2023 Graphing Road Trip Recap

Another year, another road trip.  This year's graphing road trip came together when an old friend offered Chris and I a place to stay in Maine.  I formed the trip around that destination, and also worked in a stop in Aberdeen to try to finally graph Jackson Holliday, since I missed him when he was promoted prior to Delmarva visiting Kinston.

Our first stop on Saturday was in Fredericksburg.  I had been told by several people that graphing in Fredericksburg was tough.  We were able to get the trip started with a lot of autos.  I was able to get Elijah Greenon the card above.  He skipped Chris, which was u fortunate and set a tone for a good portion of the trip.

They were giving away team sets prior to the game in Fredericksburg. The cards didn't need to be prepped, and turned out nicely when signed.  We were afraid that the rain would keep us from getting stuff signed, but after a delay, we were able to graph and enjoy a game.

I was afraid I wouldn't be able to getthe above 2022 Panini Prizm Draft card of Riley Cornelio signed, but he came out right before the game and signed for me.

The team set came with a cover card showing the stadium.  I got this card signed by Maxwell Romero, Jr.

If you stand along the left field line, you have a good shot to get autographs from Fredericksburg players. You have to call over opposing players, and hope they come over to sign.  We were able to get Juan Chacon to come and sign right after the rain delay.

We also got Lyonell James to take care of what I brought along.  We missed some of the other Salem players, but they will be in Kinston in a couple of weeks. 

Fredericksburg's ballpark is pretty much brand new.  This was probably the nicest park we went to on the trip.  I wouldn't quite say it was my favorite time graphing on the trip, but it was near the top.

One thing I didn't like was that the ushers wouldn't let you move to the spots by the wall during the 9th inning.  We had to line up next to that area and head down there when the final out was made.

Still, it was fairly easy to get the players to sign.

Chris got a little bored waiting out the rain delay; I think he was ready for the vacation to truly start, and the rain slowed us down a bit.  Rain also became a common theme of this trip.

Our seats were great in Fredericksburg. I really liked their park, and it wasn't terribly far from the house.  I'd definitely go back.

In all, we got the following autographs: Branden Biossiere x 2, Riley Cornelio x 1, Elijah Green x 1, Gus x 2, Sammy Infante x 2, Cortland Lawson x 2, Daylen Lile x 2, Maxwell Romero, Jr. x 1, Johnathon Thomas x 2, Juan Chacon x 4 and Lyonell James x 6 (25 total autographs).

Our next stop was Aberdeen to try to get Jackson Holliday.  As can be seen at the top of this post, I was able to get Jackson on one card.  He skipped Chris twice, which was rough.  We ran into a couple of the Durham graphers. One of them remarked "This ain't Kinston, you're in the graphing big leagues, now."  He wasn't kidding.

I had wanted to go to Ripken Stadium since it opened, and I finally was able to get there.  Graphing was nuts because everyone was going for Holliday.

The field is nice; it is another one of those fields that has turf everywhere.

Here, you can see Brian and Pete, well known graphers.  Pete is a mainstay in Durham, and Brian travels all around NC for graphing. It was nice to see some familiar faces while we were out of town. 

We did get to see Jackson Holliday play.  He didn't have too great a game, bthe still looked good.  He was called up to Bowie the other day, so I may have to try to get there before the season is out.

It was a hot day, right before the July 4th holiday.  I was disappointed to see that the crowd was very light that day.  You have a major holiday weekend and the top prospect in baseball, but the fans just weren't there.

That being said, there were a lot of people graphing pre- and post-game.  I was told that graphing in Aberdeen would be tough, and it was.  I had several payers skip or ignore me.  Chris was skipped by Holliday twice.  He was disappointed big time after the game, but we got over it pretty quickly. 

Here, you can see Chris (right) trying to get Holliday as he exited the field, but still was shut out.  In all, we got the following autographs: Jackson Holliday x 1, Frederick Bencosme x 2 and Max Wagner x 2 (5 total autographs).

We did take time to get a picture together, which turned out nicely.

We were told that we could maybe get autographs from the opposing team.  We decided against that in favor of some steamed crabs.  Leaving when we did helped, as we got to the restaurant right when they were cutting off service. I'd have been really disappointed of we had crabs on our minds and not be able to get them.  They were awesome.

Our next stop was Hudson Valley to see the Renegades take on the Wilmington Blue Rocks. We intended to get Hudson Valley inside the stadium and try to get Wilmington post-game outside.  A major storm came through, ending the game early.  We were ignored by Spencer Jones, which was very unfortunate. I had been told that he was an amazing guy who would sign for everyone.  That didn't work out for us, and left a bad taste in out mouths.  Thankfully, we weren't shut out.  We got the following autographs: Alexander Vargas x 2 and Marcos Cabrera x 2 (4 total autographs).

The worst part of Hudson Valley was when the rain came, everyone was forced to squeeze into a small covered area.  There were a lot of folks pushing each other and several threats of fights.  It was definitely a tough time.  This was my second time catching a game at Hudson Valley, and I can say that I probably won't be back. 

Since we got out of Hudson Valley early, and soaking wet, we skipped stopping at a hotel and drove straight through to our destination in Maine.  We stayed at my friend Todd's place, about 45 minutes out of Portland. 

Portland was a great place to graph.  With the first game being on July 4, the stadium was packed.  I had heard about how to graph in Portland, and we did really well across two games.  We got everyone that we wanted to get, which was nice.

Reid Brignac was really cool.  He had a conversation with Chris and I prior to both games.  I was lucky to get Dominic Hamel.  I was looking for him, and had my book open to his page as folks were lining up for the July 4 fireworks. a guy next to me pointed at the cards on my page and the guy next to him turned to look at them, and it was Hamel.  I asked of he would mind signing them and he said "no".  He smiled and said he would sign them and I said "yeah, you said no as in you don't mind." We laughed and he signed my two cards.

Graphing outside the stadium was super easy.  The home players walk by you to get to the parking lot, and the other graphers there were very helpful. 

One of the other graphers gave me a Chase Meidroth signed Bowman Chrome since I missed him the first night.  I did get Meidroth myself the second day, which was great.

I was really happy to knock out several Nick Yorke and Marcelo Mayer cards.  The Yorkes had a lot of miles on them, as they had been sent out for 50/50s a couple times.

In all, we got the following autographs: Reid Brignac x 11, Mariano Duncan x 4, Dominic Hamel x 2, Jose Peroza x 5, William Woods x 2, Alex Binelas x 2, Marcelo Mayer x 6, Chase Meidroth x 2, Niko Kavadas x 3, Tyler McDonough x 2, Chase Meidroth x 1, Sterling Sharp x 2 and Nick Yorke x 4 (45 total autographs). 

My friend, Todd, had to.wirk while we were in town, with the exception of July 4.  I was glad we got there early, so we had more time to spend together on the 4th.  Todd and his wife, Leslie, were great hosts as always, and took us around the area.

Chris hadn't had many opportunities to spend time with Todd in the past, so this trip was nice in that he finally got some quality time with him.  I'm glad we were able to get up there to visit.

I really liked the field in Portland.  It was a bit older, but the graphing there was easy.

The crowd was great, which was nice.  Everyone was friendly to us.

We really enjoyed the atmosphere at the ballpark.  There were no issues with ushers or unruly fans. 

If given the chance, I'd definitely go back to Portland. 

I'm a big fan of Minor League alternate jerseys, so when I saw that Portland had the Bean Suppah alternate identity, I had to get the jersey and hat.

I love the hat.  I did get several different hats on the trip, but this one was my favorite.

One of Chris's favorite parts of our trips has been the food.  We made sure to get some Maine lobster while we were in town. The lobster was great. Chris had lobster tails before, but never whole lobster.  He really liked it.

One of the coolest things we saw while in Portland was the group of kids we met outside after the second game.  The kid in red had been on a travel ball team, playing the outfield at one game.  In the crowd of that game was Marcelo Mayer. The kid got on Mayer's Instagram and kept in touch.  The kid got Mayer's attention after the game and talked to him.  It turned out that Mayer and a teammate had been driving around and saw a ballgame going on. They decided to stop and watch, which made an impact on this kid. It was something that obviously stuck with him. That's how you create a fan.  It was a cool interaction to see.

After Portland, Chris and I began our trek south by stopping off first in Boston.  We got great tickets to see the Rangers take on the Red Sox.

I didn't want to go crazy trying to graph at Fenway, but I did bring some stuff with me, just in case.  We got two autos by the dugout pregame and one by the bus post-game. We were disappointed that we didn't get a chance to talk to former Wood Ducks manager, Corey Ragsdale.  Still, we had a great time and got the following autographs: Cody Bradford x 1, Ezequiel Duran x 1, and Brad Miller x 1 (3 total autographs).

This was my second time at Fenway.  I had done the tour a few years ago, but didn't get to a game.

This time around, we took in a game and had a great time.  We stayed overnight in Boston and walked around before leaving on the second day.

Our seats were decent.  There was a support beam in the way (at the extreme right of this picture), but it didn't take away from our enjoyment of the game.

I made sure to call my brother, John, and let him know I was at Fenway.  I also picked him up a hat and a jar of Fenway dirt.

We did get to see a former Wood Duck play I. The game.  Leody Taveras had a good game, and is having an even better season.  We yelled for him by the bos, but he didn't stop.

I think Chris enjoyed Fenway.  It was hastily added to the itinerary for the trip, but worked out nicely.  I had thought tickets would be insane, but we found some nice ones at a good price, which made the visit more affordable.

The next to last stadium we stopped at was Dunkin Park in Hartford.  I scrambled around prior to the game to get some cash, since parking was cash only. The city of Hartford was kind of meh. The park is in a rough part of town, which makes it kind of seem out of place.  I imagine there are plans to improve the area around the park.

Another issue I had with the park was that there was a peanut ban in the park.  I found that to be very weird.  I get it that there are folks with peanut allergies, but everyone gets punished for it.  The sign noting the ban says you will be ejected from the park if caught with peanuts.  Seriously?

Graphing there was also odd.  One of the ushers is super nice and is very helpful. She lines the graphers up and they call over who they want to sign.  Most of the players will come over and the usher opens the net.  I got ignored by Hunter Goodman twice. The usher told me that he is very tough to graph, and she wasn't kidding.  Outside was tough, too.  I was ignored by TJ Brock.  I did get Jack Blomgren out there, so the waiting outside wasn't wasted time.  I didn't get a single New Hampshire player to sign, which was a bummer.  In all, we got the following autographs: Jack Blomgren x 2, Grant Lavigne x 4 and Drew Romo x 5 (11 total autographs).

I had moved the Hartford game ahead a day to Friday, so we could spend Saturday knocking out a huge chunk of the trip south.  We stopped in Gettysburg, PA so that Chris could see where his great-grandfather went to college.  It was a nice little stop that wasn't baseball related.

The final stop on the trip was in Richmond.  We originally put Richmond on the itinerary so we could see our friend, Alex.  Alex wasn't able to come to the game, but he didn't miss much. I brought stuff for Bowie, of course, and only one card for Richmond. Again, rain set in and cut the game short.  We did get a few autos pre-game, but like several of the stops, we were limited in what we were able to get done.  In all, we got the following autographs: Jud Fabian x 2 and Anthony Servideo x 4 (6 total autographs).  I was disappointed that Coby Mayo stopped signing right next to Chris and I.  The hope was to get him post-game, but the rain killed that.

Still, we had a great time.  We got 99 autographs.  We hit 8 games at 7 ballparks.  Hopefully we can do another graphing road trip next summer.