Memorial Day Weekend 2023 Graphing in Augusta and Columbia

Happy Memorial Day to everyone. This weekend, I drove by myself to Augusta and Columbia for a little break and graphing since last week was a tough one.  On Tuesday, I got confirmation that the Wood Ducks would be moving to Spartanburg and would be replaced supposedly with a wood bat league team.  Yeah, that's definitely not the same.  Anyway, depression aside, I got out and did some major relaxation with some graphing therapy.

The weather was terrible, but i was lucky that Augusta has a little enclave you can hang out in and still get stuff signed without getting rained on.  Nolan Martinez was one of my goals, sknxesi had sent these three cards TTM last year, only to have them returned to sender.  They're signed now with some miles on them and in my album.

I was disappointed that I had let Terry Pendleton walk by me. Had I gotten him, I'd have left earlier than I did.  I stayed til the game was called and ended up picking up a team set from the team store and added a few more autographs to the trip. 

I was pretty tired by the time I was home and able to scan everything from the trip.  Since there wasn't really a game in Augusta, I combined everything.  I went there on Saturday, then caught a double header in a misty rain on Sunday in Columbia.  The Fireflies played the Charleston Riverdogs, so I was able to knock down a couple big stacks of cards for those two loaded teams.  I also had hit Augusta because I won't see them until August and there's a chance some of those guys will already be moved up by then.

My friend, Jessie, gave me a couple Bowman Platinum of Spencer Schwellenbach.  He was really nice.  Owen Murphy signed TTM for me recently, but in black, so this blue 2022 Bowman Draft is an upgrade.

I hit a few guys in the team set while I was waiting on Pendelton to come back out.  Those guys were really nice, as well.

Pendleton finally did come back out and laughed that he had spoken to me before he went in and I didn't get my card out.  I knew I had it but wasn't even thinking.  The rain really had me out of sorts.

In Columbia, I had no shame. I had the mascot, Mason sign 3 of my cards and a girl at customer service gave me another signed card (the one in black).  The two Heritage Minors cards are ones I've had for a while and am glad I got them done.

Both the Riverdogs and Fireflies are stacked.  The double header helped me get everyone I set out to get.  The mist messed up a few of the cards, but I had a dry erase marker on me and I was able to fix the smeared cards.

I was really glad to get Dominic Keegan.  He's batting like .334 or something like that, and I feel like he will be moved up soon.  I bet he's not here when Charleston comes through Kinston in July.

I finally got some of my Ryan Spikes and Cooper Kinney cards signed.  Some of them have been in my boxes for a while.  They also have some 2022 stuff and those were good to get signed as well.

The mist was off and on but the games were pretty good.  They were also pretty quick.  My brother, Adam, joined me for part of the second game, which was nice. 

There are several 2022 Topps Pro Debut that loom really similar. That's probably part of the reason I kept getting Columbia and Charleston players mixed up. 

Steven Zobac was really cool.  Right when he put marker to card, the mist started coming down and 4 of the cards were ruined.  Or so I thought.  During the first game, I fixed them with the dry erase marker and they cleaned up.  I asked him if he would mind touching them up for me between the first and second game, and he obliged.  That was really nice of him.

During the trip, I got the following autographs: Jorge Bautista x 1, Jair Casanova x 1, Tyler Collins x 1, Dawson Dimon x 1, Francisco Floyd x 1, Didier Fuentes x 1, Elison Joseph x 1, Nolan Martinez x 3, Owen Murphy x 4, Connor Narron x 3, Terry Pendleton x 1, Spencer Schwellenbach x 4 and Ethan Workinger x 1, Jhon Diaz x 1, Chandler Simpson x 1, Xavier Isaac x 1, Dominic Keegan x 4, Cooper Kinney x 4, Trevor Martin x 4, Ryan Spikes x 8, Mason x 4, Mack Anglin x 1, Frank Mozzicato x 3, Shane Panzini x 5, Erik Pena x 5, Tony Pena, Jr. x 6, Lizandro Rodriguez x 6, Daniel Vazquez x 6 and Steven Zobac x 8 (90 total autographs).