Miguel Tejada, 2010 Topps National Chicle #90

Remember when the Orioles brought Miguel Tejada back to play third base, just two years after trading him to Houston? Except that he had aged four years in that span, and become a lumbering singles hitter. He didn't last a full season in Baltimore the second time around, getting shipped off to San Diego for the unforgettable Wynn Pelzer in the middle of the summer. Baseball is weird.

Nick Markakis, 2010 Topps National Chicle #73

It's often said that baseball is a team sport, but Nick Markakis sure seemed like he was single-handedly beating the White Sox on Monday night. The veteran left fielder went 3-for-5 with a pair of runs scored and a two-run homer as the Orioles won an 8-2 game that was much closer than the final score. O's starter Bud Norris cruised through the first six innings, but a two-out single by Avisail Garcia in the seventh trimmed the lead to 3-2. Then Conor Gillaspie drove a Norris pitch deep to right field, and Nick left his feet and robbed Chicago's third baseman of a potential go-ahead home run. If you missed it, here it is, and if you already saw it, you probably want to watch it again:

By the by, Markakis is batting .400 in August and entered tonight's game with a 10-game hitting streak. It's nice to see him looking more lively than he did in 2013.

Luke Scott, 2010 Topps National Chicle #156

This may shock you, but Luke Scott's mouth just got him in trouble again. The ex-Orioles outfielder found out that calling your coach a liar and a coward is frowned upon in South Korea, where he had been playing for SK Wyverns. I say "had been", because the team released him for being disrespectful. Luke had been placed on the disabled list with plantar fasciitis, and disagreed with the way the situation was being handled. Surely there are better ways to express that frustration, but that's Luke Scott for you. He wasn't lighting the league on fire even before the injury, batting .267 with six homers in 33 games. At age 36, it's hard to see Scott ever playing in the big leagues again at this rate.

Felix Pie, 2010 Topps National Chicle #134

It's time to kick off my birthday weekend in style. I'll be turning thirty on Sunday, which is a poorly-kept secret; I've spent most of the past year worrying over it. But now that the end of my twenties is upon me at last, I'm less concerned. Maybe it's because I'm more comfortable in my own skin, or maybe it's because I've marked this personal milestone by packing the next few days with the things I love: family, friends, good food and drink, and of course, baseball cards.

The mysterious forces that govern my hobby have seen fit to hold the National Sports Collectors Convention here in Baltimore for the second time in three years. Having learned my lesson from 2010, I took a full day off from work tomorrow so that I may spend as much time as I see fit browsing and shopping for a proper birthday gift for myself. Given that this convention is kind of a big deal, I fully expect at least a few readers of my small-time blog to be there as well. If you want to say hello, just shoot me an email (brotz13 at gmail dot com) and we can swap information. Alternately, you can just look for the skinny bearded guy in the orange "PIE 18" jersey tee. I'll probably be standing in front of a dime box and throwing fistfuls of cash at the dealer. Can you think of a better way to celebrate one of the signposts of adulthood?

Reggie Jackson, 2010 Topps National Chicle #299

Happy 2012, one and all! I hope you were all safe and smart last night. I had a low-key evening at a friend's place, complete with a viewing of The Princess Bride. It seemed like a good excuse to celebrate Peter Falk, who left us in 2011.

The beginning of another year also brings about the fourth anniversary of this blog's founding. Now, now, you didn't have to get me anything. But I got something for you: a nifty portrait of Reggie Jackson in a modern Oriole uniform...or should I say, a conglomeration of modern O's uniforms. Obviously, the black-and-orange Serious Bird helmet was current as of 2010, but the "Orioles" script looks a bit small and there's no tail underneath, making it look more like the wordmark the team used throughout the 1970s and 1980s. It's kind of fun to play a little "what-if" by putting Reggie in a 21st-century Birds uniform 25 years after his lone season in Baltimore. But I do wish artist Paul Lempa had paid a little more attention to detail. Still, it's nothing to get apoplectic over.

Koji Uehara, 2010 Topps National Chicle #177

Sheesh. I leave town for 24 hours, and the Orioles go and ship out half the team! Okay, so they only traded Koji Uehara and Derrek Lee, but I need to delude myself into believing that exciting things are happening. It's better than paying any attention to the series of eggs being laid on the field by the boys in orange and black.

I am pretty ambivalent about D. Lee, who spent most of his four months in Baltimore either a) injured or b) performing below his career standards. He seemed like he was starting to heat up at bat, but after playing defense at first base that was pretty stellar (at least to the naked eye) for much of the season, he seemed to start booting balls at the most inopportune of times during the team's recent skid. Seemed like a nice enough guy, but ultimately his Oriole career consists of 85 games with a batting line of .246/.302/.404, 15 doubles, 12 home runs, and 41 RBI. No less, no more.

I'm truly sorry that I won't get to watch the O's first-ever Japanese import do his thing out of the bullpen any more. A dominant setup man is a luxury that is sort of lost on a losing team, so Andy MacPhail did well to get two major league-ready players from the Rangers for Koji. The nagging pessimist that the Birds always seem to bring out in me says that corner infielder Chris Davis is most likely a quadruple-A player, Mark Reynolds with less of a big league pedigree. And Tommy Hunter is no one's idea of a front-line pitcher, but he's got a lot more going for him than many of the stiffs who have taken the mound for this club in 2011.

But I digress. I read about Koji tearing up while he said his goodbyes to players, coaches, and reporters last night, and it touched me. At age 34, he left behind everything he'd known to come play in America for the Orioles, and he really seemed to fit in here better than many other Japanese players before him. He was even photographed at a Ravens game last year wearing a purple Ray Lewis jersey. On the field, he was a force of nature once the O's moved him to the bullpen and freed him from worries about fatigue. Over the past two seasons, he appeared in 86 games with a 2.27 ERA and an 0.82 WHIP. He picked up 13 saves last year, and walked only 13 batters in 91 innings in that span (1.3 BB/9 IP). Most amazingly, he struck out 117 hitters, for a K/9 IP of 11.6 and a K-to-BB ratio of exactly 9. He just pounds the strike zone, and uses his excellent control and movement to keep hitters off-balance.

If there's a silver lining, I am thrilled to have the chance to see Koji doing his thing in the postseason - as a bullpen-mate of Arthur Rhodes, no less! Assuming that Texas can hold off the Angels down the stretch, I might have to become a Rangers fan for October.

Jim Palmer, 2010 Topps National Chicle #211

I've been up since 6:30 this morning. I spent four total hours on the road, and another seven on my feet rifling through dime and quarter boxes in a convention center. I spent all but 65 cents of the money that I brought with me to the Philadelphia Sports Card and Memorabilia Show. I'm exhausted, my back is sore, and I have several hundred baseball cards to organize.

But I don't regret a bit of it, and since I'm sharing this Jim Palmer portrait, in which artist Brett Farr has lovingly rendered the Hall of Famer's chest hair, neither should you. Show and tell coming soon - cards, not chest hair.