2026 Graphing Road Trip

This year's road trip had come and gone. A bunch of autographs were collected and a ton of miles were put on the Camaro. Chris and I had a great time, and now I've uploaded everything so I can share.

June 27, 2026 - Rocket City Trash Pandas at Columbus Clingstones

We left the house right after I got off of work on Friday, June 26. We drove about 4 hours or so and stopped in Columbia, South Carolina for the night. We got up on Saturday morning and met my brother at his house for a quick breakfast, then we were on the road again to Columbus, GA 

It was really hot and humid in Columbus. The ballpark is right on the Chattahoochee River and I had Alan Jackson's song running through my head the whole time. Graphing at the Clingstones is really easy along the opposing side pregame, as long as the players acknowledge you and come over. Juan Flores broke the ice and got us on the board for our trip by signing every card we had of him. I also was really glad to finally move those 2020 and 2021 cards of David Calabrese out of my box.

We met a fellow graphed named Joe as we were graphing pregame. He was a really nice guy and let Chris and I encroach upon his space to get our stuff done, even cheering us on as we got a lot of the Trash Pandas to come sign for us.

After the game, we went outside and saw graphers standing near the parking lot. We figured out it was the player lot and got a bunch more cards signed. 

I had picked up a Columbus team set since we had planned to see two of their games on the trjp. I'm glad I did; it looks good, and it gave me some extra cards to get done. 

I did have to prep the cards during the game, but that wasn't a problem.

Jordan Groshans refused to sign for the two teenagers who were helping us identify players. I asked him if he would sign for Chris and I, and he begrudgingly walked over and hit two cards each. That was nice. I got my 2021 Bowman blue parallel signed, finally.

The help we got identifying players helped me knock out a chunk of the team set. I also got a couple Luke Waddell cards signed, so that was a help getting some cards out of the box. In all, we got the following autographs: David Calabrese x 8, Ryan Costeau x 1, Juan Flores x 9, Cole Fontenelle x 14, Austin Gordon x 3, Camden Minacci x 3, Jake Munroe x 2, Luke Murphy x 1, Blake Abeyta x 1, Logan Braunschweig x 1, Blake Burkhalter x 3, Patrick Clohisy x 1, Drew Compton x 1, Cedric De Grandpre x 1, Fuzzy x 1, Jordan Groshans x 4, Owen Hackman x 1, Herick Hernandez x 4, Tyler Laporte x 1, LJ McDonough x 1, Julio Robaina x 1, Brett Sears x 1, Samuel Strickland x 1, Ambioris Tavarez x 2, Tyler Tolve x 1, Luis Vargas x 1, Luke Waddell x 2 and Mike Wall x 1 (71 total autographs).

Side Quest - June 28, 2026 - Hank Williams Gravesite

The last time we were in Montgomery (2012), I neglected to look into going to Hank Williams's gravesite. This time around, we made the trip.

I'm not a Hank Williams fan, but I recognize the impact he meant on a lot of the music I listen to today.

We paid our respects and went on our way, but I was glad I did stop in and visit.

June 28, 2026 - Biloxi Shuckers at Montgomery Biscuits

We were on to the next game in the trip, the Biloxi Shuckers at Montgomery Biscuits. Jesus Made was the big target, whomever we completely whiffed on.

We did get several guys I had put aside the last couple of seasons in hopes I'd see them with the Mudcats, like Mike Boeve. He signed everything I brought, which was great.

Eric Brown, Jr hit a few cards each for Chris and I. I was especially happy when Matt Lipka recognized us, asked us how we were doing and walked over to sign the one card I had left of him. I had heard horror stories about how tough Andrew Fischer would be, but he was actually pretty nice to us. He was even nice when the teenager next to us asked him if he would bring Made over or take his cards to Made to sign. I warned the kid that this wasn't something you should typically ask a player, but he asked him anyway. What do I know?

We graphed Biloxi's side pregame. Postgame, we graphed along the ramp that the Buscuits used to come off of the field. We were very successful there, getting most of the team.

Gary Gill Hill was mice, as usual, and sifned everything we had. I knocked out a couple Mac Horvath, as well.

Xavier Isaac did not seem like he wanted to be bothered, but he did sign for us. He was especially unhappy after I made a crack about West Forsyth being superior to East Forsyth. My bad, Xavier. It is ingrained in me to this day to root for the Titans. It's all of my brothers' football games I sat through that made me make the (non) joke.

Finally, I got my Kenny Piper Durham team set card signed, alone with a few more Ryan Spikes for Gerard and I.

In all, we got the following autographs: Mike Boeve x 18, Eric Brown Jr x 6, Andrew Fischer x 1, Jacob Hurtubise x 2, Bishop Letson x 1, Matt Lipka x 1, Dylan O'Rae x 7, Jheremy Vargas x 6, Matthew Wood x 1, Jadher Arienamo x 4, Gregory Barrios 6, Chris Clark x 3, Theo Gillen x 2, Gary Gill Hill x 5, Mac Horvath x 6, Xavier Isaac x 2, Andrew Lindsey x 5, TJ Nichols x 3, Kenny Piper x 1 and Ryan Spikes x 11 (91 total autographs). 

Side Quest - June 29, 2026 - Gator Ranch

Chris and I love a good roadside attraction. Being in Bayou Country, we figured we would get a chance to see some alligators. We saw a sign for Gator Ranch and made a stop.

We learned that gators like marshmallows, which was something I wasn't expecting.

We also got to ride in a Waterboy style airboat. That was a lot of fun. They took us out on the water to see some of the gators in the wild.

They really did love going after the marshmallows, which was so cool. I never knew alligators had a sweet tooth.

I paid the 5 bucks for Chris to hold a baby Gator. He loved that, too, but he's the same guy who was enamored with the cat inside the gift shop as well.

As far as roadside attractions go, the Gator Ranch didn't Beatles year's Corn Palace, but it was a really cool spot.  I also got to hear a gator growl. That was so cool; I just wish I had gotten it on video.

June 30, 2026 - Minnesota Twins at Houston Astros

I crossed a MLB stadium off of the list when we went to Daikin Park to see the Twins visit the Astros.

The structure is impressive, and it was nice to watch baseball in air conditioning. I looked into getting field level seats by the net, but at $250/ticket, graphing at this game was a no go, so we didn't even try. I had stuff prepped and loaded, but once the security guy ran us out, I said heck with this and packed it up. So, you can't get shut out graphing if you don't even have a chance to get anything signed.

Still, it was nice to put the Sharpies down and just take in a game.

I didn't mind the ballpark itself, but yhe atmosphere felt jam packed. It reminded me of the scene in Anchorman 2 where they keep adding graphics to the screen. There us just so much going on there; I felt like it took away from the game.

We did get to see Yordan Alvarez hit a grand slam. We didn't have a bad time, and we enjoyed ourselves, but I think I can say that I don't need to go back to Houston's ballpark in the future.

Side Quest - July 1, 2026, NASA Space Center Houston

Something I was really excited to see was Space Center Houston. I grew up really into space exploration, as the Space Shuttle was really into its heyday when I was in elementary school. 

Of course, we took a wrong turn into the Johnson Soace Center; not the same thing as Space Center Houston. We would find that out a coupke minutes after this picture was taken when the security guy told me to turn around and do a U turn and head to the next parking lot over.

We got to see the Saturn rocket, which was so cool to see in person. The sheer size of that thing was amazing. 

See? The thing is freaking huge. We stood and looked at the rocket for quite a while. The rocket part of the tour of the space center was free. We got there too late ti book the tour of the control room.

The geologist got to touch the moon rock. Chris wouldn't touch it. He figured too many kids had put their booger fingers on it, but I wasn't going to let that deter me. There was no way I was leaving Houston without touching the moon rock.

July 2 -3, 2026 - Amarillo Sod Poodles at San Antonio Missions

Our next stop was San Antonio for several days. We had two games scheduled for rhe Missions, then a stop at the Alamo for 4th of July.

We finally got some souvenir cups, since Mal loves it so much when we bring stacks of them home.

The ballpark is very old, but graphing there is pretty easy. You have to pick a side, and go after your team. We picked the Missions to try on day 1 and I bought a team set to go after.

We met a kid who sat down next to us asked we were graphing the Missions. His name was Parker, he was 10, and he reminded me of my niece, Ada, if she were a 10-year old boy instead of a 4-year old. He was super funny and definitely knew his stuff about both teams. He later introduced us to his older brother Wyatt, who helped us identify tiny players outside. They were in town visiting their grandparents, and had drug poor Grandpa along for the graphing shenanigans. I talked with him later and he thanked me for keeping the kids entertained with my stories about graphing in Durham.

We got Amarillo guys on the second day, since the first day we focused strictly on the Missions side. That was because Parker and Wyatt assured me that they could (and did) identify all of the Missions players. We went to the Amarillo side the second game inside and outside, then moved to the Missions side outside the second day to add a few more guys

The team set was pretty mice, but also had to be prepped, which I did during the first game. The red font was realpy hard to read, especially at night. That first night, Wyatt pretty much pointed to each card I needed done, since he could tell I couldn't see.

It is always good to get 2021 Pro Debut cards out of the box, speaking of hard to read fonts.

Still, the cards look good, and over the two games, I got a good many of them done.

It was nice to get Victor Lizarraga, since he was the starter. Usually that doesn't happen, but we got him and Ethan Salas back to back.

I was also glad to get some Tirso Ornelas out of the box. Those 2019 Bowmans were nice to finally move.

Here are a couple team set cards and a Kai Roberts Bowman Chrome that Gerard had sent me. I took 50/50s for hin on this trip.

We were really pumped to get Ethan Salas twice the first game and once after the second game. He had just come off of the IL and usually didn't sigb for people pregame. He signed for us!

Luis Verdugo was probably the toughest one to get (that we actually got). We didn't get Druw Jones at all.

Something I didn't realize until they told us before the first game; that second game was going to be a giveaway. The team gave away America 250 jerseys. Above is a photo of the line to get in for the second day we were there.

In all, we got the following autographs: Erik Abreu x 2, Francisco Acuna x 1, Brian Burres x 4, Clark Candiotti x 1, Chandler Craig x 1, Eric Del Prado x 1, Albert Fabian x 1, Harry Gustin x 1, Jagger Haynes x 3, Victor Lizarraga x 4, Josh Mallitz x 1, Johan Moreno x 1, Tirso Ornelas x 6, Francisco Pena x 1, Kai Roberts x 3, Ethan Salas x 6, Chris Sargent x 1, Carson Tucker x 1, Chris Tremie x 1 and Luis Verdugo x 2 (38) Demetrio Crisantes x 6, Daniel Eagen x 1, Jack Hurley x 10, Ashton Izzi x 2, Jansel Luis x 3, Nate Savino x 2, Avery Short x 3, Cristofer Torin x 4 and Andrew Thurman x 1 (74 total autographs).

July 4, 2026 - The Alamo

When Chris pointed toward Texas for this year's trip, I built the itinerary around 4th of July at the Alamo. I thought it would be cool to be there for America's 250th celebration. 

We had never been to the Alamo, so it was a great choice. It really is an interesting place.

We did the tour, which was free, and really simple. A lot of the Alamo complex has been destroyed in the years since the battle, but the main church building still stands, and there is a museum behind it that had a lot of historical stuff in there. A lot of the items in the museum comes from rocker Phil Collins's personal collection.

We did not find the basement, but we did find Pee Wee's bike. The museum did a good job in tying the movie prop into the museum, basically stating that a good many kids from the 80s learned about the Alamo because of Pee Wee's Big Adventure. They weren't wrong.

I had this vision in my head of how cool it would be to see the fireworks shot off with the Alamo in the background. After the tour, I realized that wasn't going to happen. The place would burn down. So, after that, I realized that it would be just like any other tine I had seen fireworks, so we opted to do a ghost tour of San Antonio instead. I'm glad we did that, because it was a good time.

July 5, 2026 - Albuquerque Isotopes at Round Rock Express

After San Antonio, we headed toward Austin and a game at the Round Rock Express. I had seen Round Rock earlier this season in Durham, so I was focused on Albuquerque instead (even though I did bring cards for them).

The Dell Diamond was a really nice ballpark. Graphing inside was pretty good, and the ushers actually encourage you, and chat the whole time. I met a few fellow graphsrs who were bug helps as well.

Hey, I know this guy! I texted this picture to Cody Freeman, but haven't yet gotten a response.

Here is a view from our seats. There weren't a whole lot of people there, and it was really hot.

Chris and I didn't do as good of a job doing our selfie at each park. He pointed that out, so we got one here.

There were quite a few guys on Albuquerque that I was excited to get, like the blue parallel from 2017 Topps Heritage Minors of Domingo Acevedo. I didn't think I'd ever get him, and I got some good stuff out of the box.

Adael Amador and Zac Veen were tough, but we were able to get them on a couple cards. Finishing this dual card with Drew Romo was a goal, and I met the goal. Veen doesn't have a great auto, but hey, the ink is on the card.

Charlie Condon was another player I was really excited to get. I got my 2025 National Silver Pack exclusive card signed, which was another lofty goal. 

We did really well getting most of the guys we needed for Albuquerque. You stand by the steps at the corner of right field; the players come out of the clubhouse and walk down the steps to the field. We only missed a couple pitchers who we didn't recognize that were in hoodies.

I could have sworn I had some of these Drew Avans cards pulled somewhere, but did not find them. Thanks to Gerard, he sent me plenty for the 50/50, and I got them all done.

We came away with the following autographs: Domingo Acevedo x 4, Adael Amador x 2, Drew Avans x 4, Valente Bellozo x 6, Charlie Condon x 4, Jeff Criswell x 2, Luis Lopez x 3, Vimael Machin x 4, Richie Martin x 1, Kyle McCann x 12, Ryan Miller x 2, Sterlin Thompson x 2 and Zac Veen x 2 (48 total autographs). Thanks to Billy R. for all of the tips on getting the Albuquerque guys and where to stand in Round Rock. He was a huge help for the a good portion of the trip.

Side Quest - July 6, 2026 - Rock N River Water Park

We had an open day that was originally marked for Austin, but i didn't want to backtrack through the road construction and traffic toward Austin, so we found the Rock N River Water Park that was 3 minutes from our hotel. We beat the heat by hanging out there for most of the day. The soundtrack on the loudspeakers was awesome, and the lazy river fit me perfectly. I did go down two of the water slides one time each, which was enough for me. 

July 7, 2026 - San Antonio Missions at Midland RockHounds

The reason Chris chose Texas this time around was that he had always wanted to see the Midland RockHounds in person. He spent two seasons in little league on the RockHounds and always points toward those teams as his favorite time playing ball. The coach was amazing and he made a lot of friends on those teams. Because of those good memories, it was an easy choice as a destination. 

Their ballfield was really nice, much like all of the others we had gone to on the trip.

We remembered our selfie at the park again. 

We missed a few Midland guys because some would not stop for us for whatever reason. I was glad ti get Dave Burba on his 1991 Donruss The Rookies card. I like that Donruss design with the red border. Breaking uo the set didn't hurt at all since I got it fir a dollar at a past National. 

It was a nice day, and graphing was decent. I wish we could jave gotten a few more of the guys so I wouldn't have to put the extras back, but oh well. It also was a little somber since Ryan Lasko had been severely injured and that was hanging over the air. As of right now (late July 2026), Lasko has gained limited sensation and movement in his lower extremities due to his collision in the outfield with Devin Taylor that fractured his vertebrae. Finally some positive news has come out of this scary situation.

We got these autographs in Midland: Dave Burba x 3, AJ Causey x 2, Leo DeVries x 2, Davis Diaz x 2, Clark Elliott x 2, JJ Goss x 8, Javy Guerra x 1, Kenya Huggins x 2, Jared Johnson x 1, Gregorio Petit x 1, Justin Riemer x 5, CJ Rodriguez x 9, Beau Taylor x 1, and Devin Taylor x 4 (43 total autographs).

July 8, 2026 - Albuquerque Isotopes at Sugar Land Space Cowboys

After Midland, the trip began to wind down, as that was the farthest west we planned to go, so now we were turning back east to begin the trek home. I planned a few more games to break the drive up, and added Sugar Land to the schedule since I really wanted to get a hat from there.

While talking about the trip with Billy from Instagram, I set my expectations very low for Sugar Land. Billy haf heard horror stories about how tough it was to graph there, but hos source hadn't been there in some time. It turned out that graphing there wasn't nearly as bad as he had heard, and we had some of the most fun graphing that we had on the entire trip (SEATS! THOSE GREEN THINGS!). What made it fun? Well, as well were figuring out the layout of the place, we saw graphers congregating at the right field foul pole where the net ended. You have to jump up and get a piece of the wall, but can get players from both teams (as long as they come over when you call them). Getting the piece of the was at the end of the game was especially arduous, since everyone has the same goal. There was a lot of jumping up to the wall, sitting back down, yelling out SEATS to the kids who wouldn't sit down as the game continued to progress in what felt like the longest two-out stretch in the bottom of the 9th. That was a workout and we all ended up laughing so hard at all of the false alarms that the inning could be over.

Also, a very nice surprise was during pregame, who came over and sat beside us? Our buddies Parker and Wyatt that we had met earlier on in San Antonio. It turns out that Sugar Land is their home ballpark, and they knew we would be there, so they wanted to graph with us one more time. Parker even helped get Adael Amador on one more card for me.

In all, the Sugar Land haul wasn't record breaking, but we had a lot of fun and still got these guys: Adael Amador x 1, Jordan Beck x 1, Charlie Condon x 2, Chad Stevens x 1, Cavan Biggio x 4, Zach Cole x 1, Roddery Munoz x 1 and Mickey Storey x 1 (12 autographs). 

July 10, 2026 - Montgomery Biscuits at Pensacola Blue Wahoos

Pensacola was our next stop on the way home. We got to the ballpark early and had lunch at an... interesting... sandwich shop, then walked over to see the Gulf of America. Then we graphed arrival for a bit, getting Jay Beshears, Ian Lewis Jr and Emaarion Boyd outside.

This is the access to the dugout that you get in Pensacola. This was some of the best access I've ever seen. Again, the ushers were very helpful, pointing us to where to stand and not running us off.

Again, we met a couple kids at the ballpark who were very adept at graphing. It turned out these two kids were also brothers, and were maybe 12 and 8 or so. The little one really needed a graphing book, as he was spreading his cards out on the ground and picking from them to get signed. The older one, who's name I did catch was a funny blonde kid named Evan. He also was a pro at identifying people, so he was a huge help. There was an old lady following them around who looked like Cloris Leachman's character from Bad Santa. It turned out, she was their grandma, and took them to most of the Blue Wahoos games during the season. The boys were local legends at the field, even having their picture up on the side of the stadium in an a for the baseball card shop located inside the park.

Evan gave me a Caden Bodine card. Bodibe had been moved up while we were out of town, so I brought nothing of his with me. Thanks Evan. 

We got a bunch of Pensacola guys inside so postgame, we waited outside on the Mintgomery side. We cleaned up out there, getting almost everyone we needed. 

I was so glad to get my Emaarion Boyd gold parallel from 2024 Topps Pro Debut signed. That was a highlight of this graphing session.

We didn't have anyone on either team that was rude or anything, which was great. Almost everyone we came across on the trip was at least pleasant.

We got the following autographs: Jadher Arienamo x 4, Jackson Baumeister x 4, Caden Bodine x 1, Jonny Cuevas x 2, Theo Gillen x 2, Mac Horvath x 4, Austin Overn x 2, Emilien Pitre x 2, Will Simpson x 3, Ryan Spikes x 6, Brayden Taylor x 4, Jay Beshears x 6, Emaarion Boyd x 12, Cam Cannarella x 3, Ian Lewis x 3, Christian MacLeod x 1 and Fenwick Trimble x 9 (68 autographs).

July 11, 2026 - Birmingham Barons at Columbus Clingstones

Our final stop was a second stop at Columbus. The Clingstones bookended the trip, and we did well both times.

The same guy we saw the first game was in his same spot the last game. He let us stand by him and we graphed like before. Unlike before, Birmingham was a lot tougher than Rocket City was. Several guys just didn't stop pregame, and a few weren't even there.

Still, we grinned and got stuff signed. I knocked a few more Columbus team set cards out, as well.

Jordan Groshans thankfully didn't recognize us, and hit two more cards, including the team set card.

I also made sure Luke Waddell signed the team set card. I was glad to get those two guys done.

We got these guys in Columbus the second time around: Jacob Burke x 5, Dylan Campbell x 2, Dylan Cumming x 2, Gabe Davis x 4, Colby Shelton x 1, Samuel Zavala x 4, Archer Brookman x 1, Jordan Groshans x 2, Kevin Kirkpatrick Jr x 1, Ian Mejia x 1 and Luke Waddell x 2 (25 autographs).

So, another trip is complete. We broke our autograph record with 432 autographs. I'll be working the rest of the year to pay this trip off, but it will have been well worth it. Now we need ti start planning next year's trip.