Cal's Statue

Wasn't Thursday fun for so many reasons?

Unpossible Autograph Friday- Les Moss, Oriole #26

Unfortunately, my weekly Unpossible Autograph feature has already returned after just a one week break. As I mentioned in my U.A. post two weeks ago, I had run out of autographs from Orioles who had passed away. That changed when Les Moss passed away on August 29; I didn't hear about his passing until early this week, so am playing catch up.

Les spent the better part of a half century playing, scouting, coaching, and/or managing around the game of baseball. He was chiefly a back-up catcher over the thirteen seasons he played in the Majors from 1946-58 and he spent time with the Red Sox, White Sox, and Orioles, but played most of his career for the St. Louis Browns. Overall, he appeared in 824 games and hit .247 with 63 homers. 

1954 was his only season in Baltimore and he became the 26th player to don the Orioles uniform in his Birdland debut on April 29, 1954. He played in 29 games for the Orioles before being traded to the White Sox in early June. This Orioles Crown card and a '54 Bowman are the only two cards that pictured Les as an Oriole during his short time in town.

After his playing career ended, Les stayed involved around the game of baseball in many different capacities, highlighted by short stints as the manager of the 1968 White Sox and 1979 Tigers. He also served as the pitching coach for the 1981 Cubs and filled that role for the Astros from 1982-89. He officially retired from baseball in 1995, over five decades after his professional career began with the 1942 Americus Pioneers in the Georgia-Florida League. 

By all indications, Les was a great TTM signer until late in his life. When I attempted to send him a request in 2009, I got this very nice letter back from his daughter, informing me of his health problems. I had hoped to upgrade my autograph to a personalized version but truly appreciate the time that Sandy took to write back to me and I was very sad to hear about Les's passing. 

Thanks for taking care of your fans for so many years, Les. Rest in peace, it sounds like you were a great man.



To briefly explain the misspelled/made up title of these weekly posts: Every Friday, I profile a former Oriole who has passed away. I've substituted the word unpossible for impossible as an homage to a line from "The Simpsons". Young Ralph Wiggum, who is not very smart, says "Me fail English? That's unpossible." 

Who's In First?

Thanks MLB.com

No matter how things end up this season, it's been an amazing experience. I honestly don't think that any Orioles fans saw this coming, let alone any writers or websites that wrote preseason predictions. This has truly been the most unexpected season I can remember and this Orioles fan has loved every minute of it!

I haven't written much about it over the course of the season partially because I don't know how to express my feelings but also because I don't want to jinx anything. But this screen shot just had to be shared. Can you feel the Orioles Magic?

Oriole #940- Randy Wolf

Randy Wolf became the 940th player to appear in a game for the Orioles when he entered Sunday's game out of the bullpen to replace the injured Chris Tillman in a victory against the Yankees in New York. He is also the 30th new Oriole to debut during the 2012 season and the 50th different player to appear in a game for the O's during this season. That means that 2012 has seen more new players debut in a game for the Orioles outside of the first two year's of the team's existence in 1954 & '55. But if it means making the playoffs, I say let's use 50 players every season!

Randy has been pitching in the Majors since 1999; he spent his first eight MLB seasons with the Phillies before bouncing from the Dodgers, to the Padres, to the Astros, back to the Dodgers, and then has spent the last two plus seasons with the Brewers. They released him on August 22, and he quickly agreed to a deal with the Orioles and spent a few days with the team before officially signing with the O's on August 31, just in time to be eligible for any possible postseason action.

Prior to Sunday's game, Randy had pitched in 371 MLB games (including 365 starts) but had never pitched in an American League game and almost always appeared as a starter. He will now be an American League reliever, so I hope that it helps him turn the corner after a relatively dismal season in Milwaukee. With an admittedly small sample size, it seems to be working, as he pitched 3.1 innings in relief, and gave up three hits, one walk, struck out one, and earned the W. That's a 2.70 ERA and 1.000 winning percentage to start his AL career. Keep up the good work Randy!

Another One of my Dad's Cards is Signed- Thanks Miguel!

I was able to get another one of my dad's Oriole card creations signed recently, and this one is extra special since it was his first effort at it. Miguel Gonzalez kindly signed for me at a game during the Orioles last homestand and I have now gotten two of my dad's cards signed; this one and the Lew Ford I showed off a few weeks back.

Hopefully these are the first two of many that I will be able to add to my collection. Thanks again for your creations old man!

Oriole #939- Joe Saunders

The newest member of the Orioles is starting pitcher Joe Saunders who made his Baltimore debut in last night's game against the White Sox. Let's just say that it was a "rocky" start and hope that his next turn through the rotation has better results.

Joe was the Angels' first round selection in the 2002 first year player draft and he made his major league debut with them in 2005. He represented the Angels in the All-Star game in 2008 and pitched in Anaheim for parts of six seasons. At the trade deadline in 2010 he was sent to the Diamondbacks as part of the package that netted Dan Haren for the Angels. The Dbacks recently designated him for assignment and the Orioles sent reliever Matt Lindstrom to Arizona to bring him to Baltimore. Joe has long been discussed by the Orioles as a possible addition to the roster, at least in part due to that fact that he is from nearby Springfield, Virginia. And it never hurts that he was an Orioles fan growing up either.

Somehow, I happened to already have Joe's autograph in my collection. He signed this card for me when he was with the Angels and in town to play the O's way back in July 2009. I totally forgot that I had it in my collection until I was writing this post and it was quite the pleasant surprise. This is yet another example of why I don't like to trade autographs of current players who play for other teams because I never know who could end up on the Orioles.

Joe is scheduled to become a free agent in the off-season and while it's possible that he re-signs with the O's, if he does not, I would be surprised if he is featured on a card as an Oriole, but anything is possible. Good luck moving forward Joe!

1991 Orioles Debuts, #497-512

Today, I'm continuing the Orioles Yearly Debut Series (2001, 2000, 1999, 1998, 1996, 1995, 1994, 1993, 1992).

1991 saw 16 players make their Baltimore debuts, including two players, Mike Mussina and Arthur Rhodes, who would go on to play with the Orioles for most of the following decade. 

Glenn Davis #497, 4/8/91 (1991-93)

Dwight Evans #498, 4/8/91 (1991)

Paul Kilgus #499, 4/8/91 (1991)

It took me quite some time to track down a signed copy of Paul's one and only Orioles card, but I finally was able to knock his name completely off of my list. 

Jeff Robinson #500, 4/14/91 (1991)

Ernie Whitt #501, 4/14/91 (1991)

Roy Smith #502, 5/25/91 (1991)

Todd Frohwirth #503, 5/28/91 (1991-93)

Chito Martinez #504, 7/5/91 (1991-93)

Chito was the first, and still the only, MLB player to hail from the country of Belize. He's also the only Oriole to share a name, albeit spelled differently, with a snack food. 

Shane Turner #505, 7/17/91 (1991)

Shane played in 56 major league games for three teams over three seasons, and only four of those were with the Orioles. This Line Drive Red Wings card is the only cardboard testament to Steve's time in the Orioles organization. 

After his playing career ended, he became a minor league manager in the Giants farm system and held that position at various levels between 1996-2007. He is currently the Coordinator of Instruction for San Francisco. 

Jimmy Poole #506, 7/30/91 (1991-94)

Jim pitched 11 seasons in the Majors from 1990-2000 with eight different franchises, most notably the Indians, Orioles, and Giants. Over his parts of four seasons in Baltimore, he had a 6-3 record with a 2.86 ERA over 123 games. 

Stacy Jones #507, 7/30/91 (1991)

Mike Mussina #508, 8/4/91 (1991-2000)

Arthur Rhodes #509, 8/21/91 (1991-99)

This awesome Arthur Rhodes signed black and white postcard was given to me by my wonderful wife from her personal collection. She's so good to me, and understands me and my collection, for the most part at least.

Francisco de la Rosa #510, 9/7/91 (1991)

Luis Mercedes #511, 9/8/91 (1991-93)

It seems like almost all of Luis's cards picture him wearing the orange uniform, and I'm fine with that, as I kind of enjoy orange uniform autographs.

Jeff Tackett #512, 9/11/91 (1991-94)

Thank You, Dan

I'll admit that I was skeptical about many of your off-season moves, but I can't argue with the results. Thank you for giving all us Orioles fans the most exciting season in recent years. For me, it's by far the best season for the O's during my time as an adult, and I appreciate it much more than I did when I was young. It's amazing to be checking the playoff standings daily and it's really a foreign territory for me to be doing so in late August.

New Statues at Camden Yards

I can't get over how great these new statues look. It really does a lot for the bullpen picnic area. 

Unpossible Autograph Friday- Unpossible No More?

In a somewhat happy turn of events, I have now profiled all of the "unpossible" Orioles autographs in my collection, meaning that this feature will be suspended until it unfortunately becomes necessary again in the future.

However, since I have profiled a few of the former Orioles players who have passed away, I have been able to upgrade the autographs I have of them in my collection.

John Anderson's autographs are few and far between. His only Orioles card was in the Crown set and he largely "disappeared" near the end of his life around the time that set was issued, so I really don't know if he ever signed one of them. This small black and white autographed photo shows John during his time with the Miami Orioles, a minor league affiliate of the O's back in the day, and might be the closest I ever come to getting an Orioles autograph of him.

A knowledgeable autograph dealer that I have purchased from in the past recently told me that the autograph of Carl Powis that had been in my collection was likely not authentic, so I had to put him back on my need list. Enter this "beauty" of a cut autograph taped onto a 3x5 index card. Like John, Carl's autographs are in very limited supply, so this might be as good as it gets for me.

This signed Senators card of George Brunet joins a signed index card in my collection. George was featured on an Orioles card during his playing days and his autograph turns up marginally more often than those of the other two players shown here, so I'm still holding out hope that I can add his autographed O's card to my collection one day. I got this signed card at a great price but his autograph is generally quite pricey, so it might be a matter of finding one at the right price. 


To briefly explain the misspelled/made up title of these weekly posts: Every Friday, I profile a former Oriole who has passed away. I've substituted the word unpossible for impossible as an homage to a line from "The Simpsons". Young Ralph Wiggum, who is not very smart, says "Me fail English? That's unpossible." 

Making Good On Oquist

Every now and then, I come across a player whose autograph I never scanned and I've never written about them over the course of my blogging. It's pretty rare at this point, but it still happens occasionally, as it did on Tuesday, when I profiled the players who had debut for the Orioles during the 1993 season, and poor Mike Oquist's autographed card was left out of the fun.

Sorry for the crappy picture but I will get this scanned eventually

So here it is! I know the picture isn't perfect, but once I fire up the scanner for the pile of other cards that need scanned, I will upgrade this image too.

Mike pitched the first three seasons of his MLB career with the Orioles before briefly playing for the Padres,  and then spent his final three seasons with the A's. He became Oriole #535 when he debuted on August 14, 1993 and had a 5-4 record with a 5.04 ERA for the O's over 47 games and mostly appeared in relief.

He was a starter for the majority of the years he spent in Oakland, and unfortunately had one of the worst starts in modern baseball history on August 3, 1998 against the Yankees. In five innings, he gave up 16 hits and 14 (14!!!) earned runs, including four homers. He obviously had a very long leash for the game, whether due to the bullpen's unavailability or something I guess, but it's so rare to see a starting pitcher tagged for so many runs.  He gave up only one run in the first before getting shelled for seven in the second and five more in the third. Shockingly, he didn't give up a run in the fourth, but they scored once more in the fifth to wrap up his line. But oh well, you can't win 'em all!

1992 Orioles Debuts, #513-523

Rolling along with the debut posts because that's my main blogging focus for now, today I'm covering the new O's of 1992. Here are the previous years, if you missed them (2001, 2000, 1999, 1998, 1996, 1995, 1994, 1993).

1992 had the relatively low number of just 11 players making their Orioles debuts during the season, but I don't know why that was, can anyone out there offer any insight? Alan Mills was the only new O to go on the have much of a career with the Birds, but Rick Sutcliffe, who made the first ever start at the brand new Oriole Park at Camden Yards, and Manny Alexander, who had lots of hype, but couldn't back it up, were also notable names around Birdland in '92. 

Rick Sutcliffe #513, 4/6/92 (1992-93)

Mark McLemore #514, 4/8/92 (1992-94)

Alan Mills #515, 4/20/92 (1992-98, 2000-01)

Pat Clements #516, 7/11/92 (1992)

Pat was a relief pitcher for eight seasons between 1985-92 and played for the Angels, Pirates, Yankees, and Padres, in addition to the O's. He spent his last MLB season in the Orioles 'pen and had a very respectable 3.28 ERA over 23 appearances. 

In a strange coincidence, his high school baseball coach was the brother of former Orioles catcher, Clay Dalrymple.

Tommy Shields #517, 7/25/92 (1992)

Mark Parent #518, 7/31/92 (1992-93, 96)

Richie Lewis #519, 7/31/92 (1992, 98)

Jack Voigt #520, 8/3/92 (1992-95)

Jack played parts of four seasons in Baltimore before moving on to play for the Rangers, Brewers, and A's. 

He has stayed active around baseball after his playing career ended, serving as a minor league instructor, coach, and manager; which included a stint with the O's hi-A affiliate Frederick Keys in 2001-02 and as the Orioles base-running and outfield coordinator in 2003, a title that he currently holds in the Mets organization. 

Craig Lefferts #521, 9/6/92 (1992)

Steve Scarsone #522, 9/8/92 (1992)

It's pretty easy to forgot that a guy like Steve played for the Orioles considering that his entire tenure in black and orange was a brief 11 game stint at the tail-end of the '92 season. But it was enough for him to be immortalized on cardboard as an O in the 93 Donruss set; ah the '90s were a great time to find your players on a card as a member of your favorite team. 

Steve also played briefly for the Phillies, Cardinals, and Royals but is likely best remembered for the four seasons he spent with the Giants. Like Voigt, he has also stayed active in baseball after hanging up his spikes and is currently the manager of the A's AA Texas League team, the Midland RockHounds. 

Manny Alexander #523, 9/18/92 (1992-96)