July 2022 Graphing of Fireflies at Wood Ducks

Last week's series between the Fireflies and Wood Ducks showed me that I am getting to be just about ready for the season to come to a conclusion.  While I had a ton of cards to get signed, and an extra pair of hands this week, this was still one of the tougher series I have had.  The series before against the Cannonballers was probably the toughest, but this one tried my patience at times.

Still, we did well graphing.  We got a lot of different cards signed.  I was able to move a bunch of 2021 stuff out of my boxes, and add them to the album.

There were also a good many cards from older sets that I was able to get signed, and there would have been more, had the coaches for the Fireflies not been so tough to get to sign.  Tony Pena, Jr. stopped pre-game once for us during the series.  He would sign different cards, so I was able to get a few taken care of.  Later in the series, however, he would tell a group of us that he would sign outside after the game.  So, for the first time this season, I waited outside.  Pena walked by us and ignored us.  This was Saturday.

To be fair, the graphing crowd on Saturday was the largest that I had seen in Kinston since probably 2018, when Luis Robert was in town.  There was a group of graphers from the Raleigh area, and two teenagers (both named Dylan, oddly enough) who were visiting from Durham.  I talked to the first Dylan for the better part of the game, and helped him get some stuff signed after the game.  He and his friend seemed like nice people, and I think they enjoyed their time in Kinston enough to want to come back during the Fredericksburg series.

Glenn Hubbard would take the long way to the opposing dugout; skipping where we were standing entirely.  Tuesday, after the game, he went down the left field line and signed everything for everyone.  After that, he wouldn't sign for anyone at all the rest of the series.

John Habyan, by far, was the nicest of the coaches.  He stopped for everyone every time he walked by, which was great.  I didn't pull much of his stuff, and a couple of his cards were given to me by a fellow grapher.

The toughest coach was Chris Nelson.  He stopped one time after Tuesday's game, then signed one per for the three of us.  After that, he would completely ignore us, with the exception of answering me one time when I asked "Do you have time to sign" to which he replied "Ummm, Nah." and kept walking.

The pitchers, by far, were the best signers of the week.  Ben Hernandez signed everything we had over the week.  I was glad to get my blue 2021 Heritage Minors parallel signed.  The card is numbered 60/99.  The Panini Elite Extra Edition is a die cut parallel and is numbered 159/999.

I was glad to get Frank Mozzicato to sign the cards that I had.  He was the Royals first round pick last year.

I had some parallels and stuff for the Wood Ducks as well, and this 2021 Panini Elite Extra Edition of Cam Cauley is numbered 479/499.

My friend, Gerard, sent me a bunch of Jose Rodriguez parallels from 2022 Bowman and a Mitch Bratt refractor from 2021 Panini Prizm.  Regardless of the issues with the coaches, I had a good time graphing this week.  In all, I got the following autographs:

Maximo Acosta x 6, Cam Cauley x 22, Ryan Garcia x 9, Dylan MacLean x 2, Ian Moller x 10, Jose Rodriguez x 12, Jesus Azuaje x 1, John Habyan x 8, Glenn Hubbard x 16, Chris Nelson x 5, Ben Hernandez x 23, Carter Jensen x 7, Frank Mozzicato x 8, Shane Panzini x 8, Erick Pena x 21, Mitch Bratt x 1, Ben Kurdna x 7 and Tony Pena Jr x 15 (182 total autographs).