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.

TTM Success - Roy Oswalt

Another private signing that I participated in recently was one for Roy Oswalt.  I had a few of his cards put aside in the event that one would pop up.  When it did, I narrowed my choices down to two, then above 2009 Topps Heritage and the below 2012 Topps Gypsy Queen. 

Both cards look great.  The price wasn't too bad, so I was happy to add two cards to the autograph album. 

Oswalt (b. 1977) played in the majors from 2001 to 2013 for the Astros, Phillies, Rangers and Rockies.  He had a record of 163-102 with 1,852 strike outs and a 3.36 ERA.  

He was a 20-game winner twice in his career (2004 and 2005), and was a three-time All Star (2005, 2006, 2007).  He never won a Cy Young Award, but finished in the top 5 in voting five times.  He was the 2005 NLCS MVP.  He appeared on the Hall of Fame ballot in 2019, but fell off with only 0.9% of the vote.

I mailed to the signing on October 16 and got the cards back on December 23 for a 68-day TAT.  I paid $15.00/card.

TTM Success - Bobby Scales

This 2009 Topps Heritage was added to the autograph album when I got it back signed from Bobby Scales. 

Scales (b. 1977) played in the majors from 2009 to 2010 for the Cubs.  He had 34 hits, 3 home runs and a .248 batting average.  

I mailed to him on October 8 and got the card back on October 24 for a 16-day TAT. 

50/50s and More From Gerard

Slowly, I am catching up on some old 50/50 posts.  It helps when I can combine several packages into one post, like this one from Gerard.  He took some 50/50s for me last season, and for whatever reason, I slacked on getting the cards posted to the blog.  He also had a couple signings, and I was able to help contribute to them.  I got a few cards in return that I'm really happy about.

The above 2019 Bowman Chrome green refractor of Hudson Potts was a nice 50/50 that Gerard hooked me up with.  The card looks great and is numbered 64/99.

Gerard knocked out a few Triston Casas cards for me as well.  Each of them looks awesome.

I have a ton of these Bowman Top 100 cards in my prospects box, so getting one out and signed by Casas was nice.  I need to find some folks who can hit some of the other Top 100 guys to help thin that set out of my box.

I pulled every Kelly Shoppach and Jeremy Hermida card I could find to help Gerard with a couple private signings.  Both of these Shoppachs turned out great.

I may have been the happiest about getting these Jeremy Hermidas back signed.  These are some cards and sets that I have very little of, so being able to find them and help with the signing was really nice/

Thanks for the cards, Gerard.  I hope I can send a few more your way soon.

TTM Success - Dave Trembley

Dave Trembley may not be remembered as the best manager to ever helm the Orioles, but given the teams he was handed, I think he did an admirable job.  We met him back when he was managing the Orioles, and he was one of the nicest guys I've ever met.  I was really sad when he was let go, but he quickly latched on with the Braves.  I finally got around to sending to him TTM, and got some nice cards taken care of.  The above 1991 Classic Best came out of a bargain box my wife bought off of Ebay.  This might have been one of the highlights of the box, and I kept it with my Orioles stuff for over 10 years.  I have finally moved this card to my autograph album, where it should have been kept all along.

I have cards of Orioles managers all in succession in my Orioles box, so Trembley's cards weren't hard to locate.  I got a (from left) 2010 Topps Heritage, 2009 Topps Heritage and 2009 Topps signed.

Trembley also included this Orioles post card that he signed.  He also inscribed the back with his tenure as Orioles manager.

Trembley (b. 1951) managed the Orioles from 2007 to 2010 to a record of 187-283 (.398 win %).  His teams were plagued by a lack of pitching, which seems to be the case most times when talking about the Orioles over the last 10-15 years.  He was dealt a tough hand, and managed with class.  A lot of the Orioles players who would see some success under Buck Showalter broke in under Trembley.

Trembley began managing in the minors in Kinston (I didn't know that, until just now) in 1986.  Back then, they were the unaffiliated Kinston Eagles.  He moved to the Pirates organization from 1987 to 1989.  After a break from managing in 1990, he managed Charleston (in the Padres) organization from 1991 to 1992 and Wichita (also Padres org.) in 1993.  Trembley then spent time in the Cubs organization 1994 to 2002, managing Orlando, Daytona, West Tennessee and Iowa.  His first stop in the Orioles organization was in 2003, when he was tapped to manage AA Bowie.  He spent 2 seasons in Bowie, then 2 at the Orioles then-AAA team in Ottawa, before managing the Orioles in 2007.

I mailed to Trembley on October 12 and got the cards back on October 19, for a 7-day TAT.