Some Autos From Connor

I had a bunch of cards left over of guys who used to be in the Carolina League.  I wasn't sure what to do with them, so I put out a post on my Instagram to see if anyone could take the cards for 50/50s.  A few people reached out and took some cards off of my hands.  Recently, one of the 50/50s came back; from a guy named Connor who graphs Norfolk.

Connor offered to take my extra Daz Camerons and see if he could get a few of them signed.  Cameron limits when he signs, so it took Connor a bit to finish the 50/50, but he came though.  I did get some unsigned cards back, but I am happy with what he was able to get done.

Connor also took a few Norfolk guys for me and was able to get the cards signed.  Normally, I would just wait til Fan Fest, but the stuff I had him get for me was mostly of fringe players who might not be here next year.  I do believe Tanner Scott will be around, and this Bowman Chrome turned out really well.

Mark Grudzielanek isn't with Norfolk, he is coaching somewhere, but Connor got this card signed as well.  The other guys are depth pieces that the Orioles have in the system, and the cards all turned out well.

Thanks for getting these signed, Connor!  I appreciate it!

2019 Orioles Fan Fest Recap

Another Orioles Fan Fest is in the books, and as far as sheer number of autographs go, I did better than any other Fan Fest.

I had paid for 6 autograph sessions, and was able to get items done in each that I was really happy about.  Chris hit up the kids line several times, and this year was the first year where he had some cards that he strictly wanted to get done for himself.  He and I were accompanied by my good friend, Ryan, and the three of us had a really good time.  The above dual 2018 Topps Update Hess/Araujo was one of the many cards I was able to get signed that I was really excited about.

Dylan Bundy was really cool this year, and he pretty much asked me why I wasn't planning on going down to Sarasota for Spring Training.  Man, I wish I could, but that is something I really need to plan, and push for sometime in the future.

I got a ton of cards signed that I have had for a while.  I picked up the Diamond Kings Anthony Santander (above left) from the card shop last year, thinking that I would be able to get him.  Chris took care of that during the final kids session.

Luis Ortiz was really nice; probably the nicest of all of the players I met.  I was talking to Jimmy Yacabonis about my Wood Ducks hat, and Ortiz remarked that he was almost a Wood Duck.  I told him that I actually knew that, and that was why I ended up with so many of his cards.  We had him at that session, and saw him later on as we were walking around.  He signed everything Ryan and I handed him.

It was nice meeting former Orioles #1 pick, DL Hall.  I think he will be with Frederick this season, so I may be able to get him on some more cards later on.  He did strictly 2-per for Chris and I during our session.

I ran out of Keegan Akin cards, which was fine.  He was pretty nice, even though I overheard him telling one of the handlers that he wasn't having the best time.  I talked to him anyway about the weather, and he seemed to open up some.  He turned out to be a pretty nice guy.

Jonathan Villar signed everyting I handed him, which was nice.  All of these cards are either card show or card shop pickups.

I was surprised that I still had Ryan McKenna cards left, but I purchased the Carolina League Top Prospects set at the end of last season, and needed him on that.  I found the black shimmer 2015 Bowman Chrome at the National last year, and was glad to get it signed.  It sucks that he had a dead Sharpie, though.

We had Renato Nunez in a signing session, and Chris also got him as he was out on the floor, so I got most of what I wanted done of his completed.  I missed the 87 Topps insert from a couple years ago, though.  Maybe next time on that one.

Chris got Chance Sisco during his first trip through the kids line, which helped me go ahead and get the high priority cards signed (see below).  He also was able to get him as he passed by us on the floor, which even further helped our cause.  Finally, in the paid session we had with him, Chris got two of Ryan's cards done, and I finished up a couple of the Bowman parallels shown above.

This Bowman Chrome Talent Pipeline was the highest priority card that I wanted Sisco to sign.  I was afraid that I wouldn't be able to finish it, but it turned out really well.

The Rule V picks were at the event, and I actually had a few cards of each.  Chris wasn't paying attention when he got these signed in the kids line, and smeared the Bowman Chromes that I had.  Oh well, they have a good story, now, as I got one of the smeared ones, and Chris took the other.

Richie Martin was pretty cool, and I got all of the cards I had of him signed.

I an mow out of Joey Rickard cards, as I had two paid session with him in them.  I had to take some cards from Ryan so I would have enough for each session.

I was able to get Tanner Scott on this Aberdeen set card, which has been hanging out in my box for a while.

Normally, I would have fixed this scan where the Scott McGregor slid under my Richard Bleier, but I was over scanning by the time I saw it.  It'll just have to stay this way.  I was really happy about getting the 2013 Pro Debut Rio Ruiz signed, because of the small handful of cards from that set, I did, indeed, have the Ruiz in my box.  It would have languished there forever, so I'm glad I got it done.

I had a multitude of horizontal cards that I got signed.  Another Talent Pipeline card that I can work on completing at some point.  I had a couple generic Orioles cards that helped with some guys I didn't have in my box, Donnie Hart on my 1994 Score, and Jimmy Yacabonis on my 2017 Topps.

I liked what I had for Rick Dempsey.  The 2004 Topps World Series Programs card of the 1983 World Series was a nice touch.

I got to talk to Boog Powell about horseradish again, which is always fun.  He's probably tired of my story by now, but he is a super nice guy, and the cards that I had turned out well.

The 1970 and 1971 Topps cards that I had of Boog were beat all to hell, but they were the last of what I had that I wanted to get signed.  They turned out nicely, and will have a home in my album.

I laid a page of 4 cards down for Jim Palmer, and he signed this Upper Deck Masterpieces.  I'm glad he chose this card, because they really are nice, and the autographs show up well.

Fan Fest was plagued by an overselling of sessions for Eddie Murray and Brooks Robinson.  My Brooks session was refunded, and so was one session with Eddie Murray.  I had my friend, Rae, also picking up an Eddie session, which went through.  I used my opportunity to meet Eddie again by helping out a friend with his set that he is working on, since he helped me with my 87 set (by getting Tim Raines).  My good friend, Jacob, was surprised to find out that I was able to get his 1991 Studio Murray signed, and it will be sent to him shortly.  I also let Chris pick out a Murray that he liked, and that was what he got signed.

We all had a really good time at Fan Fest, but it did feel like it was missing something, which Ryan and I discussed on the way home.  This was the first Fan Fest that I didn't spend a dime.  I didn't get a chance to look through any game-used items, but I didn't have a whole lot of time.  Ryan said that he looked, and there really wasn't anything that really jumped out.  The normal pile of used jerseys wasn't there, which was a bummer.

Oh well.  I came away with 115 autographs one all was said and done, so that was pretty nice.  Ryan and I made a couple of trades, and I have some stuff that I can send to Max and Gerard for all of their help with their Fan Fests.  I also am really happy that I was able to help Jacob with a major piece for his Studio set.

Deal For Schoop Bobble Head Yields A Headache and Extra Cards

I try to keep my blog posts positive, especially when I am discussing trades and deals with fellow collectors.  Most deals end well, I'd say 99.9% of them do, but sometimes, you learn from doing a deal with someone that you are better off declining them in the future.

This leads me to today's post.  On September 6, I paid a guy I know from Facebook and Instagram a sweet price for a Jonathan Schoop bobble head and another bobble head.  He was desperate for money, and after I initially declined his offers for the items, he finally lowered the price to something I just couldn't pass up and I reluctantly said we had a deal.  He was even going to throw in an OMLB ball that I had sent him to graph with, but never ended up using.  Subsequently, communication stopped after the Paypal payment (friends and family, of course) and I wasn't informed that the stuff had shipped in the days that followed.  I messaged him a couple times about a week later to see if he had shipped yet and I got no response.  Finally, he asked me for my address on September 19 and apologized for taking so long to ship.  A couple weeks went by, and still nothing, so I sent a couple messages to see what was going on, and they weren't even opened.  I kept my cool, but I was obviously frustrated, so I finally messaged him on every platform I had followed him on and said that he could just refund me the money and not worry about shipping the goods.  I wanted to end the deal amicably, since I still believed we were friends.  Within a minute of sending the message to refund me the money, he said that his mom had forgotten to ship.  He said on October 6 that he was sending extras to make up for the slow shipment.  Finally, on October 23, I got the package.  Inside the package was the stuff I bought, in good shape, yet, the OMLB wasn't there.

He did add a bag of autographed cards to the shipment, I guess to make up for everything, but has not actually sent me any kind of message since October 6.  I was never rude at all in the transaction, but my thought was that with the ignoring of messages and lack of communication, we probably weren't as good of friends as I thought we were.  That's a real bummer, but honestly, it probably is for the best.

I've known the guy since I started on Instagram, but we have only completed one trade, and it went just as poorly as this one.  I tried to let things go and not let it bother me, but I will not be trading with him any more.  I don't think it will be an issue, since he pretty much stopped talking altogether.  That's a real shame.

So, here are the IP autos that he sent along.  These are all guys in the Orioles minor league system.  Some of them are more promising than others, but they're all nice.  I'm particularly interested in Tanner Scott, for sure, since he is a lefty and can top 100+ MPH.

This Juan Yepez from 2016 Bowman Chrome is a nice card, as well.  I don't know what I'm going to do with it, but it is nice, nonetheless.

Finally, this Bowman Platinum Jonathan Singleton relic auto is also a nice card.  I have an idea what I'll be doing with this, so we'll see.

I just feel bad about this whole deal, though.  With the nominal amount that I sent him, I really shouldn't complain, but I think the lack of communication at all was a slap in the face.  I even thought about sending him some additional money via Paypal to cover the cost of shipping, but then I thought that if it really were that important to him, he would have at least messaged me a lot more than he had been.  The fact that this was the second time this has happened with the same person tells me that I will not be doing any kind of deals with him again.  It's really sad.