May 2019 Graphing of Dash at Wood Ducks

The Winston-Salem Dash came to Grainger Stadium in Kinston for the first time this season this past weekend.  Last year, they were stacked with players who had cards.  This season, Nick Madrigal remains on the roster, with a couple other players who have something they can sign.  Madrigal limits to 2 per, but he stopped for us before and after each game, with the exception of the first game of the series (he was late coming onto the field due to giving an interview).

I had a bunch of Madrigal cards that I had hoarded over the winter, and got each one signed.  The Bowmans Best at the bottom right was given to me by my friend, Ben.

I really like Panini Contenders, and they turn out really well when signed.  I prepped both of the cards, just to be safe, and they turned out nice.

John Ely is one of the Dash coaches.  I used to have a ton of his cards, but I gave most of them away years ago to a friend who was a Dodger fan.  I ended up ordering some more Ely cards off of COMC, but their shipping is so slow, I missed getting them signed this series.

I got a few random cards signed that I had found.  The George Timke is a leftover from last season, after having been given to me by my friend, Kolby.

With all of the 2017 Bowman that I opened, I'm surprised that the chrome refractor on the top right is the only Jameson Fisher that I had.

I got more of my Spokane Indians set cards signed with some new players on the Wood Ducks roster.  I also saw that I had missed a Kenny Holmberg card from that set, so I got it taken care of.

Joe Kuzia is really nice.  He stopped and talked to Chris a few times during the series, but we got our Hickory cards signed.

Sam Huff was also called up to the Wood Ducks, after mashing 15 home runs for Hickory in the first month of the season.

Leody stopped for us during this series, so I whittled down my total of his cards to, I think, 8 cards remaining.  I would like to finish them all off, but in the end, it doesn't really matter.  I have what I want done, and if the rest don't get signed, that's ok, too.

Finally, our friend, Scott, will be leaving the Wood Ducks soon.  Chris and I met him as we walked in the stadium for the first ever Wood Ducks practice, back in 2017.  He has stopped and talked to us every time we have seen him at the games.  He is about to leave to go into the Army, so when he told me, and gave me this signed photo, he and I got a bit emotional.  I wish him the best, and I know we will keep in touch!

Aug 31-Sept 3, 2018, Graphing of the Dash at Wood Ducks

The day has come where there are no more Wood Ducks games in 2018.  They ended the season in last place, one year after winning the Carolina League Championship.  Such is life in Minor League baseball.  With the turnover of teams form year to year, it is hard to sustain any kind of dynasty.  I accepted that a long time ago, and have continued to enjoy the games, whether the Wood Ducks are in first place or last.

During the final series against the Winston-Salem Dash, Chris and I hit every game.  We got a ton of cards signed, and almost finished up with everything we had.  I was especially happy to knock out a bunch of Omar Vizquel cards that I have had for as long as I have been collecting.  However, I was most excited about the newest Vizquel in my collection, the above 2018 Bowman Chome National Exclusive.  This will look awesome in my binder, and turned out really well.

A fellow grapher got my 1987 Topps 30th anniversary insert signed, which was nice.  The red paint pen actually does well on the card.

The series before (against the Pelicans), Chris and I met a kid Chris's age names Kolby.  Kolby is a grapher that comes to games, and he and Chris really hit it off.  Kolby is a really nice kid, and offered to help me get stuff signed.  So, he got a few Omars done for me during the series as well.

Chris and Kolby were the ones who called Omar over on Friday, and he signed for them.  On Saturday, they called him over, and he responded with "Whaaaat?  Oh, I signed for you already.  I remember you from yesterday.  It's the glasses..."  Chris now wears Rec Specs for baseball, and Omar recognized him.  Of course, Chris responded with "Oh, no, you've never met me before!"  Omar responded with "Oh, it must have been your evil twin brother."  Well, he signed for Chris on Saturday, anyway.  On Sunday, he recognized Chris again, and Chris told him "Yeah, and I'll be here tomorrow, too!"  So, before the game on Monday, Chris and I decided we would try to throw Omar a changeup.

We went to a local party store and picked up a 'disguise'.  Omar thought it was hilarious, and agreed to pose for this photo with Chris.  He also signed his card, as usual.  Omar will be in the Hall of Fame one day, but Chris will always remember "playing a trick on him."  I'm glad he has a sense of humor.

The Winston-Salem Dash are a stacked team.  The White Sox have a good number of prospects with the team, so that made for graphing them a lot of fun.  Nick Madrigal is a recent call-up to Winston, and I was abe to get everything I had done for him across the four games.

It was even more exciting to get Luis Robert on a few cards.  I got my three cards signed, and one for my good friend, Gerard.  Apparently, Robert is a pretty tough sig, but he signed for us three out of the four days.

I knocked out a bunch of my Blake Rutherford cards over the four days.  He signed 2-per for us, but we were able to get him before and after most of the games.  I hated bothering him so much, but he has a ton of cards, plus he was in the just released Carolina League Top Prospects set.  I got one for me, one for Chris and one for Gerard.

He also signed my 2017 South Atlantic League All Star set card, and some older stuff that I had.

No relation to the Diamondbacks World Series Hero, but Luis Gonzalez is a pretty decent White Sox prospect, nonetheless.  I got everything I had of him completed.  Chris missed his South Atlantic League Top Prospects card, so one must hope Gonzalez starts the season in Winston-Salem next year.

I got two other South Atlantic League All Star cards signed, by Mike Morrison and Kyle Kubat.  Also, Kolby didn't want the coach cards from his Winston-Salem set, so he gave them to me.  I got Charlie Poe and Matt Zaleski to sign these.

I found the top two Guillermo Quiroz cards in a dime box at the National.  The bottom was a leftover that Chris missed back in April, and of course, I got Kolby's team set card signed.

I had a couple Gavin Sheets cards that weren't here during the previous series.  I found the 2017 Bowman refractor at the National, and 2018 Pro Debut came from my box that I ordered.

 

Lincoln Henzman is another recent callup to the Dash that I had cards for.  This Elite Extra Edition came from the National.  I was happy to get a 2013 Perfect Game card signed, as well, since I still have a ton leftover from the 2017 National.

Alec Hansen was recently demoted to the Dash from AA Birmingham.  He only would sign one-per, but I was still able to get a few nice cards signed.

I got a few Spokane team set cards done as well, from the guys who used to be Wood Ducks.  Ti'Quan Forbes left in the Miguel Gonzalez trade, but he is still popular in Kinston.

Yeyson Yrizzari wasn't a Wood Duck for long, and was on the DL for this series, but he still traveled with the team, and signed my Spokane card.

Each of these Leody Taveras cards came from the National.  I actualy finished every Leody card that I had, which I didn't think would be possible.

The Wood Ducks made one last call-up to the team with Tyler Phillips.  He started the next-to-last game, and was available to sign the last game.  I had two Hickory team set cards, and a Spokane card, so I was able to get those done.

Thanks to a 50/50 from Gerard, I got this Ricky Tyler Thomas card.  I have one of my own, somewhere, but haven't been able to find it since he was called up to the Wood Ducks.  I imagine he will be here next season; plenty of time for me to find where I misplaced the other card.

They did an entire team signing session before the Sunday game.  I was able to knock out a few more Spike Owen cards.  I'm not certain he will be back next season, but if he is, I doubt I will push too hard to get anything of his signed.  We hit him a lot this season.

Finally, continuing with getting my close graphing friends on 1987 Topps checklists, I was able to get my good friend, Jackson, on one.  He has an amazing autograph that he has been practicing for years.  I somewhat helped him get a job with the Wood Ducks this season.  I enjoyed him coming and sitting next to me at the ends of the games once his on-field promotions duties were over.

With that being the last series of the season, I recently counted up how many games I had attended, and how many autographs Chris and I obtained.  By my rough potato math, I counted that I attended 45 baseball games this summer.  That includes 39 MiLB (31 Wood Ducks), 2 MLB, 1 independent, 1 exhibition, 1 All Star and 1 college games.  We amassed 2,055 autographs on cards (plus a couple photos, some balls and a Rafael Palmeiro bat) between the January 9 Hot Stove Event, Orioles Fan Fest and all of the aforementioned games.  This doesn't include the autographs I got at the National.