Around the Horn: Baltimore Orioles

Time for another entry in the "Around the Horn" series .... up now the Baltimore Orioles.

This team presented me with a conundrum I've yet to face so far in this series, teams that moved cities and changed their identities completely. I considered doing a separate entry on those teams themselves but there wasn't enough content to warrant that.

I mentioned that because through the first half of the 20th century, the Orioles were actually the St. Louis Browns, a team that was at or near the bottom of the American League for most of their existence. I didn't realize until I was digging out Browns cards that Eddie Plank spent the last two years of his career with the team after being jettisoned by the A's in 1914 and spending 1915 in the Federal League.

The Browns only made one appearance ever in the World Series, 1944, where they lost in six games to their National League brethren the Cardinals. Rick Ferrell spent a total of 8 years on and off with the Browns. Ned Garver was an All-Star pitched for the team in their waning years, going 20-12 with a 3.73 ERA for a 1951 Browns team that finished dead last.

Speaking of the 1951 Browns, that's the year that Satchel Paige debuted with the team. It's nice to see Topps producing modern cards of Paige and chronicling his run with the Browns.

This is by far my favorite St. Louis Browns card. It just so happens to also be the first 1952 Topps card I ever bought. I was at one of the local card shops thumbing through the discount vintage box when I came across this for the low, low price of only $4. I couldn't resist the urge so I grabbed it up. I'm slowly adding as many decent 52 Topps cards to my collection as I can. There's no way I'll ever be able to afford the star cards or even some of the "name" players but if I see commons like this at a decent price, I'll gladly snap them up.

Some of you may remember seeing this card during my recap of my most recent card show visit. I figured it was appropriate to show it again here, considering it's now the oldest Orioles card in my collection. The Browns relocated to Baltimore and were rechristened the Orioles after the 1953 season. From what I've been told by fellow bloggers on the card show post, this Preacher Roe card is one of the earliest examples of a "zero year" card out there as Roe never appeared for a single game for Baltimore.

For the longest time, this was my oldest Orioles card, a 1962 Topps Boog Powell rookie card. I remember buying this card from a 3 for $5 vintage bin at a card show a number of years ago. I forgot the other cards that I got from that deal but I just think this is a super cool looking card.

The Orioles have a had a number of great players over the years but perhaps there was none greater that Cal Ripken Jr. Much like Ken Griffey Jr. with the Mariners, if someone mentions the Orioles, I guarantee the first thought goes to Cal Ripken.

Like I did with Griffey, I decided to show off all the Ripken cards in my collection. If my counting was correct, I have 42 different Ripken cards. I guess you could say I have a decent collection of his cards. If I had to pick some favorites, I'd say the Topps Big League card, the Highlight of the Year card, and the Gold Standard card right below it. 

My most interesting card by far is the Leaf "Slideshow" card from 1995. The deal with these is that there's a second card that goes with it and by putting the cards together, you'll get a cool slideshow of the player. For the 90s, it's a pretty interesting concept although 1995 was the last time Leaf would do it with baseball.

Jim Palmer is another Orioles player I tend to collect and I can usually find his cards for a decent price. Photography was not the strong suit of early Fleer cards but I really do like the one of him getting ready to throw.

The Orioles made out like bandits when they got Frank Robinson in the now infamous December 1965 trade with the Reds. The Reds, who thought Robby was over the hill, sent him east for three players, the most notable being Milt Pappas, who did next to nothing in a Reds uniform. Robinson proved the Reds wrong, winning AL MVP in his first season in orange and finishing in the top twelve of MVP voting in all but one season in Baltimore. 

The "other" Robinson on the Orioles was Brooks Robinson, who spent his entire 23-year career manning third. I'm not a super big Brooks Robinson collector but I'll pick up a card of his here and there, especially if it's a neat looking card like the two Stadium Club cards.

One of the most notable "short term stops" in history is Reggie Jackson with Orioles. Everyone remembers his time with the A's and Yankees, but most forget he had a quick stop off in Baltimore during the 1976 season. 

Eddie Murray is more of an unintentional player collection. I've got cards of his from nearly every team he's been with. I guess I should probably add him to the official PC list as I always tend to keep cards of his when I find them in repacks, yard sale purchases, card shows, etc.

Who doesn't love 1971 Topps? The team card I got in one of my best community yard sales hauls of all time a few years ago. My goal for 1971 Topps is just like 1952 Topps, acquire as many of the cards in the set as I can without breaking the bank.

Here's a bunch of random 80s cards. It's really hard to pick a favorite from this batch. Rick Dempsey and Mike Flanagan on mid-80s cards, a fresh-faced Pete Harnisch on an 89 Donruss card, the pop of the orange on Lee May's 1980 Topps card. There's a whole lot to like here.

Fred Lynn as an Oriole is just strange to me. 

I find it a bit strange that Davey Johnson is listed as both "2nd base" and "Manager" on this card. He wouldn't manage the Orioles until 1996 and this card was issued in 1990. Oh well, still, it's the lone oddball card I have in my Orioles cards.

Here's a whole slew of random 90s cards. I'd forgotten Rick Sutcliffe pitched for Baltimore. As a kid, I always thought Mike Mussina would be with the Orioles forever as he was their star pitcher throughout the 90s. Also, how can you not love Brady Anderson climbing the outfield wall?

Chris Sabo spent the 1994 season with the Orioles as a DH/outfielder. His stints with different teams such as the Orioles and White Sox are what led me to be a collector of "short term stops" cards.

Eric Davis had the last great season of his career in 1998 as a member of an O's squad that finished near the bottom of the AL East. He hit .327 with 28 HRs and 89 RBIs and finished in the top 20 of MVP voting.

Joe Carter played the majority of his final season with that same 1998 team and appeared in 85 games before being traded to the Giants for minor leaguer Darin Blood.

I always thought this was a neat card with both Manny Machado and Cal Ripken on it. I really felt like the so-called "pundits" went crazy last summer with the Machado trade stuff and interviewing him about it in the dugout at the All-Star Game was ridiculous.

I like this card mainly because of the old school style uniforms. 

Finally, some newer cards with a random Nick Markakis card thrown in just because of the picture on it. Last season, the Orioles had a horrible record at 47-115, the second worst record since 2000, only behind the 2003 Detroit Tigers who posted a 43-119 record.

Well, that's it for the Orioles/Browns edition of "Around the Horn". Next up will be another team with two identies ... the Texas Rangers/Washington Senators.

My Favorite First Card of 2018

I'm going to kill two birds with one stone here.

I had planned on doing an end of year post about my favorite "first card" I pulled from various 2018 packs. Then, P-Town Tom announced his annual "favorite card" post. I figure why not wrap them together into one post?

I opened packs from seven different baseball products in 2018 ... Flagship (including Series 1 and 2), Heritage, Opening Day, Donruss, Gypsy Queen, Big League, and Archives. As I mentioned earlier, each card you see here is the first card I pulled out of the first pack of each product and I'll have a brief summary of my thoughts of each product as well.

2018 Topps Flagship (Series 1 and 2)

I went crazy back in February when Series 1 was released and bought a ton of packs and hanger boxes. I have a feeling I'll probably do the same thing this coming February when 2019 Topps hits the shelves. I really liked this years design with the "waterslide" design. The photos on some of the cards were definitely inspired too and a few even had a Stadium Club feel to them with the photography. It's definitely a lot better than when they started the borderless base cards in 2016.

2018 Heritage

Heritage this year played host to one of my favorite vintage designs, the 1969 Topps set. While it was hard to find at first, once I did find it, I really enjoyed it. Plus the initial two hanger boxes I bought produced a Giancarlo Stanton relic card. I ended up going back for more ... well, lots more ... when Target ran a big Easter sale. 

2018 Opening Day

Sure, this is pretty much the same thing as Flagship but it being Opening Day, it had a number of fun inserts and was decidedly cheaper. I imagine I was looking for something cheap to rip into so that's why I bought a blaster of it. Of course, Aaron Judge had to be the first card I pulled from the first pack but the main thing I like about this particular card is the return of the Topps Rookie Cup!

2018 Panini Donruss

I've been a big supporter of Donruss since Panini revived the line about four years ago. I really, really liked the base card throwback design of 2017 but this year, I felt the base cards left a lot to be desired. The design was very busy, the photography was not good, and the airbrushed out logos and team nicknames were patently obvious. However, when I opened my first pack of Donruss this Nolan Ryan card was the card on top. I like it because Donruss did a really good job of throwing back to the 1984 design, the airbrushing is barely noticeable (except for the cap), and I can tell it's from a game at old Riverfront Stadium in Cincinnati because of the blue seats in the background. I'm hoping Donruss can step up their game next year.

2018 Gypsy Queen

I've been a Gypsy Queen fan since the 2015 design. I've yet to see a GQ design that can top that one, I really did like this years effort. I was only able to get my hands on some retail packs as part of the aforementioned Target Easter sale but from what I was able to sample, I really enjoyed it. The only thing I wasn't a big fan of were the variations and parallels (because who really needs a parallel of a card where the back plate is missing) but other than that I really liked it.

2018 Big League

My aunt treated me to a box of this back in the summer when she came to visit from Tulsa. I'll admit, I wasn't sure what to expect with these cards. I'd heard they were more of the set builders variety and were low on inserts and hits but were more on the "fun" side of collecting. I really liked the design on them and honestly, that design could've probably worked as a flagship design too. A few complaints I had about it though is that there was one gold parallel card per pack, which I felt was a bit too much, and there weren't all that many "inserts" as well, the main one I even remember are those obtuse and goofy looking caricature cards. 

2018 Archives

I was so excited for Archives to come out that when I finally found a Target that had some, I stopped in at 10:45 at night to stock up. What I found was a bit of a let down. The cards themselves I felt were a bit thin and the designs weren't all that great this year. It was nice to see 1977 and 1981 in the set but I think maybe the 1961 or 1962 designs could've been used or maybe even 1993 to continue the theme of 1991 and 1992 in the previous two Archives releases. The inserts weren't even that great. Sure there were the Sandlot cards (which I promptly mailed to Dimebox Nick) but there were also the Rookie Reprints cards which I personally didn't care much for.

So that's the seven baseball products I opened in 2018. As for my favorite "first" card?

The winner is ....

Nolan Ryan from 2018 Donruss!

As I mentioned, I thought the 1984 throwback design cards were the best part of Donruss this year. That coupled with it being Nolan Ryan throwing in Riverfront Stadium, just makes it stand out for me.

I appreciate Tom running the contest for another year in a row and if all else fails and I don't win a prize, at least I got a blog post out of the deal. That should count for something I hope.

Around the Horn: Seattle Mariners

It's time for another entry in my "Around the Horn" series, this time the Seattle Mariners are up! The Mariners debuted in 1977 but it wasn't Seattle's first foray into the world of MLB. The first go-round was in 1969 with the infamous "one and done" Seattle Pilots. More on them another time once I get to the Milwaukee Brewers entry in this series.

When thinking of the Mariners, the first person that comes to mind, at least for me, is Ken Griffey Jr. Now, normally I would show only a few cards of player collections but with Griffey, I decided to show all the Mariners cards I have, aside from the two 1989 Bowman rookies. One day I would like to own a 1989 Upper Deck Griffey. I guess I could consider that one of those "white whale" type deals but for now, I'll settle with what I've got. 

During his time in Seattle, there were also four baseball video games that were put out with Griffey's name on them during his time in Seattle, "Ken Griffey Jr. Presents Major League Baseball" and "Ken Griffey Jr.'s Winning Run" for the Super Nintendo and "Major League Baseball featuring Ken Griffey Jr" and "Ken Griffey Jr's Slugfest" for the N64. At some point next year, I might do an article about those games as they were by far my favorites of any baseball video game.

I see no reason why Edgar Martinez shouldn't be in the Hall of Fame to be honest. He was a 7-time All-Star, finished in the Top 20 of MVP voting five times (including twice in the top ten), won five Silver Slugger awards, won the AL Batting Title twice, and is the Mariners all-time leader in doubles, total bases, and RBIs.

My grandpa used to call Randy Johnson "big ugly" because of the long hair and bushy mustache he always sported. I always enjoyed watching Johnson pitch. Occasionally, I'd get to see a Mariners game if it was on ESPN or on national TV but mostly I'd only know what was happening by the clips from SportsCenter. That being said, I really enjoy going back now and collecting his cards

Another young star of those 90s Mariners teams was A-Rod. While I'm not really a big fan of him with the Yankees or Rangers, I tend to keep an eye out for cheap A-Rod Seattle cards. These are the four favorites of mine that I have that chronicle his stay in the Pacific Northwest.

The Tino Martinez card I have here probably has to be my favorite one I have of him with the M's. It's just a flat out cool looking card with the teal jersey, gold foil on the bottom, and great picture of him finishing his swing.

For more modern fans, Ichiro is probably one of the other names people think about when someone mentions the Mariners (well, there's also Felix Hernandez). He debuted in 2001 as part of that legendary team that won 116 games and made it to the ALCS for the second year in a row. I really need to invest in more Ichiro cards as I've only got a handful but that card from this years Topps Big League set is probably one of the best ones I've got.

Going back to the beginning now, this 1978 Topps team card is showing what I'm guessing to be the inaugural Mariners team. There weren't many star players on that team but there were players such as Ray Fosse, Julio Cruz, Skip Jutze, Rick Honeycutt, and Doc Medich. One interesting player on that team was Diego Segui, who I believe was the only person to play for both the Pilots in 1969 and the inaugural Mariners team in 1977.

The Mariners in the early years had an interesting mix of players both young and old, including a number of players that I'm sure most had ever forgotten had played for Seattle. Larry Andersen spent two seasons in Mariner blue, going 3-3 with a 4.46 ERA in 81 games, mostly as a reliever. Tom Paciorek's only All-Star season came as a Mariner in 1981 but I best remember him calling White Sox games with Hawk Harrelson on WGN Superstation in the 90s. Former Reds manager Jerry Narron was a back-up catcher in 1980 and 1981 and then returned for four games in 1987. Jeff Burroughs was one of the early "short term stops" of the Mariners, having appeared in 89 games with the 1981 squad.

Gaylord Perry spent the waning years of his career up in Seattle as well. He spent the entire 1982 season and then the first part of the 1983 season before being released mid-season. He latched on with the Royals to close out his career. These are the only two cards I have that chronicle Perry's stint with the M's.

I showed these last summer when I found them in a yard sale haul my stepmom picked up but I wanted to show them here as well for mere curiosity sake. These are some 1984 O-Pee-Chee cards. While these aren't the most notable names, I still find early 80s O-Pee-Chee cards pretty cool.

I'm going to go out on a limb here and say that Julio Cruz was probably the Mariners first homegrown "star". He was plucked from the Angels in the expansion draft and was promptly installed as the second baseman (and occasional SS and DH). He spent 7 seasons in Seattle and actually finished in the top 25 of MVP voting in 1983. I don't remember where I found this card but I think it's pretty neat to have an oddball card of a player withe the old school "trident logo" on their hat.

I can't go without showing some 1986 Topps cards (I swear one day I'm going to put that set together). But also the Danny Tartabull and Mark Langston cards can't be forgotten about. Both guys had some pretty decent careers. I don't know what it is but there's something about all four of these cards together that just makes me smile.

I should probably add Dave Burba to the list of players I collect. He was one of the Reds top pitchers in the mid-90s and I remember going to a game that he was pitching once where he lost a no-hitter with five outs to go.

Bret Boone debuted as a rookie for the Mariners in 1992 and played more as a backup until he was traded to the Reds along with Erik Hanson for Bobby Ayala and Dan Wilson. The trade worked out well for all, Boone and Hanson were key parts of the Reds success in the mid-90s, including a trip to the NLCS in 1995. Wilson became the longtime catcher for the Mariners and Ayala teamed up with another former Red in Norm Charlton in the Seattle bullpen.

Kevin Mitchell goes into the lore of Mariners "short term stops" as he spent the 1993 season in the Pacific Northwest before being traded to the Reds for the aforementioned Norm Charlton. What is it with all these Reds/Mariners trades in the 90s? The Mariners even got Lou Piniella as the manager after he left the Reds.

I forgot the recently retired Adrian Beltre was with the Mariners until I saw this card. I figured it was probably for only a year or two, but no, he stuck with them for five years and won two Gold Gloves there. 

Carl Everett though did only spend one season in Seattle, that being his final season in the bigs. He appeared in 92 games for a 2006 Mariners squad that finished 4th in the AL West.

I'd forgotten that John Olerud also had a tour of duty up north. This card is interesting as in has a box score of a random game in the bottom right. I don't think I've ever seen anything quite like it to be honest. I know it's the only card I have like that.

Hey look! It's a card of new Reds manager David Bell (again the Mariners/Reds connection is mind blowing). While the Reds haven't signed any players, they've completely started from scratch with a new manager and a whole new coaching staff. That's another story for another day though.

I'll round this out with a few more recent cards. By the time this posts, Robinson Cano may or may not still be a Mariner (there were rumors swirling about him being traded to the Mets as I'm writing this). Of the 2018 cards, I thought Archives was a bust this year but I really enjoyed the flagship cards and Heritage.

That puts the bow on this edition of "Around the Horn". Next up ... the Baltimore Orioles/St. Louis Browns.