TTM Success - Mike Ford

The box of shame is a box of cards that had been pulled and prepped for graphing, but for whatever reason, the cards weren't signed.  Maybe i didnt get the guy, maybe he did only a couple cards, or maybe he wasnt even there in the first place.  Those cards go in the box and I hope I get another chance to see said player.  Maybe I try them TTM.  The end goal is to get everything I had prepped signed.  Fair enough, right?  Well, Mike Ford is a guy I had gotten in person back when I saw Gwinnett in Durham a couple years ago. Two cards were missed and went in the box.  I saw them recently and remembered that Ford signs TTM, so I figured I'd finish the cards off.  I sent them out and they came back signed in red pen.

Both cards turned out nicely, even though i usually prefer blue.

Ford (b. 1992) played in the majors from 2019 to 2024 for the Yankees, Giants, Mariners, Braves, Angels and Reds.  He had 141 hits, 37 home runs and a .205 batting average. 

I mailed to Ford on September 18 and got the cards back on February 21 for a 156-day TAT.

May 17, 2025, Graphing of the Legends at Rockers

On Saturday, I made a trip to High Point for the first time this season. I always enjoy graphing the Atlantic League, and was able to get some more cards out of my boxes.  I also picked up a 2022 High Point team set, just for fun. I only got two of the cards signed, but it doesn't matter.  With the amount of random team set guys I'm seeing these days, I figured $10 wasnt a bad price to pay.

I got a bunch of Jordan Luplow cards out of the Box Of Shame.  He signed 6 of the 9 cards I showed outside after the game. 

I mistook Tanner Tully for another pitcher, and even called him by that name, but their cards were beside each other on the page and Tully hooked me up.

A trip to High Point isn't complete until you can add more Frank Viola cards to the autograph album.  I got a bunch of him done, and a few will be headed to Max in Chicago.

A lot of the guys I got were ones I had gotten before, so this trip really was a "clean out the box" trip.

In all, I got the following autographs: Nick Laio x 1, Curtis Terry x 8, Tanner Tully x 2, Patrick Wicklander x 1, Ben Aklinski x 1, Tommy Doyle x 4, Luis Gonzalez x 2, Jordan Luplow x 6, Drew Mendoza x 3 and Frank Viola x 10 (38 total autographs).

June 6, 2024, Graphing of the Long Island Ducks at High Point Rockers

The past few days have been a whirlwind.  Chris's graduation from high school was on Saturday, and we had planned a trip to High Point on Friday to see Pablo Sandoval. I had PDOs to burn, so I went ahead and took both Thursday and Friday off to prep for the trip.  We had some family stuff happen earlier in the week with my grandma, along with Chris getting off of work on both Thursday and Friday, so we went ahead and went up Thursday morning. I prepped some cards for the Long Island Ducks in case we could get by there Thursday night after sitting with Grandma for a bit.  We got to High Point and absolutely racked Long Island.

I was excited to see Wei-Yin Chen again; I had gotten him on a baseball a while back, but never on a card (as far as I can remember).

Another player I was excited to see was Josh James.  I had him pulled a while back, then missed him.  He was with Memphis earlier this year but was repeased before i could get him.  He had been elusive until after Thursday's game.  He signed everything Chris and I had as he was leaving the dugout.

It had rained off and on during the game, resulting in two rain delays.

I was glad to get Mike Montgomery because i had tracked him with a radar gun in Kinston back in 2009.  He was really nice and did two per for Chris and I.

Chance Sisco was another player I had wanted to get for a while, and finally cleaned out all of the cards I had pulled of him. 

I had gotten Ryan McBroom TTM a while back, but he signed my 2020 Topps in black. I upgraded that card with this one in blue.  I also cleaned out all of my Lew Ford cards, along with all of the Ford cards that Max sent me.

I split all of the Fords between Max and I.  I hope he likes the ones I sent him. 

My Wei-Yin Chen cards look cool signed in Mandarin Chinese.  I cleaned out some old cards when I pulled my Daniel Corcino and Hector Gomez cards. I also found an Ivan Castillo card at the last minute and was able to get it out of the box.

I had pulled a bunch of Alexi Casilla cards to try him TTM a few years ago.  I never got around to dropping those cards in the mail, but I knew exactly where to find them.  He signed everything we brought with us; another player who cleaned us out.

Finally, as we were walking out of the stadium, we ran into Colin Moran.  He was good for one per, so I got the 2013 Donruss Elite Extra Edition signed, while Chris got my 2022 Topps Heritage done.  Moran was the only High Point Rocker that we went for, so we wouldn't miss the Ducks guys that we needed.

In all, we got the following autographs: Colin Moran x 2, Alexi Casilla x 17, Ivan Castillo x 3, Wei-Yin Chen x 4, Daniel Corcino x 1, Lew Ford x 16, Hector Gomez x 3, Josh James x 16, Ryan McBroom x 3, Mike Montgomery x 4 and Chance Sisco x 9 (78 total autographs). 

Another Blind Trade With Drake

After falling way behind on trade and 50/50 posts, there looks to be a light at the end of the tunnel.  I have a few stacks of cards that need to be scanned and uploaded, and with my laptop being on its last legs, scanning and uploading has become an arduous task.

That being said, I am not intentionally withholding scans.  It's just a huge pain in the butt.  I got this blind trade from my friend, Drake over the summer, and have just recently been able to scan the cards.  The Trey Mancini at the top of the post is a key highlight of the blind trade.  Drake also sent me a bunch of team set cards of some guys that he has seen, while I hooked him up with an almost complete Wood Ducks team set (where I sat those Julio Valdez cards, I cant seem to figure out).

The KeBryan Hayes 2019 Topps Heritage Minors card shown here was a big surprise.  Drake really hooked it up with what he sent. 

Je sent a good many Bowman cards, including a Kenen Irizarry 2018 Bowman.  I was going to send Drake a few of mine, since Irizarry was playing independent ball near Drake, but he talked me out of it.  It seems Irizarry is a tough auto still.

My niece could have saved Drake the trouble and signed Jacob Berry's card for him.  What a signature.  

I missed out on getting Kevin Made with Myrtle Beach, so Drake helped me out there as well.  He also got the above dual of Benny Montgomery and Jaden Hill signed.  I had someone else get one of these done for me as a 50/50 this season, also.

The above Dan Radison is different.  I keep looking at it, thinking it is a Starting Lineup card, but it isn't. 

Drake also added a couple Topps cards to the album in the above 2019 Topps Jakob Junis and the 2020 Topps Edwin Rios.

Thanks for the trade, Drake! I appreciate all of the work you put into it.

Another TTM Success From Shane Greene

Shane Greene is a pretty reliable TTM signer.  I had gotten him a while back, then I found the above 2019 Topps Chrome sepia refractor.  I sent to him again, and got the card, along with some others, back signed.

I sent a 2015 Topps gold, 2019 Topps Heritage and a 2020 Topps.

Greene (b. 1988) has played in the majors since 2014 for the Yankees, Tigers, Braves, Dodgers and Cubs.  He has a record of 24-29 with 442 strike outs and a 4.50 ERA.  He was an All Star in 2019.

I mailed to Greene on June 14 and got the cards back on October 7, for a 115-day TAT.

September 13, 2023, Graphing of Redbirds at Tides

The next stop on my birthday week trip was up in Norfolk to try to get denied by Jackson Holliday again.  My friend, Jordan, accompanied me on the trip.  We did arrival in Norfolk, and did really well. I finally got this 2019 Bowman Chrome atomic refractor of Daz Cameron signed.  It turned out great.

For the longest time on arrival, the Tides one perred me to death.  Mike Baumann broke that streak, though, and signed everything i had.  I finally got all of the team set cards if his that i had done.

I picked up a team set inside during the game, so I got some of those signed post game outside.

The biggest names i was able to get were Coby Mayo and Connor Norby.  Norby signed everything I had, which was great.

Austin Voth also signed everything I had.  He was super nice and seemed genuinely happy that Jordan and I were out there talking with him.  Tyler Wells was also really nice.

I had brought this one 2019 Topps Orioles team card with me and got Wells to sign that, also.

This shimmer parallel from 2022 Topps that I got signed by Bruce Zimmermann was a pickup from the National, and it turned out great. Jordan pointed out that Zimmermann played at Mount Olive College, so we talked to Zimmermann about that, briefly.

Most of our trip was concentrated on Norfolk, but our seats were by the Memphis Redbirds dugout.  I knew the Norfolk side would be a mess, so I brought a little bit of stuff for Memphis.  We also got to see Thomas Saggese, who used to be a Wood Duck.  He was nice enough to pose for a picture and asked about Chris.  He remembered us.

Of course, we didn't see Jackson Holliday on arrival.  Post game, outside, he went to the other side of the barricade, skipping Jordan and I (along with the other folks on our side), so, of course, I missed him again.

In all, I got the following autographs: Mike Baumann x 7, Anthony Bemboom x 1, Buck Britton x 1, Daz Cameron x 3, Lewin Diaz x 2, Kyle Dowdy x 1, Maverick Handley x 3, Josh Lester x 1, Chayce McDermott x 3, Coby Mayo x 2, Connor Norby x 6, Kyle Stowers x 1, Austin Voth x 8, Ryan Watson x 1, Tyler Wells x 4, Bruce Zimmermann x 1, Cesar Prieto x 1, Mike Siani x 1 and Juan Yepez x 2 (49 total autographs). 

TTM Success - Tyler Naquin

Tyler Naquin is a player who I've kept an eye on for a while since a good friend of mine is a big fan of his.  I was actually surprised that I even had some Naquin cards left over, as I usually give them to my friend.

All of the cards are personalized, but that's ok.  All of then turned out nicely. 

Naquin (b. 1991) played in the majors from 2016 to 2022 for the Indians, Reds and Mets. He is currently on AAA Nashville's 7-day IL.  He has  439 hits, 61 home runs and a .264 batting average.

I mailed to Naquin on October 12 and got the cards back on February 25, for a 136-day TAT.

May 6, 2023, Graphing of the Frederick ? at the High Point Rockers

With my sister graduating from Salem College this past Saturday, I was afforded another opportunity to graph at High Point.  Another Saturday of Independent Ball, and I was pretty excited.  The Atlantic League Baseball Club of Frederick still has not been named, so they took the field in some pretty cool question mark jerseys, complete with question mark hats.  I liked them so much, I bought a jersey and hat before the game started.

A problem I have noticed the last couple of years while graphing at High Point is that the independent leagues are terrible at updating their rosters online.  Their scores are also hard to find on their webpages.  So, I went into this game a little blind.  Add in the fact that the Frederick team was missing 11 foreign players due to visa issues.  This included the one player I was really looking forward to seeing, Starlin Castro.  I was told by the manager that the players would arrive 10 days after the game.  This didn't do me a whole lot of good.  Still, it was a successful trip.

I hit up Ebay, since I knew well in advance that I would be seeing Frederick.  I picked up this oversized Johnni Turbo for the post card album, mainly because his name was so cool.

I also had plenty of time to go through my boxes, since the Wood Ducks were out of town the last two weeks.  I found a bunch of my Steven Brault cards, including a couple from the box of shame.

I found a ton of John Nogowski cards at the local card shop in Winston-Salem as I was killing time before the game.  That was nice, because I wouldn't have gotten him at all, had I not gone by the shop.  The Jeff Johnson card was the last card I would get signed.  I only needed him, Kole Cottam and AJK Cole outside after the game.

Cottam was really nice.  I picked his cards up off of Ebay, and he even commented on the green refractor.  I know Gerard had gotten him for me in the past, but I wanted to have something in the book for this trip.

I knew my mom would like to see the Charleston Charlies cards make their way into the album.  These were really cool West Virginia Power team set cards that I found on EBay.

I was also really happy to finally get these 2013 Perfect Game Justin Twine cards out of the box of shame.  I had been waiting to get those, as well as his 2014 Bowman, signed for quite some time.

These four Max Povse cards were Ebay purchases, and they turned out great.  I had one more Povse card that I had ordered that missed the cut.  It came as I was out of town.  I'll have to try to see Frederick again, and add that card to the book then.

AJ Cole was really nice.  I missed him post game by the dugout, since he had pitched in the game and had already gone to the clubhouse afterward.  I got him outside, and when I asked him to sign, he asked "Are you sure you want me to sign?"

Cole laughed, and signed my cards anyway.  He missed the Bowman Chrome at the top of the post, but quickly signed it after I asked him nicely if he would include it.  That was the ONE card of his that I really wanted to get signed.

Of course, I got Frank Viola to sign some more of his cards.  He had actually came out of the dugout and into the crowd to sign autographs.  He is such a nice guy, I enjoy going to High Point just to see him.

It will be a while before I run out of Viola cards, but as long as he is cool about signing, I am going to keep asking.  He seems to legitimately enjoy interacting with the fans in High Point.

In all, I got the following autographs:  Steven Brault x 7, Kole Cottam x 4, Jeff Johnson x 1, David Kubiak x 3, Mark Minicozzi x 2, Max Povse x 4, Justin Twine x 7, Johnni Turbo x 2, Elih Villanueva x 2, AJ Cole x 6, John Nogowski x 8 and Frank Viola x 8 (54 total autographs).

TTM Success - Derek Dietrich

This was a nice TTM success that came in from Derek Dietrich that added some recent cards to m autograph album.  The above 2018 Topps turned out nicely.

I also got three different 2019 Topps (top left, 2019 Topps Update; top right, 2019 Topps Holiday and bottom left, 2019 Topps base) and a 2020 Topps signed by Dietrich.

Dietrich (b. 1989) played in the majors from 2013 to 2020 for the Marlins, Reds and Rangers.  He had 536 hits, 84 home runs and a .245 batting average.

I mailed to Dietrich on October 11 and got the cards back on January 9, for a 90-day TAT.

Christmas Gift From Drake

My friend, Drake, sent me a nice stack of autographs for Christmas this year.  One of the cards was the above 2020 Bowman Chrome blue refractor of Randy Florentino.  This card is numbered 144/150.  He was a former Wood Duck who is now in the Orioles system, which is cool.

Drake sent this really cool Topps Now card signed by Randy Arozarena, which will be awesome in my album.  I love Topps Now cards, and rarely have an opportunity to get them signed.

Here is an assortment that Drake sent; a lot of these are from when Drake has graphed in the past.  He mostly sees Illinois-area teams and Florida State League teams when he is on vacation.

Drake helped me add some 2022 Stars & Stripes cards and also some different Topps base cards to my album.  I don't have many 2021 Topps cards at all in the album, and the above Adam Plutko helps that cause.  The truth is, 2021 Topps is hard for me to go through quickly with the tiny font on the front of the card; they are very hard to read at a glance.

Finally, here is a 2017 Topps Roman Quinn.  This is the only landscape oriented card, so it got scanned by itself.  I had been trying to get Quinn a few times, but now I at least have this card in the album.

Thank you so much for the cards, Drake!