April 3-4, 2026 Graphing of the IronPigs at Bulls

Graphing season for 2026 has kicked off, and Jesse and I did really well this weekend in Durham. We went to see the Lehigh Valley IronPigs Friday and Saturday. Friday was interesting, since Phillies ace, Zack Wheeler was starting for Lehigh Valley. There were a ton of Phillies fans there, especially by the dugout pregame. The only IronPigs guys who stopped pregame were Adam Lind and Bryan De La Cruz. Lind signed the above 2010 Topps Chrome, becoming the first person to get me on the board this season.

A huge variety of cards got signed on the trip. I had to buy a couple Christian Cairo cards off of Ebay for the trip, and they were the last two cards that were signed Saturday night. We did so much better on Lehigh Valley outside the stadium both nights. Getting Genesis Cabrera was nice; it was nice to get some 2019 Bowman cards out of the box. He also signed a 2019 Bowman Heritage, which is always nice to add to the autograph album. 

We got De La Cruz a few different times, and he helped add a bunch of cards to the album. A 2025 Topps Heritage High Number was signed by Connor Gillispie, and Seth Johnson hit my 2025 Topps.

Aside from Wheeler, Orion Kerkering was on a rehab assignment, as well. He was really cool and signed everything we had. He signed my first 2026 Topps Heritage.

Carter Kieboom and Pedro Leon are two guys who had been in the Box-of-Shame for a long time. I was glad to get a few of their cards out of there and into the album. 

Griff McGarry is another guy who I had missed in the past. He signed everything we had by the bullpen after the game, Friday. He was a really nice guy. I hate that he walked in a ton of runs on Saturday. 

Lou Trivino was really cool, as well. He talked to Jesse and I a bit. Jesse took his picture with his Polaroid (yes, Jesse has a Polaroid), and got the picture signed after the game.

I was really glad to get my Trevor Richards 2019 Stadium Club signed. The cards I had of him all had logged a lot of frequent flyer miles, as they had been sent to Chiacago and back for Max to try and get signed a while back. 

Saturday, Jesse and I tried graphing on the Bulls dugout. The big get for us was Gavin Lux, who signed one per for us. The card I got was a 2022 Panini Capstone. It turned out great.  I didn't have any Brody Hopkins in my huge pile of 2025 Topps Pro Debut, for some reason. Gerard sent me some, so I was able to add him to the album. He outpitched Wheeler, which was cool.

I finally got a Jacob Melton signed. I missed him last season with Sugar Land. I finally saw Victor Mesa, Jr., and just happened to get the cards back of him that I had sent Max, which worked out great for me. I was glad to get his 2021 Topps Heritage Minors done. I love that set. If I were to work on a more recent set, that one might be it.

I was happy to get my 2024 Topps Edward Olivares purple shimmer parallel signed. He got hurt Friday, and left Saturday as we were out graphing on the sidewalk. I hate that he got hurt. Joe Rock walked on the other side of the street, but we were able to get him. He signed a 2026 Topps, which was cool.

One of the cool things that I got signed this weekend was this MLB debut ticket of Carter Kieboom. Michael had sent me the ticket earlier in the week, and I decided to take it along to try and get it signed. I told him about it, to which he replied "oh that's sick!"

While I was waiting in line for my obligatory Rita's gelati, I ran into one of my former geology professors from UNCC, Kevin Headd. We have kept in touch over the years via Facebook; and he used to come into the store I worked at back then. He is such a good guy. He took this selfie while I was in line.

Kevin met us outside the stadium and graphed with us. I helped him identify some if the players and hooked him up with a marker. His wife took a few pictures while we were at work. Here is one she took of us getting Blake Sabol.

Here is another with Carlos Colmenarez. I was so happy to run into Kevin, and let him see a little bit of what I'm always posting about on Facebook. 

In all, I got the following autographs: Carlos Colmenarez x 6, Logan Davidson x 3, Luis Guerrero x 2, Brody Hopkins x 4, Justyn-Henry Malloy x 2, Trevor Martin x 3, Jacob Melton x 2, Victor Mesa x 5, Tre Morgan x 4, Edward Olivares x 2, Joe Rock x 6, Blake Sabol x 2, Wool E Bull x 2, Sergio Alcantara x 5, Genesis Cabrera x 6, Bryan De La Cruz x 10, Connor Gillispie x 1, Jonathan Hernandez x 2, Seth Johnson x 2, Orion Kerkering x 7, Pedro Leon x 4, Adam Lind x 1, Griff McGarry x 5, Robert Moore x 7, Trevor Richards x 7, Chase Shugart x 1, Lou Trivino x 3, Chris Clark x 4, Gavin Lux x 2, Kodi Whitley x 2, Christian Cairo x 2 and Carter Kieboom x 5 (119 total autographs). 

June 27, 2024, Graphing of the IronPigs at Bulls

After some time away, I have quite a bit to post.  The time away from the blog was unintentional; I haven't gotten hardly any TTMs and I was prepping hard for my annual graphing road trip.  The trip is now behind me, and was a big success.  As a warmup for the trip, I went to Durham with Jesse on Thursday, June 27 to see thr Lehigh Valley IronPigs take on the Bulls.  Jesse and I went for arrival and racked.  One of the big gets for us was Kody Clemens, who was with Lehigh Valley on rehab.

I was really excited to get Mick Abel on several cards.  I had heard he was kind of tough, but he stopped for us twice.  I got some good cards signed, which got a bunch out of my boxes.

I got a few Aramis Garcia out of my Box Of Shame after having a bunch left over last season after I had seen him before.  Darick Hall was cool; I am out of his cards now. Andrew Bellatti wouldn't sign outside, but was nice enough inside.  He only would do one card, though.  I had taken the card that Jesse had because he was going after Freddy Tarnok after the game.  David Buchanan was cool.  We listened to him talk to the guys in the IronPigs bullpen about horror movies.

I was able to get some random cards out of the boxes like my 2019 Midwest League All Star card of Nick Podkul, my 2022 Heritage Minors Esteban Quiroz or my 2017 Bowman Freddy Tarnok.

Some recent releases got signed pretty quickly like my 2024 Heritage and 2024 Series 2 Weston Wilson cards.  They turned out nicely.

While I was getting a Scott Kingery relic card signed for a friend of mine, Jesse got this green parallel from Gypsy Queen done for me.  I was glad he chose this card. 

I was really excited to see that Tyler Alexander was with the Bulls.  I had this 2015 NY-Penn League All Star card for a long time, and it is now finally signed.

I cleared out all of my Alexander cards during this trip.  I also added a couple more Shane Baz to the autograph album before he was called back up to the majors.

Finally, Jesse and I got several of the Bulls guys to sign.  I was glad Jesse got to meet Jeffrey Springs, a former Wood Duck.  I was also glad to finally get Tyler Zuber.

In all, we got the following autographs: Mick Abel x 14, Andrew Bellatti x 1, David Buchanan x 4, Ryan Buchter x 5, Ruben Cardenas x 1, Kody Clemens x 1, Aramis Garcia x 4, Tyler Gilbert x 1, Darick Hall x 4, Buddy Kennedy x 2, Scott Kingery x 2, Max Lazar x 1, Simon Muzziotti x 2, Nick Nelson x 1, Ricardo Pinto x 1, Nick Podkul x 1, Esteban Quiroz x 2, Freddy Tarnok x 2, Weston Wilson x 4, Tyler Alexander x 14, Shane Baz x 6, Rob Brantly x 9, Trevor Brigden x 1, Jacob Lopez x 5, Jake Mangum x 7, Kam Misner x 2, Erasmo Ramirez x 2, Manuel Rodriguez x 2, Ronny Simon x 3, Jeffrey Springs x 2 and Tyler Zuber x 6 (112 total autographs). 

April 15, 2023, Graphing of IronPigs at Bulls

A day of graphing in Durham can be a lot of work, but can also be a lot of fun.  I had planned to go to Durham this weekend to graph several weeks ago.  That allowed me a lot of time to find cards of guys that I needed, and also take a few from a couple friends to add to my inventory.

There were a couple names on the Lehigh Valley roster that I was interested in getting.  That was mostly because there are several guys on their roster who have been around for a while, and I just haven't had the chance to either meet or finish off their cards.

Jeff Hoffman was one of the players that I hadn't been able to get in person.  I saw Hoffman pitch at ECU, and mentioned ECU to him when he stopped and signed for me on arrival.  He is normally one per, but signed two cards for me then, including the above 2015 Panini Contenders showing Hoffman in his ECU gear,

Since I planned this for a while, I made a day of it.  I got to Durham around 11:30, having left a little early so I could have time to stop and get something to eat.  I know myself, and I would have hung out there waiting for guys to arrive and wouldn't have eaten all day, so I made sure to get that done.  That made me earlier than planned.  I usually like to get to Durham around noon to graph arrival.  Getting there a little early helped; I learned that the Bulls have flip flopped locker rooms and entrances, so I was at the wrong spot for about 30 minutes.  I saw two players going in, and I froze.  I'm pretty sure Kyle Manzardo was one of the guys I missed.

Finally getting to the right spot, I broke the ice with former Oriole, Luis Ortiz.  I recognized him, and he finished off the last few cards of him that I could find in my collection.  We talked for a few minutes.  He's a really nice guy, and it looks like he is doing a lot better after leaving Baltimore.

John Hicks helped get some older cards out of my boxes.  I was glad to add a couple 2011 Bowmans to the autograph book  and get them signed.  Adding these to the book is getting rarer and rarer, so it was a nice treat to get a couple of them done.

Speaking of getting cards out of boxes, I have a box of cards of guys who should have or did come through the Carolina League, and I missed.  Hans Crouse never got to Kinston, having skipped over the team and missing time due to injuries and the COVID season.  He was finally traded away from the Rangers, so I had a bunch of his stuff that I had stockpiled and never got signed.

Crouse saw me standing there and walked right up to me with his wife and son.  He signed for me and talked to me for a bit as the other two watched on.  His wife thought it was cool to point out to his son that his dada had cards (his son looks to be a little over 1 or so).  The little guy is adorable.  Crouse was super nice and signed all of the cards I brought with me.  That made a huge dent in the stockpile I had created.

Jeff Hoffman was really nice, as well.  He was glad to finally be playing back in NC.  I got him on arrival, inside, and post game.

There were a bunch of people there to see Scott Kingery, and I was glad to get him on these two cards.  He signed for me inside pre-game.  Outside post-game, he saw me and asked if he had signed for me before, and I said yes and yielded to everyone else.  He signed a second time for Pete (if you have ever graphed in Durham, you know who he is), so I got one of the other graphers there to take my Archives card (the pink one) and she got it done for me.  I thanked her several times, even though I think she had no idea why I had asked her for her help.  She had Phillies gear on, so of course he signed for her twice.  My Wichita Turbo Tubs jersey was a bit too flashy, I guess.

Francisco Morales was good for one per, which after Arrival and pre-game, left me with one last unsigned card of him.  I missed him post-game, so that card will go in the box of shame.  

I was really happy to take Aramis Garcia out of the box of shame and get some of his cards signed, finally.  I had pulled him years ago for Richmond graphing and never got him, so those cards have sat around for a long time.  That was pre-box of shame stuff.

Ben Bowden hit every card I had in one shot, which was nice.  I liked getting the gold foil 2021 Topps Update taken care of.

Simon Muzziotti was good for 3-per each time I saw him (pre-game and post-game).  Heath Hembree was the only guy I was able to get during BP, but that was probably a good thing.  Once I got him, I went down the street and got something to eat and drink, since I had been out there a good 4 hours by then.

I was glad to add a 2023 Topps to the book and get it signed by Jonathan Aranda.  That's the first IP auto on a 2023 Topps for me, which was cool.  I was able to get a couple Oslevis Basabe cards back signed from my friends Carson and Gerard from Spring Training, so these two were the last ones I had.

My good friend, Max hooked me up with several Ran Buchter and Heath Hembree cards, so I didn't have to hit my older Topps boxes too hard to find stuff.  I did find my own Buchter, so that one got done, as well.

I had Cesar Ramos pulled to try him TTM a while back, and I had never sent them.  I knew exactly where they were (rare) and they are all done now.

Max also provided some 2015 Topps Update Ranos cards,  I got all but 3 of those done.  We missed him outside post-game.

TJ Zeuch was another of the guys that I really wanted to get.  He signed only one card, but this 2020 Panini Select is finally signed.  I had sent it to someone for 50/50s in 2021, they missed him, and the cards of his have been in the box of same since then.  Max sent some Zeuch cards as well, but with him only doing one outside post-game, the Select was the one that got signed.

Finally, I got Kam Misner on a few cards.  I had some help with a fellow grapher outside post-game, so he got me a few extra Misner, Garcia and Nico Hulziser.  All it took was an extra Jeff Hoffman ECU card.

The 2002 Topps Total Brian Reith card is just a random card from a random set that I had seen in my boxes during a recent pass through them to find other stuff.  When I remembered that I had it, and that he was a coach with Durham, I went through 4 boxes to finally find it.  I'm glad I did, but going through 4 boxes to find one card kind of sucks.  Had I not gotten it signed, I probably would have been irritated.  Thankfully, it is done and it looks good.

This was only the second time I have tried a day in Durham by myself.  I have to start getting used to that, since Chris is working now, and all of my graphing friends have gotten jobs that make Saturday (or any, for that matter) graphing impossible.  Still, I had a good time, and enjoyed the beautiful weather at a ballpark that I have come to really love.

In all, I got the following autographs: Ben Bowden x 4, Ryan Buchter x 5, Hans Crouse x 16, Aramis Garcia x 9, John Hicks x 8, Jeff Hoffman x 4, Scott Kingery x 2, Francisco Morales x 2, Simon Muzziotti x 6, Luis Ortoz x 4, Esteban Quiroz x 1, Cesar Ramos x 7, TJ Zeuch x 1, Jonathan Aranda x 2, Oslevis Basabe x 2, Cooper Criswell x 1, Heath Hembree x 6, Niko Hulsizer x 4, Curtis Mead x 1, Kam Misner x 5, Luis Patino x 1 and Brian Reith x 1 (92 total autographs).

Christmas Presents From Mom Part Two

Moving right along with the Christmas haul, my mom also got me two more Minor League jerseys.

 The first jersey is this LeHigh Valley IronPigs jersey.  The IronPigs are the AAA affiliate of the Philadelphia Phillies and play in Allentown, PA.  They used to be known as the Ottawa Lynx until the team moved to Allentown in 2008.

She also got me this Toledo Mud Hens jersey.  The Mud Hens are the AAA affiliate of the Detroit Tigers and play in Toledo, OH.

So, I now have two Kinston Indian jerseys along with those of the IronPigs, Mud Hens, Lansing Lugnuts and Montgomery Biscuits.  Mom said she enjoys getting them for me because she likes seeing what the team names are and that there are so many to choose from.  She told me that she hopes I can try to make it to some of the ballparks where the teams are based.  So, I guess I collect minor league jerseys now...

Thanks again Mom for the awesome stuff!!!