April 18, 2026, Graphing of the Tides at Bulls

On Saturday, Jesse and I headed to Durham to graph the Norfolk Tides for the first time this season. I had hoped to get a couple Orioles who were on rehab assignments, but Jackson Holliday had been sent to Frederick to reset his rehab stint. The other person I was excited to try and get was Keegan Akin. 

Fast forward to outside after the game, Akin refused to sign saying "Inside only, sorry guys." That's fine that he wants to only sign inside, except he looked right at us beside the bullpen, INSIDE, and couldn't be bothered to come over and sign my one card. The same guy who told me at Orioles Fan Fest years ago that he was not happy to be there. Sorry to put you out, Keegan. Really. I'll never bother you again.

Now, had that been my only experience on Saturday, I might be a bit upset. Thankfully, we got to interact with several other Todes players, and got a bunch of stuff signed.

I was a bit embarrassed that I kept telling Jesse about the snow globe card of Jose Barrero; except that I realized a ways through the day that it is a crystal ball card. Not a snow globe. Oof. We'll, the card is signed and in my album. 

I got a couple nice Panini Enrique Bradfield, Jr. cards signed, which turned out great. I was also glad to get a Christian Encarnacion-Strand 2025 Topps done.

I finally was able to get Jackson Kowar to sign some cards that had been in the Box-of-Shame for a long time. I also love the Cade Povich Topps Now that I got signed. It looks awesome.

I finally got another Willy Vasquez signed for the album. He was a bit tough when he was with Bowling Green. Now he is in the Orioles system, and I cleared out a 2023 Topps Pro Debut. 

The card above that, though, is a 2021 Topps Heritage Astros Rookie Stars card that I got signed by Enoli Paredes. I had gotten him last year when he was with Gwinnett, but failed to pull everything that I had. I found my 2019 Carolina League All Star card in my box, and got it signed. 

We sat beside the bullpen and talked with Paredes for most of the game. He was really awesome. My experience with Akin later did nothing to ruin my night. Paredes was so cool. He also talked to a dad witg two kids near us, giving them advice and talking about life in the minors. There needs to be more guys like him.

In all, we got the following autographs: Silas Ardoin x 4, Jose Barrero x 3, Enrique Bradfield x 6, Christian Encarnacion-Strand x 2, Jud Fabian x 2, Maikol Hernandez x 4, Jackson Kowar x 7, Enoli Paredes x 6, Cade Povich x 2, Bryan Ramos x 2, Willy Vasquez x 1, Cooper Bowman x 2, Carlos Colmenarez x 2 and Logan Davidson x 2 (45 total autographs).