End of the Month

To end January, I added a nice upgrade of a tough signer, Paul Kilgus. I also had a few Ron Hansen cards laying around. I sent them out even though I didn't need him for the official collection. Mr. Hansen sent them back in 5 days (including a Sunday). Definitely one of the Oriole greats!

Busy Week!

Since I've last updated, I've received several new TTM autographs and worked out a big trade with fellow O's collector, Kirk, from Eutaw Street Cardboard. Well first for my new TTM additions:Fritz signed both my Crown cards in 2 weeks from his home address. For an interesting write-up of his career visit the blog, "Orioles Card 'O' the Day". Now I know he has a regular Oriole card, which I'll look to obtain and get signed.

I received Trent Hubbard back today. I got worried because after I sent my request I noticed he might be doing a paid signing. Luckily he still honored my request TTM but kept one of the cards.

Finally is my haul from the previously mentioned trade. I added 6 new autos and upgraded 3. Thanks again Kirk!

A 'Tom' Type of Day

Today was an exciting day at the mailbox. I got back 5 returns, some on guys that don't have the highest success rates signing TTM. Of those 5, three are all named Tom! Additionally, I received a Jerry, a Fred, and finally a Luis in a trade.

First up is Tom Patton. Tom played his only game in the Majors with the Orioles on April 30, 1957.

Tom Chism also signed for me in a faded blue marker.
An awesome success came from Tom Dukes who included his own signed photo and wrote a letter back to me!

I was very happy to get back Jerry DaVanon, who only had one success listed since late 2009. I sent out a 1991 Crown anyways.

Luis came to me in a trade on Sportscollectors.net. I gave up a 2010 Upper Deck Jake Fox.

Trade With Russell

Fellow Oriole autograph collector Russell recently reached out via email with his trade and wantlists. We were able to work out a deal. My Russ Ortiz for his Tim Nordbrook. Thanks again and I look forward to working out another trade for the other autos I need!

Hey Mickey!

I must say this is one of my favorite cards in my collection and I've always wanted a signed copy. Unfortunately, I have not had any luck TTM with Mickey so I jumped on an auction lot that featured this card. The 1989 Upper Deck always was special to me as it was my birth year. Tettleton on this card reminds me of the Big League Chew cartoon on the packages.

I also added a few upgrades and a new auto to my O's collection with this auction. The upgrades come way of Dave Borkowski, which replaces a Tigers card:

Steve Kline, which replaces a blank Orioles postcard I had signed at the 2011 South Atlantic League All-Star game, where Steve was the pitching coach for the Northern Division.And a new addition of Shane Turner. Turner was drafted by the Yankees but traded to the Phillies with another former O, Keith Hughes. He made his debut for the Phillies in 1988 and later played for the Black & Orange in 1991. After his playing career, Turner had a managerial career for 10 years. He currently is a instructor for the San Francisco Giants.

2012, New Year - New Autos

At the end of 2011, I hit the 50% mark on my Orioles collection. I was happy to hit this milestone so quickly. I began the year at around 25% and this year was the year I really focused on trying to obtain every Oriole. Sadly, I'm approaching the part of my collection where they are players who aren't automatic through the mail. But, I like a challenge and I'm motivated to further my collection. That being said, 2012 already looks promising with some recent additions TTM and purchase.

This past week has brought in 3 TTM successes. The first was Ricky Jones:

Ricky only played for the O's for 16 games and that was his entire MLB experience. I found he had been twice drafted before in 1976 & 1978 by the Braves and the Mets, as early as the 5th round in the amateur draft, but declined both before signing with the Orioles with a 15th round pick in 1980.


Today brought in 2 successes with Dyar Miller and Steve Luebber.

Dyar included a nice note and added a signed business card to my request.


Steve Luebber had a rather forgettable Oriole career only appearing in what was the final 7 games of his career. He was later sent to the Texas Rangers as part of an earlier trade. An interesting tidbit I found about his career though was this:

Luebber was part of the longest game in professional baseball history, the famous 33-inning contest between the Pawtucket Red Sox and Rochester Red Wings of the Triple-A International League in 1981. Luebber came on for the Red Wings in the 15th inning, pitching the next eight frames before giving way to Jim Umberger, who threw the next 10. The game was finally suspended after 32 innings (4:09 am) and resumed the following day, in which Pawtucket won it in the 33rd, 4-3.

http://500level.wordpress.com/2007/04/12/steve-luebber-we-hardly-knew-you/

Neat Return from Chuck Locke

It's always nice to get a letter back when writing requests to players. I've had quite a few letters come back and they're almost always from guys who played back in the 50s. I had a nice note come back from former Oriole Chuck Locke. It was especially interesting because in high school I wrote a paper on the Eastern Shore Baseball league, which he mentions in his letter. Chuck only played 2 games in the majors but he had a long career, totaling 9 years, before making it to the show in 1955.

Dave Van Gorder

Today in the mail came a success that has been out for almost a year. Needless to say I was pleasantly surprised when I opened my SASE!

O Yeah!

Today brought home 4 successes from former O's. First was a member of the inaugural Orioles in 1954. Berry finished his playing career the first year the O's were in Baltimore appearing in 5 games. He still has a fluid signature for being 89 years old!

Next came in former All Star Grady Hatton. Grady played with the O's in the 1956 season, his 3rd team of that year. Hatton appeared in 27 games over 2 months with the Orioles.

Third was Bobby Molinaro who only appeared with the O's for 8 games in the 1979 season. While he sported a .000 average with the O's, his signature is above average in neatness!

The final success for today was Jay Aldrich. Jay played for the Birds for a couple months in the 1990 season, he signed 5 cards for me in about a week.

I also received some new additions from a trade over on Sportscollectors.net. In exchange for Tino Martinez and Mike Schooler autos, I received Garrett Olson, Jim Hoey, and Terry Kennedy!

From Longest to Quickest!

Earlier last week I noted I had received my longest return to date. Well ironically enough, later in the week I received Lou Sleater back in 3 days! This actually ties with a previous success I had with Jay Gibbons back in 2004. Both were sent to Baltimore which explains the short turnaround time! Lou was a University of Maryland alum and finished out his career with the Orioles in 1958 appearing in 6 games.

The second success that came in this week from Spring Training in Arizona. Former Shorebird and Oriole David Hernandez. David signed my Shorebirds program from last season as well as two cards. David was part of the Mark Reynolds trade this offseason and is now with the Diamondbacks.

Longest Success to Date

The other day I received a SASE with a 39 cent stamp on the front. I knew whoever was in the envelope was a long lost request and I was surprised to find these cards waiting for me inside!

Storm signed my cards in precisely 4 years and 1 day!

I also received back 1989 AL ROY Gregg Olson. Gregg beat out other notable rookies such as Flash Gordon and Ken Griffey Jr for the ROY honors. I thought it was interesting his only career hit was also a homerun.

Finally the mailman brought back former Oriole John O'Donoghue, son of other former Oriole John O'Donoghue.

First Spring Training Game

Well as the Orioles are about to take the field in about half an hour for their first game of Spring Training against the Pirates, I received back my first autograph request of the Spring! It came in the way of O's reliever, Koji Uehara. Koji signed a photo and 2 cards for me.

Moore and More...land

Received a trio of successes back this week including a pretty neat one from Scott Moore.

Also received another auto for my 1958 Topps team set. This one in the way of Jerry Walker. He had a pretty interesting career with the O's. He never played in a minor league game and went straight to the bigs at age 18. The 1959 season was by far his best season with the O's. He went 11-10 with an ERA of 2.92 and 7 complete games. Due to his efforts he was awarded a spot on the AL All Star team, where he holds the record for youngest starting pitcher in an All Star game. Walker currently serves as a Vice President of the Cincinnati Reds.

The final success of the week came from Keith Moreland. Keith finished out his career with the Orioles in 1989. I sent to him via the radio station he works at as a broadcaster for the Texas Longhorns. I read that on Wednesday he was announced as being the Cubs new color newscaster, taking place of Ron Santo.

I also managed to add a few new O's in a trade on Sportscollectors.net. In exchange for Wade Boggs I received the following: