After being away from the Wood Ducks for almost a month, I finally was able to get back to Grainger Stadium this week and do some graphing. I was following up the National by getting some of my purchases signed, and they all turned out great (like the above 2020 Bowman Draft sapphire parallel of Thomas Saggese).
The series started on Tuesday with the much-anticipated return of pitcher, Owen White. He has been out all year with a broken leg, and I was finally able to get some cards signed by him.
Some more National pickups; I had to pick up every Mason Englert that I could find. I got them done, and they turned out awesome.
Here are a couple more Saggeses. The purple Chrome parallel was way off-center, but the card is cool. I had actually found two purple refractors (the one of the left isn't one, it is a purple paper parallel), so Chris got the better of the two.
I had received some customs from Rangersautos on Instagram (the Valentin) and my good friend, Dugan, made a few others. So, I had some extra stuff to get done toward the end of the series.
I finally was able to get a 2015 Stars & Stripes of Noah Campbell signed for myself, as well as a bunch of cards of the returning Antione Kelly and Micah Bello.
Sal Frelick made his debut, after being drafted in the first round of the 2021 July Amateur Draft. He was really nice, and signed one of Dugan's customs. Frelick was impressed with the card that Dugan made, and Dugan actually gave him one ot the end of Sunday's game.
I probably should have scanned this Antione Kelly with the others, and the Frelick right here. Oh well, this 2020 Topps Pro Debut turned out really well. I was glad to get it out of my graphing box, because I was afraid the season would end before I could get it signed.
The big highlight of this series was that I was finally able to get my hands on some team sets. I have been waiting all season for them, and they arrived while I was at the National. There are several players in the set who have moved on to Hickory and several more on the DL. I'm hoping some of those players come back, so I can get closer to finishing the set.
We got all of the coaches and also DEWD, who finally came out of hibernation. I didn't miss any of the active players, and I am hoping a few come off of the DL by next series (like, Cody Freeman).
The team sets are really nice, but nothing will beat the 2019 Mudcats team set. That one might be my favorite design so far that I have seen, even though I do like the Wood Ducks sets from 2017.
Finally, we realized that Rangers roving instructor, Geno Petralli, was in town (he even got ejected from Friday's game; the umpires were that bad). I got every Petralli card that I could find signed, so I am now out of his stuff (I think).
I had a good time getting back to Grainger Stadium and spending some time with Dugan and Billy, as well as some of the other graphers. The season is winding down, and I know I'm going to miss this when the off-season hits.
