TTM Success - Joe Whitman

A couple 2024 Topps Pro Debut cards came back signed TTM from Joe Whitman. The above chrome refractor turned out great.

He also signed a base card that turned out great.

Whitman (b. 2001) was a second round pick by the Giants in the 2023 July Amateur Draft out of Kent State. He has played in the minors from 2023 to 2026 in the Giants system, reaching AAA. He has a record of 16-22 with 333 strike outs and a 4.53 ERA.

I mailed to Whitman on January 14 and got the cards back on March 13, for a 58-day TAT.

May 23, 2026, Graphing of the Nashville Sounds at Durham Bulls

Last night, I flew solo and went to Durham to catch the Nashville Sounds while they were in town. I was afraid the weekend would be a washout, weather-wise, but all we got were cooler temperatures and some fog.

I was prepared for a pretty stacked roster, and did fairly well on my own. With all the one per guys, it would have been nice to have another pair of hands with me to help, but it's all good, since Nashville visits Durham again in August, and they will be in Norfolk too.

I finally got JB Bukauskus, a guy that I've missed so many times. That Greg Jojes card at the middle of the bottom row is actually a foil card; the scan makes it look like it is a base card.

The Nashville guys were pretty nice, for the most part. I got ignored by Junior Fernandez, which sucked because I had a really cool red foil Topps Fire card I wanted to get signed. I really liked the foil card I picked up of Drew Rom (bottom, far right). He's a really cool guy, and always seems happy to sign.

I dod get several of the Brewers' top guys, like Jett Williams, Cooper Pratt and Brock Wilken. Tyler Thornburg didn't seem all that happy to sign, but he did. It was nice seeing a 2010 Bowman show up in my recap.

I also chipped away at the Durham Bulls team set. I got a couple of the staff guys, and also Raynel Delgado and Evan Reifert.

I also had no shame in getting Wool E Bull again.

I graphed alongside an older guy named Bo who sat with me during the game. The crowd was light, with most folks scared off by the cloud cover. I did have a great conversation with a kid who had a bunch of questions about graphing toward the end of the game. A nice kid named Judah who was visiting the area from Southern Maryland with his family. I hope they enjoyed Durham and made it home safely.

In all, I got the following autographs: JB Bukauskas x 6, Greg Jones x 2, Reiss Knehr x 1, Luis Lara x 3, Luis Matos x 2, Easton McGee x 2, Ethan Murray x 1, Cooper Pratt x 2, Drew Rom x 2, Jett Williams x 2, Brock Wilken x 2, Tyler Thornburg x 3, Craig Yoho x 1, Raynel Delgado x 2, Mason Englert x 2, Dominic Keegan x 1, Evan Reifert x 2, Dalton Payfer-Lockling x 2, Lucas Grennan x 2, Homer Bush Jr x 2 and Wool E Bull x 2 (50 total autographs).

April 11, 2026, Charleston Riverdogs at Fayetteville Woodpeckers

Yesterday was a solo trip to Fayetteville to get some cards signed. I worked this past week to prep for the trip. Chris had a memorial service to go to, and Jesse was out of town.

I got into the stadium late due to the long line, missing the free jersey they were giving out. I wasn't too late to get most of the guys I needed, though.

I messed up and included coach Kevin Randel with Fayetteville's stuff, but the former Marlins lifer is coaching with Charleston.

Fayetteville doesn't have a whole lot of guys with cards, not like Charleston does. Still, Anthony Huezo racked for me. Camilo Diaz and Xavier Neyens wouldn't sign at the ramp. I had to walk over to the other side of the dugout to get Diaz. I got Neyens outside after the game.

I got almost every Riverdog that I needed by the ramp, pregame. Caden Bodine was already on the field whenI got in, so i had to get him coming off of the field post game. Mason Auer signed everything I had in my book, which was cool.

Dylan Lesko also signed everything I had. The only players who limited were Camilo Diaz, Caden Bodine and Danny Mendick. It didn't mess anything up, though.

I didn't cone home with very many leftovers to put back in my boxes, so that's always a plus.

In all, I got the following autographs: Mason Auer x 5, Caden Bodine x 2, Cooper Flemming x 2, Dominic Fritton x 1, Taitn Gray x 1, Nate Knowles x 3, Dylan Lesko x 9, Danny Mendick x 3, Dean Moss x 3, Camilo Diaz x 3, Kenni Gomez x 1, Anthony Huezo x 5, Xavier Neuens x 2, German Ramirez x 1 and Kevil Randel x 1 (42 total autographs). 

TTM Success - Joe Vetrano

A guy that Chris and I missed last year on our trip was Joe Vetrano. I don't remember why we missed him, but I sent off a few of the cards that got missed. The above 2024 Topps Pro Debut chrome refractor turned out great.

I also sent off a 2023 Bowman Draft and a 2024 Topps Pro Debut. 

Vetrano (b. 2002) was a 5th round pick by the Dodgers in the 2023 June Amateur Draft out of Boston College. He has played in the minors since 2023 in the Dodgers system. He is playing at AA Tulsa this season. So far in his career, he has 146 hits, 12 home runs and a .236 batting average. 

I mailed to Vetrano on January 2 and got the cards back on January 13, for an 11-day TAT. 

Some 2025 50-50 Returns From Andrew L

A guy named Andrew reached out to me this past season, asking if I could provide some cards to facilitate some 50/50s.  He took my cards and got a bunch of them done.  I didn't have very many 2016 Topps Pro Debut, so it was nice to add the above Dakota Chalmers to the album. 

I had gotten Aaron Altherr TTM a couple times.  It was nice to add a few more to the album. The Dustin Peterson 2013 Bowman (bottom right) was a card that I missed on one of my road trips, so it was nice that Andrew could help me with it.  He also got me a couple Kade Morris and a Colby Halter signed, as well.

Finally, this 2021 Topps Pro Debut of Jagger Haynes also turned out great.

I really appreciated Andrew getting these done for me.  I didn't have as many opportunities for 50/50s this past season.  Mostly, because I didn't have the time to search.  I also lost contact with quite a few guys who had helped me out in the past. That was likely because I don't see the same guys I used to see when I had season tickets to an affiliated club.

August 19-24, 2025, Graphing of the Jackals and Boulders at Bird Dawgs

The last week of graphing at the Bird Dawgs for the season was last week.  There were two three-game series; one against the New Jersey Jackals and one against the New York Boulders.  I had been looking forward to the Jackals coming back because Jake DeLeo signed with them.  I got every DeLeo card signed the first game of the series, which was great.

I had gathered all of my DeLeo cards for my trip to see the Washington Wild Things this summer.  He had been released and I was stuck with my cards.  I was glad to get them all signed.

I picked up some team set cards for New Jersey and got those done.  The Michael Esposito cards got smudged when he signed prior to the first game.  I wiped two of them and got them redone on Wednesday.  Esposito commented how he had signed for me the day before, but I told him about them being smudged.  He came over and signed the two of them, but one got smudged again.  I gave up fixing that one.  Oh well.

I had also picked up several team set cards of some of the new Bird Dawgs cards.  They all got done during the Jackals series.

I got a couple more of the customs that my friend Josh made.  He corrected the "error" of misspelling Stephen Ditomaso's name.  

Jesse, Chris and I caught the last Bird Dawgs home game of the season on Sunday.  Several of the players came up to us after the game and thanked us for our support the entire season.  It meant a lot to us that they noticed that we were there the majority of the time.

During the week, we got the following autographs: Tyler Blaum x 1, Kalae Harrison x 7, Jackson Hicks x 3, Caden O'Brien x 3, Luke Trueman x 3, Jake DeLeo x 13, Michael Esposito x 6, Albert Gonzalez x 4, Joe Testa x 9, Jaylen Smith home run #6 signed ball and Stephen DiTomaso x 1 (51 autographs).

TTM Success - Abimelec Ortiz

A former Wood Duck signed two cards TTM for me via Rangers Spring Training.  I had these two Abimelec Ortiz cards pulled and hoped to get them signed.  I was glad to see them come back after a short wait.

I was happy to see Abi get a few cards after the great season he had last year.  His 2024 Pro Debut (above) is a really cool one. 

Ortiz (b. 2002) was an undrafted free agent picked up by the Rangers in 2021.  He has played in their system since then, reaching AA.  He has 368 hits, 83 home runs and a .248 batting average. 

I mailed to Ortiz on February 13 and got the cards back on March 31 for a 46-day TAT.

TTM Success - George Lombard Jr.

Here are some nice cards that I got signed TTM from Yankees prospect, George Lombard, Jr.  I got this awesome 2024 Bowman insert signed, even though you can't tell at first glance.  That's ok. 

I also added a 2024 Pro Debut to the album. The signature can be seen very easily on this one. 

Lombard (b. 2005) was a first round pick (26th overall) by the Yankees in the 2023 July Amateur Draft out of Gulliver Prep in Florida.  He has played in the Yankees system since 2023, reaching AA.  He has 151 hits, 6 home runs and a .248 batting average.

I to Lombard on January 18 and got the cards back on February 14 for a 27-day TAT. 

TTM Success - Colby Thomas

The next private signing that my friend Jack set up was with Colby Thomas.  I was able to find and send off a 2024 Pro Debut (above) and a 2023 Bowman (below).

Unfortunately, after I mailed, I found another card that I wanted to send.  It was too late, so hopefully I get another chance later on.

Thomas (b. 2001) was a 3rd round pick by the A's in the 2022 July Amateur Draft out of Mercer University.  He has played in the A's system since 2023, reaching AAA.  He has 314 hits, 52 home runs and a .282 batting average.

I mailed to the signing on November 14 and got the cards back on January 29 for a 76-day TAT.  I didn't write down what I paid.

April 1, 2025, Graphing of CENSORED at Crawdads

The bitterness is still fresh and the feelings remain raw, but I got over myself a little bit and saw the first ever Hub City Spartanburgers game when they took on the Hickory Crawdads in an exhibition game on Tuesday.  By the end of the game, I felt a lot better. Many of the former Down East Wood Ducks recognized me and acknowledged my feelings about the team folding.  One of the players who took the time to ask how I was doing and thank me for making the trip was Anthony Gutierrez.  Anthony is (by far) the single player who has signed the most cards for me.  Yes, I counted.  Anthony signed for me with no problem and was just super cool.  I was so glad to see him again.

Brock Porter was another guy who made sure to shake my hand and ask how i was doing.  Gleider Figuereo and Danyer Cueva also recognized Jesse and I as we were graping, and signed what we had.  I was glad to get the final Wood Ducks cards, my Figuereo and Cueva 2024 Topps Pro Debut. Pablo Guerrero also recognized us, which was really cool.  I'm glad he was included in 2024 Bowman Draft.

I googled Dalton Oence images, looked at them, looked up and immediately recognized him.  I was impressed that I recognized him and got this UNC card signed.

Another cool thing about the game is that I got to see my buddy Dugan at work.  He's the analytics guy for the Spartanburgers.  I've known Dugan since he was 14, having met him at a card show way back then.  Im really proud of him and am happy to see him living his dream by working in baseball.

In all, we got the following autographs: Pablo Guerrero x 3, Dalton Pence x 1, Brock Porter x 3, Casey Cook x 3, Danyer Cueva x 3, Dylan Dreiling x 1, Gleider Figuereo x 3 and Anthony Gutierrez x 8 (25 total autographs).

September 14, 2024, Graphing of the Tides at Bulls

When planning my birthday week, I realized that I hadn't seen Norfolk all season, and that they were going to be in Durham when I was coming back from Maryland.  So, Chris and I planned to hit Durham on Saturday, September 14 (my birthday) to do some more graphing.

We left Hagerstown Friday night and drove about an hour and a half south til I was too tired to drive any further.  We stayed overnight just past DC and got up the next morning to head to Durham.  I wasn't planning on doing arrival there, but as we were walking toward the stadium, we saw our good friend, Billy, outside graphing with two other graphers we knew, John and Jacob.  We got Daniel Johnson almost right away, so we stuck around and graphed with them, then went to get a drink to wait til the gates opened.

One of the highlights of this trip to Durham was knocking out several more Morgan Ensberg cards.  I got my steps in as I was following him when he signed, but we did knock out 10 more of his cards.  I also added one more card to my 2024 Durham team set in Michael Gomez.

Jacob Waguespack was easy to spot; he may as well have been wearing a name tag.  His shirt had his name on it, advertising his family's business.

I finally finished this 2024 Topps Heritage Mini Jacob Lopez.  I busted two boxes of Mini, and loved them.  Once the word got out on them, the boxes got tough to find.

I chipped away at my 2023 Norfolk team set while in Durham, hitting three coaches and Nick Vespi.

I hit all of the Garrett Cooper cards that I could find in a pinch, since I had sent him out for a 50/50 a while back.  I also had picked up a few of his cards while I was at a card shop.outside of Hagerstown the day before.  I also got a bunch of Corbin Martin done.  I found even more after I got home once I figured out where I had sat the hoard I piled up when I thought I'd see him with Buies Creek years ago (I was wrong, he was beyond BC by then).

Forrest Wall and Daniel Johnson cleaned us out, which was great.  There are still some Johnsons in a box somewhere around here that I had pulled for 50/50s, but I have no idea where I sat them.

Finally, here are a couple Levi Stoudt cards that I got signed.  He was a really nice guy and credit to the little kid who called him the wrong name, which Stoudt corrected and said "No, I'm Levi".  Thanks for the help, kid!

In all, we got the following autographs: Morgan Ensberg x 10, Michael Gomez x 1, Jacob Lopez x 1, Jacob Waguespack x 1, Samuel Basallo x 2, Buck Britton x 1, Garrett Cooper x 5, Daniel Johnson x 5, Corbin Martin x 12, Chayce McDermott x 1, Justin Ramsey x 1, Ramon Sambo x 1, Levi Stoudt x 4, Nick Vespi x 1 and Forrest Wall x 5 (51 total autographs).