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).

April 13, 2024, Graphing of the BlueClaws at Crawdads

This past weekend, Jesse, Chris and I went to Hickory to catch some former Wood Ducks and see Phillies High A team, Jersey Shore.  I hadn't seen them before, so it was nice to pull some High A Phillies guys (and get everyone I pulled).

I had pulled a bunch of Anthony Gutierrez when I busted 2023 Pro Debut and 2023 Bowman Draft.  I got them all done; Anthony remembered us and was super nice.  Yeison Morrobel also remembered us and didnt sign a thing.  That was disappointing. 

Mitch Bratt also remembered us; he was ready to keep walking outside of the stadium when I called his name, but then he looked up and realized it was us, so he stopped and talked to us for a little bit.

Ian Moller may have been the most excited to see us, as we were able to tell by his reaction when he saw Chris.  "Oh sh*t!"  He was legitimately happy to see us and it felt good.

Sebastian Walcott had a terrible game, and didn't seem to want to stop, but Ian kind of helped us get his attention.   Walcott still skipped Chris, because Chris was still talking to Ian.  That made us miss a couple cards for some 50/50s, but none of them were shut out, so it should still be ok.

I had a good many of the Jersey Shore guys in my boxes, so it was good to move some cards.  Everyone we needed was really nice and signed all we had.

Finally, we got Adam Lind.  I had met up with my friend, Aidan, at the game, and ge got an extra Lind signed for me.  I was also glad to get some Brad Bergesen cards out of my Orioles boxes, which was great.  He was really nice, as well.

In all, we got the following autographs:  Mitch Bratt x 1, Cam Cauley x 5, Yosy Galan x 3, Anthony Gutierrez x 14, Ian Moller x 1, Julio Valdez x 3, Sebastian Walcott x 2, Brad Bergesen x 8, William Bergolla x 7, Emaarion Boyd x 5, Justin Crawford x 9 and Adam Lind x 4 (62 total autographs). 

September 14-15, 2023, Graphing of Mudcats at Wood Ducks

The first round of the Carolina League playoffs was last week, with the first game on the road at the Mudcats on Tuesday.  The second game was at home in Kinston on Thursday, my birthday.  The Wood Ducks came in with a 1-0 lead in the best-of-three series.  The hope was that they would sweep and win the round on my birthday.  It didn't worm out that way, but the Wood Ducks did take the series against the Mudcats, setting up a rematch of the 2021 championship against Charleston.

There were a few Mudcat guys who I needed that weren't here the last time they came to town.  I finished off everything I had, except for Hedbert Perez, who was out for the remainder of the season with a broken leg.

Dylan O'Rae was really nice, he signed everything I had.  Daniel Guilarte also finished off everything I had pretty quickly.  By the time the Wood Ducks won the series on Friday, I was out of cards for both teams.  It was nice clearing out my box of Wood Ducks stuff, finally.

Quincy Scott gave me one of his bats and inscribed it Happy Birthday on Thursday.

We got to watch the celebration of the Wood Ducks moving on.  Their next game would be Sunday against the Riverdogs in another best-of-three series.

In all, I got the following autographs: Quincy Scott x 1, Danyer Cueva x 7, Gleider Figuereo x 6, Anthony Gutierrez x 9, Ian Moller x 1, Jace Avina x 10, Logan Henderson x 1, Daniel Guilarte x 21, Dylan O'Rae x 14, Carlos Maldonaldo x 2 and Tayden Hall x 1 (73 total autographs). 

June 2023 Graphing of Mudcats at Wood Ducks

Before we left for vacation, Chris and I got to three games between the Mudcats and Wood Ducks. Anthony Gutierrez was finally back off of the DL.  I had a bunch of his cards to get signed, and got them done.  The above lunar crater parallel turned out great.  This is by far my favorite parallel this year.

I got the aqua lunar crater parallel (above, right) of Gutierrez signed, as well.  My friend, Gerard, ordered a bunch of parallels of Andres Mesa.  They all turned out great.  Mesa is super nice and always signs well.

The parallels turned out awesome.  I hope Gerard gets me some more for me to keep.  I got an orange refractor signed for him.  I'm ready for one of those for my album. 

I got a bunch of Wood Ducks team set cards signed during this series.  I'm not done with the set, just yet.  Still, I've made a huge dent in the set, and am looking forward to finishing it.

The team set cards look great, and look even better when signed. 

I had an assortment of Kenny Holmberg cards in the autograph books all season, and he finally came in during this series.  Holmberg is such a nice guy, I was glad to get him to sign the cards I had.

I had extra Holmberg cards that I gave out to Jessie and Billy.  I'm not sure if they saw Holmberg when he was here, but here's to hoping he comes back. 

Finally, some new Mudcats with cards were here.  I got some Jace Avina and Luis Lara 2023 Bowmans signed, along with a Will Rudy 2022 Panini Prizm Draft.

I was able to rack the three games I saw; in all, we got the following autographs: Jojo Blackmon x 1, Cam Cauley x 7, Danyer Cueva x 8, Aidan Curry x 2, Anthony Gutierrez x 40, Kenny Holmberg x 9, Jackson Leath x 4, Leandro Lopez x 4, Dylan MacLean x 2, DJ McCarty x 4, Damian Mendoza x 1, Andres Mesa x 14, Jesus Moreno x 1, Alberto Mota x 5, Konner Piotto x 4, Luis Ramirez x 1, Adrian Rodriguez x 1, Tommy Specht x 2, Jace Avina x 11, Jeferson Figueroa x 1, Luis Lara x 9, Hedbert Perez x 20, Will Rudy x 2, Jheremy Vargas x 6, Gleider Figuereo x 13, Nick Janssen x 4, Ian Moller x 5, Neal Ori x 4, Ryan Straney x 4, Matt Brosky x 4, Carlos Maldonaldo x 5, Joseph Montalvo x 5, Brock Porter x 2, Julio Valdez x 2 and Kai Wynyard x 1 (208 total autographs).

May 16-20, 2023, Graphing of the Peckers at Woodies

This week, the Fayetteville Woodpeckers came into town and I got a few cards signed. I missed the Wednesday game since it was the last education day/11am start, caught the double header on Saturday, and skipped today, since I didn't have much else to get signed.  I got some 50/50s in for some new folks, one of which gave me some nice parallels.  The above 2021 Panini Prizm Draft green parallel of Cam Cauley turned out nicely. 

He also gave me a coupke Bowman Sapphire parallels that look really cool.  The 2023 Bowman Anthony Gutierrez refractor was also a gift from him. 

I had been running with this Hickory Crawdads team set card in my slider box for over a year since Sharnol Adriana showed up last season as a roving instructor.  He was here this week, and I finally got this card signed.

I know my friend, Jessie, has the Bowman Prospects Anthony Gutierrez for me, but it was also sent to me as a 50/50.  I'll also put Jessie's in the autograph album, since he gifted me the card.

I got several autographs from Dauri Lorenzo.  I missed Tyler Whitaker, who wasn't in uniform at all this series.  I finally saw him yesterday. He said he couldn't write due to a wrist injury, so that pretty much shut me down for today.  Also, the weather forecast wasn't looking great, which is ultimately the reason I didn't go.  I ended up seeing Guardians of the Galaxy Vol 3, which was pretty great.  It was worth taking the day off.

In all, I got the following autographs: Sharnol Adriana x 1, Cam Cauley x 12, Danyer Cueva x 5, Gleider Figuereo x 5, Anthony Gutierrez x 12, Andres Mesa x 3, Yeison Morrobel x 3, Nolan DeVos x 2, Dauri Lorenzo x 18, Andrew Taylor x 1, Ian Moller x 2, Luis Ramirez x 1, Trey Dombroski x 1 and DEWD x 1 (67 total autographs).

Week of May 9-14 Graphing of Shorebirds at Wood Ducks

With the arrival of 2023 Bowman, I have some fresh product that I was happy to get into my book and get signed during this week's series against the Delmarva Shorebirds.  I could have easily skipped this series, since the Orioles sent Jackson Holliday up to Aberdeen, but I went ahead and caught the entire series, with the exception of the Wednesday early game.  Those darn education days...

I was glad to get the above Spotlight insert of Anthony Gutierrez signed; the card looks sharp!

I took some 50/50s for my friend, Aidan, so I got a couple 2023 Bowman First Editions into the album.  One was the above Gleider Figueroa, and the other was the Andres Mesa, below.

I pulled the Andres Mesa 2023 Bowman Chrome gold parallel numbered to 50 out of one of the boxes that I opened.  The card got signed immediately.  It turned out amazing.

I took some 50/50s for a guy named Ryan recently, and as a gift, he sent me the 2021 Bowman Draft chrome green refractor of Cam Cauley, above.  That card looks awesome.  I'm trying not to ask Cam much anymore, now that I have gotten his stack down to nothing.  I made the mistake of getting Dylan MacLean on the Panini Prizm tiger stripe parallel.  It was supposed to be a gift from my friend, Gerard, to Dylan, but I forgot the memo, so I got it signed.  I let Dylan know, and he told me not to worry about it.

We sat in front of Brock Porter's parents during the Saturday game, and found out that he had told his parents about us.  All good things, from what we were told, so that was cool.

Now that Jackson Holliday is gone from Delmarva, Luis Gonzalez is the only guy on the team that I had cards for, with the exception of pitching coach, Adam Bleday.  I got Gonzalez on everything I had, which was good.

I tried to get Gonzalez to sign one of the extra 2022 Heritage Minors cards with my friend, Matt's orange paint pen, but I didn't prime the pen enough, and the auto didn't come out as nicely as I had hoped it would.  Still, it is a bit of a novelty, and it will go into my album anyway.

In all, I got the following autographs: Cam Cauley x 20, Danyer Cueva x 20, Gleider Figueroa x 12, Anthony Gutierrez x 28, Dylan MacLean x 3, Carlos Maldonaldo x 1, Andres Mesa x 11, Ian Moller x 13, Brock Porter x 5 and Luis Gonzalez x 15, Yeison Morrobel x 18, Adam Bleday x 2 (148 total autographs).

April 18-23 2023, Graphing of Mudcats at Wood Ducks

This past week, the Mudcats visited historic Grainger Stadium to take on the Wood Ducks for a 6-game series.  The Wood Ducks lost the series 1-5, which was pretty rough.  I got to 5 of the 6 games, with Wednesday being an Education Day, with an 11am start.  I missed that one since I had to work.

I got in everything I had ordered from Ebay, as well as 11 batches of 50/50s.  I already can tell that I will be cutting down on the number of 50/50s that I take, because this was a mess.  I got everything sorted out and most of it already taken care of, however.  I just have a few loose cards that I was unable to get for folks.  Those will have to wait, unfortunately.

Still, I had a great series, with some helping hands that knocked out a few cards for me, and almost finished off a couple of the Wood Ducks.  I had some really cool cards come in like some of the 2022 Bowman Heritage (bottom left), as well as the blue parallel Anthony Gutierrez (top of post).  I got an Invicta chrome signed by Gutierrez.  That card turned out great.

I had a bunch of Danyer Cueva come in, and he was the first player to start limiting us.  I'll have to ration out the rest of the cards I have of him so I don't burn him out.  I did get the stuff that I ordered taken care of, so that was nice.

I finally got Brock Porter on is Perfect Game card, as well as a few random Woodies that I needed to finish off.  Funny thing I figured out tonight, I still need to get a Yeison Morrobel base chrome signed.  I hae a refractor and a mojo refractor, but not a base chrome.  That's a little strange.

Hedbert Perez was pretty cool.  Last season, he was pretty much one-per, so I was afraid I would be strictly limited on him, but he hit whole pages a few times on this trip.  I have only a handful of his stuff left, and won't be taking any more, so I should be able to finish him off.  He has some nice cards, though, and I was really happy with the ones that got signed.

Jacob Misiorowski was really nice.  He was a strict one-per, but signed for us every time we asked.  I finished off a bunch of cards for folks, so that worked out nicely.  I also got my pack-pulled 2022 Panini Prizm Draft pink parallel signed, which was cool.  I found the above Matthew Wood after the first game, and worked it into the book for Thursday's game and got it signed.

The Perfect Game Chase Costello was given to me by a fellow grapher who was visiting all the way from California.  Costello was really cool, and I was happy to trade the card for one of my extra Danyer cards.  Jheremy Vargas informed us that it wasn't him pictured on the front of his 2022 Heritage Minors card, so he signed the back for us.  This will be an interesting one to look back on in the album years from now.

In all, I got the following autographs: Jojo Blackmon x 2, Cam Cauley x 28, Danyer Cueva x 19, Jeferson Espinal x 3, Anthony Gutierrez x 33, Dylan MacLean x 4, Ian Moller x 16, Yeison Morrobel x 26, Brock Porter x 13, Luis Ramirez x 4, Chase Costello x 1, Jacob Misiorowski x 12, Hedbert Perez x 32, Jheremy Vargas x 7, Gleider Figueroa x 2, Andres Mesa x 2, Carlos Maldonaldo x 2 and Matt Wood x 1 (209 total autographs).