May 26, 2025, Graphing of the Redbirds at Bulls

Durham has become one of my favorite places to graph.  I typically do well there, and this time I graphed for the first time with my good friend Gerard.  I also had messaged my buddy Aidan on Onstagram that I was doing arrival in Durham, looked up, and Aidan was there.  He and I had the same plans.  He was able to meet Gerard and Mike as well, and it seems they hit it off.  Aidan is a great guy.

A highlight of the trip was getting this 2024 Bowman Chrome gold refractor of Tre Morgan signed.

I freed some cards from the Box Of Shame with some guys on Memphis.  My Nick Anderson cards were left over from last year's trips to Norfolk.  I also got some Rob Kaminsky cards that I had been holding into for a while. The yellow 2015 Bowman was a great hit.  I also got a green parallel from 2024 Topps Heritage High Number of Alex Fernandez signed.

Drew Rom was really great.  He got us on the board on arrival, and signed for me a second time pregame on two cards that I missed.  Thomas Saggese was happy to see Chris and I.  He hadn't seen Chris in a few years.  Saggese usually personalizes, but didn't for us. Apparently, that was a surprise to some other graphers.

Joe Boyle made a new friend in Gerard's brother, Mike.  Boyle really isn't too friendly to graphers, and it showed when Mike revealed his page of Boyle cards "ugh, you have too many. I'm only going to sign one..." "OK, that's fine, can you sign the yellow one?" "No." Gerard told me later in the week that Boyle did sign for him again, and was friendlier.

The main reason Chris came along was so that he could see Mason Englert in person again.  We missed him when we were in Columbus seeing Toledo last season.  He is now in the Rays system, and it was awesome seeing him again. 

Ha-Seong Kim was in Durham on a rehab assignment.  I didnt have any cards pulled for him, but two boys that were there gave me one of their extra cards after I gave them a few guys they didn't have.  It worked out doubly for me in that I got Kim and got rid of some cards that would have gone back in the boxes.

I cleared a few Andrew Stevenson cards out of the boxes, which helped clear a little room.  I also got a couple Durham team set cards taken care of.  I also got a couple Cole Wilcox cards that have been in my Durham box since last season signed.

Carson Williams was the last guy that we got.  I had made the decision to head out after getting a few autos post game, and the rain had returned.  I got Chris, turned around to say goodbye to Gerard and Mike, and saw them getting ready to get Williams.  Chris and I grabbed our books and knocked out two cards. 

One of the nicest guys we saw on this trip was another rehab assignment guy, Kevin Kelly.  I love this 2023 Topps Heritage.

We had a great time graphing with Aidan, Gerard and Mike.

In all, I got the following autographs: Nick Anderson x 2, Luken Baker x 2, Ian Bedell x 2, Howie Clark x 2, Jimmy Crooks x 2, Jose Fermin x 1, Ryan Fernandez x 2, Rob Kaminsky x 4, Michael McGreevy x 3, Cesar Prieto x 13, Drew Rom x 4, Thomas Saggese x 2, Mike Siani x 4, Andy Yerzy x 1, Zack Weiss x 1, Joe Boyle x 2, Mason Englert x 5, Brock Jones x 4, Dominic Keegan x 2, Kevin Kelly x 3, Ha-Seong Kim x 1, Tyler Ladendorf x 1, Tre Morgan x 2, Tanner Murray x 2, Pat Phelan x 1, Andrew Stevenson x 6, Jacob Wagiespack x 1, Cole Wilcox x 2, Carson Williams x 2 and Aidan Warnock x 1 (81 total autographs).

August 10-15, 2021 Mudcats at Wood Ducks

After being away from the Wood Ducks for almost a month, I finally was able to get back to Grainger Stadium this week and do some graphing.  I was following up the National by getting some of my purchases signed, and they all turned out great (like the above 2020 Bowman Draft sapphire parallel of Thomas Saggese).

The series started on Tuesday with the much-anticipated return of pitcher, Owen White.  He has been out all year with a broken leg, and I was finally able to get some cards signed by him.

Some more National pickups; I had to pick up every Mason Englert that I could find.  I got them done, and they turned out awesome.

Here are a couple more Saggeses.  The purple Chrome parallel was way off-center, but the card is cool.  I had actually found two purple refractors (the one of the left isn't one, it is a purple paper parallel), so Chris got the better of the two.

I had received some customs from Rangersautos on Instagram (the Valentin) and my good friend, Dugan, made a few others.  So, I had some extra stuff to get done toward the end of the series.

I finally was able to get a 2015 Stars & Stripes of Noah Campbell signed for myself, as well as a bunch of cards of the returning Antione Kelly and Micah Bello.

Sal Frelick made his debut, after being drafted in the first round of the 2021 July Amateur Draft.  He was really nice, and signed one of Dugan's customs.  Frelick was impressed with the card that Dugan made, and Dugan actually gave him one ot the end of Sunday's game.

I probably should have scanned this Antione Kelly with the others, and the Frelick right here.  Oh well, this 2020 Topps Pro Debut turned out really well.  I was glad to get it out of my graphing box, because I was afraid the season would end before I could get it signed.

The big highlight of this series was that I was finally able to get my hands on some team sets.  I have been waiting all season for them, and they arrived while I was at the National.  There are several players in the set who have moved on to Hickory and several more on the DL.  I'm hoping some of those players come back, so I can get closer to finishing the set.

We got all of the coaches and also DEWD, who finally came out of hibernation.  I didn't miss any of the active players, and I am hoping a few come off of the DL by next series (like, Cody Freeman).

The team sets are really nice, but nothing will beat the 2019 Mudcats team set.  That one might be my favorite design so far that I have seen, even though I do like the Wood Ducks sets from 2017.

Finally, we realized that Rangers roving instructor, Geno Petralli, was in town (he even got ejected from Friday's game; the umpires were that bad).  I got every Petralli card that I could find signed, so I am now out of his stuff (I think).

I had a good time getting back to Grainger Stadium and spending some time with Dugan and Billy, as well as some of the other graphers.  The season is winding down, and I know I'm going to miss this when the off-season hits.

May 25-30 Graphing of Nationals at Mudcats and a Few Unlikely Autos

When we were planning to graph our next series of the Fredericksburg Nationals as Wood Ducks, Chris and I had no idea that some pretty big names were in town.  It took until Wednesday night to realize, but Bob and Bret Boone were in town watching Bret's son (Bob's grandson) play for the Nationals.  Bob Boone is also a special assistant in the Nationals organization, so his trip was also in an official capacity.

Bob Boone was really cool, every time we spoke with him.  We ended up having decently long conversations with him each time we talked to him.  I even had him sign a ball, which I have already put away.  I thought it would be a good idea to get Bob and Bret on the above 2016 Topps Archives Father & Son card, with also adding Jake to it.  Maybe someday, I can add Aaron Boone to the card.

I was able to get a nice assortment of Boone cards signed.  He was really friendly, which led to some nice conversation.  He is very opinionated, but was cool about it.  When I had asked him to sign my ball, I asked him for an inscription related to what we had chatted about the day before, but he said no, smiled and laughed.  It was really cool, though.

I was glad to get all of the cards I found signed, because I didn't realize Boone was there until Wednesday night.  I stayed up til 1:30 in the morning Thursday morning trying to locate cards.  I finally found a decent assortment in my to-be-TTMed box next to my Bret Boones.  I should have looked there first.

I got some nice Bret Boone cards signed.  I didn't do an extensive search for his stuff.  I had put a few aside a while back to send to a private signing that I ended up missing.  It turned out well, as I got quite a few of them done, and they all look great.  Chris got Bret first, and Bret told him it was his first time signing in a park as a fan.  Bret told me that he actually had played at Grainger Stadium when he was on the Peninsula team a long time ago.

In my planning for this series, I was able to find a 1990 CMC AAA in a box that my mom had given me.  I went to Sportlots to find some other cards of Pat Rice, and Jorge Mejia.  I was lucky to find a 2008 Bowman Chrome Mario Lisson in my boxes.

These three 2004 Bowman Jorge Mejias were really nice.  I had to order them.  The blue chrome in the middle was actually in one of those Topps sealed cases that I had to take apart to get the card out.  I think I paid a quarter for the card, so the case will be a shipper in the future.

Mitchell Parker pitched great in this series, even coming out after 6 no hit innings in his last start.  He had reached a pitch count.  He was super nice and signed everything we had.

I had found this Jeremy De La Rosa card in my 2021 Bowman box, so I was glad to get it signed.  I got another signed for a 50/50.

I finally got my 2019 Hickory team set card signed by Abdiel Mendoza.  My friend Gerard sent me two 2020 Bowman First Edition Tekoah Robys, so I was able to keep one.  Also, Thomas Saggese (pronounced Suh-Jay-See) was brought up, and he signed the one card we had.

Finally, I got these three 2019 Bowman Chrome parallels signed by our buddy, Mason Englert.  He had a rough outing today, complete with an ejection.  It sucks, but he talked to us afterward and let us know what had happened.  It was unfortunate, but doesn't change our opinion of him.  Chris and I both really like Mason, and he has pretty much become our go-to Wood Duck this season.  We also had a great conversation with Cody Freeman today, who seems like a great dude.

We had an awesome time this series, and got some very unlikely autos.  I was glad to be able to chat with Bob Boone.  Now time to wait for the next series, against Kannapolis in 2 weeks.

In all, we got: Mitchell Parker x 27, Bob Boone x 11, Bret Boone x 6, Evan Carter x 6, Antonio Cabello x 22, Abdiel Mendoza x 2, Tekoah Roby x 20, Leury Tejada x 25, Thomas Saggese x 1, Jayce Easley x 1, Randy Florentino x 1, Jake Boone x 1, Par Rice x 6, Mario Lisson x 1, Jeremy De La Rosa x 2, Jorge Mejia x 5, Mason Englert x 5 and Steve Mintz x 2.