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:

Cal Ripken Auto?

Hey guys just wanted to share this info I found on a message board. Cal Ripken has a new book coming out called "Hothead". Apparently Borders.com and Barnes & Noble's website are both selling pre-order autographed copies for about $16 plus shipping. If you can find online discounts online you can't get it even cheaper. I bought one at Borders with 40% off with this code: valid through 2/14/11: BGU1523U.

Pretty nice deal for a Cal Auto! Well I just wanted to share a couple of autos. Couple of big additions to my collection and actually a success, it's been a while!

First, in honor of Roberto Alomar's nomination to the HOF I wanted to share my 1996 All Star baseball signed by him. This was at a local thrift shop for $6 and I thought it was just the ball but flipped it over and saw Mr. Alomar's signature on the sweet spot! Robbie was one of my favorite players as a kid and needless to say I didn't hesitate one second on purchasing it!

Via eBay I secured a few tougher O's autos and just ones I needed. My favorite pick ups were the tough Glenn Davis. I was able to swap out my Astros auto'd card for a new and improved O's auto!

In addition, I was able to add another HOF'er to my collection and an auto I've just been waiting to get at a reasonable price, Eddie Murray. Another great O's postcard in my collection, it came in a lot with Earl Weaver, John Loewenstein, Pat Kelly, Gary Roenicke, and Ken Singleton. For under $20, I added Eddie and Loewenstein to my collection. Can't beat that price!

Finally a TTM success! Rex Hudler signed 2/2 for me in a couple of months and added another Crown card to my set!