May 12, 2026, Graphing of the Capitales at Bird Dawgs

The Down East Bird Dawgs home opener was on Tuesday against the Quebec Capitales. Quebec has won what seems like the last 4 Frontier League championships. The Bird Dawgs have retained maybe half of the guys from last season, with quite a few new guys on the team. One of which is Australian, Jackson Grounds.

Grounds has some cool Stars and Stripes relic cards, which I picked up, along with one of his Australian cards. Rolando Heredia-Bustos and Lyle Miller-Green are two of the other new guys on the team with cards. Heredia-Bustos pitched pretty well, and Miller-Green seems to be a pretty good hitter. Grounds has been pitching in relief so far this season. 

Quebec had a bunch of guys with cards, so I put an order in at gosportscards.com and got some cool team set stuff.

In all, we got the following autographs: Ruben Castro x 1, Nelvin Correa x 8, Nic Deschamps x 4, Torin Montgomery x 4, Adam Shoemaker x 6, Ian Villers x 4, Lyle Miller-Green x 4, Jackson Grounds x 5 and Rolando Heredia-Bustos x 2 (41 total autographs).

TTM Success - Ryan Vanderhei

This 2024 Bowman Chrome yellow refractor of Ryan Vanderhei was a nice pull from my box that I picked up back then. I didn't see a chance to get it signed in person, so I tried sending it TTM. I found an address and gave it a shot. The card came back signed in black Sharpie, and it looks great. Sending it TTM is a big risk, as all TTMs are, but like my good friend Billy says, "it's not getting signed sitting in the box". It isn't sitting in the box anymore; it's in the autograph album. 

Vanderhei (b. 2001) was a 10th round pick by the Giants in the 2023 July Amateur Draft out of TCU. He has played in the Giants system since 2024, reaching A+. In his career, he has a record of 8-8 with 117 strike outs and a 3.88 ERA.

I mailed to Vanderhei on January 12 and got the card back on February 4, for a 23-day TAT. 

TTM Success - Chris O'Riordan

Here is a random 2004 Topps that I found in my box that I was able to send out and get signed TTM. Chris O'Riordan signed the card in black Sharpie, and it looks pretty nice. 

O'Riordan (b. 1980) was an 8th round pick by the Rangers in the 2002 June Amateur Draft out of Stanford. He played in the minors in 2002, 2003 and 2006 in the Rangers and Padres systems. He had 173 hits, 6 home runs and a .297 batting average. 

I mailed to O'Riordan on January 10 and got the card back on February 4, for a 25-day TAT. 

TTM Success - Dave Edler

Here is a nice 1983 Topps that came back signed TTM by Dave Edler. My mind keeps thinking Elder, but it is Edler. He signed the card in black Sharpie, and it turned out well.

Edler (b. 1956) played in the majors from 1980 to 1983 for the Mariners. He had 72 hits, 6 home runs and a .216 batting average. 

I mailed to Edler on September 3 and got the card back on February 3, for a 154-day TAT.

May 9, 2026, Graphing of Express at Bulls

We were looking forward to Round Rock coming through Durham since the schedule was announced toward the end of the season last year. The graphing was pretty good, but it didn't live up to the hype we had built up. This was mainly because there weren't as many former Wood Ducks as we had hoped. The ones that were there didn't really recognize us, so that was a bit of a bummer.

I got a couple Hickory team set cards signed. This team set was from 2022, so i had been holding onto the Marc Church and Trevor Hauver cards for a while. 

I was the only one of the graohers there on Saturday who got Ryan Brasier. I got him by the bullpen once the game ended. He wouldn't stop for the rest of us outside.

I chipped away at my stack of Nick Prattos that I had pulled a while back. I was glad to pull a bunch of Mason Thompson cards; the 2016 Bowman Draft came from one of the boxes I got in Richmond this winter. I was also surprised that Aaron Zavala signed more than one per. He always was a strict one per back in the day. I was able to get everything I had left of him done, finally.

The Durham team set is already out. That feels really early in the season. I chipped away at sets for Gerard and I. The set looks nice, but was a disorganized mess. I soebt a coupke innings alphabetizing and organizing it into my book.

I got a bunch of the team set taken care of. I'll have to keep working on them through the next couple of times in Durham.

In all, Jesse and I got the following autographs: Dairon Blanco x 3, Ryan Brasier x 2, Jonah Bride x 1, Diego Castillo x 1, Cam Cauley x 2, Marc Church x 1, Trevor Hauver x 4, Michael Helman x 1, Jose Herrera x 1, Richie Martin x 1, Nick Pratto x 9, Trey Supak x 2, Emiliano Teodo x 1, Mason Thompson x 7, Aaron Zavala x 5, Cam Booser x 2, Cooper Bowman x 2, Homer Bush Jr x 5, Carlos Colmenarez x 5, Alex Cook x 2, Luis Guerrero x 2, KC Hunt x 2, Ty Johnson x 2, Dominic Keegan x 1, Cooper Kinney x 4, German Melendez x 2, Brian Reith x 2, Chrystal Rowe x 2, Blake Sabol x 3 and Logan Workman x 2 (79 total autographs).

TTM Success - Evan Scribner

A nice 2013 Topps came back signed by Evan Scribner recently. He signed the card in black Sharpie, and it looks pretty nice. I like the yellow A's jersey that he has on.

Scribner (b. 1985) played in the majors from 2011 to 2017 for the Padres, A's and Mariners. He had a record of 5-4 with 155 strike outs and a 4.15 ERA.

I mailed to Scribner on January 22, 2025, and got the card back on February 4, 2026, for a 378-day TAT.

TTM Success - John Hiller

Some older Topps cards came in signed TTM from John Hiller. This nice 1977 Topps was one of them. Love the empty stadium shots, haha.

He also signed a 1978 and a 1980 Topps. All of the cards look great.

Hiller (b. 1943) played in the majors from 1965 to 1970 and 1972 to 1980 for the Tigers. He had a record of 87-76 with 1,036 strike outs and a 2.83 ERA. He was an All Star in 1974. His best MVP and Cy Young finishes were 4th for both in 1973. He won the World Series with the Tigers in 1968. He appeared on the 1986 Hall of Fame ballot and received 2.6% of the vote.

I mailed to Hiller on January 10 and got the cards back on January 30, for a 20-day TAT. I paid his fee of $5/card.