May 31-June 2, 2024 Graphing of the Nationals at Wood Ducks

After missing Tuesday through Thursday last week due to a work trip, I went into the weekend with lowered expectations about how I would do with graphing the Fredericksburg Nationals at Wood Ducks. Couple that with my main helpers all pretty much being unavailable for the bulk of the series, I definitely didn't knock out what I normally would have.  Thankfully, Jesse and I planned ahead for my time away, and he helped me knock out a few cards.  He wasn't here this weekend; Chris also went without me on Wednesday and also helped knock some stuff out.  I'm glad they could help!

Jesse hit two of the guys I didnt get at all in Armando Cruz and Christian Vaquero.  Neither of those guys stopped for me at all between Friday and Sunday, so these three cards from Jesse were special. 

Brenner Cox was very consistent while I was there; he did one per every time he stopped, so with a little help from my friend, Josh, along with Chris, we got a few of Cox's cards handled.

Mason Denaburg signed the four cards i had on Friday, but refused to stop for us the rest of the weekend. I had one card remaining, and had hoped that he'd sign for Chris on Sunday.  He didn't. Oh well, no big deal, i just wanted to get the card out of my box.

Jake Lowery's body language told a story about how he didn't seem to want to be in Kinston.  He just kind of shuffled down the line as he made his way to his dugout each game.  When he stopped to sign, he didn't say much at all.  Jarlin Susana was cool, though.  He signed every time I asked, which was nice enough. 

Roismar Quintana stopped every time we asked, and signed every card we had, so he was the best of the bunch.  

After being refused again by Vaquero and Cruz as they exited the field on Sunday, I decided it wasn't worth trying to get either outside after the game.  I dumped their cards into the Box Of Shame, and probably won't pursue them again.  Oh well.  It doesn't hurt my feelings.

I was able to knock out a few more Wood Ducks team set cards in Michael Thiele, Bryan Magdaleno and David Davalillo.  I'm down to injured guys, demoted guys and a couple Hickory guys to finish off this set.

With all the annoyances of Nationals guys who didn't care to stop at all, I have to mention one of my favorite guys I've come across at the Wood Ducks; Rangers roving instructor, Kenny Holmberg. He is such a great guy.  He made up for the Nats guys being turds.  He talked with me for a whole inning about some scouting reports on guys in the organization and also asked me a lot of collecting questions, which was cool. I'm going to miss seeing him when the Woodies leave after this season. 

It ended up being a decent series; in all, I got the following autographs (this doesn't include the stuff Chris and Jesse got for me while I was gone): David Davalillo x 3, Kenny Holmberg x 2, Bryan Magdaleno x 3, Michael Thiele x 3, Brenner Cox x 10, Mason Denaburg x 4, Elijah Green x 5, Jake Lowery x 2, Roismar Quintana x 10, Jarlin Susana x 20, Travis Syorka x 3 and Samuel Vasquez x 1 (66 total autographs).