Orioles Autograph Year in Review-Small Sample Size Good Signers

All of these players seemed to be good signers but weren't with the team long enough for me to figure out if I just got lucky or if they normally sign a lot.


I'm pretty sure that Bergy is always a good signer. I saw him sign 3 or 4 times at Orioles Park this season and he was only with the team for about half of the year (stupid Billy Butler line drive off of his shin...). I also got multiple cards signed by him at Bowie last season even though I seemed to attend most of his starts by a strange coincidence. He even signed my Bergesen t-shirt that the Orioles gave away; that's one of my favorite autographs from the year.



Lou is an interesting story from my autograph seeking standpoint. With Bowie last season, he was one of the toughest signatures to get. I got him once over the course of the entire season while I typically had 3-4 of all the other players.

But this year, I got him to sign his Orioles cards three times even though he was on the DL for the majority of the year. So I had more success with him while he was an Oriole than a Baysox player. Weird.

I was also lucky enough to catch one of his rehab starts with Frederick at the end of the season so he signed a few more cards with me then. If my memory is correct I also got a picture with him at that game.



G-Rod is another interesting case of a player who seemed to sign more once he was on the O's than he did for the Baysox. But this occurred over the course of the 2009 season. He started the season with the Baysox and was with them until about mid-August when he was promoted to the Tides. I got his autograph twice over his time in Bowie; and one of those was at a meet the team day.

He was promoted from the Tides to the O's with the other September call-ups and I got his autograph once over the last month of the season. So he freely signed for me once in Bowie over 4.5 months and once in Baltimore over 1 month. My guess is that as he is a veteran in the minors the younger guys are expected to sign more, whereas he is a rookie in the Majors and is expected to defer to the more experienced guys. Just a guess.



Chris was another September call-up whose signature was pretty easy to get. I believe this is the first Orioles card of his that I got signed. Last year, he signed a Baysox card for me when he was with the O's. He signed for a bunch of fans at the last game of the year and I was happy to be one of them. This is also the first time I have featured Chris on my blog, which is not the case with these four other players.



Since I already featured this card on the blog, I wanted to show the 09 Tides card I got signed at the last game of the season. But, yet again, I haven't scanned that and don't know exactly where I might be able to find it. I'll look for it tonight. But Alberto seems to be a pretty nice guy and a good signer.

Orioles Autograph Year in Review: Players with Undetermined Signing Habits

I wasn't able to get a good read on how often these players' signed. They all seemed to be decent but either weren't around long enough to determine their signing frequency or I never figured out their habits.



Jefffy was a September call-up who signed for me once at Oriole Park. He started out the season with the Baysox, which is where I got this card signed. He was promoted to Norfolk after a few weeks in Bowie, so it was nice to see him in Baltimore again this season. What do I mean again, you say? Well, for some reason, he was called up to the O's from class A Frederick in 2005; he also appeared in a few games for the '06 Birds.



I got these Kam cards signed on my Norfolk trip. They were the only cards I had of him at the time. I have since added a '09 Tides card of his that I have yet to get signed. I know that I saw Kam sign at least twice at Camden Yards. I took a picture for proof on one of those occasions.

Gee Thanks Kam!

Nolan was a great signer while he was with the Baysox in 2008. He started out signing pretty often around the time of his Orioles call-up in mid to late May but he seemed to tail off a little towards the end of the season. I got these two cards signed on my Toronto trip.

On a side note, I was pretty psyched to pull my first Orioles' Reimold card from a pack of 2009 Topps Updates & Highlights the other day. I can't wait to get that signed!



Matt bounced back and forth between Norfolk and Baltimore this season. A friend got me his autograph at Fanfest and then I got this card signed at a game at some point during the season. I think I saw him sign a few other times but I only had the two cards of him so I just passed him by. I got an O-Pee-Chee card of his at the end of the season that I hope to get signed next year.

Orioles Autograph Year in Review: Hit or Miss Signers

These players seemed to be very streaky in regards to their signing habits. I saw a few of them sign multiple times one week but then not at all again for months. It could have something to do with how their performance on the field was going, or what was occurring in their personal lives; but whatever the case, they signed much better at some times than others.



Melmo was the ultimate streaky signer this season. I'm sure that a lot of it had to do with his slipping performance at the plate since I remember him being a better signer in years past. But I didn't get his autograph all season until my trip in early August to see the O's play in Canada.

Later that same week, I was able to get his autograph at Camden Yards. But those were the only two times I got him all year. I did see him sign at the last Saturday game of the year but missed out on him that time.


I'm not sure if Felix was a streaky signer as much as he seemed to prefer signing on the road. He signed at all three Blue Jays games that I went to in Toronto, but I only saw him sign once or twice in Baltimore. And I can't really count the Orioles Store signing he did in York that Kalina went to for me as it wasn't his choice to be there. But I appreciate her effort to further my collection!




I was going to categorize David as a bad signer or at least an I don't think he's a good signer until the last series of the season in which he signed at all three of the games. So I guess that upgraded him to a streaky signer. To that point, I only got his autograph one time (on the above card) including the '08 season while he was with the Baysox.

But then I got this card signed at the last Saturday game of the season. It's his first Orioles card and I really wanted to get it signed even though it's a chrome card. I tried to wipe the card down and it at least somewhat worked. I don't think he had seen the card yet since he flipped it over the check out the back before he threw it back my way. I would have offered him an extra if I had one even though these cards aren't cheap.




I'm not sure that calling Ty's signing habits streaky is accurate. He fell somewhere on the spectrum between streaky and I don't think he signs much. I got this card signed in Toronto too and I was really happy since it was my first card of him in an O's uniform. It's an interesting shot as Ty is between the netting and the camera but I like it since it's unique.


Ty signed this card for me earlier in the season. I lucked out and was the only person he signed for since the usher had just gone through to clear all of the non-ticket holding, seat-jumping autograph hounds out of the area by the dugout. But I was sneaky and stayed a few minutes longer, hoping for some luck. Ty walked to the dugout steps near the camera well and I asked if he would sign for me. He said yes, so I hopped the ropes and got my card signed before the usher could shoo me away. Too bad that I chose a card that spelled his last name wrong! I somehow had never noticed that and Ty pointed it out to me but at least he still signed it.

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.

Orioles Autograph Year in Review: The Bad Signers

Just so everyone knows: I am listing these players' signing habits according to what I saw in the 40 or so games I attended this season. It's possible that these players signed at every single game I didn't attend, but I somehow don't think that was the case.

There are 3 distinct categories in this post: the "stars", the veteran relievers, and the catchers.


I will start with the "Stars":

I really like having Nick Markakis on my favorite baseball team; he is an awesome and very underrated player. That said, I have yet to see him willingly sign for the fans. Every now and then, an Orioles staff member brings him over to a group of people that are standing on the field and he will sign for them and take pictures with them, but he just flat out doesn't go out of his way to sign. This card was sent my way in a trade, but I have yet to have Nick sign something for me in person.


I did see Huff Daddy sign for a few fans at road games in Tampa Bay and Washington, but only a few and I wasn't lucky enough to be one of them. I would guess that he signed for 5-10 people each of those times, and I never once saw him sign in Baltimore. He usually ignored the fans' requests completely. He signed this card TTM for me, so at least he signs that way. But you have almost no shot of getting his autograph at a home game.


Next, here are the veteran relievers who I didn't have much luck getting to sign.


I got Baez to autograph this card at the one and only game that I saw him sign at this season. Generally, the best time to get the relief pitchers to sign is Sunday games since the team doesn't take BP, and the pitchers do some stretching and long-tossing in the OF before the game. I took the picture after I got my card signed, and he seems happy enough to be signing; he just didn't do it very often.



Jamie Walker was another veteran reliever who didn't seem to sign much. Even though he was on the Orioles for 2.5 years, he never had a card produced of him in an Orioles uniform, so I got him to sign this team card for me. I got it autographed in DC when the O's were in town in May of this year. Jamie was leaning against the stands before the fans were let in and I made a bee line to him before he realized it was time to move back to the safety of the outfield. Again, that's the only time I recall seeing him sign.


Lastly, the everyday catchers can be a tough signature to get.


As some of you may remember, Gregg began the '09 season as the Orioles starting catcher. Catchers are always busy during pre-game warm-up; they work with the starting pitchers at least 6 out of every 7 games, and that doesn't leave much time for signing. I got this card autographed by Gregg one game that he stopped for the fans while walking back from the bullpen before the game started. He seemed like a nice guy.



I hate including my favorite Oriole in this category but Wiety had the same issue that Zaun did. He didn't have much time to sign for the fans between BP & warming up the starters. He signed this card for me in Toronto, and I saw him signing the other two games of the series too. So I can advocate his road signing habits. I also think the fact that every single Orioles fan in Baltimore wanted his autograph bogged down his signing this past season. He was a pretty good signer in Frederick and Bowie last season (I had to justify his non-signing somehow, didn't I?)

Breaking the 600 autograph mark!

I will get back to my year in review project this afternoon but I had to take a quick break from that to celebrate...
A trade with loyal reader Pol has catapulted me over the 600 autograph line!! I'm pretty excited about reaching another benchmark. It only took me about two and a half months to get from 500 to 600 autos but I know that I am approaching the more difficult stage of my collection. Currently, there are 270 more Orioles autographs that I need to add and many of those are tough to obtain.

Thanks to everyone for the trades and your support of my project and this blog!

Orioles Autograph Year in Review: Inconclusive players

So I've been thinking about how I should go about my project regarding the '09 Orioles players signing habits. I am going to start by addressing the players who played less than 20 games for the O's and who I didn't get a good feel for their signing habits. So this post will mainly focus on bench players, injured types, and players who weren't cut out to wear the orange and black.

I will start with a few guys who played in less than 10 games for the O's due to injury or poor play.



Alfredo's 09 season lasted all of 2 starts. Well, that's not even very accurate. His season lasted 1 bad start and a second start in which he was pulled in the second inning due to injury. I think it was a shoulder injury that he was initially to have been able to rehab from, but that never happened.

His season ended (and the starting rotation began to fall apart) on April 14. I have seen that some people have had success with him signing TTM with items sent to the Orioles offices. He is one of only 2 players on the '09 roster that I don't have an autograph of, but this is the card I want signed.


I got this card signed at the last game of the season. I tried to call Chris over to sign at a few other games but he never seemed too excited about signing. In a way, he seemed shocked that anyone knew who he was when I called out his name. He only appeared in 4 games in the mop-up role, so he didn't factor into the season very much.

Chris did manage to rack up some decent strike out numbers during his appearances and was the bullpen rookie backpack bearer for the last month of the season.




I got these card's signed by Bob at the Tides game I went to earlier this season. He seemed pretty good at signing there but I don't believe I saw him sign once in Baltimore.

Bob's time with the Orioles organization is likely over. He has appeared in 15 games over the past two seasons and has a 16.46 ERA. He has NOT allowed a run in only 5 of those games, and four of them were last season. Not good.



Adam signed this card for me after shagging fly balls during O's batting practice.
Most of you are probably aware that his time in Baltimore didn't go that well (2-5 record, 8.56 ERA) but he seemed like a decent signer. The O's released him on May 22 and the Rockies picked him up on June 6, and eventually released him on September 9.

After he was released by the Orioles, Allen & Ginter released a card of him in an O's uniform that I really want to get signed.




Radhames only appeared in 2 games for the O's this season and I don't recall seeing him sign during his brief stint with the Birds. I was able to get him to sign in Norfolk and Bowie this season, but he did seem to have a "big-league" attitude while with the Baysox. By that I mean he seemed like he was a little above signing for the Bowie fans.



I didn't really enjoy Freel's time with the Orioles. I wasn't a big fan of his attitude or his view of what his playing time should be. Apparently neither did the Cubs, Royals or Rangers who all designated him for assignment during the '09 season after his time with the O's.

A friend (shout out to Meghan!) got this signed for me at FanFest. I don't think he signed much outside of that time.

Took a Step Back to Analyze My Strategy to Showcase Autos

So, I took the Columbus Day holiday weekend off from blogging to take a little vacation and to think about how I am going to conduct my blog in the offseason. Obviously the Orioles didn't make the playoffs yet again so I have been in a slight baseball funk. I always enjoy watching the playoffs and even run a playoff bracket with friends and coworkers to keep my interest level up. Before I get too far away from the point I am trying to make, here is my strategy for this little blog until Orioles baseball starts up again in the spring: I am going to post my review of the 2009 Orioles roster's signing habits this week. After that, I am going to continue featuring a new Orioles autograph card in every post, probably between 3-5 times a week. I hope to have some trades/purchases to talk about over the offseason too, but I will focus on sharing my autographed cards that have yet to make it onto the blog.

If anyone ever has any ideas for a specific player that you would like to see featured, I will certainly be open to any suggestions or other ideas.


So, to get my O's Year-in-Review under way. Here is a list of all the players who donned the orange and black during the 2009 season (in alphabetical order):

Matt Albers
Robert Andino
Michael Aubrey
Danys Baez
Brian Bass
Brad Bergesen
Jason Berken
Alberto Castillo
Adam Eaton
Jeff Fiorentino
Ryan Freel
Jeremy Guthrie
Mark Hendickson
Sean Henn
David Hernandez
Rich Hill
Aubrey Huff
Cesar Izturis
Jim Johnson
Adam Jones
Chris Lambert
Radhames Liz
Nick Markakis
Brian Matusz
Bob McCrory
Cla Meredith
Kam Mickolio
Chad Moeller
Lou Montanez
Melvin Mora
Felix Pie
Chris Ray
Nolan Reimold
Brian Roberts
Guillermo Rodriguez
Oscar Salazar
Dennis Sarfate
Luke Scott
George Sherrill
Alfredo Simon
Chris Tillman
Justin Turner
Koji Uehara
Jamie Walker
Chris Waters
Matt Wieters
Ty Wigginton
Gregg Zaun


That's 48 different players who were used by the O's this season. The only two that I don't have an autograph from are Koji Uehara and Alfredo Simon, but don't read too much into that. I will start my breakdown of all the player's signing habits tomorrow.

Mark Lewis

Mark Lewis 2000

I happily traded for this card with SCN user 2000rad. Mark doesn't have any Orioles cards* and doesn't sign TTM, so I was happy to be able to pick up any autograph of his.

He played mostly as a backup utility infielder over his 11 year MLB career. The Orioles selected him off of waivers from the Reds on 4/26/2000 and he played the remainder of the '00 season with the O's. During that time, he mostly played third & second base but also logged a few games at shortstop and DH. He appeared in 71 games with the Birds and got 163 ABs, hitting .270 over that time with 17 doubles and 21 RBI all while amassing one of the highest OPS% of his career. The Orioles granted Mark free agency after the season and he appeared in only 6 games in 2001 with the Indians before retiring.

While playing with the Reds in the 1995 NLDS against the Dodgers, Mark hit the only pinch-hit grand slam in MLB postseason history. So that's pretty much how he will be remembered in the record books.

*Unfortunately, it turns out that was pictured as an Oriole in the 2001 Pacific set, so I need an upgrade.

Unpossible Autographs- Jim Fridley

Jim "Big Jim" Fridley 1954 (died 2003)

Before I write about Jim's life & career, I have to address the dot's above where he signed Jim. First, there are two to the left of the "J" that I have no idea what they are there for. And then it looks like he put a smiley face above the "im". Does anyone know what else that could be? Let me know if you have any ideas...

Big Jim was quite the interesting character. He joined the FBI after high school, served in the Army for 4 years during WWII, and then attended West Virginia University before he ever played for a professional baseball team.

When he finally did get around to playing baseball, he only played 152 games in the Majors over the course of three seasons; but not three consecutive seasons. He played for the Indians in 1952, the O's in '54 and the Cincinnati Redlegs in '58.

He got the majority of his career playing time in left field with the Inaugural '54 Orioles and appeared in 85 total games that season. None of his stats really jumped out at me and it looks like he was mostly used as a 4th outfielder.

Jim died on February 28, 2003 in Port Charlotte, FL.

The End of Another Season

As another losing season wraps up, I like to find some things to be happy about even though the O's are going to miss the playoffs yet again.

Nick Markakis had 101 RBI.

Jeremy Guthrie reached the 200 innings pitched mark.

B-Rob had possibly his best season ever.

Wiety was starting to heat up over the last 6 weeks of the season.

We debuted a ton of rookies, some of whom will form the core of the team for years to come.

I got a lot of autographs since not many people show up to the games.



Hey, I'm definitely an Orioles optimist, but the team wasn't going to be competitive this season from the start. But next year, or the year after, they will make a playoff push. Believe me, they will at least be better than the teams that have worn the black and orange for the past 12 seasons.

I was very happy that the O's pulled off the 3 game sweep of the Jays; it was their third sweep all season and the 2nd time they did it to Toronto. They also finished the season on a 4 game winning streak. Yeah, I know that immediately followed a 13 game losing streak but how much better is it to win the last four than losing over 100 games and 17 in a row to close out the season? A lot better. Those 4 wins at the end should stay with the players and give them hope for the future. The players showed some fire in the last series of the year; something that had been lacking for most of the season. That's how you play and win baseball games!

I also had some major autograph success at Sunday's game. Half of the team was signing so I got 12 different cards signed including my first in-person Chris Lambert. It was a nice way for me to finish the season too.

In the coming weeks, I'm planning on giving a rundown on the signing habits of every player who was on the team this season. Some were very good and accommodating while others avoided signing like the plague. If you have been following my blog, you have an idea of how the players were but I will give you my breakdown of how much and when they signed for me.

182 days until Opening Day!

Potential to Avoid Dreaded 100 loss Season

With the Orioles amazing (and nail-biting) win last night against the Rays; they now only have to win 2 of 3 against the Blue Jays this weekend to avoid losing 100 games this season. So I'm featuring a few autographs of minor-leaguers that I hope will motivate the current team to win at least two games this weekend. Honestly, the Blue Jays aren't that great this season either, so I don't see why it can't be done.

I also know, that not a single player on the Orioles reads my site, so I guess I am just motivating myself to get out and root for my team even though I've been sick this week. GO O'S!!!



Carlos is a light-hitting shortstop who spent the '08 season in Bowie and was sent back there for the end of '09. He's not too likely to make the O's, but I did see him watching a game in the stands once.



John spent the '09 season with the Baysox but had some sort of hand injury that cut his season short. I don't know if he will ever make it to the big league squad.



Luis Lebron started the season with Frederick and was promoted to Bowie pretty early in the year. He has the best chance of these three to make the team in the near future since he is a relief pitcher and we figure to have a completely revamped 'pen next year.



The pitching matchups are David Purcey-Jason Berken tonight, Scott Richmond-Mark Hendrickson tomorrow and the Ricky Romero-Jeremy Guthrie in Sunday's finale. The O's can win two of those games, right?!? Well, I will be at the Yard all weekend so I really hope they can.



Let's go O's!!!