Hoyt Wilhelm, 2001 Upper Deck Hall of Famers #88

I'm making an executive decision here. There's a Giants logo on the back, so the TeamSets4U website lists it as a Giants card. But the keen-eyed among you will note that this is an action photo of Hoyt Wilhelm delivering a pitch for the Orioles. It's a great picture, and the first card I have of the ageless knuckleballer in action, so I'm claiming it for the O's.

As you can see, Hoyt retired in 1972 as the all-time leader in games pitched, but was deposed by another one-time Oriole, Jesse Orosco. Eventually he was also passed by Dennis Eckersley. One other Oriole makes the list - Lee Smith. If we were to update the list for the current day, John Franco and Mike Stanton would also place ahead of Wilhelm. Additionally, Dan Plesac, Mike Timlin (yet another former Baltimore pitcher), Mariano Rivera, and Trevor Hoffman would all be in the top ten, pushing Smith (among others) out. Considering the changes in pitcher usage in the modern era, it's unsurprising that the number of pitchers appearing in 1,000 or more games has nearly tripled in the last decade.

Brooks Robinson, 2001 Upper Deck Hall of Famers #66

Jumping onto another blogging assignment in a belated fashion, I went searching through my Orioles cards looking for cards with interesting stuff going on in the background. This isn't quite it, but I like it a lot. While Brooks Robinson's base hit stroke is and should be the driving force in this photo, it's the background that gives it context. I am 90% sure that the catcher is Johnny Bench, which would place the action squarely in the midst of the 1970 World Series. So not only do you get two Hall of Famers on one card, but also a snapshot of the five games that defined Brooksie's career. This card also provides a camera angle rarely seen in cards, the center field shot that has become customary on television. So we see not only batter, catcher, and umpire, but also the television cameraman and a phalanx of nattily-dressed Baltimore fans of a certain age. Love the horn-rimmed glasses guy in the second row directly behind the plate. This is everything that a card should be...except for that nasty gold foil. Always with the foil.