Some 50-50s From Bryan

Some more 50/50s are out of the way now, with one more team bag to go after this one.  This was a return that came in at the end of last season from Bryan in Texas.  He has become my default guy in Texas after the guys I used to 50/50 with have grown up and moved on.  I appreciate having someone who can get AAA Round Rock, especially.

Bryan helped me knock out some team set guys who I missed in the past.  I had been waiting a long time to get AJ Alexy on the 2019 Wood Ducks set.

I didn't send a whole lot to Bryan, but what he got was definitely quality.  I was glad to get a Davis Wendzel back from him.  I had sent one to someone else the season before, and the guy held that card hostage for what seemed to be a five for one trade.  I told him that he could just keep the card and send me the rest of m stuff back.  I hate it when people do stuff like that.

Finally, I got some much older stuff out of my boxes when Bryan got my 2003 Bowman Chrome Matt Hagen, my 2010 Bowman Josh Sale and 2011 Heritage Minors Josh Sale signed.

Thanks for taking these, Bryan.  I hope to send some more this season.

50-50 Return From Mike in Texas

For some reason, my Texas connections have fallen off recently.  I thought I had found a good 50-50 partner there to make up for it, but since it took a year to get these signed cards back from Mike in Texas, I think I will be on the lookout for someone else to take Frisco and Round Rock cards.

I was glad Mike took the cards that he took, and I was able to finally get a few of my Hans Crouse cards signed, but he held the cards hostage while I worked out a trade to get my 2019 Bowman Draft Davis Wendzel card back.  He knew I was only sending one of his cards, which is all I could find.  I told him that ahead of time.  He agreed to take the card and got it signed, but when it came time to send everything back, he thought he should hold everything until I sent something suitable for Wendzel in return.

I have gone on record saying that I hate trading, and this was a scenario that made me dislike it even more.  I had told him that I would show him some of my extras and we could work out a deal, but when I offered him anything, he would come back with "I only want top 100 prospects."  So, I found the best names I could find (like Leody Taveras, who, at the time was a top 100 prospect for the Rangers, of course) and he said "I don't know who that is..."  That happened with every player I showed him.  I got frustrated and said I would revisit the deal later.  Well, I got busy and forgot.  Finally, I went back and remembered that he still had m cards, so I told him to just keep the dang Wendzel card and send me the rest of my stuff back.  I got the cards back, so essentially, I traded the Wendzel for the Wendzel.  He could have just asked to keep it, and I would have let him, but he wanted to try to squeeze a Bobby Witt, Jr. or Adley Rutschmann out of me.  Yeah, that wasn't going to happen for a Davis Wendzel.

Needless to say, I won't be sending 50/50s out to this guy again.  Not when we agreed to the deal at the beginning, only to have my stuff held hostage in favor of a "better deal".  I was set to give him a stack of autos, but he wouldn't have it.  Oh well.  I'm bound to find a grapher in Texas who goes regularly, versus the guys I know who don't really graph anymore.

July 2019 Graphing Recap of Hillcats at Wood Ducks

Running low on Wood Ducks card, I was glad that I got my 2019 Carolina League All Star and Top Prospects sets in from my friend, Michael.  Additionally, I was able to add Noah Bremer back to my autograph album, since he was activated from the DL recently.

The coolest thing about his card in this year's team set is that I actually own the jersey that he is wearing on the card.  Also, my dog is on the jersey, so my dog now has a baseball card.  When I asked Noah to sign this, I told him about the jersey, and he remembered me getting it that night, which was cool.

My friend John, in Texas, sent me some Frisco team set cards that I was able to get done by Jairo Beras.  Tim Brennan was called up from Hickory, so I got his card done; Diosbel Arias has an All Star card, and Bubba Thompson took care of his Top Prospects card.

I was able to get Yanio Perez on his team set card, as well.  Of the Wood Ducks left on this team (and not out injured), that leaves me with JP Martinez to get for my set.  The rest are waiting on returns from the DL, and the stack I sent out to John.

I had a few Hillcats that I needed to get, especially this relic card from 2019 Pro Debut of Will Benson.  Benson was one per, but he was really nice.  I had him sign this card first, and it looks awesome.

I also got these done, a 2019 Midwest League All Star card, 2017 Bowman Chrome and a 2017 Heritage Minors.

Oscar Gonzalez was in the Carolina League All Star set, and the Top Prospects set, so those got done.  Tyler Freeman was really tough but I did come away with these two cards, so I was happy with the results.

Justin Garza was really nice, so I got the die cut Elite Extra Edition and a Stars and Stripes completed.

Finally, I hit Juan Hillman for quite a few cards, but the only ones I needed were the Elite Extra Edition and Carolina League All Star.