BIRTHDAY BOOLSHEET BLASTER: PART 14 - ORIOLES

I'M DRAGGING TODAY AND NEED AN EASY POST SO HERE'S ANOTHER TEAM FROM THE BULLSHIT BLASTER. TODAY WE GOT THE ORIOLES. THERE'S 84 CARDS IN THE PILE MAKING IT ONE OF THE LARGER TEAM LOTS. DOES THAT MEAN THERE'S ANYTHING GOOD? LET'S FIND OUT

OFF TO A GOOD START WITH FOUR MORE CARDS FOR THE TOPPS TRADED SET. IT'S A NICE LITTLE GROUP OF PLAYERS TOO, PLUS CAL AND BILLY'S POP

1987 TOPPS TRADED COUNT: 20/132

THE 2002 PILE IS JUST AS GOOD AS WE HAVE A COMPLETE ORIOLES TEAM SET. THE 2001 O'S MUST HAVE BEEN PRETTY DIRE AS THE 'BIG' NAMES IN THERE ARE GUYS LIKE JEFF CONINE AND MELVIN MORA

2002 TOPPS COUNT: 127/718

THIS VAL MAJEWSKI DRAFT PICKS CARD IS NOT PART OF THE BASE SET BUT A BONUS IN RETAIL FACTORY SETS. THIS IS THE SECOND ONE OF THESE I'VE GOTTEN SO FAR AND IT'S REALLY MAKING ME THINK THIS BOX HAD THE PICKED OVER CORPSE OF A FACTORY SET. VAL PLAYED 9 GAMES FOR THE ORIOLES IN 2004 AND HAD A TON OF DRAFT PICKS CARDS IN 2002

1989 BILLY RIPKEN! WRONG BRAND

ANOTHER BILLY RIPKEN! WRONG YEAR AND BRAND. I HAD TO SHOW OFF THE CAMERA ON THIS CARD THOUGH. YOU THINK BILLY IS SHOOTING BEAVER WITH THAT THING?

ARTHUR RHODES STAR ROOKIE CARD. RHODES THREW 900 GAMES IN THE BIGS, ONLY 25 PITCHERS HAVE MORE THAN THAT. SADLY THIS IS NOT AN ACTUAL ROOKIE CARD, THANKS BOWMAN

THE TWO TEAM CARDS IN THE PILE GIVE US AN INSIGHT ON EXACTLY WHEN ROGUE OUTFIELD WALLS STARTED PHOTOBOMBING TEAM PHOTOGRAPHS. TOPPS CAN BE SO WEIRD SOMETIMES

ANOTHER GREAT RELIEF PITCHER ROOKIE-ISH CARD. I LIKE THAT THE ORIOLES ORANGE BORDER WORKS SO WELL WITH THE AUBURN UNIFORM

AAAAND HERE'S ALL THE REST. THE ORIOLES LOT WAS MORE ABOUT QUANTITY THAN QUALITY. NO PACIFIC, NO SHINIES, AND OTHER THAN THE 2002-03 TOPPS, NOTHING BUT JUNK. DID I NEED ANY OF THE JUNK? NOPE. OH WELL THEY CAN'T ALL BE WINNERS. AT LEAST THE 1987 AND 2002 BOATCHES WERE REALLY GOOD.

June Vintage Show Top Ten #7

Tonight we have some 1954 Topps action for the price of a 2011 retail pack.

1954 Topps #226 Jeshosie Heard

The little green dot on the card sleeve means it was two bucks. Yes, this is Orioles Day on the blog. Here's a '54 rookie card of pitcher Jehosie "Jay" Heard. I think it was the only Topps card Jay ever got, as he made two appearances for the O's in '54 before being sent back to the Pacific Coast League. Those two games were significant ones as Jehosie was the first black player on the Baltimore Orioles.

The Orioles had technically integrated seven years earlier when the St. Louis Browns called up Hank Thompson and Willard Brown to the club in 1947. Jehosie was still the first for the franchise to wear a Baltimore uniform. Despite never playing baseball until playing on an Army team during World War Two, Jay went on to win a pennant with his hometown Birmingham Black Barons of the Negro Leagues and pitched well in the minors and Pacific Coast League. The 'toons on the back of the card feature his 20-win season and no-hitter in 1952. I actually passed this card up at least once at previous shows but I'm glad I finally picked it up. There's some real gems in the bargain box if you just look...

Bowman Beaters - Baltimore Orioles

Here's a couple of cards from the twenty-five cent '55 Bowman stack. Today's team is the Orioles, with two cards out of the stack.

Preacher Roe! Full disclosure: I thought this was a Dodger card until I got it home.

Fellow pitcher Bob Kuzava. His "Most exciting game" blurb on the back tells of the day Bob Boyd broke up his no-hit bid in the top of the ninth with a double.

The odd thing with these two are the backs are perfect. Most of the cards out of that lot were missing large chunks of paper off the back. What else would the stuff stuck to on the front be? These two are pretty nice though. On the back. The fronts are a mess. look closely on the right side of the card and you'll see the text from the card that was once in front imprinted silly putty style on the TV cabinet border. I wonder if I can decipher the text to figure out what card got stuck to them?

Ten Years Ago Today

This atrocity occurred.

AY- TRAH - SIT - TEE

The score is too horrific to post. Instead I will relay the line scores from two players well known to Orioles and Braves fans:

Cal Ripken Jr:

6 at bats, 6 hits, 6 RBIs, 5 runs, 1 double, two homers.

John Smoltz:

2 1/3 IP, 7 hits, 7 runs, all earned, 2 walks, 2 strikeouts.

That pretty much sums up the game. Between the Interleague asswhoopins and the All Star Game in Baltimore where the crowd started a mock chop, I really loathed the Orioles for a few years. The Orioles go for a repeat (or the Braves exact revenge) tonight in Camden.