Another Care Package From Drake

My friend Drake sent me another scare package recently.  He sent me some really nice cards, some of which I'd never have been able to get myself.  The above 2019 Bowman of Ryan Costello is a really nice autograph.  Costello passed away a few years ago while playing in Australia; I never got to see him play.  My buddy Jackson was on that tour of Australia when Costello passed, along with former Wood Ducks manager, Steven Mintz.

In this batch of cards, Drake sent signed cards of Anthony Vizcaya, Brandon Winokur, Tanner Hall, Charlee Soto, Jaime Ferrer, Billy Amick, Byron Chourio and Kaelen Culpepper.  Drake gets down to Fort Myers at times and helped me by taking a 50/50 of some Twins prospects.  I don't think the Byron Chourio was originally mine.  I don't remember having a blue parallel, so it may have been part of the gift Drake paired with sending back my 50/50s.

Here are signed cards of Joshua Baez, Zach Levenson, Triston Casas, Ed Howard, Alex Binelas, Brett Baty, Ezequiel Pagan and Bobby Wahl.  I do know that the pink Joshua Baez was mine.  Drake saw Springfield and got some cards signed for me there.  The rest are extras he had gotten in the past.

Here are Thomas Jones, Justin Lavey, Hunter Mink, Blake Loubier, Kyle Gaedele and Sam Coonrod.  Drake is close to one of the Frontier League teams and also can see a few teams in the American Association.  He took some Sam Coonrod cards for me, along with a couple Kyle Gaedele.

These are a few landscape-oriented cards of Sam Coonrod and Brandon Winokur.  I know these are a few that I sent for 50/50s.

Drake also sent cards like this Jose Rondon 2015 Bowman Chrome mini purple shimmer.  He said that someone owed him cards and finally paid up.  He sent me some of the extras from that deal, I believe.

Finally, Drake sent some great surprises in the package like CC Sabathia, Allen Craig, Desmond Jennings, Miguel Olivo, WIll Venable, Tyler Glasnow, Marcus Thames and Carlos Rodon.  All of these are guys I wouldn't normally get to see.  I did see Typer Glasnow back when he was on rehab in Durham.  The Sabathia was a definite surprise.

Drake hooks me up more often than not.  I really appreciate the autographs and look forward to the next care package.  Thanks so much, Drake!

Some Autographs From AJ

My buddy AJ recently sent me a few autographs because he felt that they'd be in a better place in my autograph album as opposed to his closet.  I was amazed when I opened the package and saw the cards inside.  He told me ahead of time that he would be sending me a few IP autos that he had gotten but didn't tell me who had signed the cards.  When I saw this 1990 Topps Roger Clemens, I was very surprised. 

AJ also sent me a 2006 Fleer Jeff Francis, 2019 Bowman Draft Christian Cairo and 2019 Bowman Draft Brett Baty.  I hadn't gotten these three guys before, so that was cool.

Finally, here is a 2019 Topps Stadium Club Adam Jones.  This is a really nice card.  Im disappointed that I didnt get a return from Jones during Spring Training. 

I feel really bad because I opened the package from AJ when it came in, was super excited to get the cards, then I put them aside to scan for a later post.  In that time, I completely forgot that it was AJ who sent them to me.  He reminded me when I posted on Instagram that he had sent them.  AJ, again, I'm sorry that I forgot.  Thank you so much for the cards.

Cody Freeman to the Show

The 2021 Down East Wood Ducks season was a special one.  That team was amazing, and Chris and I followed the team to the championship series in Charleston.  That was the season where I also found a connection with one of their players, Cody Freeman.  Cody was always the first player out of the clubhouse that season, and would always walk up to us before each game and ask us how we were doing.  The second game of the season, he walked over and asked if we would be coming to every game; he had seen us the day before at the first game.  We said yes, and he introduced himself.

Months later, Cody spotted me in the Greenville airport as I was on my way to the National.  He was on his way to rehab an injury in Arizona.  He sat beside me in the airplane to Charlotte (ugh those masks!) and we bonded.  Cody was and is such an awesome guy.  Today, as I was eating dinner and watching a movie, I got a text from Jesse telling me that Cody had been called up to the Show!  I have been waiting for this day since 2021.  Cody is MY GUY and I can say that I have followed his career since Low A.

He got the call to the Show.  I'm not crying, you're crying.  I am so happy to see him make it.  It couldn't have happened to a nicer guy.  I am really proud to be a fan!  Go get em, Cody!!!!

Latest Stacks of Autos From Gerard

My friend Gerard has sent me a few packages of signed cards lately.  I combined them so I could try to catch up a bit on posts.  He went to the Cape Cod League over the last few weeks and got a few cards signed for me.  He told me in advance that he would see Rintaro Sasaki, so I bought two Leaf Metal cards and sent them along.  I got this numbered one back signed, and Gerard kept the base card.  It helped him have some stuff to take with him to the games and it got me a sweet card for the autograph album. 

Gerard added some Jarrod Saltalamacchia cards to the album, along with some Dennis Cook cards.  The Team USA cards also are great.  I finally added some 2025 Stars and Stripes to the album with a Derrick Smith and Alex Sosa.  The Matthew Dallas came from a pair of cards that I had prepped for graphing early in the Bird Dawgs season for one of their opponents only to find out that was the wrong Matthew Dallas.

Gerard finished off all of the Jake Sanford cards that I had.  

Not to mention, he finished off all of the Saltalamacchia cards, as well.  As far as I know, at least.  He also made a deal with someone to get Mason McCoy to sign the above 2024 Topps Update that I started when I got Chandler Seagle earlier in the year.

He took some Carolina Mudcats cards from me when we met up in Durham a month or so ago.  He got Chandler Welch and Luis Pena for me.

Finally, Gerard had this beat up 2012 Topps Allen Craig that he had gotten signed.  He gave it to me for the album, probably because I sent him so many Craig cards over the years.  Who knows why it is so beat up.

Thanks for the autographs, Gerard!

July 12, 2025, Graphing of the Nationals at Mudcats

While sitting at the Bird Dawgs game on Friday, I was sent an Instagram post from my good friend Jackson asking if anyone was going to Saturday's Mudcats game.  The Mudcats were giving away a water tower bobble head, and Jackson is in Arizona at the moment.  I had seen the ad for the giveaway earlier in the season, but honestly thought it was during the week.  I had forgotten, then came the post.  The giveaway was Saturday, and i had already gotten all of the autographs I could get from the Bird Dawgs series.  Plus, gates would open at 4pm for the Mudcats and the Bird Dawgs game was at 7.  We had time to get the bobble head and do a little graphing before we had to leave and go to the Bird Dawgs.  The Bird Dawgs were giving away jerseys.

To get Jackson's bobble head, I had to recruit an extra pair of hands, so my new coworker, Hunter, came along to help out.  He had never graphed before, but was eager to give it a shot.  He did pretty well for his first time.

Hunter, Jesse and I knocked out a bunch of Cristhian Vaquero cards that got missed last year.  Vaquero came over when asked but said he only had time for one card but would come back after he stretched.  He did come back and did two per for the three of us.

Finally, I was cleaned out of Randal Diaz cards.

The bobble head is really cool.  I'm a huge fan of bobble heads, and this is a cool one to add to the cabinet.  I was especially thankful that Hunter was willing to give up his to help Jackson out.

In all, we got the following autographs: Randal Diaz x 4, Roismar Quintana x 1 and Cristian Vaquero x 6 (11 autographs).

July 11-13, 2025, Graphing of the Boulders at Bird Dawgs

When we got back from our road trip, we had a three-game series in Kinston between the Bird Dawgs and New York Boulders.  There weren't many guys on the team with cards.  The cards that I was able to find were quality.  I got another 2019 Midwest League All Star Card signed by Austin Dennis.  I saw someone recently finished the set.  I doubt mine will get finished, but it is nice to run into someone from the set.

I knocked out a couple 2010 Topps Pro Debut during this series, which was great.  It is getting harder and harder to get cards from that set signed, and I have gotten three of the guys this year in the Frontier League.  Finally, I got Alfredo Marte on his 2013 Topps, as well.  I thought I had a lot more Marte cards, but only found four.  I also could have sworn that I had more Tyler Vail, but nope.  I only had his 2010 Pro Debut.

I also got an 8 x 10 with the two Bird Dawgs All Stars signed.  My buddy Jesse made the custom photo of Steven DiTomasso and Brandon Kaminer.  I've already put it away for safe-keeping.

In all, I got the following autographs: Austin Dennis x 1, Alfredo Marte x 4, Tyler Vail x 1, Steve DiTomasso x 1 and Brandon Kaminer x 1 (8 autographs).

While I Was Away

When I was out of town, the Trois-Rivieres Aigles came to Grainger Stadium to face the Bird Dawgs.  Jesse took some cards and got them signed for me.

I had a few Jonathan Albaladejo cards that I had found for the series before I realized it would be when I was on vacation.  I even found two more of his cards after I got home.  Albaladejo is a coach with Trois-Rivieres, so hopefully he will be there next year.

I had also ordered cards of Jesen Therrien, which Jesse got signed as well.  Thanks for helping me get these out of the box, Jesse!

2025 Graphing Road Trip Recap

Another graphing road trip with my son Chris has been completed.  This year's destination was Mount Rushmore in South Dakota.  On the way, we hit 6 ballparks, two of which we had already been to in the past.

Before we embarked on the trip, we hit the Ringo Starr concert in Charlotte.  I added a day off to the front of the trip to accommodate for the concert and it was worth it.

We got to the concert late since Chris had a test for his summer math class.  We missed maybe the first three songs or so, but still got to see most of the show and had a good time.

We were going to start the trip easily.with a stop at Greensboro to see the Dash at Grasshoppers.  The game rained out, with a torrential downpour right before game time.  The game was called, then the clouds parted.  We were able to graph and bit outside, knocking out a few Winston-Salem players before we left the stadium.  I also got a couple Pat Listach cards signed in person; he is notoriously tough, but stopped fot Chris and I outside after the game.

Our next stop, and real dive into getting stuff out of my boxes was Charleston.  This has become an easy stadium to stop at and graph in our way to a lot of places.  I had hoped to stop in and see my friend Josh, but he just recently moved and was unavailable for us to hook up with.

I bought a ton of team set cards from gosportscards.com to make sure most.folks that walk by us would likely have something to sign.  We got a good many of cards signed, but did have a lot left over.

Gastonia was in Charleston, and they had a few guys I really wanted to get.  Justus Sheffield was the biggest name, but he wasnt there.  His contract has since been sold to a Mexican League team, so everything I prepped for him will end up in the Box-of-Shame.  Still, we did well, and knocked out a lot of stuff.

I love going to Charleston.  I have ended up there several times in the last few years.  It is relatively close to where my parents live, so it is easy to get to.

Some of the older team set cards I picked up were really cool and look great signed.  The above Staten Island Yabkees card of Bryan Blanton is one example. 

I got my 2019 Midwest League All Star Card of Manuel Alvarez signed on the trip.  My friend Vince got the set for me a while back, and I have been chipping away at it for years.  I also finally got my 2017 Bowman Chrome blue refractor of Travis Demeritte signed.

A couple really cool cards that I picked up prior to the trip were the.two PJ Phillips cards.  He was really nice.  

.The coolest team set card I found was this Samuel Reyes South Bend Cubs card.  It just looks great and Im.glad I got him to come over and sign.

The next morning as we were heading out of the area, Chris and I stopped by the Mothman Museum in Point Pleasant, West Virginia.  I had seen the Mothman statue before, but had never gone to the museum.  The museum was pretty cool.  I got a sweet Mothman shirt while I was there.

Our next stop was Fort Wayne where we saw the Great Lakes Loons at Fort Wayne Tincaps.  They have a nice stadium.  We did ok graphing inside but missed several players.  That was disappointing, but we still did alright.

I was glad to get Leo DeVries outside after the game.  He got a walkoff for Fort Wayne, which was pretty cool to see.  I got my Bowman insert green refractor signed, which was great.

Rosman Verdugo was another guy we got outside after the game.  I just happened to recognize him and he stopped.  I was so.glad because I spent a lot of time searching and prepping for the trip.

I did like the stadium at Fort Wayne.  I'd go back, especially now that I have a better idea on where to stand for graphing.

Our next graphing stop was in Iowa to catch the Omaha Storm Chasers at Iowa Cubs.  I was very excited to try to get Rich Hill finally.  The top of the post shows that I did, in fact, get Hill.  The 2009 Topps Heritage that I got Hill on has him as an Oriole, which is great.  He was very nice and stopped for us on arrival and departure.   We got Cavan Biggio as well, which was a great pickup for the autograph album.

We graphed on arrival, inside pregame and outside post game.  It was very reminiscent of Durham, except that it was tough to get the home team outside.  There were several Iowa guys that we did see outside, so it was a good haul.

Most of the graphers in Iowa were very friendly.  With the exception of one guy.  Still, the biggest help was a kid named Kaden, who was maybe 11 or 12 and could identify most everyone.  He also grabbed a couple cards from me and helped with a few players.  His help was greatly appreciated. 

We dod really well identifying players.  I was actually the one who identified Kyle Wright, so i impressed myself.  Of the people we asked, we were only really denied by Phil Bickford (of all people) who said he is now only signing fot kids.  He was released by the Cubs shortly after the game.

I was glad to get Greg Allen.  I helped my friend Max complete a 2017 Heritage Minors three-way card where Allen was the last signature that he needed.  Also, we got Jake Woodford first, as he got to the stadium.  We watched him come in, then leave with all of his belongings.  It turned out that he had opted out of his contract with the Cubs and was picked up by the Diamondbacks.  We were lucky to get him.

I helped Max get his Rachel Folden cards signed.  I happened to have a blue parallel.that got done.

One of my favorite cards that I got signed was my 2025 Topps blue foil Kenta Maeda.  We got Maeda outside on arrival.  I spotted him as well.  It must have been the Metallica shirt that gave it away. 

Tommy Romero was super nice outside.  He signed for me then waited as Chris came over and flipped through his book to find the cards.  

We did really well in Iowa and graphing was easy.  I would definitely make another trip out there and try some more.  We stayed an extra day in Des Moines and enjoyed the city and surrounding area.

Our next stop (actually, this was before.Iowa; see below) was to check out what the Frontier League looks like in other states.  We caught the Washington Wild Things at Schaumburg Boomers.  Schaumburg had a nice stadium.  We were able to see former Wood Duck, Tyreque Reed.  He seemed to remember Chris and I and has always been cool to us.

I didn't have a lot of cards for this game and then found out after we got there that Sammy Infante (who I had several cards of) was suspended the day before.  Ugh.

I had a 10-card lot of these Perfect Game cards of Satchell Norman.  I had watched his cards since he was drafted by the Brewers in 2022.  I didn't pick them up then, but remembered the name.  He did make it to the Mudcats in 2024 but was released by the Brewers at the end of the season.  Norman was nice and signed everything we had.  Sadly, Schaumburg released him a few days after we saw him.

We liked Schaumburg, but it was very hot there.  I also mixed up my scans; we went to Schaumburg before we went to Iowa.  Oops.  My bad.

After Iowa, we went to Sioux City to see the Sioux City Explorers face the Kane County Cougars.  We did fairly well here as well, with the exception of this being the only place where an usher ran us out of where we were standing.  It looked like someone complained that we were asking for autographs near the clubhouse, but we weren't standing anywhere where we weren't allowed to stand.  The girl that came over said "the players are just getting ready for the game." "No shit, lady."  I didn't say that out loud of course, but it was annoying nonetheless.  It was every bit of someone acting like we were at a Major League stadium, but it was the independent leagues.

Regardless, we moved, my Mom raised me right and we weren't rude.  We moved to a different spot and still got folks.  I was disappointed that I did miss Brett Phillips.

My favorite cards were the ones above that I got signed by former Giants prospect, Luis Toribio.

We had a lot of those oddball old team set cards for Sioux City and Kane County and got a lot of them done.  I did miss several. Ut have already sent a few out TTM with the hope that they still get signed.

Sioux City was the last graphing stop on the trip.  We wanted to leave some time to check out other stuff in the area on the way to Mount Rushmore. 

Here is the requisite ballpark picture of Chris and I.  This was from Sioux City. 

We did pretty well graphing outside at Sioux City.  The girl that ran us off in the stadium earlier in the night glared at me several times.  I k iw she was just doing her job but she could have been a lot friendlier.  Smile lady, you work in baseball.  That's a lot of people's dream job.

Our theme of this year's trip was to check out roadside attractions and some things in the areas of the cities in which we stopped.  On our way to Des Moines, it popped in my head to see how far we would be from Clear Lake, Iowa.  It turned out that we would be an hour and a half away, so on our open day in Des Moines, we went up to Clear Lake and checked out the Surf Ballroom.  We went from there to the memorial and crash site where the plane carrying Buddy Holly, Ritchie Valens and the Big Bopper went down.

Chris had no idea who the three were, but I grew up watching La Bamba, so it was an interesting stop. 

We also stopped in Rockford, Illinois on the way from Schaumburg to Des Moines.  We stopped at Beyer Field, where the Rockford Peaches used to play.  The original stadium had fallen into disrepair and had been torn down.  They have since begun restoring the area, which is cool.  Chris had to pose in this pic reminiscent of a scene from.A League of Their Own; "What a hitter!"

Finally, we did make it to Mount Rushmore.  It turned out that Vice President Vance was there the same time we were.  We didn't see him, but saw the expanded security.  It was cool to say we were there at the same time.

In all, we got the following autographs: Dash at Grasshoppers: Lucas Gordon x 6, Pat Listach x 2, Braden Montgomery x 4, Christian Oppor x 4 and Jordan Sprinkle x 2 (18 autographs); Ghost Peppers at Dirty Birds: Ronaldo Alesandro x 2, Manuel Alvarez x 1, Ben Blackwell x 2, Zach Daniels x 1, Travis Demeritte x 4, Eddy Demurias x 2, Cip Garza x 2, Jonh Henriquez x 2, Jamison Hill x 2, Kyle McGowin x 2, James Nelson x 1, PJ Phillips x 2, Samuel Reyes x 4, Joseph Rosa x 2, Jonathan Soto x 2, Alesander Womack x 2, Bryan Blanton x 2, Narciso Crook x 2, Eric De La Rosa x 4, Tony Fossas x 3, Goose Gozzo x 11, Dalton Guthrie x 4, Ryan Hennen x 4, Cole Roederer x 3, Ethan Skender x 2 and Kevin Watson, Jr. x 2 (70 autographs); Loons at Tincaps: Brooks Auger x 11, Wyatt Crowell x 8, Joseilyn Gonzalez x 2, Payton Martin x 2, Christian Ruebeck x 2, Mike Sirota x 2, Clark Candiotti x 3, Leo De Vries x 2, Thomas Eschelman x 2, Ethan Long x 4 and Rosman Verdugo x 2 (40 autographs); Wild Things at Boomers: Ryan Chasse x 2, Jordan DiValerio x 2, Kadon Morton x 2, Tyreque Reed x 2, Satchell Norman x 10 and Bren Spillane x 2 (20 autographs); Storm Chasers at Cubs: Cavan Biggio x 4, Dairon Blanco x 3, Jonathan Bowlan x 2, Diego Castillo x 2, Harold Castro x 8, Eric Cerantola x 1, Justin Dunn x 1, John Gant x 4, Tyler Gentry x 5, Thomas Hatch x 2, Rich Hill x 6, Kenta Maeda x 2, Luke Maile x 4, MJ Melendez x 2, Noah Murdock x 1, Stephen Nogosek x 1, Nate Pearson x 2, Carlos Perez x 3, Nick Pratto x 8, Luca Tresh x 4, Joey Wiemer x 4, Peyton Wilson x 2, Jake Woodford x 4, Kyle Wright x 2, Greg Allen x 7, Moises Ballesteros x 2, Phil Bickford x 1, Ben Brown x 1, Hayden Cantrelle x 2, Rachel Folden x 4, Christian Franklin x 7, Brandon Hughes x 4, Dixon Machado x 3, Marty Pevey x 4, Ethan Roberts x 3, Tommy Romero x 5 and James Triantos x 2 (122 autographs); Cougars at Explorers: Marcus Chiu x 2, Nick Dalesandro x 2, Claudio Finol x 2, David Holmberg x 2, Todd Lott X 2, Robby Martin Jr x 10, Jordan Martinson x 3, Logan Nissen x 2, Oscar Santos x 10, Vin Timpanelli x 2, George Tsamis x 3, Armond Upshaw x 1, Kurtis Byrne x 10, Josh Day x 2, Austin Druiry x 2, D'Shawn Knowles x 15, Abdiel Layer x 10, Kyle Marman x 12 and Luis Toribio x 5 (97 autographs).  We got the second-most autographs on this trip co.pared to other annual graphing road trips with 367.  The most.we had was last year to Buffalo and Erie, etc. with 376.