I was going to make a snarky post about seagulls, and being chased by them. Then I got to the hit of the pack:


If I could pick any Oriole to get a relic from, it would be Frank Robinson, of course. But Brooksie is a close second. Even if it's a manuhit, it's still pretty sweet looking.

Earlier I had posted about how I am trying to accumulate 1975 Topps cards. That's because it's time I started compiling the birth year set. I still don't have much interest in collecting vintage of all stripes, but '75 Topps holds some particular significance. I have no idea how long it will take, and I'm scared of the number of big-ticket rookies (such as George Brett and Robin Yount) that are in the set. And before you ask, no, I have no plans to collect any of the mini cards. The regular set will be enough for me.

I had mentioned that the Earl Williams was my first 1975 card. Turns out, that wasn't true. While digging through my collection, looking for Cal Ripkens for a trade, I found another Oriole:

Yes, it's Birds all-time favorite Elrod Hendricks in a classic 1970s catcher baseball card pose. The card, as you can tell by the scan, is in quite good shape. I got it in a job lot of Orioles cards last May or June. I think it's a good start to the collection.

And with that, I'm off to eBay to find some more lots.With only five '75ers in my collection (and four of them stored in a warehouse in Dureya), I have a lot of holes to fill. Wish me luck!

Welcome to The Hope of the Franchise. Today, we'll highlight two young pitchers who their respective teams are pinning their hopes on. Why? Because it's a lot better than watching this depressing Reds/Yankees game. Jose Arredondo can suck it.

First up is the hapless Arredondo's teammate, Mike Leake. The first player from his draft class to make the major leagues (suck it, Stephen Strasburg!), Leake is now entering his second full season as a big league player. He didn't mess around with the minor leagues. What's the point in blowing away single-A batters in Hagerstown? The Reds didn't worry about making Leake a "Super Two" arbitration eligible player. If he's ready, he's ready.

And Leake was ready. He beat out future big-league teammates Travis Wood, Aroldis Chapman and Micah Owings (outpitching two of them, and outhitting the other). He went his first ten career starts without losing a single game. And even though he was eventually optioned to Triple-A in his second season (damn you, Jose Arredondo!), he still has a career record of 14-7 and is back in the big leagues, hopefully to stay. No, I don't know why he shoplifted those shirts, either.

Fun fact: Because Leake grew up in Southern California, the conference that his high school played in is called the "Avocado League." That's awesome.

Fun fact #2: Leake grew up as a Seattle Mariners fan. So did I. We also both took the field in Cincinnati, albeit at different stadiums.



Our second featured star is the bright young hope for the Baltimore Orioles, Jake Arrieta. Arrieta and his teammates, Brian Matusz and Zach Britton, have been called the new Maddux/Glavine/Smoltz. Or perhaps it's the new Hudson/Zito/Mulder. Or maybe the new Halladay/Carpenter/Escobar. No matter who you compare them to, big things are expected from these three guys. Let's hope they're not the next Isringhausen/Pulsipher/Wilson.

Arrieta's best feature, so far, as been a career winning percentage over .500 - hey, it might not seem like much, but remember, he pitches for the Baltimore Orioles. This is a team that has been below .500 since 1998, yet he's five games over .500 for the season (9-4) and his career (15-10). The guy is good, and he's only getting better. Last season, he struck out 52 batters in 100 innings. This season, he's struck out more (71) in less (88). Even though the team, let's face it, stinks, Arrieta isn't letting it bother him. He just goes out and does his job, every fifth day. Good on him!

Fun fact: He was a fan of Nolan Ryan when he was growing up. So was Mike Leake, and so was half the power pitchers in Major League Baseball today. That's how long Nolan Ryan pitched.

Fun fact #2: There was nothing else I could find on Wikipedia. Wikipedia sucks.

On my Opening Day post, I reminded everyone to smile, because no matter who you support, your team is in first place.

Well, three days into the season, the Reds, White Sox, Mariners(!) and Orioles(!!!) are all 2-0.

Sure, it's an extremely small sample size. And accomplishments at the beginning of the season tend to get magnified out of proportion because everyone is focused and it's the only data available. Remember Tuffy Rhodes's three home runs on Opening Day, 1994? It's not like he led the NL in home runs that season. In fact, he only hit eight that whole season. Hardly a harbinger of future success.

The fact is, if this was June and the Reds, White Sox, Mariners and Orioles all went on a two-game winning streak at the same time (for that's all this really is), I doubt I would even have noticed. In fact, it probably happens more often that we realise.

But for now, none of that matters. I'm just enjoying the moment.

As a history fan (and history teacher) I definitely appreciate the idea behind the "This Day in History" insert set. 75 cards is probably a bit too big for me to collect it, so I'll probably stick with certain players and teams.

But Topps, when deciding who to put in the set, do you think it was a good idea to include a player that's well-known for perpetrating fraud with respect to his birthday?


Can we even trust the date on the back of that card?

Oh, Donruss. Your name will be forever sullied in my mind due to the absolute crap you spewed out in the '80s. Although I'll give you credit, you did come up with some pretty decent cards in the '90s, after you got bought out, of course. But those crap-ass 1980s cards will be your legacy. As a kid, I was always disappointed whenever I got Donruss cards.

I've included this card because it is actual photographic evidence that Don Aase won an American League pitcher of the month award. Take a moment to let that little nugget of information digest. I know it's hard to fathom - you're fighting the urge to call Ripley right now, aren't you?


See, it really did happen, back in May 1985. Here's the circumstances surrounding that shocking incident.


Speaking of the 1980s, here's the only Donruss Diamond Kings card in the lot. Ken Singleton. I'll have to look, but I'm pretty sure it's from the same year as that bakery card. That was his career-best season, after all.


When it comes to crappy Donruss cards, they don't come much crappier than the 1982 set. Unless you count the 1981 set. With Dave Trembley's firing less than a week ago, I've chosen to commemorate the event with the last Orioles skipper to be fired in the middle of an absolutely dreadful season. Cal Ripken Sr. was fired after going 0-6 to start the 1988 season. Blog namesake Frank Robinson got the job and promptly steered the club to fifteen more losses in a row, for a record 0-21 start. He got to keep his job because he's Frank Freakin' Robinson. The next season, the O's had a winning record and finished 2nd in the AL East.


Frankly, I think this is a bit harsh on Cal Sr. and unnecessary on Donruss's part. Did they really have to highlight his failure to reach the Bigs by putting "Did not play major league baseball" and leaving all that white space on the card? Why not include his minor league stats, or his record as a minor league manager?


Apparently, according to the back of Cal Sr.'s card, his son was "one of the most highly regarded prospects in the Oriole system." I don't know - I never heard of the guy. Cal Ripken Jr.? Sounds like the name of a character actor or insurance salesman. But I was able to find a 1994 Donruss card of him. And then, a few cards later, the same card, but with lots of super-shiny gold foil.


The final couple of cards showcase the photography that made Donruss cards pretty decent near the end. I wish I could figure out what Robby Alomar was looking at in this picture. He's looking up - do you think he just skied a pop-up?


And here's the great Lee Arthur Smith, the one-time career saves leader and should-be Hall-of-Famer. Of course, on this card, it's all about the insert picture. Notice how Lee Arthur is stroking his goatee, all contemplative and such? What could he possibly be thinking about?

In 1994, Lee Arthur's only season with the Orioles, he saved 33 games, good enough for the league lead. I doubt we'll ever see such a paltry number on top of the leaderboard again.

There wasn't much in the pile from the good folks at Score. My recollections of Score come from the junk wax era. I decided, in the cheapness of my youth, that Upper Deck was much too expensive to collect. But this Score company seemed pretty decent, and they had pictures on both the front and back of the card, just like UD. Also, they actually had players' uniform numbers on their cards. For a numbers geek, that was pretty cool.

So I threw my support behind Score. I bought their debut '88 set. The1989 set wasn't too bad, still lots of primary colors. Then, the 1990 set happened.

U-G-L-Y! You ain't got no alibi.

That was it for me and Score. A year later, I was out of the hobby altogether. Was it Score's fault? I'll leave it to you, dear reader, to decide.

Here's the highlights from the Score cards in the Orioles lot:

Speaking of 1990, here's a card from the 1990 Super Stars set. I'm not sure if this is an insert series or a completely different set, but I like how the design parallels the '88 Score rather than its bastard cousin, 1990 Score.


And I've included the back of the card as photographic evidence that, at one time, Phil Bradley was indeed considered a superstar, at least by the folks at Score.


Skipping ahead two years, There were two 1992 Score cards included in the lot, and they were both former Red Sox players. Hitting from the left side of the plate, Sam Horn. And hitting from the right side, Dwight Evans in his final card (Dewey retired after the 1991 season).


Who's more gangsta than late '90s Skybox cards? Mark McLemore, that's who!


Behold the power of Harold Baines's beard! There were actually two Score cards in the pile that featured The Beard. This card showed it off the best.


Finally, we come to one of the worst insert series I have seen. 1996 Score included the "Radar Rating" set. First of all, the layout is, well, pretty crap. Secondly, why do we need another insert set about fast pitchers, the second-most celebrated group of baseball players behind home-run hitters? Thirdly, that radar gun graphic is cutting off the top of Mussina's head. Fourthly, the back of the card isn't any better than the front:


No, I can't make out what that black squiggly thing under the "Speed Statistic" is, either. And isn't it weird that, in a subset called "Radar Rating," you call attention to a guy's change-up? I like the wrap-around sunglasses, Mike. How very mid-90s.

On we go to part three of the eight-dollar lot of Oriole cards I got off of the Bay. This time, it's cards from Pinnacle. Once I have this done, it's on to the "Big Five" - and I might have to split things up into more than one post per manufacturer.

Let's start things off with this '92 Pinnacle Joe Orsulak. There's nothing really special about the card, per se. It's just a base card from the junk wax era with nothing to really make it stand out:

So why the heck am I showing it? It's because of the subject. Joe Orsulak, to me, symbolises the Orioles of the late '80s and early '90s. Even though 1992 was his last year with the Birds, I'll always identify him with the Orioles for some reason. Don't ask me why.


Here's a '94 Pinnacle Big Ben McDonald. Before Mr. Roethlisberger, the boy from the bayou was the original "Big Ben," not counting that clock in London. I scanned this card in because I liked the full bleed photography and the shot of Ben's pitching motion. Then, I looked at his '93 Pacific card en español:


It's virtually the same picture, only substitute a home uniform for a road uniform and change the arm slot a little bit. Even Ben's necklace is all akimbo in both pictures. Oh well.


A 1995 Pinnacle. It's interesting, and a bit weird and stiffly formal, how the front of the card simply reads "Palmeiro." It reminds me of the kid who got Bobby Knight fired from Indiana after he simply called the coach "Knight." Of course, The General went into a blind rage due to the lack of proper respect and deference that young whippersnapper showed.

Going back to the Palmeiro card, if I had a duplicate, I'd modify it slightly:


1996 B.J. Surhoff Pinnacle Aficionado. It's all metallic and speckled, plus B.J. is a fellow Tar Heel. And honestly, how can you not like a product line called "Aficionado"? It sounds like it should be marketed to rich, fat old white guys who can afford it at $50 a pack.


This is a 95 Pinnacle Select Bobby Bonilla. The front has him in a Mets uniform, but the Orioles logo technically makes it an O's card, I guess. The uniform is one reason why I scanned the back of the card instead of the front.


The other reason is the cool way that they did his season stats, breaking it up by opponent. An interesting idea with really nice presentation. Although nowadays I can't help but think that instead of hits and RBI the card companies would include OPS and runs scored instead.

Finally, this Gregg Zaun '96 Select card, which is fairly unremarkable except for one tiny thing. Can you spot it? You might have to click on the larger view...

Next up on Eight Bucks Worth of Orioles are highlights of my cards from Leaf. It turns out, I've already posted a Leaf card and didn't even realise it. That Jerry Adair card that I had no idea about is actually a 1960 Leaf (thanks, Adam!), and the second-oldest card in my collection. Sometimes you get lucky, and the person who sells you the stuff doesn't know what they have. Of course, sometimes you don't know, either!

Here's that Jerry Adair card again, now posted in its "correct" place:

On to some more recent Leaf cards. Here are a pair of 50th anniversary cards from 1998. There were actually about five in the lot, but I chose these two in particular.


Eric Davis was selected...well, I hope I don't need to explain why! In the late '80s, when I was old enough to start following baseball religiously and actually have a clue what was going on, ED was the man for the Reds. He will always give me fond memories, and I was glad to see him revive his career with the Orioles.

Mike Mussina, on the other hand...well, to this day I still can't believe he signed with the Yankees. It seemed like a cruel joke when I heard the news. And yet, I still can't help but like the guy. Let's move on.


Oh Jeffrey, Jeffrey, Jeffrey. You were supposed to be the one. The next great Oriole outfielder. What happened to you? Maybe it's because your parents misspelled your name.

I like the full-bleed photography on the card (that's what it's called when the picture goes all the way to the edge and there's no border, right?) I'm a big fan of full-bleed (man I hope that's the right term and I don't end up looking like an idiot).

Finally, let's end this post with a bang. How about some Ripkens?


There were plenty of Leaf Ripkens in the pile (at least four or five). I picked the '91 Studio card because of the black-and-white photography. I think that black-and-white photos, when done well, can be absolutely stunning. I love how this photo, even without color, still captures Cal's famous steely-blue eyes.

There's also a lot to like about the '93 Studio. Full-bleed design. A shiny (albeit replica) autograph. The fact that it's a Cal Ripken card. But the best part is the prominent nature of the best name of any logo in professional sports history, The Ornithologically Correct Bird.

Yes, it was sad to see the (cartoon) Bird go from the caps. But the '80s were nearly at an end, and the '90s ushered a new era of seriousness. But an organisation as classy as the Orioles couldn't just call the new logo a "lifelike" bird. Oh no, that wouldn't do. So a dictionary was consulted. And the 13-year-old me learned a new word.

Don't believe me on the logo name? Here's the proof.

So a couple of months ago, I won an auction for a couple hundred Orioles cards. It was one of the first auctions that I won since getting back into the hobby, and I did it just to boost my Orioles team collection. The description on the auction wasn't great, and to be honest, I was expecting a bunch of junk wax.

My folks sent the cards in their latest package, and I'm glad they did. Looking through, the lot had its share of junk wax, but also a bunch of really interesting cards. Nothing along the lines of Thorzul's 40-dollar haul, but value for money as far as I'm concerned. I've enjoyed sifting through the cards, and am pleased to share some of the highlights with you. So sit back and enjoy...Eight Bucks Worth of Orioles:

The first installment contains the oddball cards from "non-traditional" manufacturers. Later on, I'll do posts for Topps, Upper Deck, Fleer, Donruss, etc. The first card - well, you can't beat Sportflics. Unless, of course, you tried to scan a Sportflics card. Can you even tell who this is? I'll give you a hint - it's not Jim Palmer:

If you said "Mike Boddicker" - you win! If you said anyone else, you lose. If you said "Jim Palmer," then I'm sorry, but I simply can't help you.

A side note - I'm having a heck of a time trying to figure out the card number for this card. On the left hand side, it says "Series #1 Card 104". But on the right-hand side, next to the Sportflics logo, is a picture of a baseball with the number 52. So which is it?


Next up is this card of former shortstop Jerry Adair. I can't make hide nor hair out of this card. First of all, there's absolutely no clues as to what year this card comes from - none - which makes me think it's a reprint. On the back, there are two lines of stats: "Past Year" and "Lifetime". The copyright information is for Sports Novelties - Chicago, Ill. with no year. In fact, the only year that's mentioned in 1958, when Jerry made his debut for the O's. And yes, the card is in black and white, which robs us of a good look at those first Oriole caps.

Now this next card isn't a re-print, as such, but a re-interpretation of a classic baseball card design. An homage, if you will. It comes to us from Baseball Card Magazine, and has obviously been cut out. Poorly, I might add:


I'm willing to overlook the fact that the original owner apparently used a machete to cut out the card because it has a picture of Chris Hoiles on it. Chris Hoiles was great. At least, it seemed that way to me at the time. I've got nothing but good memories of Chris Hoiles and there's nothing you can do to tarnish them. Besides, Fred Lynn was washed up by then, anyway.

Moving on, here's a card of Ken Singleton from a sponsored set. In this case, Drake's Bakeries:


Ken is a Drake's "Big Hitter" and in 1980 he hit 24 home runs, certainly a big total for that time. Nowadays, if a corner outfielder doesn't hit 24 home runs he's not pulling his own weight. Sadly for Ken, the '80 season was the fifth and last time he blasted 20 or more homers. He hit 13 in the strike-shortened '81 season (when this card came out) and only hit 18 in '82, his next full season. He retired two years later with 246 career blasts.

Drake's is best known as the company that brought you Devil Dogs and Ring Dings.

The final three cards are all from the good folks at Pacific. These two are from the 1988 Baseball Legends set:


As I said before, any card with Brooks Robinson on it is a good card. The Brooksie card was actually the first card I saw on top of the pile. My first thought was "oh great, this is going to be a bunch of reprints and inserts. But I was, thankfully, wrong.

The final card today is also from Pacific, or should I say, Pacifico?


Yes, it's Ben McDonald, lanzador in Pacific's 1993 Spanish-language set. It's a good thing I took five years of Spanish in school so I can tell you that Ben finished with 158 strikeouts in 1992, and his 227 innings pitched made him the third-most durable pitcher on the team that year. He was also the first pick in the 1989 draft, but I didn't need to be able to read Spanish to know that.

Next up in the series - my Leaf cards from the stack. There are some good looking cards, so stay tuned!

After my trip up to Perth got cancelled delayed for a week, that's kind of slowed down my progress. I've got a bunch of cards that need to be sorted but nowhere to put them. Also, I went to the store to pick up some binder sheets (they were back in stock) only to find they weren't quite right. They were Ultra-Pro, all right, but they weren't the platinum ones. They were the "hologram series" and frankly, crap. The plastic feels different in your hands and is a lot slicker. In fact, the cards that I did put into the sheets are already trying to escape.

Basically, they're useless to me. It sucks, because I thought I found a local solution, even for a quick 10 or 20 sheets at a time. I guess I just have to keep looking. I'll probably just give the sheets away to my students for their football cards. They're too young to be picky about storage. Hell, some of them even keep their cards in their pockets! (I make sure to let them know that's not the proper way to store cards). I also refuse to trade with them for cards with dinged corners. I believe in tough love.

Anyway, what's the best way to deal with having too many cards and no place to put them? By opening more cards, of course. Specifically, a blaster pack of '09 Heritage. Yes, I know I went on a Heritage rant last week. But this is '09 Heritage. Completely different.

Not really. In my first pack, out of the eight cards, I got two team cards and two insert cards. Only the fact that one of the team cards was the Reds and one of the insert cards had a picture of Brooks Robinson saved this pack:

Pack two at least were all cards of players, but none from the teams I collect. I did get this guy, again:


I always seem to get Lincecum cards, no matter what manufacturer or set I'm opening. Maybe the universe is trying to tell me to start collecting him. He is a darn good player, at least.

Pack three, however, was the best of the lot. I could tell I was in for something when I saw the side edges of the cards were different colors. Hidden in the middle was this:


Yes, it's another Yankee. But it's an old Yankee, Bobby Richardson. And it's not a Yankee relic card. Look closely at the description. It's a relic from a seat at the old palace on 33rd Street, Memorial Stadium.

A freakin' Memorial Stadium relic!!!

I haven't opened packs 4 through 8 yet. Quite frankly, I'm not going to get better than I've already got so why even try?