June 6, 2024, Graphing of the Long Island Ducks at High Point Rockers

The past few days have been a whirlwind.  Chris's graduation from high school was on Saturday, and we had planned a trip to High Point on Friday to see Pablo Sandoval. I had PDOs to burn, so I went ahead and took both Thursday and Friday off to prep for the trip.  We had some family stuff happen earlier in the week with my grandma, along with Chris getting off of work on both Thursday and Friday, so we went ahead and went up Thursday morning. I prepped some cards for the Long Island Ducks in case we could get by there Thursday night after sitting with Grandma for a bit.  We got to High Point and absolutely racked Long Island.

I was excited to see Wei-Yin Chen again; I had gotten him on a baseball a while back, but never on a card (as far as I can remember).

Another player I was excited to see was Josh James.  I had him pulled a while back, then missed him.  He was with Memphis earlier this year but was repeased before i could get him.  He had been elusive until after Thursday's game.  He signed everything Chris and I had as he was leaving the dugout.

It had rained off and on during the game, resulting in two rain delays.

I was glad to get Mike Montgomery because i had tracked him with a radar gun in Kinston back in 2009.  He was really nice and did two per for Chris and I.

Chance Sisco was another player I had wanted to get for a while, and finally cleaned out all of the cards I had pulled of him. 

I had gotten Ryan McBroom TTM a while back, but he signed my 2020 Topps in black. I upgraded that card with this one in blue.  I also cleaned out all of my Lew Ford cards, along with all of the Ford cards that Max sent me.

I split all of the Fords between Max and I.  I hope he likes the ones I sent him. 

My Wei-Yin Chen cards look cool signed in Mandarin Chinese.  I cleaned out some old cards when I pulled my Daniel Corcino and Hector Gomez cards. I also found an Ivan Castillo card at the last minute and was able to get it out of the box.

I had pulled a bunch of Alexi Casilla cards to try him TTM a few years ago.  I never got around to dropping those cards in the mail, but I knew exactly where to find them.  He signed everything we brought with us; another player who cleaned us out.

Finally, as we were walking out of the stadium, we ran into Colin Moran.  He was good for one per, so I got the 2013 Donruss Elite Extra Edition signed, while Chris got my 2022 Topps Heritage done.  Moran was the only High Point Rocker that we went for, so we wouldn't miss the Ducks guys that we needed.

In all, we got the following autographs: Colin Moran x 2, Alexi Casilla x 17, Ivan Castillo x 3, Wei-Yin Chen x 4, Daniel Corcino x 1, Lew Ford x 16, Hector Gomez x 3, Josh James x 16, Ryan McBroom x 3, Mike Montgomery x 4 and Chance Sisco x 9 (78 total autographs). 

April 29, 2023 Graphing of Long Island Ducks at High Point Rockers

Graphing independent ball is a challenge that is a bit different than affiliated ball.  You have to have a wide range of cards, and a lot of time devoted to finding stuff of the guys on the teams you're going to see.  I had found out that Daniel Murphy had signed with the Long Island Ducks and that they would be visiting High Point on a weekend that the Down East Wood Ducks were out of town.  So, I planned early for a trip to High Point, and took a bunch of cards with me from some older boxes.

I got Murphy on two cards, which was nice.  I got him inside pre-game, and outside after the game.  I wish I had put the Gypsy Queen parallel that I had in my book by itself so I could have gotten that signed, but I was still happy that he hit this 2016 Topps Chrome.

He signed this 2019 Topps outside.  I had hoped he would do more than one outside, but I am still happy with what I was able to add to my album.

Wally Backman was the first signer for me yesterday.  He signed two inside pre-game and one outside as he was walking to the bus.  He was nice enough, even though he didn't say a whole lot.  I was glad to add a couple of these 80s Topps and a 1992 Upper Deck to the album.

I had to raid my factory sealed 2006 Topps set to get the two Lew Ford 2006 Topps cards.  I also had to raid my hand-collated 2005 set for that card, as well.  I went ahead and ordered replacements in case I was able to get him on all three, and I did well.

Adieny Hechavarria was really cool.  I got him on everything in my book pre-game, right before the National Anthem.  I refilled what I had left, traded a 2015 Bowman for the 2010 Pro Debut and got him again outside after the game.  He was super nice, and commented on how he liked the 2018 Topps Big League card.

I was surprised that I had some Sam Travis cards.  He was nice, as well.  I felt bad but I presented a ton of cards to Edward Salcedo, since I didn't want to put any 2010 or 2012 Pro Debuts back in the box.  He didn't seem to mind signing a bunch of the same cards, so I have some stuff I can send out in some blind trades.

Al Albuquerque was nice.  He made like he was going to sign for us, walked away with a hat, then made like he was coming back; then he finally did come back and signed everything I had.  I don't think he was messing around, he looked like he was trying to find someone.

Ian Clarkin was the starter, so I was unable to get him before the game.  So, it was guaranteed that I was going to try to get some autos outside after the game.  He was really cool outside.  He talked to me, along with a couple other graphers about his night.  He also commented on how fun these mini Bowman Chromes are.

I also got three other different Bowman Clarkins signed; his 2014 Chrome, 2014 paper and 2015 Chrome.  He signed some extras, no problem, so I have even more trade bait.

I was worried that I missed Kyle Lobstein, so when a pair of players walked outside, I asked them if Lobstein was still inside.  One of them said "I'm right here" and he signed my cards.  We laughed a bit, but he was really nice.

Matt Vogel got shelled in the game, but was still nice enough to stop and sign my two cards at the dugout post-game.  I appreciated him stopping, even though he didn't have to.

Finally, I got Frank Viola to hit a page in my book of a bunch of different cards.  I was surprised that out of all of the cards he signed for me, only one of them was one I had gotten before.

I had a snap case sitting on a desk here at the house from a past trip to High Point.  I was glad I had found it and got some Violas out of it and into the autograph album.

In all, I got the following autographs: Al Alburquerque x 5, Wally Backman x 3, Ian Clarkin x 7, Lew Ford x 3, Adeiny Hechavarria x 9, Kyle Lobstein x 5, Daniel Murphy x 2, Edward Salcedo x 10, Sam Travis x 4, Frank Viola x 8 and Matt Vogel x 2 (58 total autographs).