Jay Gibbons, 2003 Upper Deck MVP #24

So I'm back from the hinterlands Endless Mountains of Pennsylvania, and the Orioles have been rained out down in that sterile mallpark in D. C. What kind of a welcome home is that? I blame Jay Gibbons. I have no reason to do so. I just find that it helps to blame Jay Gibbons for things every so often, just to keep him honest.

Jay Gibbons, 2005 Donruss Team Heroes #44

Today in Fuzzy Background Figures on Baseball Cards: Jay Gibbons hits a majestic fly ball, and the home plate umpire forgets himself and lets loose with an enthusiastic fist pump.

Jay Gibbons, 2004 Fleer Patchworks #14

Although I'm typing this entry at 12:13 AM on Sunday, May 10, I'm going to consider this as Saturday's post. You can thank my clever wife Janet, who pointed out that I haven't gone to bed yet; by that logic, it still counts.

Anyhow, the Orioles have finally logged their first win in New York in 2015, and it was a good one: 6-2 over the Yankees, with seven strong innings from Wei-Yin Chen and a trio of O's home runs. Jimmy Paredes, lovingly called "Babe Ruth" by his teammates, hit his fifth homer in his 17th game of the season, and now has 15 RBI in his bid to be Dan Duquette's latest scrap-heap find. Alejandro de Aza hit a two-run shot, and hopefully can shake his recent slump. Chris Davis had one of his few successful at-bats this season against the Yankees, blasting his seventh home run of the year and the 121st in his time with Baltimore. That ties him with Jay Gibbons for 17th on the team's historical leader board, though it took Crush only 1,999 plate appearances to do it. Gibbons needed 2,982 trips to the plate to hit his 121 round-trippers with the Orioles. Incidentally, Jay's last home run with the Birds was a go-ahead three-run homer against a 21-year-old Felix Hernandez on July 17, 2007 in an 8-3 Baltimore win, so there's a feather in the cap.

Jay Gibbons, 2006 Fleer Tradition #119

Much like he did in 2012, Jay Gibbons took in an ALDS game at Camden Yards last week. Even better, he was hanging out with Larry Bigbie. Personally, I like it. For good or bad, those guys were part of the rough times that the Orioles endured from 1998 through 2011. They didn't enjoy losing games any more than we enjoyed watching it all. So if they want to come back and experience a jam-packed, noisy, energetic Oriole Park, something that was a rarity when they played here in the mid-2000s, more power to them. It's not just the Brooks Robinsons and Scott McGregors that belong to the 60-year legacy of this team.

Here's your photographic proof - Gibbons on the left, Bigbie on the right. Picture via imgur.

Jay Gibbons, 2005 Donruss Elite Turn of the Century #19

Yesterday was the 12th anniversary of a wild day in Major League Baseball. On July 2, 2002, there were a total of 62 home runs hit across the big leagues, a record that still stands today. A full dozen of those round-trippers were hit in the White Sox' 17-9 slugfest victory over the Tigers, with each team bashing six. Nine different players had two-homer games, which was also a record. That motley assortment of power hitters included Dmitri Young, Magglio Ordonez, Sandy Alomar Jr., Jay Gibbons (more on him in a moment), Raul Ibanez, Lance Berkman, Tsuyoshi Shinjo, Damon Minor (brother of former O's third baseman and current Frederick Keys manager Ryan Minor), and Reggie Sanders. Reigning home run king Barry Bonds, who socked 73 dingers in 2001 and had 25 as of 7/2/02, did not go deep at all that fateful day. He settled for a 2-for-4 day with a walk, a double, a pair of RBI and two runs scored while teammates Shinjo, Minor, Sanders, and David Bell combined for seven four-baggers.

In this context, the Orioles' 3-0 win at Anaheim on that midseason Tuesday seems out of place. Gibbons' pair of solo homers were all of the offense that rookie starter Rodrigo Lopez needed, and they were nearly all of the offense that he got. (Geronimo Gil's double-play grounder in the seventh inning plated Marty Cordova with a bit of insurance.) Lopez pitched around five walks, four singles, and a hit batter in seven innings of work, as the Halos went 0-for-9 with runners in scoring position. Buddy Groom, Willis Roberts, and Jorge Julio teamed up for two flawless innings of relief, with Julio locking down his 17th save of the year to boost Rodrigo's record to 7-3. For second-year sensation Jay Gibbons, his fourth-inning clout against loser Ramon Ortiz and his ninth-inning shot off of Scott Schoeneweis represented his first two-homer game in the majors. He would have three more multi-HR games by season's end, part of a career-best total of 28 home runs for the redhead.

Jay Gibbons, 2003 Donruss Studio #7

I spent several hours last night sorting Orioles cards, a task that I'd literally been putting off for a few years. Among other things, it served as another reminder that I own a metric crapton of Jay Gibbons cards. At least this one is visually appealing (as much as any card featuring a closeup of Jay can be), with the background image of the Home Plate Plaza entrance to Oriole Park at Camden Yards. You feel like you're right downtown at the ballpark.

Jay Gibbons, 2003 Fleer Tradition #252

I haven't posted a Jay Gibbons card since last October. Since I don't know what this blog would be without Jay Gibbons, here's the former outfielder wearing sunglasses on top of his cap and an especially doofy expression on his face. This has been Jay Gibbons card number 12 on Orioles Card O' the Day. In conclusion, Jay Gibbons.

Jay Gibbons, 2003 Topps 206 #321

The Baltimore Sun just posted an article that seemed marketed specifically to me. They pulled quotes from former Orioles who played during the recent streak of futility. To a man, they voiced support for the current team during its playoff push while also expressing regret that they themselves couldn't deliver the O's to the postseason. Those offering their opinions included Jay Gibbons, Melvin Mora, Jeff Conine, Brook Fordyce, and Kevin Millar. Gibbons in particular still seems to identify himself with the Birds. He admitted to frequently checking the team's scores on his phone, and claims that he will be back in Baltimore to root them on if they make it to the Division Series this weekend:

"I'll get my Orioles cap out of the garage, fly in from California, wear my Brian Roberts jersey and sit in the right-field bleachers."

First of all, he's got good taste in jerseys. Second, there's something endearing about the image of Jay, who spent seven seasons patrolling right field in Camden Yards, plunking down in Section 96 and trying to be inconspicuous. He also jokes that he doesn't mind being recognized, as long as he doesn't get egged. Personally, I would leave the eggs at home and offer him a handshake and a beer. We're all O's fans, and the excitement of October 2012 relegates 15 years of losing to the back burner.

Jay Gibbons, 2003 Fleer Showcase #3

There goes Jay Gibbons, stealing the thunder of the Home Run Derby by announcing his retirement. The 35-year-old former Oriole had split the first half of this season between AA Huntsville and AAA Nashville in the Brewers organization. In 34 games with the Nashville Sounds, he hit just .204 with a .275 on-base percentage and a .439 slugging percentage. I've been following his post-Baltimore odyssey on this blog since I started doing my thing back in 2008. With Jay's retirement, he walks away as the 15th most prolific home run hitter in O's history, having totaled 121 of them in his 7 seasons with the team. Of course, Nick Markakis (112 HR) and Adam Jones (92) will likely pass him in the next calendar year, and so begins Gibbons' fade into that sepia-toned background.

Jay Gibbons, 2004 Upper Deck Twenty-Five Salute #S-4

Every time I dig through dime boxes of Orioles cards, I find at least a dozen mid-2000s Jay Gibbons cards that I need. There has probably never been a looser definition of the word "need". That is the curse of the team collector. By sheer inertia, the redheaded, injury-prone outfielder found himself representing the cruddy O's in an endless procession of meaningless sets, subsets, and inserts from several card companies locked in an arms race of proliferate irrelevance. At present, I own 84 Jay Gibbons cards and I haven't even scratched the surface. At least this insert set is so oddly specific that it seems to have a purpose. As you can see on the top and bottom borders, they've identified 10 players who wore #25 in the previous season and chosen to celebrate them. There's quite a mixed bag, with Hall of Fame hopefuls (Barry Bonds, Jim Thome, Rafael Palmeiro), guys who played at a high level for a number of years (Carlos Delgado, Andruw Jones, Jason Giambi)...and then the remainders of Troy Glaus, Jeremy Giambi, Gibbons, and Dmitri Young. Each has an interesting story, but you don't often see all 10 brought together in one place.

Jay Gibbons, 2005 Donruss Zenith #199

It was three years ago that I compared Jay Gibbons to a bad penny, and he’s still reemerging from the ether for yet another baseball season. The soon-to-be 35 year-old outfielder just signed a minor league deal with the Brewers, complete with an invite to major league spring training. He’s probably competing for a bench job, but the absence of departed free agent first baseman Prince Fielder certainly improves Jay’s odds of sticking around for a bit. He’s already exceeded my expectations by making it back to the majors after a two and one-half year exile at the end of the last decade. Gibbons was a Dodger for parts of the 2010 and 2011 campaigns, batting .269/.317/.438 with 6 home runs and 22 RBI in 61 games total. Most of that production came in the former year, so he’ll have to prove himself all over again. But that should be old hat by now.

Jay Gibbons, 2002 Donruss Studio #79

It's not every day that the President announces that the country's greatest enemy has been captured and killed, so I thought I'd commemorate the occasion with the ol' Stars and Stripes. It seems inconceivable to me that it's been ten years since Osama bin Laden became a household name in the United States. On September 11, 2001 I had just started my sophomore year of college. I don't remember much about that day. I had already gone across campus for my morning Basics of Computing class when the full scope of the terrorist attacks was realized and we were notified that all classes would be cancelled. I went straight to the dining hall for lunch and sat with my friend Boothe, who was visibly shaken by the whole thing. That stands out to me because he's the kind of guy who doesn't allow himself to appear vulnerable very often, and naturally I had no idea what to say to reassure him. But we made it through the day, and hundreds and thousands of days since. Life goes on...we always find a way.

Jay Gibbons, 2003 Topps Finest #24

He's baaaaaaack...

Nearly three years to the day that he played his last major league game, Jay Gibbons was recalled from AAA Albuquerque to take Garret Anderson's place on the Dodgers' major league roster yesterday. He pinch hit for starting pitcher Ted Lilly in the sixth inning and delivered an RBI single to extend L.A.'s lead over the Nationals to 6-3. They would ultimately win 8-3.

It was starting to look like Jay's strikeout in a ninth-inning pinch-hit appearance on August 12, 2007 would be his final big league at-bat. He missed the rest of that season due to injury and was implicated shortly thereafter in the Mitchell Report for performance-enhancing drug use. He hit .189 with no home runs in spring training in 2008, and the O's released him with two years left on his multimillion dollar contract. When he couldn't catch on with another team, he went to the independent Long Island Ducks of the Atlantic League. He wondered (publicly and privately) if he'd been blackballed for his PED choices, even though many of the other active players in the Mitchell Report had continued to be employed by MLB teams. Gibbons embarked on an odyssey that took him from Long Island to Huntsville, AL to Nashville, TN to Newark, NJ to Venezuela to Albuquerque, NM, and finally to Los Angeles. He'd spent the second half of 2008 with Milwaukee's top two minor league teams and saw action with the Marlins in the Grapefruit League in 2009, but it took four months of torrid hitting in the admittedly offense-friendly Pacific Coast League (.347, 28 2B, 19 HR, 83 RBI) combined with an outfield crunch at Dodger Stadium (Manny Ramirez is injured, and Garret Anderson is washed up) to finally get Gibby back to The Show.

I wish nothing but the best to Jay Gibbons, who I liked well enough when he was with the O's. Sure, he still got his $11-12 million from the team while he was slumming it for the past three years, but I'm a sucker for comeback stories.

If you get a moment, click the link to that Orioles-Red Sox box score from August 12, 2007. Steve Trachsel? Paul Bako? Ramon Hernandez? Jay Payton? Tike Redman? It might not look that way in the loss column, but things really are better now than they once were.

Jay Gibbons, 2003 Fleer Focus Jersey Edition #93

Once again, I am the lone demented voice crying out in the wilderness to tell one and all that Jay Gibbons has reached the next signpost in his Sisyphean journey back to the major leagues. The former Oriole, who will be 33 on Opening Day and has not played in the MLB since 2007, has signed a minor league deal with the Dodgers and a spring training invite. It smacks of a last ditch effort. In the past two and a half years, here's the path that Jay's career has taken:

September 2007: Implicated as a steroid and human growth hormone user by Sports Illustrated. A torn labrum had already brought a halt to his worst season to date (.230, 6 HR, 28 RBI in 84 games).

December 6, 2007: Suspended by commissioner Bud Selig for the first 15 games of the 2008 season.

March 29, 2008: Released by the Orioles on the eve of the new season, bringing an end to his seven-year tenure with the club. He had hit .189 with no homers and four RBI in 16 Grapefruit League games. With a rebuilding effort underway, the O's chose to eat the $11.9 million left on his contract rather than keep him around.

June-July 2008: Still unsigned, Jay sends a letter to all 30 teams pleading for a second chance and offering to donate his salary to charity. Ultimately, he signs with the Long Island Ducks of the independent Atlantic League and hits .280 with five home runs in 107 at-bats.

July 22, 2008: Gibbons signs a minor league contract with the Brewers. He hits .308 with five homers in 34 games between AA Huntsville and AAA Nashville. He is not promoted to Milwaukee, and becomes a free agent at season's end.

January 12, 2009: Jay signs a minor league contract with the Marlins. They invite him to spring training, but release him in mid-March after just 16 at-bats (with five hits, a .316 average), citing a roster crunch.

May 11, 2009: He signs with the Newark Bears of the Atlantic League. In 40 games, he hit .230 with four home runs. But he did get to rub elbows with a bunch of big league washouts.

Well, Gibbons is persistent anyway. Because of that, and because I used to enjoy rooting for him, I'll keep updating you on his progress. After all, I've got to do something with the THIRTY-FIVE cards of his that I own.

Jay Gibbons, 2004 Skybox LE #69

Jay Gibbons is like a bad penny; he just keeps turning up. (I'm not quite sure what that means either, but I know I've heard it before. Bear with me...it's late.) As I've gotten back into collecting in the past few years and started ripping packs from the middle of this decade, I've found that I still get a little charge from unwrapping an Oriole. But those mid-2000s issues are just loaded with Jay Gibbons cards, and he's a less-than-thrilling find, what with the injuries and the performance-enhancers and the middling output and the hey-hey.

A little while ago, fellow blogger Thorzul announced a Five Dollar Group Break. He'd gone and bought a random mess of packs, and he was going to bust them all open and sort his findings by team. You could claim one or more teams by leaving a comment on the blog and dropping five bucks in his PayPal account. Seemed easy and fun, so of course I grabbed dibs on the O's cards. Luckily, Thorzul posted previews of each scrambled team set, forewarning me that he had pulled not one, not two, but THREE copies of the Jay Gibbons card posted above. Baltimore's own redheaded stepchild was once as ubiquitous in wax as Elizabeth Banks is in movies these days. Of course, all was not doom and gloom in my portion of the Group Break; I got an awesome Cal Ripken, Jr. Turkey Red, a 2001 Upper Deck Vintage team card with a bunch of floating heads, and a hilarious Sammy Sosa card from some Upper Deck subset or another that touts his Hall of Fame prospects. A nice little assortment, all in all.

I had already planned on writing about Jay Gibbons when I learned earlier this evening that he had just signed a minor league contract with the Marlins for 2009. Jay Gibbons is here. Get used to it, America.

Jay Gibbons, 2003 Donruss #85

Because of my bizarre compulsion to follow the Jay Gibbons Story to the bitter end, I feel obligated to report that the former Orioles outfielder/designated hitter/first baseman/unfortunate-looking fellow is a Long Island Duck no longer. After hitting .280 with 5 home runs and 19 RBI in 27 games in the independent Atlantic League, Jay signed a minor league deal with the Milwaukee Brewers last week. He's expected to spend a few weeks working out the kinks in AA Huntsville before being bumped up to AAA Nashville. After that...who knows? But Gibbons has gotten that second chance that he so desperately wanted, and I'm interested to see what he does with it. The Brewers are in the fight of their life with the Cubs and Cardinals at the top of the National League Central, which would seem to limit Jay's chances at cracking the big league lineup in 2008. But he's back in affiliated baseball, and I certainly don't wish him any ill will. Look at that card up there...how can you hold a grudge against a man who wears his socks high?

Jay Gibbons, 2005 Topps Total #364

You get two entries today, to make up for the one I missed yesterday. I got home late Tuesday evening to find that my cable was out. No cable = no Internet. Let's hope that it doesn't happen again any time soon.

It's not every day that you hear of a former major leaguer, particularly one with a 28-homer season under his belt, writing a letter to all of the teams basically begging for a chance to play. But that's precisely what happened yesterday, when ESPN published just such a letter from Jay Gibbons, sent to the other 29 teams in MLB last month. As you may have surmised, he didn't get very far; news broke today that he'll be signing with a team in either New York or New Jersey in the independent Atlantic League.

It can be difficult to feel much sympathy for Jay, particularly when the Orioles are still paying him $11.9 million through 2009. But even though he played sparsely (and poorly) over the past two years, and his inclusion in the Mitchell Report embarrassed O's fans, I can understand where he's coming from. The guy is only 31, and could conceivably have some good baseball left to play. You certainly can't say that his past use of performance enhancers is keeping teams away; Milwaukee signed Eric Gagne for $10 million in December after he was exposed as a user and had stunk out loud throughout the summer and fall. Considering some of the has-beens and never-weres that are yoyoing around AA and AAA at the moment, what exactly is keeping some team - any team - from taking a chance on Gibbons?

I haven't been the biggest Jay Gibbons fan over the past year, but he used to be one of my favorites. I'll be rooting for him to find his way back to the big time, because everyone deserves a second chance. In the meantime, I'll wait to see which Atlantic League team he joins. Maybe I'll make it to a game in Waldorf or York and watch him play one more time.

Jay Gibbons, 2002 DAV #13

I want to turn back the clock.

I want to root for the Rule 5 kid made good, the hidden gem plucked from Toronto's organization to hit booming home runs out to Eutaw Street.

I want to remember a time when my teenage sister had just discovered the Orioles for herself and decided that she would become an Oriole wife, and that the goofy-looking redheaded guy would be good for her.

I want to smile as I read about the relief that he felt upon signing his lucrative new contract, because he had just gotten married and things were looking up in every aspect of his life.

I want to admire the young player who was so respected by his teammates that he was named their representative to the Players' Association. He faced the reporters and answered their questions when the team was thrown into turmoil by a steroid suspension for a popular veteran.

But there's no time machine in baseball. You can dress the players up in classic uniforms, play 1960s music on the PA system, but you can't undo what's been done.

What can be done is to create a better future. Admit your mistakes (to an extent). Go out on the field and earn back your job. Prove that you can do everything you've done and more without those "shortcuts". Give us a reason to root for you again.