July 9-14, 2024, Graphing of the Salem Red Sox at Wood Ducks

With our vacation ending, it was time to head back to Grainger Stadium to see the Wood Ducks take on the Salem Red Sox. I had pre-prepped a while back foe this series, so it wasn't as hard on me to get ready prior to Tuesday's game.

I picked up some cards off of Ebay right when coaches were revealed, so I had a couple nice cards to get signed by Ozzie Chavez.  This 2003 Bowman Heritage turned out great. I love this design, and was happy to get it added to the autograph album. 

The Red Sox were a bit tough all series, with no numbers on the front and most guys limiting.  Add in that there was a lot of rain and missed opportunities.  Still we did decently.  I finished off everything I had for Brooks Brannon.  Brooks is an amazing guy, who stopped and talked with us every game.  I am a fan now and plan to add some of his certified stuff to the collection at the National. 

Nazzan Zanetello signed for us most of the time.  He was pretty strict limiting his signing to post-game only.  The one day he didn't sign was after a tough Salem loss, so that was understandable.

Finally, I added two more team set cards to the album now that Danyer Cueva and Alberto Mota are back.  I also added this nice pink foil parallel of Danyer's 2023 Topps Pro Debut that Gerard gave me.

My buddy, Max sent me an assortment of James Jones cards recently, and Jones was here for this series.  I got Max's stuff done, as well as my Frisco team set cards.  James is a great guy and seems to be flourishing in his rover role this season.

The highlight of the series was that the Wood Ducks won the second game of Saturday's double header by spinning a combined no hitter.  I got Jesse's ticket stub signed by the Billy Waters Player(s) of the game (brought to you by Mount Olive Pickles): Julian Brock (catcher), Izack Tiger (starter) and Adonis Villavicencio (reliever).

Adonis's hands were still shaking when he signed the ticket and this ball for me.  I found the ball pre-game ad I walked into the park.  It is a beat up batting practice ball, but it still is cool that I was able to commemorate the occasion.

We don't get many nice things in Kinston, so it was awesome that we got to witness a no hitter in person.

In all, we got the following autographs: Tonight's graphing recap of the Red Sox at Wood Ducks: Danyer Cueva x 6, Alberto Mota x 3, James Jones x 20, Brooks Brannon x 23, Nazzan Zanetello x 9, Jojo Blackmon x 1, Carlos Maldonado x 1, Tommy Specht x 2, Antonio Anderson x 3, Ozzie Chavez x 2, Daniel McElveny x 1, Izack Tiger x 4, Adonis Villaviceno x 2, Julian Brock x 2, Paul Bonzagni x 2, Ivan Oviedo x 1, Josh Trentadue x 2, Fraymi De Leon x 8 and Freili Encarnacion x 3 (95 total autographs).