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.

June 2019 Graphing Recap of Salem Red Sox at Down East Wood Ducks

It was a tough series for me to graph, but I did have some success this past weekend getting a few more cards signed while the Salem Red Sox were in town.

I was very low on cards for both teams, but I was able to finish everything I had for Salem, including some 50./50s for my friend, Gerard.  Also, Thad Ward was called up to Salem, so I was able to get three cards out of my box and have them signed while he was here.  The above 2018 Bowman Chrome sparkle refractor was a last-minute find in my box yesterday before we left for the game.  I don't know how I missed it beforehand, but I luckily found it and got it done.

Ward and Bryan Mata were both really nice, and signed everything that Chris and I had.  I had several Matas left from my 50/50 with Gerard, but all I had of Ward were the three cards that I found in my box.

Mata has a nice, bold signature, and it shows up well on cards in blue.  At 19, he is the youngest player on the Red Sox.

Marcus Wilson, on the other hand, has been in the minors since 2014, but has only reached AA, briefly.  He was traded by the Diamondbacks to the Red Sox earlier this year.  He played 19 games this season with he Red Sox AA team in Portland, Maine, and had a .161 batting average.  Demoted to Salem at High A, he now has a .348 average with 7 home runs.  He showed this weekend that he can mash High A pitching, but has yet to do so at a higher level.  Probably bitter that he is back slumming it in the Carolina League, Wilson will sign only one card per series for autograph seekers.  That's too bad, because he really put on a show.  Maybe the stutter-step around the third base coach while doing his home run trot was a bit much; it seemed to rile up the Wood Ducks bench this weekend.

Wilson had called me out for getting a card signed on Thursday, and asking him to do another on Friday.  I'm not worried about him, though.  I drafted a couple other folks at the park to get the two additional cards that I wanted signed, and they helped me out by getting them done.  Don't worry, I was beyond respectful, even though his attitude rubbed me the wrong way.

The Wood Ducks made some personnel changes, since this was the first game back from the All Star break.  Moved up to Frisco are Leody Taveras and Jason Bahr.  Jairo Beras is back in Kinston following a demotion from Frisco, and Curtis Terry has been promoted from Hickory.

Finally, my attention to details at the Wood Ducks games paid off.  I had heard our friend, Billy, tell us that Bryan Harvey shows up at the games from time to time as a rover for the Rangers.  I happened to look through a box of 1993 Flar on Wednesday for someone who will be at the National, and found a Harvey card.  I put it in the book immediately, thinking it would be a good idea to have it ready.  That was good timing, since he was there on Thursday.  I got that card signed, then had enough time this weekend to find a few more cards.

The Wood Ducks are out of town until July 1, then they will play a series against the Winston-Salem Dash.  I need to load up on some more cards so that I am ready for the series.

May 2019 Graphing of Salem Red Sox at Down East Wood Ducks

While I was at my parents' the weekend of May 25, my Pro Debut boxes came in.  I got into the boxes after my trip to Hickory, but was able to use some of the cards for when the Wood Ducks were back in town against the Salem Red Sox.

I got Anderson Tejeda, Leody Taveras and JP Martinez on the Pro Debut cards, and they turned out really well.  The cards need to be prepped, as usual, but they look great when signed.

While I was in Hickory, I picked up this season's team set.  I got it after pregame autos there, so I didn't have time to prep and put the cards in the books, so these Wood Ducks were the first cards from the set that I could get done.

Salem doesn't have too many players on their roster who have cards, so I did what I could.  Chris and I got a ton of Bryan Mata cards signed, which was nice.

I was also able to get this 2015 NY-Penn League card of Victor Acosta signed.  I have had it for a couple years, so I was glad to get it out of my box.

I found out Marcus Wilson was on the Salem Roster the day we were heading out there, so I scrambled through my 2014 Bowmans and found one of his cards.  I was disappointed that I didn't have his 2013 Perfect Game card, though.