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). 

Matt and Josh Help Get Some Cards Signed

Two of the guys (Matt and Josh) who regularly sit with me af Wood Ducks games went up to Hickory a couple weeks ago and got a few cards signed for me.  The above 2021 Bowman Draft gold parallel of Cam Cauley turned out nicely.

They also knocked out two of the Wood Ducks team set cards for me, Brett Platts and Jose Corniell.  They also saw this year's Rangers first round pick, Wyatt Langford, and got him on my Perfece Game card.

The team set is down to one card, and that should get done soon.  Thanks for the help, Josh and Matt!

June 18, 2023, Graphing of the Hot Rods at Crawdads

This past Sunday, I finally got around to visiting Hickory.  It was great being able to see Cody Freeman again.  My friend, Jessie, gave me the above team set card to get signed.  It is always nice when someone is excited to see you, and it seemed like Chris and I made Cody's day.

I was able to get three of the Wood Ducks cards signed of guys who moved up after the set was photographed.

We were told by some other graphers pre-game that Alejandro Osuna hadn't touched a pen all season and Maximo Acosta wouldn't sign for us.  Both recognized us and stopped to sign, which was cool to see them prove those guys wrong. 

The Crawdads were playing the Bowling Green Hot Rods, and I was able to get a bunch of Rays stuff out of my minors box.  Brock Jones was really nice and signed everything we had.

Dru Baker, Carson Williams and Willy Vazquez were all one per.  I was also able to get Tony Locey on a 2019 Bowman Draft.  I had sent to him TTM but never got the cards back.  I wish the orange refractor I had sent him had at least come back RTS because I'd have loved to have gotten it signed.

Chris and I did really well and got most of everything signed that we brought with us.

In all, we got the following autographs: Maximo Acosta x 2, Dane Acker x 2, Cody Freeman x 1, Tucker Mitchell x 6, Jackson Kelley x 4, Abi Ortiz x 6, Alejandro Osuna x 4, Dru Baker x 2, JJ Goss x 2, Brock Jones x 11, Tony Locey x 1, Nick Schnell x 1, Willy Vasquez x 1 and Carson Williams x 2 (45 total autographs). 

September 2022 Graphing Recap of Braves at Crawdads

The game was called probably some 30 minutes after the Rome Braves team buses left the ballpark, but that didn't stop me from a full night of graphing in Hickory.  I made my way out of the stadium while the Braves players waited for the buses to come, and got everyone I needed with the exception of Grant Holmes.

After the game was called, the Crawdads went forward with their team signing, and luckily, the rain had stopped.  I was able to almost complete this year's early season Crawdads team set.  I think I am missing one or two guys from the set.  I didn't pick up the late season version, since my friend, Dugan had bought one for me, but forgot to bring it down the last time he was in town.  I also forgot to tell him I was going to Hickory this weekend, so oh well.

The main reason I was going was to try to complete this year's Wood Ducks team set, which I was able to do, save for the alternate mascot.  I'll get him next season.  I was glad to see the guys again, one more time before the season ended.

I was able to get several Jacob Pearson 2017 Bowmans and a couple 2018 Pro Debuts out of my card box.  He signed one of each of the cards, so the rest of the unsigned cards will go into the box of shame.  Still, I was happy to get these taken care of.

I only had one 2021 Bowman Draft of Cal Conley, so it is out of the box and into the album.  He was really nice; we had gotten the Braves guys outside as they were boarding the buses, then we went back inside and waited for the Crawdads signing.

Finally, Beau Philip was one per.  He signed a 2020 Topps Pro Debut for both Chris and I.  I had hoped he would hit one of the 2019 Bowman Draft cards as well, but I'm just happy I got one.

In all, I got the following autographs: Dane Acker x 8, Robby Ahlstrom x 6, Angel Aponte x 2, Michael Brewer x 4, Evan Carter x 3, Derrick Decker x 2, Andy Earp x 2, Cristian Inoa x 1, Jesus Linarez x 2, Larson Kendreich x 4, Theo McDowell x 4, Alejandro Osuna x 4, TK Roby x 4, Chris Siese x 8, Josh Stephan x 4, Jay Sullenger x 2, Leury Tejadax4, Ryan Tuntland x 2, Bradford Webb x 4, Cal Conley x 1, Jacob Pearson x 6 and Beau Philip x 2 (79 total autographs).

June 2022 Graphing of Drive at Crawdads

Following what was a tough week-plus, I finally got some graphing in.  We had a death in the family the week prior, then we had to put our dog, Rocky, down last week.  I wasn't really feeling graphing, but made myself go on Friday to Hickory while I was in the Winston area for my dad's annual race.  The race was Saturday, so I had plenty of time Friday night to relax and get some ink on some cards.  Chris was at my sister's house, so I flew solo, but actually made a friend while I was there.  We'll see how that goes.

One of the bigger surprises for me on this trip was that Luisangel Acuna has completely opened up to signing, finally.  He was the first player out of the clubhouse, and signed everything I had on the page.  I was impressed, and happy to get the stuff that I had brought, done.

I knocked out several more Hickory team set cards.  I have a different marker this time, and it stood up much better to the team set cards than my Staedtler did.  I still have a bunch to do, but have gotten most of them out of the way; especially the tough guys like Acuna and Evan Carter.

I also knocked out most of what I had left for Aaron Zavala.  Hickory had the SAL League Top Prospects set in, so I opened one and got Carter to sign the card of him in there.

Robby Ahlstrom was recently promoted to Hickory, so I was able to finish off the card I had left for him.  This card scanned so awesome.

This 2019 Bowman Chrome Draft Progression card is going to be tough to finish, but I got Chris Seise on it, and maybe I can get the other two guys at some point.

Finally, I had only a handful of Greenville guys, and even fewer stopped to sign.  I did get this 2021 Bowman Draft Tyler McDonough done, and it turned out nicely.  I tried a few other guys, but wasn't successful.  It didn't help that the players didn't have numbers on the front of their jerseys.

The Crawdads were wearing Thor themed jerseys, and I won Cody Freeman's (of course).  It will be shipped to me signed, and looks pretty cool.  I was glad to win another Cody jersey, and was even happier seeing him again.

In all, I got the following autographs: Luisangel Acuna x 6, Ben Amderson x 1, Robby Ahlstrom x 2, Evan Carter x 2, Carlos Cardoza x 2, Frainyer Chavez x 2, Randy Florentino x 2, Jon Goebel x 2, Spencer Mraz x 1, Keyber Rodriguez x 2, Thomas Saggese x 2, Chris Seise x 5, Ricky Vanasco x 2, Owen White x 3, Aaron Zavala x 3, Matthew Lugo x 1 and Tyler McDonough x 1 (39 total autographs).

May 7, 2022, Graphing of Crawdads at Dash

Something about best laid plans...  I had the bright idea of treating my parents to an anniversary present of taking them to a Dash game last weekend.  I bought six tickets after the earth stopped spinning when my dad agreed to go to the game.  The weather was horrible leading up to Saturday, including a rainout on Friday, forcing a potential double header for Saturday.  It rained all day, and the games ended up being canceled, after we had gotten into the ballpark and stood for an hour or so watching the Hickory guys play in the batting cages.  Even worse were the ushers who, I guess, didn't realize it was raining, that the four of us (Mom and Dad were smart to wait and not make the drive to the ballpark) were the only people in the cage area staying dry, and that we personally knew most of the players.

I don't normally fault someone who is just doing their job, but this made the third time in two years that I, and other people, have been run out of an area by the Dash ushers, for no discernable reason.  She said we needed a wristband to be where we were, but it WAS RAINING and we WERE THE ONLY PEOPLE THERE!  Furthermore, I heard that the following day, folks were allowed to graph in the same area and were not run out at all.  So, yeah, the Dash ushers are the worst I have come into contact with in any Minor League stadium.  Major Leagues are a different story.  All that being said, I still did fairly well graphing, and was able to see my guy, Cody Freeman.  He even took my books from me and put them on a table near the clubhouse door, so all of the Hickory guys could sign my cards.  John Matthews took it a step further, and took the books into the clubohuse to work on the newly minted team set, until the lady told us to leave.

All in all, I was still happy; I finally got my 2014 Topps Red Hot foil parallel of Danny Farquhar signed, along with these two 2019 Bowman Chrome parallels of Jake Guenther that didn't come in until after I got home from the last trip to Winston.  The rain and humidity, paired with the rough matte finish on the team set cards killed my Staedtler, so I got some crappy autos, as well.

My friend, Jesse, hooked me up with this 2020 Bowman First Edition TK Roby, which was a nice card.

I like the team set from this year, but the cards do have a bit of a rough finish that takes away from the signatures a bit.  I later switched pens, so maybe some team set cards I get signed later this season will turn out better.

It was nice seeing the guys as much as I was able.  The experience could have been better; I wasn't a fan of the lady standing and watching the players hug Chris and rush us along as they were trying to have a conversation with him.  It bothered my sister so much, that she has sworn off going back to the Dash, which is a shame.

I'll probably go back; I mean, I have to, I have six tickets I still need to use.  I was happy to see Cody, and get a hug.  He's still one of the nicest people on the planet, and I always enjoy catching up with him.

In all, I got the following autographs: Luisangel Acuna x 3, Joe Corbett x 2, Ben Anderson x 1, Marc Church x 1, Evan Carter x 1, Cody Freeman x 2, Jake Guenther x 4, Cristian Inoa x 1, Josh Smith x 2, John Matthews x 2, Nick Krauth x 2, Triston Polley x 2, Scott Kapers x 2, Thomas Saggese x 2, Spencer Mraz x 1, TK Roby x 4, Mason Englert x 2, Owen White x 6, Kawika Emsley-Pai x 2 and Danny Farquhar x 1 (43 total signatures).

Graphing Recap - April 10-11 Crawdads at Dash

The minor league season is up and running, and I have already put my first road trip to bed for the season.  I picked up my friend, Alex, in Richmond last Friday night, and we stayed at my parents' farm Friday night and Saturday night with the intention of checking out the Hickory Crawdads at Winston-Salem Dash.

I used the opportunity to visit family, as well, since I have a new niece.  Poor Alex got a crash course in just how large my family is.  I was also happy that Hickory was in Winston, since most of the Wood Ducks from last season moved up to Hickory.  We sat on the Hickory side both games, and reconnected with a bunch of the guys, like Cody Freeman, Nick Krauth, Mason Englert and Owen White.  Carlos Cardoza, manager of last year's Woodies, is now managing the Crawdads, and noticed me when he was coaching third about halfway into Saturday's game.  He came over after the game to chat and thank me for coming out.  My sister and her husband also came to the Saturday game, and were able to meet Cody and some of the other guys.

I was told by one of the players that I had missed Luisangel Acuna; he had injured his hamstring during the Friday game and had been sent back to Arizona.  Luckily, Acuna hadn't actually left yet, and I was able to get him to sign the above cards on Sunday after the game.

I was really excited to finally get some Chris Siese cards signed, since he never made it to Kinston.  He had been hurt much of the last several seasons, and when the leagues flip flopped, I knew it would be tough to get him.

I had even tried to get Siese TTM, but those cards were returned to sender.  They ended up getting signed, though.  I made sure those were the first cards in the auto book since they had so many miles on them already.

TK Roby wasn't at the Wood Ducks for long last season, and left before I could get the above Panini Prizm cards signed.  I found the above 2020 Bowman First Edition blue foil at a show in the offseason and was happy to move it into the autograph album.

I had the 2020 Bowman and Panini Prizm Trevor Hauver cards left over from missing him last season when I traveled to Hickory.  They got out of the Box of Shame and finally got signed.  I didn't realize I had any Scott Kapers until I was looking for someone else in my Spokane team sets, so I bought his Perfect Game card in a lot of 3.  My friend, Gerard, ended up getting one of them, and I'll use the other as trade bait, probably.  I didn't have any cards of Aaron Zavala until after last season was over, so it was nice to finally add him on a few cards.

Since Hickory is so tough to get pitchers at home, I was really glad that I could add some of the team set guys to the album.  I had help from Nick Krauth, who sent Joe Corbett and Spencer Mraz over to sign for me.  Nick is such a good guy.  I wish he had cards.  I got Owen White on the one different card that I didn't have during the season, the Bowman Platinum.  I also got Chris's signed, even though Owen had told Chris over social media that Chris could send to him TTM any time.  Chris and Owen have gotten close, and talk quite a bit.  Owen was disappointed that Chris had to work that weekend, bur I promised that we would come out to Hickory in June and see everyone.

Because I wanted to spend time on the Hickory side, I didn't bring much for the Winston-Salem guys.  I had James Beard cards in the book, but he had gotten sent to Kannapolis; and we missed Matt Thompson.  Thankfully, I was able to finally add Danny Farquhar and Nicky Delmonico.  My friend, Max, had gotten a couple Delmonicos signed for me a while back.  I had missed Farquhar last season, and misplaced a 2014 Topps Red Hot foil, which I found this past week when I wasn't looking for it.  Story of my life.

Most importantly, my friend, Alex, enjoyed his first minor league game away from the Richmond Flying Squirrels.  He enjoyed seeing Winston-Salem, and if he was bored meeting the family, he didn't show it.

In all, Alex and I got two signed baseballs from Cody Freeman, along with all of the signed cards: Ben Anderson x 5, Joe Corbett x 6, Trevor Hauver x 5, Scott Kapers x 4, Spencer Mraz x 5, TK Roby x 5, Chris Siese x 12, Josh Smith x 7, Owen White x 5, Aaron Zavala x 7 Luisangel Acuna x 4, Evan Carter x 6, Chris Siese x 12, Nicky Delmomico x 9 and Danny Farquhar x 3 (94 autographs).

I had a great time, and it was even better because I could see some of the players who we saw last season and had gotten close to.  I wish Chris could have gone to the games, but he will have more time this summer when tennis is over.  Stay tuned to see the rest of the graphing I did this past week.

TTM Success - Tai Tiedemann

While looking for addresses for players in 2021 Bowman Draft, I discovered that one of the players I was looking for had a brother who had been in the Rangers organization.  So, once I found the address (for Ricky Tiedemann), I pulled my Tai Tiedemann cards that I had stockpiled while hoping he would move up to the Wood Ducks.

I got cards from 2017 and 2018 Spokane and 2019 Hickory signed by Tiedemann,

Tiedemann (b. 1996) was an 8th round pick by the Rangers in the 2016 June Amateur Draft out of Long Beach City College in California.  He played in the Rangers system from 2016 to 2021, reaching AA (and bypassing the Wood Ducks completely, since the minors were restructured last season.  He has a 16-12 record with 208 strike outs and a 3.94 ERA.

I mailed to Tiedemann on January 10 and got the cards back on January 19, for a 9-day TAT.

August 22, 2021, Graphing Recap of Dash at Crawdads

A last minute trip t Hickory yesterday yielded a few autographs to put into my binder after I did a little pregame graphing with Chris.  We had gone to one of my dad's races in Mooresville, and I figured I would try to get a few cards from the Wood Ducks team set taken care of while I was in the general area.  Unfortunately, most of the former Wood Ducks I needed were pitchers, and I learned that it is really hard to get pitchers to sign in Hickory with their COVID restrictions.  You can hardly get near any of them if they hang in the bullpen area.

Still, we came away with a few signed cards, even though we left in the third inning so we could get home at a decent time.  I was really glad to get the above 2017 Panini Elite Extra Edition David Garcia signed.  I got this card when the 2017 Elite Extra Edition came out, and kept the card with my Rangers stuff, waiting for him to come to the Wood Ducks.  He never did, but thankfully, I noticed him on the Crawdads roster, and remembered exactly where I had the card.  It looks great, and it is one less card hanging out in my box, now.

I knocked out a couple Jonathan Ornelas cards; he signed 2 per for both Chris and I.  I also took a 50.50 from Gerard, and got a could Jared Walkers knocked out for him.  The 2014 Bowman was mine to begin with, and he provided a blue wave chrome version of that same card, and two of the 2014 Elite Extra Editions.

I dug deep in my boxes and came up with the 1998 Team Best Hiram Bocachica, which was a cool find.  He was really nice, and spoke with me and a nice lady who was beside me, a Crawdads season ticket holder who helped me identify the players as they walked by.  She saved me a ton of time from having to look at the roster and match up numbers.

I was able to get one former Wood Duck, Dustin Harris, which was nice, because he is tearing up High A pitching at the moment.  It was also nice to hit a couple 2019 Bowman draft, and also the 2020 Topps Heritage Minors Ezequiel Duran.

The season is winding down, and I doubt I'll be able to do many more away games at other stadiums, but I'm going to try.  I know I've knocked out more cards that I thought I would this season, and there's still 3 or 4 weeks to go.