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.

Oriole #945- Chris Dickerson

Well, the O's most recent roster move certainly took me by surprise. As I mentioned in my post from the other day, I had infielder Yamaico Navarro pegged as the next player to be called up to the O's to make his Baltimore debut. He had three things going for him as he was already on the 40 man roster, had been on the 25-man roster for a day between B-Rob's injury and Chris Tillman's activation from the DL, and was also the taxi squad player who traveled with the team to Boston on Sunday in case Nolan Reimold needed to be sent to the DL.

But then, almost literally, out of left field, the Orioles called up OF Chris Dickerson to take the roster spot of relief pitcher, Luis Ayala, who was traded to the Braves on Wednesday. It makes sense that the O's wanted to go back to a four man bench, but I still don't entirely understand adding another outfield-only player to essentially take the spot of 2B Brian Roberts. Before Dickerson was called up, the O's already had four outfielders on the roster (Jones, Markakis, Reimold, & McLouth), in addition to at least three other players who can play the outfield as needed (Davis, Flaherty, & Pearce). Don't get me wrong, I think that Dickerson pretty much immediately becomes at least the fourth best OF on the team; fielding wise, I'd say that he's in the ballpark of Jones, Markakis, & McLouth. And from what I understand, his speed is a commodity as well.

Chris made his Orioles debut in the 9th inning of Wednesday's game against the Red Sox, coming into the game as a pinch-runner for Nolan Reimold, who is typically quite fast himself, but was recently battling some hamstring issues. Dickerson ended up scoring a run on Manny Machado's decisive three run HR to give the Orioles the lead, and ultimately, the win.

Chris signed a few cards for me on my Spring Training trip, and this personalized old man card will immediately jump into my collection. I happened to be the only guy around when Chris was signing and he seemed like a nice guy. I attended a ST game the day before he signed for me and he had made a long run to catch a ball near the outfield wall. It looked like a nice play and I brought it up to him. He quickly responded with "Oh, you mean the one I lost for a minute?" I guess that maybe it was more of a lucky than a good catch, but it still looked like he made a nice play from the stands!

He made his first Orioles start Thursday night in right field, and I imagine that he will generally know become the 4th OF on the team, with Reimold shifting to the DH role. But who really knows? I was way off on my last attempt at predicting what this team will do. As long as they keep on winning!

Unpossible Autograph Friday- Bob Turley & Grady Hatton

Sadly, two more former Orioles players have passed away since my last unpossible autograph post just two weeks ago. And both of the two that passed away had very kindly signed my TTM autograph requests in recent years. 

"Bullet" Bob Turley was the 1958 AL Cy Young award winner, three-time All-Star, and two-time World Series champion (he was even the '58 World Series MVP). All of those accomplishments occurred with the Yankees, but I'll look past it since it was so many years ago, and he was so nice to sign my card for me. He passed away on March 30, at 82 years old, from complications from liver cancer. 

Grady Hatton, whom I wrote about in depth here, just passed away yesterday from effects of old age. He was 90 years old, so at the very least, it's comforting to know that both of these guys lived long lives, although I don't know how comfortable Bob might have been in recent years.

I'm very appreciative that both of these men took the time to sign TTM requests. And in what has become somewhat of a theme on my blog, I will echo my statements that signatures always mean more to me when they are personalized. It just adds that little extra touch of acknowledgment for me I guess.

After my last unpossible autograph post from a few weeks back, I have finally ramped my TTM requests back up after a long hiatus. I enjoy writing the requests and putting everything together while I watch Orioles games, so they kind of go hand in hand.

I hope that both of these nice men rest in peace. Thank you both for having taken the time for your fans!




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." 

Oriole #944- T.J. McFarland

Left-handed relief pitcher T.J. McFarland became the second player to make his debut with the Orioles this season, when he pitched 3.1 innings in Saturday's loss against the Twins. His performance was likely the highlight of the game, as he entered the game in the fourth inning to relieve a struggling Chris Tillman. He struck out five and gave up just a single hit in his Major League debut. It appears as though T.J. is currently filling the role of the long reliever out of the 'pen, but if he continues to perform at that level, he could easily grab a rotation spot from Tillman or Arrieta. 

T.J. was selected by the Orioles from the Indians in last years Rule 5 draft and he beat the odds by making the team out of Spring Training. I had no idea what to expect of him at the MLB level, but his debut was a rousing success, albeit against a relatively weak offensive team. 

After both Alexi Casilla and McFarland have now made their Orioles debuts, there currently are no other players on the 25 man roster who have not appeared in a game with the O's. However, it does seem likely that infielder Yamaico Navarro will play for the O's at some point, since he was briefly a member of the team over the weekend, being called up and sent back down to AAA Norfolk without appearing in a game. He was actually sent to Boston on Sunday/Monday as well as a member of the "taxi squad" due to the possibility that Nolan Reimold would have to head to the DL, but Nolan is OK for now and Yamaico is back at Norfolk. But I certainly wouldn't be surprised if Navarro becomes Oriole #945 at some point. And that kind of sucks because he was one of the very few players who managed to avoid signing anything for me on my Spring Training trip. 

Oriole #943- Alexi Casilla & Happy Opening Day in Baltimore

So my preseason predictions were correct (I actually called it originally way back on March 1st), and the first new Orioles debut of the season was none other than Alexi Casilla. He entered yesterday's O's game in the top of the ninth as a pinch-runner for the once-again-injured Brian Roberts, who did something on his hamstring stealing second. While I'm excited for Alexi's debut, I just really wish that it didn't have to come at the expense of B-Rob. I was excited to see him stay healthy this year.

I guess that for the time being, Casilla will split 2B duties with Ryan Flaherty. They are both very capable MLB players, but I hope that B-Rob isn't badly injured and can make it back to the lineup soon.

Oh, and Happy (home) Opening Day, Orioles Fans! Let's hope that the O's can keep up their winning ways after taking two of three in Tampa.

Happy "Real" Opening Day!

No offense to anyone that roots for any team besides the Orioles, but today is my Opening Day! And to celebrate, here is the O's starting lineup and starting pitcher displayed through autographs! (The Markakis and Pearce personalized signatures were just obtained on my Spring Training trip.)

My Next New Oriole Prediction (I know that you've been holding your breath)

(So I've finally scanned (some) of the autographs that I got on my Spring Training trip and will be showing them off in the coming weeks. Today I'm going to use a few to show my final prediction of the player who I think will become Oriole #943. And I'm pretty excited that two of my dad's cards are some of the first that I'm showing here.)

Exactly a month ago today, I wrote a post about who I thought would be the next player to debut for the Orioles once the season started. At that time, my "short" list was Jair Jurrjens, Travis Ishikawa, Chris Dickerson, Conor Jackson, Trayvon Robinson, Russ Canzler, Danny Valencia, and Alexi Casilla. (I know that's not exactly a short list but the Orioles had like 60 guys in camp, so it was all relative.)

Anyway, at that point, I selected Alex Casilla as the player who was most likely to be the first new player to debut for the O's this season. And I think I'm actually going to stick to that prediction since I see Casilla coming in as a late inning defensive replacement in one of the first few games.

The other possibility at this point is really left-handed relief pitcher and Rule 5 pick from the Indians, T.J. McFarland, the only other new player to make the O's Opening Day roster. Back when I made my original newest Oriole predictions, he was struggling and had a few bad outings in a row, so I didn't see how he would break camp with the big league club, yet there he is in Tampa. After his stretch of bad outings someone tinkered with his arm slot (I think) and he turned things around and started mowing down the competition.

McFarland could very easily debut before Casilla, since you never really know when relievers will be needed, but I'm going to stand by my original prediction anyway. And since the Orioles need a fifth starter on Saturday, there is an outside shot that McFarland somehow never does make it into a game for the O's after all.

I want to wrap this post up by again thanking my dad for his awesome work on these cards, and my mom and dad for all of their help getting autographs during my week with them in Florida. And I have to fess up that my dad got that Casilla card signed since Alexi was one of the few players who eluded me during my time in Sarasota and my parents were staying an extra week. Nice work getting it done old man!

Unpossible Autograph Friday Sadly Returns

With the news that two former Orioles passed away this past week (Gus Triandos passed away yesterday, and Lou Sleater on Monday), I am unfortunately reviving my "Unpossible Autograph" feature to highlight the former Orioles who have passed on.

Triandos was far and away the better remembered player of these two, both in Baltimore and nationwide. If you click his name at the top of this post, you can see the write up I did about him back in 2011. And here is an excellent eulogy written by Joe Posnanski, and after reading that, I won't try to top it since it does such a great job of remembering Gus. 

Here is a quote (that I found on Core Contrarian's blog) that sums up how Gus felt about getting older: "I think I'm mildewing. Whoever said that getting old is beautiful was full of it." RIP Gus, you were a funny man. 

I don't know too much about former pitcher Lou Sleater, and what I do know you can find out if you check out his linked name at the top. I do know that Lou was a great TTM signer, and it's great to know that he appreciated his fans. RIP Lou.

I will also say that both of these former O's passing away within a few days of each other is driving home to me that I should be sending out more TTM requests to many of the guys who I would still like to add personalized autographs of to my collection. They certainly aren't getting any younger, and both of these guys  were great signers for many years. I really appreciate that they took their time to sign so many items for so many people, I just wish that I hadn't been so lazy as to not send them something myself.



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." 

Spring Training Success

I'm back from my Spring Training trip, and I had an absolute blast. I got in some quality time with my parents and in-laws, and got to watch three Orioles games. Oh and I got some autographs. 

Including a few signatures from the one man whose name I needed to scratch off of my need list, Mr. Luis Ayala. The funny thing is that I didn't get Luis's signature until my last two times of getting autographs and I was becoming mildly concerned that I would go home without getting him to sign one of his new Orioles cards. But those worries were all for naught and I came home with three Ayala signatures on O's cards.

My grand total for the week was 276 autographs of Orioles and O's minor leaguers, including a high of 97 in a single morning spent at the minor league complex. Unfortunately, I have yet to scan any of my new autographs, but I hope to begin the process tonight. At my recent rate of getting my blog things taken care of, the process could take months. But I do plan to show off the signatures I got over the coming days/weeks.

A big thank you to my mom and dad for putting up with my autograph-collecting junky self and even helping me to obtain some of those signatures. Thanks for everything guys!

A Few Upgrades

I've spent this past week in Sarasota, spending time with my family, watching some Orioles Spring Training games, and getting as many autographs as humanly possible. So I'll make this quick.

I've recently been able to add a couple personalized upgrades to my collection via some Chris Potter signings. Chris is based in the Baltimore area and consistently sets up signings with a number of former Orioles players, which has allowed me to get some players who don't typically sign TTM to add my name to their signature.

Most recently, former pitchers Dick Drago and Roger Nelson personalized their Orioles Crown cards for me.

Also, one of my fellow Orioles autograph collectors and frequent trade partner, Russell, hooked me up with his custom Wally Westlake Orioles card in a trade. It's certainly an upgrade over Wally's "Orioles" Crown card that pictures him in a Pirates uniform and goes to show that the producers of that set could have done a better job picturing all of the players in O's uniforms if they had done some more digging. But it did come out in 1991, before we had the luxury of the internet, so I'll give them that.

Additions to the Orioles Coaches Collection

As I've mentioned in the past, my Orioles' Managers & Coaches autograph collection takes a backseat to my O's player autograph collection, and rightfully so. The players collection is what started this all, and the managers & coaches collection came along as an afterthought, a logical one, but an afterthought nonetheless.

That being said, it doesn't mean that I completely neglect my mini-collection, and I still keep my eyes peeled for any of the remaining autographs I need for it. I'm pretty much down to the nitty gritty with it, so additions are rather rare these days. But every now and then, something comes along.

And I'm pretty excited about this first addition as I have been searching for one of these for a few years now, after foolishly neglecting to bid on one that sold for just a few dollars probably two years ago.

At times like these, I sometimes say to myself, how many other people out there can really want and/or need a signed Ralph Rowe Orioles postcard? I know that there can't be many of us around. After all, he never played in an MLB game, and that typically will significantly decrease the market for one's autograph. He did coach eight seasons in the majors (four each for the Twins (1972-75) & O's (1981-84)) so I guess that the other people in the market for his autograph are largely collecting coaches just like I am. Also, he passed away in 1996, so that also makes his autograph harder to track down at this point.

And while I didn't quite get this one for the $3 range that the last one that I saw sold for, I believe I got this delivered for under $15, which isn't too shabby. If you're in the market for that kind of thing, anyway.

Next up are a few signed cards that I was able to add in trades. I already had signed Orioles postcards of both of these guys, but generally like to have a signed card as well if it's available. Some may call that overkill, but I collect how I collect. What can I say?

Greg Biagini kind of holds a special place in my household, as Kalina gave me her signed O's postcard of his for my collection, and we both enjoy saying his last name (be-a-genie). Fun, right? 

During the middle of a long-time MiLB managing career, he served as the Orioles hitting coach from 1992-94 under Johnny Oates. Sadly, he passed away from kidney cancer in 2003, when he was just 51 years old.

Last up, we have Tom Trebelhorn, who was recently somewhat back in the spotlight as he is a coach for Team Italy in the WBC  and that squad had a bit of a Cinderella run during this year's tournament before being eliminated earlier this week. Tom was a long-time Orioles coach from 2001-07.

I'm not really sure where this card came from or what it is, but it certainly seems to be his only Orioles "card". My guess is that this was included in some sort of magazine or program over the years, but I can't say for sure.

An Interview with former Oriole, Tom Patton

A few years back, I sent a TTM request to Tom Patton, a former catcher who appeared in just a single MLB game (for the 1957 Orioles) during his professional career. If you don't feeling like clicking on the link and searching for my autograph of Tom, here it is:

And along with the autograph, he included this nice note:

So I decided to write him back and ask him a few questions about his time around the Orioles team. I don't really recall when I sent the letter to him, but I received it back sometime over the past few months while I was in the process of moving, so that also means that I don't honestly know exactly when it made it back to me. Anyway, he was nice enough to not only answer my questions but also included this cool signed picture along with his responses. 

Without further ado, here is my "interview" with Tom...(I apologize for my sorry penmanship. But it is what it is.)

And there you have it. In retrospect, I wish I had asked a few more/different questions, and maybe I'll get around to that one day. So check back here in 2018 for part two of this interview!