April 3-4, 2026 Graphing of the IronPigs at Bulls

Graphing season for 2026 has kicked off, and Jesse and I did really well this weekend in Durham. We went to see the Lehigh Valley IronPigs Friday and Saturday. Friday was interesting, since Phillies ace, Zack Wheeler was starting for Lehigh Valley. There were a ton of Phillies fans there, especially by the dugout pregame. The only IronPigs guys who stopped pregame were Adam Lind and Bryan De La Cruz. Lind signed the above 2010 Topps Chrome, becoming the first person to get me on the board this season.

A huge variety of cards got signed on the trip. I had to buy a couple Christian Cairo cards off of Ebay for the trip, and they were the last two cards that were signed Saturday night. We did so much better on Lehigh Valley outside the stadium both nights. Getting Genesis Cabrera was nice; it was nice to get some 2019 Bowman cards out of the box. He also signed a 2019 Bowman Heritage, which is always nice to add to the autograph album. 

We got De La Cruz a few different times, and he helped add a bunch of cards to the album. A 2025 Topps Heritage High Number was signed by Connor Gillispie, and Seth Johnson hit my 2025 Topps.

Aside from Wheeler, Orion Kerkering was on a rehab assignment, as well. He was really cool and signed everything we had. He signed my first 2026 Topps Heritage.

Carter Kieboom and Pedro Leon are two guys who had been in the Box-of-Shame for a long time. I was glad to get a few of their cards out of there and into the album. 

Griff McGarry is another guy who I had missed in the past. He signed everything we had by the bullpen after the game, Friday. He was a really nice guy. I hate that he walked in a ton of runs on Saturday. 

Lou Trivino was really cool, as well. He talked to Jesse and I a bit. Jesse took his picture with his Polaroid (yes, Jesse has a Polaroid), and got the picture signed after the game.

I was really glad to get my Trevor Richards 2019 Stadium Club signed. The cards I had of him all had logged a lot of frequent flyer miles, as they had been sent to Chiacago and back for Max to try and get signed a while back. 

Saturday, Jesse and I tried graphing on the Bulls dugout. The big get for us was Gavin Lux, who signed one per for us. The card I got was a 2022 Panini Capstone. It turned out great.  I didn't have any Brody Hopkins in my huge pile of 2025 Topps Pro Debut, for some reason. Gerard sent me some, so I was able to add him to the album. He outpitched Wheeler, which was cool.

I finally got a Jacob Melton signed. I missed him last season with Sugar Land. I finally saw Victor Mesa, Jr., and just happened to get the cards back of him that I had sent Max, which worked out great for me. I was glad to get his 2021 Topps Heritage Minors done. I love that set. If I were to work on a more recent set, that one might be it.

I was happy to get my 2024 Topps Edward Olivares purple shimmer parallel signed. He got hurt Friday, and left Saturday as we were out graphing on the sidewalk. I hate that he got hurt. Joe Rock walked on the other side of the street, but we were able to get him. He signed a 2026 Topps, which was cool.

One of the cool things that I got signed this weekend was this MLB debut ticket of Carter Kieboom. Michael had sent me the ticket earlier in the week, and I decided to take it along to try and get it signed. I told him about it, to which he replied "oh that's sick!"

While I was waiting in line for my obligatory Rita's gelati, I ran into one of my former geology professors from UNCC, Kevin Headd. We have kept in touch over the years via Facebook; and he used to come into the store I worked at back then. He is such a good guy. He took this selfie while I was in line.

Kevin met us outside the stadium and graphed with us. I helped him identify some if the players and hooked him up with a marker. His wife took a few pictures while we were at work. Here is one she took of us getting Blake Sabol.

Here is another with Carlos Colmenarez. I was so happy to run into Kevin, and let him see a little bit of what I'm always posting about on Facebook. 

In all, I got the following autographs: Carlos Colmenarez x 6, Logan Davidson x 3, Luis Guerrero x 2, Brody Hopkins x 4, Justyn-Henry Malloy x 2, Trevor Martin x 3, Jacob Melton x 2, Victor Mesa x 5, Tre Morgan x 4, Edward Olivares x 2, Joe Rock x 6, Blake Sabol x 2, Wool E Bull x 2, Sergio Alcantara x 5, Genesis Cabrera x 6, Bryan De La Cruz x 10, Connor Gillispie x 1, Jonathan Hernandez x 2, Seth Johnson x 2, Orion Kerkering x 7, Pedro Leon x 4, Adam Lind x 1, Griff McGarry x 5, Robert Moore x 7, Trevor Richards x 7, Chase Shugart x 1, Lou Trivino x 3, Chris Clark x 4, Gavin Lux x 2, Kodi Whitley x 2, Christian Cairo x 2 and Carter Kieboom x 5 (119 total autographs). 

Some 50-50s and Spring Training Autos From Gerard

Stacks of signed cards from sources other than TTMs continue to pile up on my desk.  I need to scan and post a bit more frequently to catch up, or I will remain behind on scanning and cropping for a long time.  I wanted to go ahead and get these cards from Gerard onto the blog, since I still had a team bag full of these cards he got done for me last season.  I combined these Red Sox cards from last year with the Rays cards he got signed for me recently at Spring Training, and hae a lot of stuff to add to the autograph album.

Gerard helped me finish off some Carolina League Top Prospects cards from a couple seasons ago with the above Jarren Duran and Bran Mats.  I was also glad to get a 2021 Heritage Minors Hudson Potts signed, and the Bryan Mata 2018 Bowman Chrome refractor.  I also enjoyed that he got me the 2019 Bowman Heritage Mata at the top of the post.  I really like that set, and was glad to add another of those to the album.

I may have seen Durbin Feltman with Salem or Greenville, but I don't remember, so it was nice to add these three to the album.  I know I saw Cameron Cannon, but I'm still glad to get a few extras of him, as well.

Getting cards from 2018 Bowman is starting to get tougher, as a lot of those guys have moved up and on from the teams I see, or they are now out of baseball.  It's funny how quickly a card set can get, maybe not obsolete, but out of the forefront of what you're seeing in a current season's autograph book.

When Gerard told me he could take some Rays for Spring Training, I was excited to get this 2022 Bowman Chrome green shimmer refractor of Curtis Mead signed.  The card is awesome, and I almost couldn't find it before I sent the package off.  Thankfully, I found it in the last place I looked and got it into the package.

I had hoped that this was a 2021 Topps Charlie Culberson, and not a Topps Update, because I have only 9 2021 Topps in my autograph album.  I don't count updated toward my Topps statistics, but this one is, in fact, an Update.  Oh well.  I still like the card, it just won't run my numbers for 2021 Topps into double digits.  I did send a bunch of 2021s to Spring Training for TTMs, but results from those have been super slow.

Gerard helped me get some generic team cards into the album by getting these 2010 Topps Tampa Bay Rays cards signed.  From left, Jordan Qsar, Kevin Kelly and Colton Brewer.

He also helped me get a few cards out of my box for older prospects cards like the 2014 Topps Heritage Minors Daniel Robertson, a 2018 Bowman Michael Mercado and a 2019 Bowman Logan Driscoll.

Finally, a couple more older cards with a 2016 Bowman Nick Burdi and a 2019 Midwest League All Star Niko Hulsizer.  He also helped me get a 2022 Topps Update Chrome purple Rene Pinto and a 2022 Topps Update Rene Pinto signed.

Thanks for getting all of these cards signed for me, Gerard.  This was a good start to this season's 50/50s for the two of us, and I look forward to what else we can get ink on this season.

Another TTM Success From Jonathan Hernandez

There were a bunch of Jonathan Hernandez cards in the boxes I got from my former LCS when it closed down.  I had gotten him TTM before, but I couldn't resist sending again, to Rangers Spring Training, because the cards were all parallels or just nice ones in general.

The above black and white 2019 Bowman Heritage turned out great.  I got almost a whole 3,000-count box of 19 Bowman Heritage, and have been able to add a few of them to my autograph album over the course of the year.

I also was able to get a 2020 Select, 2020 Donruss parallel and a green 2019 Bowman signed.

Hernandez (b. 1996) is a former Wood Duck and was supposed to be the Rangers closer this season.  He is down with Tommy John, so he won't be back for a while.  So far, he has a 7-2 record, 50 strike outs and a 3.40 ERA.

I mailed to Hernandez on February 9 via Rangers Sprig Training and got the cards back on March 20, for a 39-day TAT.

TTM Success - Seth Beer

I was really happy to get cards back signed from Seth Beer.  I had gotten a few done when he was with Fayetteville last year, but I had a few other really nice ones that I wanted to send off.  I got a huge box of base cards from 2019 Bowman Heritage and really wanted to add a few to my album.  Thankfully, Beer signed one of them, and it really looks sharp.

I also got one of my 2019 Carolina League Top Prospects cards signed, so that helps with that set.

Beer (b. 1996) was a first round (28th overall) draft pick by the Astros in the 2018 June Amateur Draft out of Clemson.  He was part of the trade that sent Zack Greinke to the Astros from the Diamondbacks in 2019.  So far, he has reached the AA level and has 209 hits, 38 home runs and a .294 batting average across 2 seasons in the minors.

I mailed to Beer on September 28 and got the cards back on October 22, for a 24-day TAT.