B'More Boppers, 2017 Topps #36

I'm brushing off the dust for the first blog post of 2018, some ten years and two days since I began this little adventure. At the very least, I want to say I've had a more active offseason than the Orioles. Well, I actually don't want to say that at all, but I may as well clear the below-sea-level bar that Dan Duquette and Co. have set for me.

I'm trying to live a more purposeful life in some ways in this new year, prioritizing methods of self-care and day-to-day living that have gotten lost in the shuffle. That includes my writing, so here I am for as long as I can stick to it. Today's card came from my stocking, because my wife (and Santa Claus) knows what I like. So, how have you all been? As for me:

-First and foremost, I'm currently the father of a very active and curious 18-month-old. I can barely believe it myself. Finn is growing and learning every day, and he makes us laugh and melt and throw up our hands in frustration all at the same time. We brought him along to seven games at Camden Yards last year, and he ran up an impressive 6-0 mark before Dylan Bundy and a snoozy O's offense let him down in a 7-4 loss to the Yankees on September 4. But he seems to love the sights and sounds of the ballpark. When we rolled the dice and took Finn to his first night game on August 5 (my birthday, don'tcha know), he quite pointedly stayed awake and mostly alert throughout the club's 5-2 comeback win over Detroit. Staying up three-plus hours past bedtime and cheering for a three-homer outburst from Adam Jones, Tim Beckham, and Welington Castillo took its toll, of course...the kiddo was out cold in his car seat before we made it onto I-95 for the trip home.

I don't know if Finn will have a consistent love for baseball throughout childhood, but the early signs are good. One of his newest words is "hat", and he'll point to his bitty Oriole Bird cap on its perch by the kitchen door. When we take it down for him, he'll wear it around the house as he plays.

-My wife Janet has now officially been cancer-free since her surgery in September 2016. She finished radiation just before Christmas 2016, and wrapped up a clinical trial of an oral chemo drug last May. Her oncologist's preferred target is three years from the initial diagnosis - March 1, 2019 in this case. It seems so far away, but we will get there.

-As I alluded to above, it's as frustrating to be an Oriole fan right now as it has been in...five or more years, easily. The Birds just had their first losing season since 2011, and they truly earned it with some putrid starting pitching and a handful of lame offensive performances (paging Mark Trumbo). As the Yankees begin loading up on big names again, Baltimore...stands pat. They've already missed their window to trade Zach Britton for anything of value, and now he's out until at least July with an Achilles tear. They fielded offers for Manny Machado (who, to my frustration, they did not manage to extend at any point in the past six seasons, during which time it should have been priorities #1-10 on their list), unsurprisingly couldn't find anyone willing to part with two MLB-ready starting pitchers for a one-season rental, and backed off from declarations of Manny's availability. So, if you're not tearing down and rebuilding, what are you doing? Reloading for the season ahead? Forget that. Here's the list of pitchers that the Orioles have signed this offseason who project to join Bundy and Kevin Gausman in the rotation, addressing the screaming need for a team whose starters barfed up a 5.70 ERA, 1.52 WHIP, and .837 OPS allowed in 2017:


...Oops. C'mon, guys. Get creative, get aggressive, get...somebody. Mike Mussina isn't walking through that door, and if you don't wake up, even the likes of Lance Lynn, Alex Cobb, and Jaime Garcia will be off limits.

-I don't want to end on a down note. Otherwise, life is good. We are rolling with the punches and doing what we can to make our world a little bit better. I hope you are too. As always, thanks for reading. Welcome back.

Mark Trumbo, 2016 Topps Orioles Team Set #BO-8

It's been nine years (nine!) since I started blogging about baseball cards, so I couldn't let the entire month of January lapse without touching base. Thanks to last weekend's FanFest, I've got some experiences to share that I hope will be worth the wait.

Since Finn wasn't born until late June, Saturday's midwinter shindig doubled as his first visit to Oriole Park at Camden Yards. We're already excited about bringing him back in a few months to get his "first game" certificate.

Thanks to the early (10:00 AM) entry time for season ticket holders, we were able to scope out the main hall of the Convention Center before the larger crush of people streamed in. Among other things, we won free admission to the Babe Ruth Birthplace and Museum by spinning their prize wheel, bought this year's Orioles/BARCS Pet Calendar (I love J. J. Hardy's goofy-looking retriever), invested in some O's cards in the form of three late 1990s team sets for five bucks, and even scoped out the team-sponsored authenticated game-used stuff. Of particular interest were the actual lineup cards that are posted in the dugout for each home game; after a few minutes of searching, we found the card for the second game of the June 25 doubleheader vs. the Rays - Finn's birthday. After some friendly haggling, we brought it home with us. The plan is to get it signed by as many players as we can at the midseason event for season ticket holders, and to have it framed and hung in the kid's room.

There was a crowd around the bank of tables for the team's minor league affiliates, but we stuck around long enough to snap photos with Bowie Baysox mascot Louie and Frederick Keys mascot Keyote. I can't remember what had drawn Finn's attention in the latter shot, but I suspect that it was nothing in particular. Kids.

About the time we started feeling claustrophobic, I checked the FanFest brochure and saw that one of the kid-friendly events being held on the third floor was "Drumming with Caleb Joseph"...and it was starting in ten minutes. So we hustled upstairs and spent a half hour listening to Baltimore's delightful backup catcher as he answered questions from children and showed off his self-taught skills on the drums. Caleb performed a medley that included selections from "Eye of the Tiger", "Limelight", "Don't Stop Believing", and "Let It Go"...yes, the Disney song. He does have a toddler, after all. More impressively, he drummed along to the entirety of Rush's "Tom Sawyer" by request. I really hope #36 is able to rebound from last year's dismal offensive performance, because he comes across as one of the most personable, friendly guys you could meet.

On our way to Caleb's jam session, we'd notice that there was a photo station set up on the second floor. A five-dollar donation to the Orioles' Shannon's Fund charity got you a picture with whichever player happened to be on shift. At the time we'd passed it, Mychal Givens was there. When we came back to take our place at the end of the line, Christian Walker was up. But while we were waiting our turn, one of the volunteers came by and announced that our player would be the recently-signed Mark Trumbo. Good news! So here's the kind of cutting-edge insight you've come to expect from me over the years: Mark Trumbo is a large mammal. For comparison's sake, I'm about six feet tall; you'll see below that the 2016 MLB home run king towers over me. Our turn finally came and we exchanged greetings with Mark. I offered to let him hold Finn for the photo and he politely declined. He probably noticed that our seven-month-old was content in my arms and didn't want to mess with what worked...or maybe he was self-conscious about his defensive abilities.

After a detour for lunch at the Pratt Street Ale House (I strongly recommend the roast turkey sandwich), we toured the O's clubhouse in Oriole Park at Camden Yards. The tour takes you through the weight room and the locker room (I think the shuffleboard table was a new addition since the last time I'd been on the tour), spills out into the home dugout, and then into the interview room where Buck Showalter dispenses his unique brand of insight before and after each home game. We also got a photo print there, but this one was free. You'll notice that Finn reached for the microphone just as the picture was being taken. Why? Because it was there.

So there you have it, another FanFest in the books. It was exhausting, in a good way. Now we just have to endure the two months that separate us from real live baseball games that matter.