Aubrey Huff, 2009 Topps #45

I picked a card at random tonight, hoping for a little inspiration. Be careful what you ask for, right? Nowadays, when I think of Aubrey Huff, I think of his frequently incomprehensible Twitter feed. It's probably true that nobody should ever tweet, but that goes double for ol' Horseshit Huff.

Cal Ripken, Jr., 1998 Donruss Elite #123

It's been a while since I've highlighted a butt-ugly 1990s Cal Ripken card, and it's the extremely foily Donruss Elite to the rescue! To be fair, this card doesn't scan well. In person, you can see a blue-to-purple gradient in the background, with a speckled effect that is reminiscent of stars in the night sky. But the overbearing Elite logo that takes up all of the space between Cal's legs is an eyesore, and the less said about the "GENERATIONS" wordmark running down the right side of the card, complete with unnecessary horizontal lines between each letter.

The writeup on the back of the card is no great shakes, either. And I quote:

"Cal might not have put up the best numbers of the 90s-although his stats speak for themselves-he has earned the title of Mr. Baseball of the decade."

What the hell? If Cal's stats really do speak for themselves, then why are you downplaying his performance right out of the gate? Also, the grammar is abysmal. There's a conjunction missing somewhere, i.e. "but he has earned the title...". And that aforementioned title. "Mr. Baseball of the decade"? That's not a thing. Come on, guys.

Vintage Fridays: Bill Wight, 1956 Topps #286

This is another of the 1950s cards that I picked up from COMC's Amazon store last week. I keep chipping away at the 1956 set, picking up lesser names and creased-up cards here and there, because it's just a great-looking design. Here we see Bill Wight bathed in a halo of light, as the smaller Bill shows off his lefthanded pitching form...which looks oddly pigeon-toed. Anyhow, Bill Wight was a true journeyman, squeezing in stints with eight teams in a 12-year career: Yankees, White Sox, Red Sox, Tigers, Indians, Orioles, Reds, and Cardinals. His three-year stay in Chicago was the longest that he ever stayed with one club. It was also with the Pale Hose that Wight had his best season, when he went 15-13 with a 3.31 ERA and 14 complete games in 1949. But he also pitched quite well for the Indians and O's in 1955, with a 6-8 record that belied his 2.48 ERA. He started 14 games and relieved in 22 that year, with all of his starts coming after being traded to Baltimore in mid-July. His 154 ERA+ in 141.1 innings was a career best. Bill continued in a swingman role for the Birds in 1956 and 1957, with middling results. He hung up his spikes after the 1958 season, finishing with a 77-99 record, a 3.95 ERA, and eight saves. He completed 66 of his 198 career starts.

Wight had a notable second act in baseball, serving as a scout for Houston and Atlanta for 37 years total. He signed Joe Morgan, Dusty Baker, Dale Murphy, Bob Horner, and David Justice, among others. Bill died of a heart attack at age 85 in 2007, while vacationing with his wife of 60 years.

Chris Smith, 2001 Upper Deck Prospect Premieres #56

I'll cut to the quick: Chris Smith never made it to the major leagues. In an era of top draft pick misfires for the Orioles, the stocky lefty from Cumberland University in Tennessee was one of the most glaring busts. The O's selected Smith with the seventh overall pick in 2001, pegging him as a pitcher despite his strong track record as an outfielder in college. He'd batted .375 with 14 homers and 66 RBI as a sophomore at Florida State, earning second-team All-American honors. He'd taken the mound sparingly, totaling 16.1 innings in two years at FSU. When Seminoles coach Mike Martin rebuffed his request to focus on pitching going forward, he jumped to Cumberland and struck out 115 batters in 84.1 innings. As a hitter, he posted a .414 average, 17 homers, and 67 RBI.

Those 84.1 innings that Chris pitched as a collegiate junior were more than he would total in the Orioles' organization. A left shoulder tear derailed his progress, and he had a cumulative 7.52 ERA in 24 games in the minors. The Birds cut their losses in 2005 after Smith allowed 25 runs in 26.1 innings of relief with the Delmarva Shorebirds. He finished the season - and his pro career - in the independent Atlantic League with the Long Island Ducks, putting up a much more reasonable 4.14 ERA in 25 appearances. The southpaw spent several years as the hitting and outfield coach at SUNY College at Old Westbury, though my Google-fu shows that he's no longer with the school. Meanwhile, the only real success story for Baltimore in the 2001 draft came in the form of fifth-round pick Jim Johnson, a right-handed pitcher from Union-Endicott High School in New York.

Chris Tillman, 2015 Panini Donruss #58

I'd say that the Orioles are getting the band back together, but technically Chris Tillman never left. All the same, I spent much of this offseason figuring that the righty's decade in the Baltimore organization had come to an end. Tilly's 2016 was as disastrous as it gets for an impending free agent. A lingering shoulder injury cost him the first month-plus of the season, and his return on May 7 doubled as his only win of the season. He went 1-7 with a 7.84 ERA, allowing 81 earned runs in 93 innings. Every number you can find was hideous: 24 homers allowed, 51 walks against just 63 strikeouts, 125 hits. Opposing hitters batted .324/.406/.575; essentially, Chris turned every opposing batter into Mike Trout.

But I'm in danger of belaboring the point. Tillman was a 16-game winner with a 3.77 ERA as recently as 2016, he won't turn 30 until April (which I was surprised to learn), and the O's are not exactly flush with strong starting pitching options, even after picking up Andrew Cashner last week. So I don't see the harm in giving Chris a guaranteed $3 million to see if he can return to good form and health in 2018. I won't necessarily be expecting anything like that, but I think it's better to be pleasantly surprised than disappointed.

Vintage Fridays: Bob Turley, 1954 Topps #85

Last week, I had some credit card rewards money that was burning a hole in my pocket, so I decided to tick a few boxes on my vintage checklist. I went to the Check Out My Cards storefront on Amazon and came away with six 1950s Topps cards (three Orioles and three one-time O's) for $25 bucks, including shipping. The key pickup was this rookie card of "Bullet" Bob Turley, who started, completed, and won the first game in Memorial Stadium, a 3-1 victory over the White Sox on April 15, 1954. The 23-year-old scattered seven hits and five walks while whiffing nine Chicago batters. In his lone season as an Oriole, Turley was the club's de facto ace, leading the team with 14 wins (against 15 losses), 247.1 innings pitched, and 185 strikeouts (against 181 walks...yikes). He also completed 14 games and posted a 3.46 ERA. Bob finished strong, going 5-1 with a 2.53 ERA in his last seven starts of the season.

I'll share the card back, since it relays a story that's pretty amusing in hindsight. Turley was from Troy, Illinois, and that led him to sign with the St. Louis Browns rather than the Yankees, so that he could pitch close to home. But by the time he reached the major leagues for good, the Browns were bound for Baltimore and the East Coast! As we now know, the Birds sent him to the Yankees prior to the 1955 season, which probably left him feeling like a plaything of fate. In the end, things worked out pretty well for Bob in New York. Two All-Star selections, a Cy Young Award in 1958 (21-7, 2.97 ERA, 19 CG), and two World Series rings qualifies as "pretty well", I think.

Tito Francona, 1991 Crown/Coca-Cola All-Time Orioles #143

Some somber news this week, as 15-year MLB veteran John Patsy "Tito" Francona passed away at age 84. Most fans today probably know Tito best as the father of current Indians manager Terry Francona, who himself is affectionately known as "Tito". But the elder Francona made his name as a corner outfielder and first baseman for nine big league teams, most notably having a six-year stint with the Indians. In 1959 he batted an astounding .363/.414/.566 (171 OPS+) in 122 games for Cleveland, finishing fifth in AL MVP voting behind the Hall of Fame White Sox trio of Nellie Fox, Luis Aparicio, and Early Wynn, as well as Tito's teammate Rocky Colavito. The following year, Francona led the league with 36 doubles, and in 1961 he made his lone All-Star team while batting .301 and driving in a career-best 85 runs.

Tito actually started his major league career in Baltimore, serving as the team's primary right fielder in 1956. His batting line of .258/.334/.378 with nine homers and 57 RBI wasn't amazing, but fair enough for a 22-year-old novice. He only appeared in 97 games with the O's in 1957, slumping to a .233 average before being dealt to the White Sox in a seven-player trade that briefly made future Hall of Famer Larry Doby an Oriole. (Doby was swapped again to the Indians on the eve of the 1958 season in a five-player transaction.)

Farewell, Tito Francona. See you in a better place.

Rafael Palmeiro, 2005 Bowman #23

Ah, spring training. Florida sunshine, Arizona warmth, and...100 or so unsigned veteran free agents still looking for jobs. That's not even counting Rafael Palmeiro, who has spent the winter insisting that he's primed for a comeback at age 53, some 13 years after his long and accomplished career ended unceremoniously in the aftermath a positive steroid test. As was the case back in 2005, when his drug suspension was announced shortly after he collected his 3,000th base hit and mere months after he famously pointed his finger at members of Congress in a hearing and denied ever using any illegal performance enhancers, his timing just couldn't be worse.

Rick Sutcliffe, 1993 Topps #274

My posting frequency on this blog may have left something to be desired over the past few years, but compared to the activity on my 1993 Topps blog, I've been downright prolific in this space. Before I finally got around to posting card #494 from the base set last weekend, I hadn't touched that blog since October 14...of 2015. In other words, the last time I updated my other blog, we hadn't moved into our current house, we didn't even know that we were going to be parents, and we were still a year away from asking WHY THE HELL BUCK DIDN'T USE ZACH BRITTON IN TORONTO AUUUUUGGGHHHH. But I had a lot of fun collecting that set when I was 11 years old, and in revisiting the blog last week, I remembered that I'd had a lot of fun retrospectively diving into the set on a card-by-card basis. For instance, in doing a little quick research for my post on this Rick Sutcliffe card, I learned that Sut held Barry Bonds homerless in 51 career meetings between the two. That's the most plate appearances that Bonds had against any pitcher without going deep. If you're interested in more tidbits like this, go ahead and check out my other recently-revived writing project. It's a breezy look at a bunch of cards that I can't believe were released 25 years ago.

Oh, and FYI...today's 1993 Topps blog post was number 500. (It's card #495 in the base set, but I've also done a couple of general announcement posts and the three Gold card parallels that replaced the Series One checklists. But I digress.)

Austin Hays, 2018 Topps #62

I'm sitting down at the end of a long day of dad duty, since my wife has been waylaid by a horrendous ear infection and sinus infection to boot. Thankfully, Finn was in good spirits all day, even when I took him out early in the evening to run errands. While we were picking up medicine at Target, I'm pretty sure my son pointed me towards the trading card aisle and instructed me to treat myself to a couple 36-card packs of 2018 Topps. He drives a hard bargain.

The kid must be good luck, because I pulled five O's cards in total: base cards of Mark Trumbo, Austin Hays, Jonathan Schoop, and Chris Tillman, and a Topps Salute insert of Hays. I'm not crazy about the design of this year's base set, and I'm not the first to note that the layout of Topps' flagship cards has been stagnant for the past decade or so. That said, this "Surf's Up" look is at the very least an improvement from last year's diagonally-lined monstrosity.

Meanwhile, Austin Hays was one of the brighter spots in what was largely a disappointing 2017 for the Orioles. The team's third-round pick in June 2016 had a meteoric rise through the minors. After putting up a batting line of .336/.386/.514 in his 38-game pro debut at Aberdeen two years ago, the product of Jacksonville University began the 2017 season at high-A Frederick. Halfway through the season he was promoted to AA Bowie, and had remarkably similar numbers on both levels:

Register Batting

Year	Age	AgeDif	Tm	Lg	Lev	Aff	G	PA	AB	R	H	2B	3B	HR	RBI	SB	CS	BB	SO	BA	OBP	SLG	OPS	TB	GDP	HBP	SH	SF	IBB
2017	21	-3.2	Bowie	EL	AA	BAL	64	283	261	39	86	17	2	16	54	1	1	13	45	.330	.367	.594	.960	155	5	4	2	3	0
2017	21	-1.6	Frederick	CARL	A+	BAL	64	280	262	42	86	15	3	16	41	4	6	12	40	.328	.364	.592	.956	155	5	4	0	2	0

Provided by Baseball-Reference.com: View Original Table
Generated 2/11/2018.

Austin's 32 homers were the second-highest total in the minors last year, trailing only Houston's A.J. Reed, who bashed 34 round-trippers in the hitters' haven that is the AAA Pacific Coast League. The Birds called him up in September when rosters expanded, making him the first player from his draft year to reach the majors. He had some growing pains, batting .217 with two walks, three doubles, and a home run in 63 trips to the plate as an Oriole, but 20 games at age 22 aren't the be-all and end-all. It's no sure thing that Hays will start 2018 with the O's, but it certainly looks like he's on the right track.

Brady Anderson, 1995 Fleer Flair #1

Okay, I gave Blogger a week off to think about what it did to my pictures, and now that it seems to be behaving I'll post the rest of my photo diary of FanFest.

Naturally, Finn LOVED the special Chris Davis-riffic MTA bus.

 The Bird swapped caps with Finn.

 This was the only picture we got where Finn was actually facing forward.

 I snapped a candid shot of Brady Anderson at one of the autograph stations. I think he drinks stem cell smoothies for breakfast each day. Seriously, he is 54! That's Miguel Castro partially visible on Brady's right, and on the end (not pictured) was Roger McDowell.

 Here we were strolling down the Eutaw Street concourse en route to the clubhouse tour.

 "You, there! Hit a home run!"

 I'm sure Earl Weaver made that same face in the dugout all of the time.

 Love this picture.

 I can't believe how great the field looked in January. I could probably get a good night's sleep on that grass.

 Walking past the warehouse on the way back to the car. See you in March, Birds!

Donnie Hart, 2016 Orioles Postcards #58

With this blog entry, I have now been as active in the first month of 2018 as I was in all of 2017! Sure, eight posts is pretty low-hanging fruit, but I've gotta start somewhere. So, let's talk about last Saturday's Orioles FanFest. I believe this is the ninth straight year I've attended the team's winter convention, and of course the second year I've done so with the rest of my nuclear family of three. As ever, I appreciated the 10:00 AM early entry for season ticket holders (compared to the 11:00 AM entry time for the unwashed masses). We arrived right at ten, took our place in the back of the line, and moved right on into the Baltimore Convention Center.

The first thing we did was head up to the third floor, where the team gives away the previous season's excess promotional items in a couple of conference rooms. I've never bothered waiting in that absurdly long line, particularly since we make it a point to get to the majority of the games with the most desirable freebies. But this year, they added a separate room for kids 14 and under, and we have one of those. With the 'Fest just having started, we figured we'd split up and have a good shot at collecting our prizes from both rooms. So Janet and Finn went their way, and zoomed right through the kids' line. I got to the adults' room two doors down and...the line was already snaking out the door and across the width of the hallway. That's a nope for me. So we contented ourselves with a Manny Machado Starting Lineup figure, a Manny garden gnome, a Camden Yards 25th Anniversary poster, and an Orioles Magazine game program featuring Dylan Bundy on the cover. Not bad.

As long as we were on the third floor, we also decided to bargain hunt in the "team store" room. All told, we came out with a pair of seatbelt covers, two pairs of socks, a stainless steel water bottle, a glass train Christmas ornament (Finn loves choo-choos!), and a brick of 50 assorted Orioles cards, and the total came to $33. We also browsed the sponsors and merchandise booths in the main hall, and bought a pair of 2018 Orioles Pet Calendars from BARCS for our offices. I restrained myself and spent a mere $10 more on 18 packs of assorted junk wax cards, just to scratch the pack-ripping itch. Most of the sponsor booths were also giving away cellophane-wrapped five-card packs of 2017 Topps Series One that were provided by the team, and they were suitably generous with them. In all, Janet and I came away with 14 packs.

I didn't spend much time listening to the player and coach and executive and media Q and A sessions, as we were busy chasing down a tiny moving target while trying to pilot a stroller laden with merchandise and personal effects. Those sessions don't tend to be very revelatory, anyway. We did manage to keep Finn sedentary for lunch, during which time we were able to hear and see a game of Family Feud in which four of the younger O's players (pitchers Mike Wright and Donnie Hart and outfielders Austin Hays and Joey Rickard) bested a foursome of fans. Rickard was jeered for answering "Sweet Caroline" to the category of "songs you'd hear at Camden Yards". It ain't Fenway, Joey Jo-Jo.

I'm sure you've been waiting patiently for pictures of our photogenic kid, so here's a few.

 Finn hammed it up for a MASN photographer.

We spotted Donnie Hart setting up at the Shannon's Fund photo booth and got in before there was a line. Finn was fussing for Mama as we made our way up to the O's lefty, but turned on the charm as soon as he was in front of a camera.

A beautiful day for baseball! Well, close enough.

A family selfie in the home dugout at the end of the Camden Yards clubhouse tour. Finn is telling Chris Davis to swing away.

We finished up our day with a press conference by the locker rooms. Finn was very quotable.

I had a few more pictures to share, but Blogger is being obnoxious tonight. Stay tuned in February, then!

Davey Johnson, 1991 Swell Baseball Greats #46

Happy 75th birthday to Davey Johnson, who excelled as both a Gold Glove second baseman and a manager for the Orioles. If you're wondering how he performed in the 1975 season, well, he had an incredible slash line of 1.000/2.000/3.000 (710 OPS+) for the Atlanta Braves! Yep, Davey rapped a pinch hit double in his one and only plate appearance in his 11th season in the majors. He then jumped to Japan to play for the mighty Yomiuri Giants, becoming the first foreign player on the club in nearly two decades. The culture shock was significant, and Johnson batted just .197/.275/.356 in 91 games while facing scorn from the media and fans. He even lost 25 pounds.

But a renewed determination allowed him to bounce back in 1976, batting .268 with 26 homers for the pennant-winning Giants and earning recognition as an All-Star and the Japanese league's top-fielding second baseman. However, Davey clashed with manager Shigeo Nagashima, a former great player in his own right who had recruited Johnson as his on-field replacement. The skipper belittled Johnson over a midseason arm injury and a late-season illness, casting doubt on the veracity of his player's ailments. So Davey returned to MLB in 1977, finishing his playing career in a reserve role with the Phillies and the Cubs, and then jumping right into managing in the minor leagues in 1979.

Incidentally, I picked up this card at the Orioles FanFest last Saturday. We had a good time as usual, though it was even more exhausting with a fully mobile toddler to chase. I'll post details and pictures soon...ish.

Vladimir Guerrero, 2011 Bowman #167

Yesterday the Baseball Hall of Fame announced its four newest inductees, as they revealed the results of the BBWAA ballot. Kudos are in order for one-time Orioles Vladimir Guerrero and Jim Thome, as well as Chipper Jones and Trevor Hoffman.

Vlad was certainly running on fumes by the time he arrived in Baltimore as a 36-year-old DH, and his 2011 season in Baltimore was pretty forgettable for team and player. But he still played in 145 games and rapped out a .290 average. He also eked out the last 13 of his 449 career home runs. I'm a little disappointed that he's chosen to wear an Angels cap on his plaque instead of the Expos, but I guess he enjoyed his time in Anaheim.

Jim Thome was an incredibly fun player to watch, a big, strapping guy with an aw-shucks demeanor who just hit the bejeezus out of the ball. When the O's acquired him for the second half of the 2012 season, it made a magical season that much more entertaining. It's a shame that a herniated disk limited him to 28 games as an Oriole (plus four postseason contests), but even at 41 he still held his own with a batting line of .257/.348/.396 in that limited stint. Like Guerrero, Thome ended his career in Charm City, mashing three taters to wind up with a total of 612, good for eighth all-time.

As for the other ex-O's on the 2018 ballot:

-Mike Mussina was frustratingly passed over again, but got closer than ever in his fifth year of eligibility. At 63.5% of the vote (up from 51.8% in 2017), he is on track to make it to that 75% cutoff in a year or two.

-Curt Schilling is farther off the pace, coming in at 51.2% in year six. If he ever stopped sharing his repugnant opinions, he might do a bit better.

-Sammy Sosa is barely hanging on, garnering just 33 votes on the 417 ballots cast. At 7.8% in his sixth try, he is in danger of falling below the 5% cutoff to remain on the ballot.

-Sadly, there were four one-and-done guys with Baltimore ties: Jamie Moyer, receiving ten votes (2.4%), didn't get much credit for his remarkable longevity and late-career renaissance. Also receiving a mere ten votes was Johan Santana, whose 2014 comeback bid with the Birds was snuffed out by an Achilles tear in rehab. Lastly, Kevin Millwood (4-16 for the 2011 O's) and Aubrey Huff (2008 Most Valuable Oriole and 2017 Least Valuable Tweeter) were both shut out completely. Such is baseball, such is life.

Vintage Fridays: Boog Powell, 1974 Topps #460

One of the things that I've missed most during my recent blogging hiatus is the Vintage Fridays feature. It has been nine months since I've featured a pre-1981 card on this site, and it is my firm belief that old cards are the best. So let's make things right with good old Boog, and recap my most recent meeting with the 1970 American League MVP.

As I recently mentioned, I celebrated my 35th birthday last August 5 with a family trip to Oriole Park at Camden Yards. There were four of us in all - my sister, my wife Janet, our son Finn, and myself. The O's were kind enough to give out Jonathan Schoop bobbleheads for the occasion. After we collected our freebies, we headed down Eutaw Street for some pit beef. As is often his wont, Boog Powell was holding court in front of his eponymous barbecue stand, seated on a tall chair with an umbrella for shade. I couldn't pass up a photo op on my special day, so we waited in Boog's line before getting our sandwiches. Number 26 was gracious as always, and even tried to give Finn a high-five. Unfortunately, my baby boy had stopped paying attention by that point. But before he lost interest, we did get this excellent picture.

It's not really apparent from the photo, but I was wearing my Danny Valencia game-worn jersey...because he was #35 during his 2013 stint in Baltimore. And because you're probably wondering, yes, Finn enjoyed the pit beef. We're trying to raise him right.

Jose Mesa, 1992 Fleer Ultra #305

In my first blog post of the year, I may have been a little harsh in my criticisms of the Orioles' somnolent winter. After all, Dan Duquette claimed not one, not two, but three pitchers in the major league phase of the Rule 5 Draft last month. It's been a running joke for a while now that the O's top front office exec treats this draft like his own personal Christmas; after all, he acquired eight players total in his previous six go-rounds. Many of them have been shoehorned onto the team's roster the next season (Ryan Flaherty, T. J. McFarland, Jason Garcia, Joey Rickard, Anthony Santander). But to draft three guys in one fell swoop? That makes it seem like Dan is actively trolling the die-hards among us. The three 2018 hopefuls are 23-year-old lefty Nestor Cortes, 24-year-old righty Pedro Araujo, and 24-year-old righty Jose Mesa, Jr.

Yes, that's right. The Birds are going to take a long look at the son of the 19-year big league veteran who got his start in Baltimore. The elder Mesa didn't do so well in parts of four seasons here, posting a 13-24 record with a 5.41 ERA in 47 starts (and two relief appearances). He walked 131 men and struck out only 127 in 269.1 innings, and in 1992 the O's traded him to Cleveland for a AA outfielder. Two seasons later, the Indians had the good sense to move Jose to the bullpen, and he never looked back. Junior was a 24th-round draft pick of the Yankees in 2012, and has pitched to a 2.86 ERA in four minor league seasons. He's topped out at AA so far, where he allowed three runs in 34.1 innings for Trenton last year. He's whiffed 226 batters in 176 pro innings, a rate of 11.6 per nine IP. It still seems like Jose is a long shot to make (and stick with) the Orioles this season. Nestor Cortes is getting most of the buzz, on account of being a southpaw and having had AAA exposure, but we all know that the O's aren't exactly bubbling over with pitching depth...

Jeff Ballard, 1992 Donruss #74

I've been listening to Ben Lindbergh and Jeff Sullivan's Effectively Wild podcast for the past year, but today was the first time that I'd heard Jeff Ballard's name mentioned on the show. With Sullivan on vacation, Lindbergh was interviewing Forbes contributor David Seideman about his experiences reporting on baseball memorabilia. Seideman offered some details on his latest article, recounting Ballard's recent reunion with a memento from his big league career.

The lefty had long prided himself on his hitting prowess, having eschewed the DH in his college days at Stanford. Obviously he never got to show off his offensive chops during his five seasons in Baltimore, but he never lost the knack. When he joined the Pirates in 1993, Jeff took batting practice reps with the position players instead of joining up with his fellow pitchers. Working primarily in relief during his two years in Pittsburgh, he didn't get many in-game chances to hit, but still made the most of them. Thanks to five hits in thirteen tries, Ballard owns a .385 batting average for his MLB career.

On September 16, 1993, he even struck a ground-rule double off of Marlins reliever David Weathers for his first (and only, as it happened) big league extra-base hit. An unknown fan in Miami caught the ball after it popped over the wall, and for some reason happened to inscribe it with the date and other relevant details. Years later, it was obtained by Gary Stilinovich, a devoted Pirates collector from Texas. He decided that it might mean more to Ballard, and managed to track down the ex-pitcher's home address in Billings, Montana. As you can imagine, Jeff was pleased to have the physical proof of his lone two-base knock, and to share it with his eight-year-old son Kyren and his five-year-old daughter Kennley, both of whom were born well after his playing days.

Todd Zeile, 1997 Score #257

Zach was the first to comment on my initial blog post of the year, so I have fulfilled his request to feature Todd Zeile. As you can see, his 29-game stint with the Orioles in 1996 (38 if you include the postseason) was not long enough for the folks at Score to bother depicting him in orange and black in the following year's card set. Instead, he is pictured with the Phillies, who shipped him and Pete Incaviglia to Baltimore on August 29 of the previous season. In return, the Phils received minor league pitchers Calvin Maduro and Garrett Stephenson. Stephenson, incidentally, was a 16-game winner for the Cardinals in 2000, which I certainly could not have told you before looking it up just this moment.

You may remember Todd Zeile showing off his acting chops as "Mullet" in the 2005 Adam Sandler movie "Mr. Deeds", or as "High Roller" in the 2011 comedy "Zookeeper". I certainly don't, but to each his own. Todd also dabbled in film production, and had a few guest starring spots on the Kevin James sitcom "The King of Queens". Because you asked (yes, you did), Zeile's Kevin Bacon Number is 2. He was in "Zookeeper" with Donna Glee Reim, who was in "R.I.P.D." with Kevin Bacon.

So...if you have a problem with seeing guys in Phillies unis on this O's blog, or reading about awful Adam Sandler and Sandler-adjacent movies in this space, take it up with Zach.

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.

Caleb Joseph, 2016 Topps Orioles Team Set #BO-2

I swear that I wasn't going to do the baby thing again tonight, but then Caleb Joseph tied a career high with four hits in as many at-bats, helping spoil Matt Wieters' return to Baltimore as the O's beat the Nationals, 6-4. That's five straight wins, folks.

So what does this have to do with my first-born? Well, two weeks ago, Caleb made a Saturday afternoon appearance at Point Breeze Credit Union in Westminster. Janet, Finn, and I jumped at the chance to say hello to our favorite person on the team. (Well, maybe Finn was mostly just along for the ride.) As it turned out, we arrived at 12:15, just as the shuttle showed up to deliver Joseph. It was pretty cool to see a good-sized crowd already lined up inside the bank, cheering for the team's backup catcher as he made his slightly belated entrance. He apologized for being late, and jokingly blamed the team rep that had accompanied him.

When we got to the front of the line, we introduced Caleb Joseph to our Finn Caleb, and told him that we'd even debated naming him Caleb Joseph...but Janet "thought it would be weird". Caleb's well-reasoned response was that "everyone has to be named for somebody".

At the time of our meeting, #36 was 0-for-12 on the young season and famously had not driven in a run since September 11, 2015. My sister and I had tickets to the game later that night (April 22, 2017), and wouldn't you know it? Caleb Joseph started that night and went 2-for-3 with a double and a run scored in the Birds' 4-2 win over Boston; he hasn't looked back since. I'm not saying that my kid is a lucky charm or anything, but Caleb is now batting .316 (12-for-38) with a home run and four RBI since their meeting. Yep, the long dry spell is over. You're welcome.