Minor League Members of the O's 40 Man Roster- Josh Bell

Josh came to the Orioles organization this past season in exchange for George Sherrill in a trade with the Dodgers, who originally selected him in the fourth round of the 2005 draft. I am more optimistic about his future and potential than any of the other Minor Leaguers on the 40 man.



He's a legit power-hitting third base prospect who could be in Baltimore by Opening Day 2011 if not sooner. I had the pleasure to see him play for the Baysox a few times at the end of the season and I can say that his power is RIDICULOUS. The ball flies off of his bat and he sent a few balls into the Bowie night that have yet to come down. In the 33 games he played for AA Bowie at the end of the '09 season, he hit 9 homers, amassed 24 RBI, had a slugging % of .570 and an OPS (on-base % + slugging %) of .917. Let's just say that those numbers are pretty solid. Recently, he was ranked by Baseball America as the O's #2 prospect and was named the #5 prospect in the Arizona Fall League following last season's action.

Josh will probably start the 2010 season at AAA Norfolk since there are still some concerns about his switch-hitting (almost all of his power comes when he bats lefty) but he should make it to Baltimore soon!

Here Come the Olympics! And A Contest!

And someone much more motivated than I, JD of the blog JD's Wild Cardz is holding an Olympic contest. It sounds like a lot of fun and everyone has a chance to win.

Go on, click the link and enter. It should be a great time.

C'mon America, let's win some medals!

Minor League Members of the O's 40 Man Roster- Brandon Snyder

Brandon Snyder was the Orioles 1st round selection of the 2005 draft and has played at every level of the Orioles system so far (outside of the Gulf Coast and Summer Leagues).

He was originally drafted as a catcher...

Was then converted to a third baseman...

And eventually crossed the diamond to cover first base.


Brandon is projected to be the Orioles first baseman of the future since no one major is signed ahead of him for 2011 but there are some power concerns. He's been consistently listed among Baseball America's Top 10 Orioles prospects since he was drafted and still has a high ceiling. He was extremely hot at the plate at the start of 2009 with the AA Bowie Baysox but much less so at the end of the year at AAA Norfolk.



Kalina and I got to see him play a lot in 2008 with the Keys and a few times in his half season with the Baysox in 2009. He was always very nice and accommodating with autograph requests. We got to talk to him at a "Meet the Team" event in Bowie and I got a picture with him too. I really hope that he lives up to expectations and is playing for the Orioles, maybe in 2010.

Minor League Members of the O's 40 Man Roster-Wilfrido Perez

Kalina came up with the great idea to do posts about the members of the Orioles 40 man roster that have yet to see Major League action with the Birds. Since we have seen a majority of those guys play at either Frederick and/or Bowie, I have autographs from most of them and can provide a little information about them.

Since Kalina came up with the idea, I let her pick the first guy to profile and she selected Wilfrido "Willy" Perez, a left-handed reliever from the Dominican Republic. He is listed as being 6 feet tall and only weighing 145 pounds so he has a very wiry build and an interesting delivery as seen on his 2009 Baysox card.

Perez has been a member of the Orioles organization since signing as a minor league free agent before the 2005 season. He has pitched for Bluefield, Aberdeen, Delmarva, Frederick and Bowie over his five seasons in the system so far. He was originally a starter but was converted to a reliever in 2007 while with the Shorebirds and his career has taken off since then. He has had multiple dominating stretches which include pitching 25 consecutive scoreless innings at the end of '07 for the Shorebirds.

Before the '09 season he had a real chance to make the Orioles as the left-handed reliever but battled some injuries that prevented him from coming North with the O's. We have seen him pitch at both Frederick in 2008 and Bowie in 08 & 09. As you can see, he normally signs with his number 44 under his last name, but not always. If he makes the O's, it's unlikely he would wear that number since it's been unofficially retired in memory of Elrod Hendricks.

And here is a signed article from the Bowie Baysox gameday magazine last year that has some more information about him if you're interested.

I really hope that Willy can make the Orioles this season. The left-handed reliever spot isn't exactly locked down so if he has a good spring training he could be making his Birdland debut this April.

TTM Success- Dave Vineyard

With another winter storm on the way and snow end in sight (ha), my mail came today for the first time since Friday. I doubt that I get any mail tomorrow and possibly Thursday, but at least today's batch brought a few TTM successes.

Dave Vineyard 1964

Dave pitched in 19 games for the O's over the '64 season, including 6 starts and went 2-5 with a 4.17 ERA. I was excited to get the card back though, it really cheered me up after dealing with this nasty winter weather for the last 5+ days. He signed this card for me in just under 2 months. Thanks for partially melting my frosty demeanor Dave!

AHH-I'm Still Snowed In!

If you haven't heard by now, the Mid-Atlantic region got nailed by one of the largest snowfalls to ever hit the area. This has caused me to spend most of my time shoveling out sidewalks, parking spots, the street, and some of the alley around my house. That's right folks, Baltimore doesn't really do a good job plowing it's streets. My entire neighborhood has yet to see a plow or salt truck since the storm began on Friday afternoon. And that was 3 days ago! If you're wondering what this has to do with Bob, keep reading to find the answer...

Since neither J.T. Snow, Icehouse Wilson, nor Jack Blizzard ever played for the Orioles, I present to you the somewhat aptly named Bob Hale. This card was sent out in my first batch of TTM requests and Bob was nice enough to sign it and send it back to me.


Bob played for the Orioles from the start of his career in 1955 through 1959, and mainly saw action as a pinch-hitter and backup first baseman. He also played for the Indians and Yankees over his 7 seasons in the Majors.

A Morning Story of Fail

So I recently did something rather stupid. I don't know if this has ever happened to anyone else.
I almost don't want to talk about it but I feel like I should share.

I know that being a blogger/collector involves trading with others and that, sometimes, I send out multiple envelopes/packages at a time. When I send out envelopes, whether trades or TTM requests, I prefer to use the kind that are already sticky as opposed to the ones that you need to lick. Like I said, since I occasionally send out five or ten at a time, I prefer to avoid all of that licking glue. Maybe I liked to do that in grade school, but no longer...

I sent out four or five trade envelopes on Monday and on Wednesday received an email follow up from a fellow Orioles collector that I have successfully traded with in the past. He received my envelope; great success, right? Wrong. It was empty.
The post office had placed it in one of those clear mailers which signifies that something got screwed up between point A and point B; if you've never had the pleasure to receive one, be happy. The adhesive backing was still on the envelope I sent meaning that dumb-dumb here forgot to seal it. Nice one me! Way to go, now that's how to send out a trade package.

Luckily for me, this story seems to have a happy ending. I was able to somehow track down the cards at the main Baltimore post-office. I got the number to call from the USPS website and was transferred a few times before reaching the claims department. The very helpful lady asked what I was looking for and I listed the missing cards. She seemed a little confused that I was trying to track down signed baseball cards but I doubt it's the strangest request she has ever received. After stepping away from the phone for a minute, the woman told me that she had the cards and would mail them back to me. Truly amazing! For all of the complaints that we have about the postal service and it's shortcomings, this is a story of it's triumph. Now the condition of the cards remain to be seen, as does my ability to seal future envelopes but for now, things are coming up Ryan!



Disclaimer: envelope picture is not mine

Unpossible Autograph-Cal Abrams

Cal "Abie" Abrams 1954-55 (died 1997)

Even though Cal was on the '54 Orioles, he wasn't an original member of that inaugural squad as he was traded to the O's from the Pirates in late May. That would prove to be the best season of his career and he finished in the top 10 of the American League in triples, on-base percentage and adjusted OPS+. For his efforts, he received an MVP vote, the only one he received over his 8 season MLB career.

Cal played in just under two full seasons for the Orioles towards the end of his time in the Bigs. He also played for the Brooklyn Dodgers, Cincinnati Redlegs, Pittsburgh Pirates, and Chicago White Sox. He served in WWII before he played in the Majors, and that probably shortened his time there.

He wore the number 18 over most his career to celebrate his Jewish heritage; 18 is a spiritual number of the Hebrew word for life. He was inducted into the B'nai B'rith Jewish American Sports Hall of Fame in 1996, one year before his death.

Cal died from a heart attack on February 25, 1997 in Ft. Lauderdale, Florida and was buried in his Brooklyn Dodgers uniform. That really shows his lifelong dedication to baseball.

I bought this card in a lot on eBay and was happy to be able to add Cal to my collection.

It's Millar Time

Kevin Millar 2006-08

I saw that 1-5 signed a Minor League contract with the Cubs on Monday and I had an autograph of his in my scans folder so I figured the time was perfect to do a quick post about him.

I got the above card signed at an Orioles-Blue Jays game last season. The game was sometime towards the end of the year and Millar was talking to a friend of his in the stands so he signed for a bunch of us while he was near the wall. He seems like a very funny guy and, from all accounts, is a great clubhouse presence and a constant joker. I saw a show on the MLB Network recently that listed him as one of the Top 9 clubhouse jokesters of all-time. I really enjoyed his time with the Orioles and I still hope that he will come back to be a coach on the team someday, even though I have a feeling that he will end up working for the Red Sox after his playing days are over.

I also need to mention that he holds the Orioles all-time record for reaching base in 57 consecutive games. Pretty solid.

Something I didn't know about Kevin is the he started his career in the Bigs as a replacement player in 1995 while the horrific '94 strike was still going on. That was a dark time in baseball, wasn't it? I didn't know if baseball would ever come back but it seems to be doing alright these days. Since Millar was a replacement player, he cannot be a member of the MLB Players Association so isn't featured in any baseball video games. He is replaced on their rosters by a fictional player with similar stats, normally with the initials KM.


Kalina got this card signed for me earlier last season, which was awesome of her by the way. It seems like he was more rushed when he signed this card, as he didn't add his uniform number like he did on the top card. Neither of his signatures look much at all like the pre-printed one on the 08 Heritage.

Also, it seems like Topps Heritage liked to make his cards green, doesn't it? I guess that was just a coincidence.

The Caribbean World Series Starts Today

Right now, I am very excited to be watching some live baseball on the MLB Network; the Caribbean World Series starts today and the first game starts at 2:30PM Eastern. Puerto Rico plays the Dominican Republic in the opener and Orioles Minor Leaguer Miguel Abreu is representing Ponce, PR and playing left field. Former Oriole Raul Casanova is the Puerto Rican DH.



Across the diamond playing for the Dominicans is another former Oriole at DH, Willis Otanez: Freddy Guzman, a 2009 member of the Norfolk Tides, is playing centerfield. Check out my entry on Otanez; he was a member of the 2009 Newark Bears and there's an interesting story about how that card was signed.

If you're not familiar with the Caribbean World Series, it is a yearly round-robin tournament that showcases the Winter League Champions from PR, the DR, Venezuela and Mexico. The Series continues for 6 days and it looks like 2 games are played most days, so each team gets to play once a day. It is one of the reasons why I like MLB Network so much. This isn't something that ESPN ever had time to show, they had to air those extra three hours of SportsCenter every day, and for a baseball junkie like myself, it represents the first live baseball action I've seen since the World Series. Even if I only recognize one or two players, I still enjoy watching it because it's baseball!

Everybody enjoy the Caribbean World Series for now and soon enough, pitchers and catchers will be reporting!

Trade List Updates

As I sit here one autograph away from being 75% done with my task, I want everyone to know that I (finally) updated the Orioles autograph trade list on the sidebar of this site. For anyone who collects autographs, there might be something that interests you. Specifically you Orioles collectors, of course.

In addition to just updating the list with what I have, I also added detailed information about every card that I have for trade. So set collectors might be able to find something to help them out too.

I always enjoy trading so please check it out. And if you want to see all of the autographs that I have for trade, check me out on SCN, my user name is salsmanado.

Play at the Plate Contest

Everyone head over to the Play at the Plate blog for a chance to win some 2010 Topps cards. From someone who has yet to see or open any of these cards, I am pretty excited about the chance to win.

Good luck everyone!