Forgotten Orioles From Matt

This is the first of many overdue trades I need to post. People (great people!) sent me a dump truck's worth of Orioles last week, and here I am slackin' off. These cards came along with many, many others all the way from Kansas. It's safe to say they aren't in Kansas anymore. They're from Matt, of Heartbreaking Cards fame. He's currently on a blogging hiatus, which is a shame, but check out his site anyway, if you haven't already.

I noticed a trend while looking through all the O's that Matt sent my way. A lot of players I had heard of, and even loved on other teams, that I din't remember playing for the Orioles. Maybe I had a vague memory of hearing about a couple of them joining the team, but I certainly don't remember watching them play in Baltimore.

Here are my favorites of Matt's "forgotten Orioles":

1995 Topps Stadium Club Sid Fernandez

Sid Fernandez was an Oriole? In 1995 I was still pissed about the strike, and had just entered high school. While I was still playing baseball, watching it was pretty low on my list of priorities. I remember Sid as a Met, where he turned in some decent seasons. I was born in New York, and still root for the Mets a little bit. You could say they're my National League team of choice (shh...don't tell!)

1992 Fleer Dwight Evans

Dewey was an Oriole? I was definitely watching baseball in '92, and definitely don't remember the great Dwight Evans donning orange & black. What I do remember is Dewey being pretty beast in RBI Baseball as a member of the Red Sox. Man that game was great.

1999 Skybox Premium Juan Guzman

WTF? I definitely don't remember this. What I do remember is my baseball glove when I was a kid just happened to be a Wilson Juan Guzman signature model. I remember his rookie cards being pretty hot there for a little while in the early 90's, and I remember loving him as a Dodger. These cards are pretty cool. I've never seen a Skybox Premium card before Matt hooked me up with a few. I wonder if Juan knows he's on fire?

1999 Skybox Premium Will Clark

Not gonna lie, I do vaguely remember Will Clark as an Oriole. He was once my favorite player, so I remember thinking this was pretty cool, even if his skills were on the decline at this point in his career. I wasn't watching baseball in 1999. I was graduating high school, and had left the game behind entirely a few years prior. I didn't really get back into baseball until 2005. Do you want to know what got me back into the game? I was living in Baltimore City, and had an hour commute back and forth to work. Usually I listened to music, but since I was living in Baltimore, naturally I had my car broken into and the thiefs ended up making off with my entire cd collection. I got off every day at 7, just as most O's games were starting on the radio, so out of the heartache of losing my entire music collection came a newfound love for the game of baseball (and radio to boot).

1995 Score Select Andy Van Slyke

My brother and I used to always say "Andy Van Slyke, the Van Slyke-ster". Thanks Rob Schnieder! I'm sure almost everyone remembers the Van Slyke-ster as a Pittsburgh Pirate. I sure as hell do. Him, Bonilla & skinny Bonds were diabolical back in the day.

1998 Leaf Rookies & Stars Joe Carter

I saved the best forgotten Oriole for last. Joe Carter was a freakin' O? When? 1998 apparently. I best remember Joe as a Brid killer, back in the days when the O's & Jays were among the AL East creme de la creme. I also remember him hitting a huge home run in the World Series that pretty much sank the Phillies in '93.

Yeah, so that was a lot of Orioles to forget about. I'm going to go ahead and assume that they all weren't too memorable while they were here, and I've forgotten them for good reason. Thanks for the trip down unmemory lane Matt!