27 Baltimore Orioles Autographs Major & Minor Leaguers 1950's-1970's Signed

Description

This is a total of 27 autographs on an eclectic group of letters and contracts signed by major leaguers and minor leaguers who played for the Baltimore Orioles or for an Orioles farm team at some point during the 1950's through the 1970's. The group includes the following: (1)
A document dated April 28, 1979, signed by 23 members of the Charlotte O's, a farm team of the Baltimore Orioles, acknowledging that they were aware of Baseball Rule 21, which prohibits gambling and bribery and failing to report either if the player knows of it. It is signed by the manager,
Jimmy Williams
(later an Orioles coach), as well as several players who made it to the major leagues including
Mike Boddicker
,
Bobby Bonner
,
Drungo Hazewood
,
Dave
Huppert
,
Dallas Williams
,
Jeff Schneider
and
Nate Snell
. (2)
A 1-page hand-written letter to "Mike" signed by former major leaguer
Don Leppert
. Leppert played in the majors in only 1955, for the Baltimore Orioles. He played in the minor leagues from 1949 to 1956. Another player named Don Leppert had a longer career in the majors during the 1960's.  The letter, written in 1997, notes that while Leppert's career was brief, he'd never forget playing against the likes of Mantle, Williams, Feller, Ford and other  members of the Hall of Fame.  (3)
A 4-paragraph hand-written reply to baseball related questions signed by former New York Yankee and Oriole
Tom Shopay
. The questions were likely sent to him by an autograph collector/amateur baseball historian. Shopay replies that he doesn't think the public would stand for another strike, the best pitchers he faced were Lolich, Palmer, Blue and Ryan, what he remembered best about his career (his first home run and the 1971 World Series) and a prognosis for an unnamed team saying next year "will be hard for anyone to predict." (4)
A contract dated March 9, 1962, between former Baltimore Orioles "bonus baby"
Bruce Swango
and The Autographed Ball Company. Swango signed the contract in 5 places. Swango was to receive one cent for each ball sold containing his facsimile signature so long as Swango was a major leaguer. Swango played from 1955 to 1963 but never in the major leagues. He was signed out of high school for a bonus of ,000 by the Orioles in May 1955, but Swango, a pitcher, was so wild that he couldn't even pitch batting practice for fear of injuring someone, and the Orioles released him in July 1955. He played in the minors for Yankee and Minnesota farm teams but retired after the 1963 season; and (5) Perhaps most interesting,
a 2-page hand-written letter to "Joel" written and signed by career minor leaguer
Al Nage
l. Nagel played in the minors between 1955 and 1962, in the Baltimore Orioles farm system as well as in the Cincinnati and Minnesota systems. He was a good hitter finishing his career with a slugging percentage of .456, 82 home runs, 309 RBI's and a lifetime batting average of .267. The letter, written in 2017, when Nagel was 83, talks about hitting 5 home runs during a double header while playing in Amarillo. He complains of the "politics" in baseball and claims that although he led the Orioles in hitting in spring training in 1960, he didn't get called up because unlike the other outfielders, he didn't play golf with manager Paul Richards.
These are all interesting baseball artifacts signed by a number of major league players as well as some players who gave it all they had but never made it to the big leagues.