Lineup Card Photomatch to Ripken's record setting game
 

A few months ago, a collection which came from former Orioles bench coach (amongst other roles) Chuck Cottier hit the auction block. The lineup cards were from the 1995 season, when Ripken tied and set the all-time consecutive games streak.

The lot indicated that the lineup cards were likely used for 'internal purposes' (whatever that means) based on the fact that the collection had home Orioles lineup cards for both home and away games. I imagine another factor is the fact that another lineup card from the record setting game sold a few years back at Robert Edward Auctions and originated from Pitching Coach Mike Flanagan's personal collection

Given the provenance of where the lineup cards came from (Cottier) and the fact that it seemed clear that Cottier was the one who wrote the lineup cards out (both record setting lineup cards had the same handwriting and it matched the other 50+ in this collection), I had a feeling that the listing might not be fully accurate. I also knew that managers and teams often did not follow exact protocol on lineup cards. I've seen lineup cards that say Spring Training used during the regular season, and ones with the wrong year or team printed on it.

Yesterday, with the help of an individual who does photomatching, I was able to confirm that my lineup card (and not the one that was sold at Robert Edward Auctions) was on the wall during the record-setting game. The image that I matched against is literally titled "Baltimore Orioles Manager Phil Regan in Dugout Checking... News Photo" so there's no question where he is when he is examining the lineup card.

My suspicion is that the lineup card that Robert Edward Auctions sold was from the bullpen. This fits the fact that Flanagan was the pitching coach. In the past I bought a collection of 2003 World Series lineup cards that came from the Marlins pitching coach. He had called them dugout lineup cards but I was able to determine with a high degree of certainty that they were from the bullpen. I assume these were similar.

Note that the image in the dugout was before the lineup card was marked up. The match is the shape and placement of the letters. (The examples are cases where REA's one looks different enough to be very confident).

Sorry for the long post, but really happy to have been able to make this determination.

Congrats Jeff, that's pretty darned cool.

Doug

Outstanding detective work, Jeff! Congrats :cool:

Very cool, who did the Photomatching?

Jeff, that all fits, great work and a terrific line-up card. Congrats.

Rick

With no disrespect aimed at the photomatcher, as soon as the picture was found we all could do it.

Thanks Scott! Really excited about this one. Hope you have been doing well!?

Was a kid on Facebook named Gregory Clemons who offers the service for quite cheap (not a formal company or anything). (I checked with him and he was good with me posting his name. Can intro you if that's of interest.)

Thanks Rick! Hope you've been doing well?

True. I didn't really know where to start on these. This one proved easy though thankfully.

Based on the finding of the Ripken Record setting game, I thought it was likely that the whole collection was game-used, but still wanted to confirm.

10/1/1995 Orioles vs Tigers was significant because it was both Lou Whitaker and HOF manager Sparky Anderson's final game.

I can't confirm but I think this game also establishes the record for most games by a doubleplay combination since it was Whitaker and Trammell's inal game together.

I was lucky to be able to find that the game is available on YouTube, and then even luckier that they showed a close-up of part of the lineup card on screen, and for some reason (maybe handwriting is neater) show the Orioles lineup card. It's a perfect match for the one I have.

Here is the link:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uh7kntThL0k

Congratulations, awesome pickup!

That is awesome!