Paul Kilgus, 1991 Crown/Coca-Cola All-Time Orioles #499

I had an unexpected Paul Kilgus sighting today, though I suppose any Paul Kilgus sighting would be unexpected. The Bowling Green, Kentucky native is coaching for his hometown team in the Little League World Series. Earlier this afternoon, the kids from Kentucky eked out a 4-3 win over Taylors, South Carolina in an elimination game. Just moments after I tuned into the game, Kilgus had to bail out of the first base coaches' box to evade a screaming line drive from one of his young players. If nothing else, he's still got excellent reflexes.

Paul Kilgus, 1992 Score #268

Previously on Orioles Card 'O' the Day, I dithered over Twitter. Though the most vocal of you seemed to be on the "con" side of the argument (or more accurately, the "What's the point?" side of it), I broke down and signed up. I've added a Twitter widget to the left sidebar on this blog. It's at the bottom of the sidebar, so hopefully you can ignore it if you're so inclined. For those who are so inclined, you can follow me on Twitter: http://twitter.com/brotz13. Now that I got that out of the way, I solemnly swear never to type "Twitter" three times in one paragraph again.

So, today's card-centric business. I first picked this card out just for a cheap laugh at Paul Kilgus' curly mullet and cop 'stache. But then I noticed some uncanny parallels to recently departed reliever Jamie Walker. For your consideration:

-Kilgus was a left-handed relief pitcher from Kentucky. He was drafted by a Texas team (the Rangers) and made his major league debut at age 25. He was 6'1", 175 pounds. He had a 5.08 ERA in his only season with the Orioles.

-Walker was a left-handed relief pitcher from Tennessee. He was drafted by a Texas team (the Astros) and made his major league debut at age 25. He was 6'2", 190 pounds. He had a 5.11 ERA in his final season with the Orioles.

Look, it would be irresponsible of me to accuse Paul Kilgus, whose major league career ended in 1993, of shaving his mustache, cutting off his mullet, and reinventing himself as Jamie Walker, whose major league career began in 1997. But the proof is in the pudding. Examine the following photos closely, and judge for yourself. If you're still not sold, ponder the following: Jamie Walker was supposedly one of the "replacement players" brought into Spring Training by the MLB owners in 1995 while the MLBPA players were on strike. Because of this fact, he was never allowed membership thereafter in the Players' Association. As a result, his face never graced a baseball card. Of course, this conveniently kept that same face from intense scrutiny by industrious sleuthing baseball fans. Did I just blow your mind?