The Quest

The Baltimore Orioles have been in town since '54 and have had over 900 men don their uniform. My goal is to obtain a signed card of each player. If you have something I need, or see something you want, don't be shy, we can make a deal.

Collection Statistics

Total Players 877/977 = 89.25%
1991 Orioles Crown Set
Total Players 309/465 = 66.45%
Alive Players 274/369 = 74.25

Thursday, April 8, 2010

Trading Places

Trading has begun picking up and today brought five autographs and three bucks my way. The trades are a nice mix of new and old and all are new additions to the collection.

I am currently selling off a good bit of my collection on eBay and thebenchtrading.com in order to create capital for a business venture. This Benny Ayala card was part of a cash and trade deal for a 50 card lot of Carlos Delgado. Hopefully this trade will turn into a few 50/50 deals in Puerto Rico this winter.

Benny Ayala 1983 Topps #59

In his first major league at bat, Ayala wnet yard as a member of the New York Mets. He spent the bulk of his career in Baltimore in a platoon role as a designated hitter and outfielder. He did earn himself a World Series ring as a member of the 1983 championship team, going 1 for 1 with and RBI in the series. As with many latin players after his career he has been difficult to track down. I had been unable to track down an address for him and there are less than ten successes recorded. Hopefully my new connection in Puerto Rico can help with some past ballplayers who may be hiding out there.

A pretty good sized baseball card trade sent Rick Dempsey, Nick Markakis and Jayson Werth to a fellow bird collector for Adam Jones, Tom Bolton, Shawn Boskie and Derrick May.

Adam Jones 2009 Topps Heritage #53

There is so much to say about this budding star. He has all the ability to push for an MVP eventually and is a pleasure to watch. He plays with a ton of passion and hopefully that will translate to some monster numbers. I tried Adam during spring training but to no avail, so I made a trade to get him here.


I'm never happy having to add an autograph to the collection from another team, but it hurts more with the RedSox and Yankees. I don't hate the Sox as much as the Yankees, but it is getting close. Boston is where he spent most of his career only ending here in 1994 as a reliever. Bolton doesn't have a major card as an Oriole, only an extremely difficult find on an Orioles Postcard from 94. I am really hoping to find a cache of 1990's postcards, I can use a ton.

Shawn Boskie 1991 Donruss #241

Boskie spent nine major league seasons and never made a postseason appearance, despite being acquired by six teams looking to make a late season push. 1997 was his year in Baltimore as the team tried to make another championship run, but he was not on the playoff roster. Boskie is a tremendous signer TTM but since I had no cards of his, a trade had to be made.

Derrick May 1994 Triple Play #74

I actually had a small Derrick May collection growing up, thinking he and Jerome Walton were going to be superstars. That was not the case. He put up decent numbers when allowed to play over 100 games with the Cubs, but after he left Chicago he never had a chance to be an everyday player. He finished his career in 1999 as an Oriole, only appearing in 26 games.

Here's to continued success.

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