been proven true in past seasons, is that multiple players will make their Orioles debut on Opening Day. And if multiple players debut in the same half inning, I use the position numbering system (pitcher- 1 through right fielder-9) to break any ties.

I don't believe that the Opening Day starter will be Wei-Yin Chen, Dana Eveland, Jason Hammel, or Tsuyoshi Wada, although Chen and Hammel are remote possibilities.

I'm confident that Matt Wieters will be behind the plate on Opening Day, but, God forbid, he tweaks something in Spring Training, Taylor Teagarden is the most likely guy to fill-in as the backstop.

Looking around the infield, Wilson Betemit is a lock to get regular playing time, but his position is up in the air; he could play first or third, DH, or pop up somewhere else on the field. He's definitely on the O.D. roster though.

Nick Johnson is a wild card, but will likely make the team if healthy. Ryan Flaherty and Matt Antonelli seem to be in direct competition with one another for the utility infield spot, with Flaherty having the edge since he's a Rule 5 guy that would have to be returned to the Cubs if he drops off the 25 man roster. Even if either of them make the team, it seems unlikely they would start on Opening Day. 

My money is on Endy Chavez to be the fourth outfielder, and I think that's a safe bet, but again, it's unlikely he would start the first game of the year. Jai Miller and Steve Tolleson are in the discussion too, but likely only can make the team if someone gets hurt.

If no position players make their debut on Opening Day, which is a possibility, then a relief pitcher very well could be the first O's debut of the season. I have no idea how Buck will use the guys out of the 'pen this year but I know that Luis Ayala and Matt Lindstrom are both near locks to make the team. Darren O'Day, Pat Neshek, and Armando Galarraga are also posibilities to break camp with the Birds.

 

 My guess is that Wilson Betemit is the first new player to debut for the Orioles at Camden Yards on April 6. Think I'm wrong? Who do you think will become Oriole #911?

2012 FanFest Pictures

My family and I all took a bunch of pictures at Fanfest. Not too surprisingly, mine were mostly of the players at the autograph stations. Sorry that some of the pictures are blurry but my dad's camera was having problems getting it's focus on.


If only we had a kid with us, we could've gotten free autographs at the kids only station of (l to r) Zach Phillips, Chris Davis, Ryan Flaherty, and Pedro Strop. I'm still trying to add signed O's postcards of Phillips and Strop to my collection, so maybe I should have seen if I card borrow a kid from someone else; anyone have one I could rent for next year?

Here is a picture from yet another station that I didn't have a ticket for. While waiting in line for the 3:20 signing to begin, (l to r) Chris Tillman, Chris Hoiles, and Matt Wieters were still signing for fans from the previous group.

And for my last picture of players whose autographs I didn't get, here are Rick Krivda (l), and Zach Britton leaving the station prior to my next group signing.

Now HERE are some players whose station I went through; (l to r) Jai Miller, Taylor Teagarden, Troy Patton, and JJ Hardy.

A few minutes before the above picture was taken, I got to see Miller and Patton introducing themselves to one another. It was a unique thing to see since frequently teammates know each other prior to being in public. And it's because of this that I know Jai's name is pronounced "Jay", not "Jeye" as I had thought.

And here is some proof that I actually went through the line. First up is me and Miller...

and Teagarden...

and Patton...

Here is my dad helping me out with Brady.

And Kalina with Matt Wieters (lucky Kalina!)

 I tried to get a picture of Kalina and Matt Antonelli but only one of them was looking. Guess which one?

Lastly are a few pictures from the previous station I went through. Below are Oliver Drake (l) and Dana Eveland.

And HOFer Jim Palmer. It's pretty cool that he still attends FanFest, but he didn't seem overly personable this year.

Tomorrow will be my last FanFest post, as I still have a few trades and purchases to show off.

My 2012 FanFest Autographs

So I spent about four hours at Orioles FanFest at the Baltimore Convention Center on Saturday and was able to get autographs from almost everyone I wanted, thanks to some major help from Kalina and my parents. I think that everyone in my group had a pretty good time, I know that I sure did! Thanks for your help guys!

Since I added so many autographs to the collection, this will be an information short and scan heavy post.

Probably the coolest autograph that we got all day was this Markakis struck foul ball that my dad snagged at a game late last season.

And he also got Kakes to sign this orange uniform card for me!

I also added signed items of many of the new Orioles to my collection. Since I like to have signed cards as well as postcards of the players, I got both whenever possible. 

A few other players had their first Orioles postcards available...

My dad was able to get a few cards personalized to me...

I was able to add a few more autographs of my favorite Oriole...

And I was able to add some trade stock too... the following are all available for trade (minus the Patton minor league card which was obtained for a fellow collector)

 

   

I will share some stories, trade items, and pictures tomorrow.