May 25-30 Graphing of Nationals at Mudcats and a Few Unlikely Autos

When we were planning to graph our next series of the Fredericksburg Nationals as Wood Ducks, Chris and I had no idea that some pretty big names were in town.  It took until Wednesday night to realize, but Bob and Bret Boone were in town watching Bret's son (Bob's grandson) play for the Nationals.  Bob Boone is also a special assistant in the Nationals organization, so his trip was also in an official capacity.

Bob Boone was really cool, every time we spoke with him.  We ended up having decently long conversations with him each time we talked to him.  I even had him sign a ball, which I have already put away.  I thought it would be a good idea to get Bob and Bret on the above 2016 Topps Archives Father & Son card, with also adding Jake to it.  Maybe someday, I can add Aaron Boone to the card.

I was able to get a nice assortment of Boone cards signed.  He was really friendly, which led to some nice conversation.  He is very opinionated, but was cool about it.  When I had asked him to sign my ball, I asked him for an inscription related to what we had chatted about the day before, but he said no, smiled and laughed.  It was really cool, though.

I was glad to get all of the cards I found signed, because I didn't realize Boone was there until Wednesday night.  I stayed up til 1:30 in the morning Thursday morning trying to locate cards.  I finally found a decent assortment in my to-be-TTMed box next to my Bret Boones.  I should have looked there first.

I got some nice Bret Boone cards signed.  I didn't do an extensive search for his stuff.  I had put a few aside a while back to send to a private signing that I ended up missing.  It turned out well, as I got quite a few of them done, and they all look great.  Chris got Bret first, and Bret told him it was his first time signing in a park as a fan.  Bret told me that he actually had played at Grainger Stadium when he was on the Peninsula team a long time ago.

In my planning for this series, I was able to find a 1990 CMC AAA in a box that my mom had given me.  I went to Sportlots to find some other cards of Pat Rice, and Jorge Mejia.  I was lucky to find a 2008 Bowman Chrome Mario Lisson in my boxes.

These three 2004 Bowman Jorge Mejias were really nice.  I had to order them.  The blue chrome in the middle was actually in one of those Topps sealed cases that I had to take apart to get the card out.  I think I paid a quarter for the card, so the case will be a shipper in the future.

Mitchell Parker pitched great in this series, even coming out after 6 no hit innings in his last start.  He had reached a pitch count.  He was super nice and signed everything we had.

I had found this Jeremy De La Rosa card in my 2021 Bowman box, so I was glad to get it signed.  I got another signed for a 50/50.

I finally got my 2019 Hickory team set card signed by Abdiel Mendoza.  My friend Gerard sent me two 2020 Bowman First Edition Tekoah Robys, so I was able to keep one.  Also, Thomas Saggese (pronounced Suh-Jay-See) was brought up, and he signed the one card we had.

Finally, I got these three 2019 Bowman Chrome parallels signed by our buddy, Mason Englert.  He had a rough outing today, complete with an ejection.  It sucks, but he talked to us afterward and let us know what had happened.  It was unfortunate, but doesn't change our opinion of him.  Chris and I both really like Mason, and he has pretty much become our go-to Wood Duck this season.  We also had a great conversation with Cody Freeman today, who seems like a great dude.

We had an awesome time this series, and got some very unlikely autos.  I was glad to be able to chat with Bob Boone.  Now time to wait for the next series, against Kannapolis in 2 weeks.

In all, we got: Mitchell Parker x 27, Bob Boone x 11, Bret Boone x 6, Evan Carter x 6, Antonio Cabello x 22, Abdiel Mendoza x 2, Tekoah Roby x 20, Leury Tejada x 25, Thomas Saggese x 1, Jayce Easley x 1, Randy Florentino x 1, Jake Boone x 1, Par Rice x 6, Mario Lisson x 1, Jeremy De La Rosa x 2, Jorge Mejia x 5, Mason Englert x 5 and Steve Mintz x 2.