May 17, 2018 - Graphing the Mudcats at Wood Ducks

I had missed about a month of Wood Ducks baseball games due to many reasons: I got sick, my brother got married, I went out of town to visit another brother, and Chris had a bunch of little league games.  I finally got back to Kinston last week and saw the Carolina Mudcats take on the Down East Wood Ducks.

I was really excited because I had the opportunity to get a bunch of cards out of my Bowman box for some of the Brewers prospects that I would see.  I had a ton of Keston Hiura cards tha I hoped to get signed, and he didn't disappoint.  He ended up signing 16 cards for Chris and I, as we were able to get him pre and post-game.

Even with all of the Hiura cards that I had, I was still able to get some 50/50s done for my friend, Gerard.  I also was able to add some brand new 2018 Bowman stuff to the stack.

I got some 50/50s done on Marcos Diplan, but also some cards for myself.  I had gotten him last year toward the end of the season, but it was nice to get some 2017 Bowman Draft done.

Tucker Neuhaus was really nice, and signed everything that I had.  All of these cards look really great in person.

The Wood Ducks called Eric Jenkins up from Single A Hickory to replace the injured Ledarious Clark.  I had a ton of Jenkins's cards that I wanted done, and he knocked them out for me.

I also got a bunch of the photo cards Rangersautos sent me for a 50/50.  They all turned out great, and I am almost done with his stuff, now.

I also just about finished all of the Matt Whatley cards that I had.  He was injured at the beginning of the season, so it took a while to get some of this stuff taken care of.

I took some more Jake Lemoines out of my box, so those have been whittled down as well.  I also added some cool team set cards of Carlos Maldonado that were part of a 50/50.

I was surprised to see former Major Leaguer Anthony Gose on the Wood Ducks roster.  He signed with the Rangers in the offseason, and they are attempting to convert him to a pitcher.  I was able to add a couple Topps cards to my autograph project, which was nice.  It was especially nice to be able to add a 2014 Topps to my ledger, as I still don't have many of them in the album.

So, I'm glad to say that I am back graphing the Wood Ducks.  I missed going there, and was able to hit 4 games this past week.  There will be another post coming with the Dash series.  Stay tuned.

Graphing the Wood Ducks Home Opener and More

Much like the Orioles season, my graphing season has gotten off to a rocky start.  Unlike the Orioles season, however, I expect my graphing to improve.  I was all gung-ho on the season starting, then winter decided that it wanted to stick around, and in turn, I have gotten really sick.  I have already bypassed two games due to illness, and it has set me back a little bit on taking care of some 50/50s, and getting some stuff for myself signed.

I have gotten a lot of stuff done, though, and I am fairly happy with the results so far.  The above 2017 Bowman Holiday Edition Ugly Christmas Sweater parallel might be one of the coolest cards I have gotten so far.

I caught the Wood Ducks home opener last Thursday (April 12) against Myrtle Beach, with my son and my brother.  Myrtle Beach didn't have many guys with available cards that I could find in my boxes, so this was primarily a means to knock out some of my Wood Ducks cards before some scheduled 50/50s came in.  I knocked out a lot of my Hickory team sets, and finished the Elite die cut Lemoine I had sitting since last year.

I did really well with Leody Taveras and Jake Lemoine.  Anything else I get signed by them wil be either 50/50s or for trades because I knocked them out early.

I had found quite a few guys at the Chantilly show, like the 2015 Bowman green refractor of Michael Matuella.  The card looks really sharp.  I have gotten everything signed by Matuella that I had built up over the off-season.  I have learned that getting pitchers to sign is tough because they don't always come out of the bullpen onto the field before the game.  I can foresee that I will end up with extra Jake Lemoine cards by the end of the season, so I may hand off quite a few cards to kids at games.

I had to buy Walker Weickel's cards off of Sportlots; I also had to bust two sets to get James Jones's cards that you see above.  I found out that he was the former outfielder, so I searched my boxes for his stuff, to no avail.  Luckily, my friend, Gerard, sent me some others for 50/50s, so I can replace the ones I removed from the sets.

After the 4 games I have been to, Spike Owen already seems like he doesn't really like signing.  I have gotten him on the cards that I especially wanted, so I doubt I will bother him much more throughout the season.

This Stars and Stripes Lemoine turned out really nicely, except the scan doesn't show the auto very well.

I kept missing Blaine Prescott during the earlier games I went to, but I finally got him on Saturday.

I completely missed Chuck LeBlanc in my Bowman box.  Mainly because I was looking for Chuck and not Charles LeBlanc.  He's a strict two-per, so I need a few more trips to the park to finish him off.

I found the green Beras and Tejeda at the Chantilly show.  It appears that was the theme of this series of graphing; green parallels.

Finally, I only was able to get two Pelicans on cards.  I tried to get Alex Lange, but he wouldn't sign.  I found two of the Bryan Hudson and the one DJ Wilson at the Chantilly show in dime boxes.  I was glad to at least get those done.

In all, during the Myrtle Beach Series, I got: Spike Owen x 8, Michael Matuella x 8, Jake Lemoine x 9, Alex Kowalczyk x 1, Leody Taveras x 8, Chuck LeBlanc x 4, Brendon Davis x 3, Jairo Beras x 2, Anderson Tejeda x 8, Blaine Prescott x 3, Carlos Maldonado x 1, Ricky Valencia x 2, Preston Scott x 1, Walker Weickel x 4, Christian Torres x 1, Steve Mintz x 3, Emerson Martinez x 1, James Jones x 2, Kenny Hook x 2, Jonathan Hernandez x 3, Jairo Beras x 2, Bryan Hudson x 2 and DJ Wilson x 1.

Graphing The Wood Ducks Exhibition Game

A new season is upon us, and I had the opportunity to see the new-look Wood Ducks take on Mount Olive University last night in an exhibition game.  Last season, the exhibition game rained out.  Last night started off warm, but the temperature dropped and the wind picked up.  I had to go to the team store and buy a hoodie because I left mine at home.

I was really excited about this season's roster because there are a bunch of Rangers prospects who came up to start the season.  Jake Lemoine is one who made the jump from Hickory.  I got the above 2015 Elite Extra Edition die cut numbered to 25 signed.

There are a few holdovers from last season's Carolina League Co-Champions.  I was able to get 6 cards from the team set signed.  Emerson Martinez was really happy to see Chris last night.  He even "signed" Chris's nose during the post-game autograph session.

I had purchased the late edition of the 2017 Hickory team set, as I knew a lot of those guys would be on the Wood Ducks roster this season.  I knocked out a bunch of them last night.

Three of the early 2017 Hickory set got signed, as did one from the 2016 set.  I don't have many of the 16s remaining who are still with the Rangers.

Anderson Tejeda is one of the higher Rangers prospects on the Wood Ducks this season.  I was able to get my South Atlantic League card taken care of, which helped with that set.

This Jake Lemoine Stars and Stripes Crusade insert turned out really nicely.  I had hoped to add a few cards from that series to the album, and Lemoine turns out to be the first.

I picked up a bunch of Panini Contenders cards from my LCS, and took care of several last night.  I especially like the School Colors versions; they look really cool signed.

Leody Taveras is another high-end prospect who will be in Kinston this year.  He signs two per, but I had help last night, and he signed everything I had during the post-game autograph session.

I know some folks will enjoy the Panini Contenders cards of Michael Matuella, since he played for Duke.

Spike Owen only signed pre-game, and only signed 2-per.  He most likely will be like Howard Johnson was last season; so it will take me a while to knock out everything I have for him.  Carlos Maldonado has a few nice cards, but the only one I had in my collection as of last night was the 2007 Upper Deck.  I believe I ordered some of his stuff off of Sportlots.

Also, Matthew Whatley is one of the Rangers newest prospects.  He was drafted last June, and is already at High A.  He completely bypassed A ball (Hickory).

Finally, Jairo Beras is back with the Wood Ducks to continue his transformation into a pitcher.  He was demoted to Hickory last season to work on transitioning to a pitcher.  I'm interested in seeing his progress this season.

I had some help getting autographs last night, my brother Andy, his fiancee Camryn and my son Chris all helped out.

I ended up with: Josh Altmann x 3, Edgar Arredondo x 2, Jairo Beras x 6, Ledarious Clark x 3, Brendon Davis x 1, Kaleb Fontenot x 2, Jonathan Hernandez x 1, Alex Kowalczyk x 1, Chuck LeBlanc x 1, Jake Lemoine x 8, Carlos Maldonado x 4, Emerson Martinez x 3, Michael Matuella x 12, Christian Torres x 2, Matthew Whatley x 5, Ricky Valencia x 3, CD Pelham x 4, Preston Scott x 2, Jacob Shortslef x 2, Walker Weickel x 2, Spike Owen x 4, Leody Taveras x 12 and Anderson Tejeda x 10.  In all, we got 93 cards signed.  Some of which were 50/50s for my friend, Gerard.  My next game is Thursday, April 12; the Wood Ducks home opener against Myrtle Beach.