Colton Cowser explains secret message on ridiculous Gunnar Henderson baseball card

Much of the Baltimore Orioles' core has played together at multiple levels of professional baseball. The O's once had the best farm system in Major League Baseball, a perk of picking high in the draft several years in a row. Among those draft picks were Gunnar Henderson and Colton Cowser.

Henderson made his MLB debut late in the 2022 season. Cowser's debut followed less than a year later, and both were established Orioles starters by the 2024 season. They continued to establish a friendship, too, one that began in Triple-A in 2022.

That friendship lent itself to a hilarious story from Cowser, prompted by some words written by Henderson on a baseball card. The Orioles shortstop signed a rare one of 20 card, adding "Cowser is afraid of shrimp" to his signature. One lucky collector will be in for quite the laugh when they open that card.

Cowser said he and a bunch of Orioles players went on group fishing trips during Spring Training. The origin of the shrimp scare stems from one of those times on a boat.

“One time, one jumped out of my hand and I had to grab it off the ground and it took a little bit longer because it was in the crevice of the deck,” Cowser said, per Melanie Newman. “So he assumed I was afraid of it.”

Cowser said he was not afraid, but it was a fun preseason moment nevertheless. Apparently, Henderson had a few more jokes on his mind when signing other cards, but Cowser only went as far as telling fans to "be on the lookout" for other Henderson cards.

Colton Cowser makes a statement in return, Orioles continue to roll

Cowser had over 50 extra-base hits as a rookie and posted an .814 on-base plus slugging percentage after the All-Star break. There's no wonder Baltimore's offense struggled without him in the lineup for over two months. He returned in time to join the O's on their hottest stretch of the season.

Amid the Orioles' fourth win in a row (now five after Wednesday's win), Cowser smacked a solo home run to give Baltimore insurance in their series-opening victory in Seattle. He reached base twice in his second game back and now has a four-game hitting streak.

Having Cowser in the lineup makes the Orioles deeper offensively. If everyone can start to click, the O's can have a dangerous offense capable of keeping them in every game.

Not only have the Orioles won five games in a row, but they were also victorious in nine of their previous 13 games. A win on Thursday would secure a second consecutive series sweep for the O's. They haven't done that since July 2023.

More Orioles news from Birds Watcher