June 22-27 Graphing of Mudcats at Wood Ducks

The Mudcats returned to Kinston to face the Wood Ducks last week and I got some more cards signed as a result.  The above Panini Prizm of Freddy Zamora is a Tiger Stripe parallel and turned out great.

I also got a Prizm of Joey Weimer done as part of a 50/50 for someone. The above Stars and Stripes of Noah Campbell also was for a 50/50. Everything else I got signed was for other folks or duplicates that I'd trade later on. 

I had some help during the series and ended up with 122 autos. I didn't go to all of the games; I took a couple nights off and also went to Greensboro for a game.

TTM Success - Taylor Ward

I was able to get some cards out of my prospects box and get them signed recently with this TTM success from Taylor Ward.  I have slowed down on getting 2017 Pro Debut signed, but I have also whittled the bulk stack of those cards down, so it is nice to pull a few more away.

Ward also signed these 4 cards; a 2014 Panini USA (top right), a 2015 Panini Stars & Stripes (top left), a 2019 Bowman (bottom left) and a 2019 Heritage Minors (bottom right).

Ward (b. 1993) has played in the majors for the Angels since 2018.  He has 32 hits, 7 home runs and a .181 batting average.

He was a first round pick (26th overall) by the Angels in the 2015 June Amateur Draft.

I mailed to Ward on January 6 and got the cards back on February 4, for a 29-day TAT.

Card Show Gift From Dugan

I'm working on catching up on a lot of posts.  So much so, I haven't sent off too many TTMs lately so I can get some other stuff posted.  I had something I had gotten from my buddy, Dugan, at the last card show that I wanted to post.  He gave me this DJ Stewart relic from Stars and Stripes baseball that I really liked.  Stewart hasn't done nearly as well as I had liked, but I am hoping he picks it up and can contribute to the O's in the future.

Regardless of how Stewart is doing, I really appreciate Dugan thinking of me and hooking me up with this card.  Dugan is a great guy and I'm happy that we have been able to meet up at shows.

Card Shop Pull - 2015 Stars And Stripes Matt Olson Patch

I went by myself to the card shop today because my wife and son are out of town.  I treated myself to a few packs of cards, and one of them yielded a really nice pull.  I love pulling patch cards, and this one is a nice one.  Matt Olson three color patch, numbered 5/10 from Panini Stars and Stripes baseball.  Stars and Stripes is a pretty good product, especially now that the draft has been completed.

Olson was a first round pick (#47 overall) by the A's in the 2012 draft out of a Georgia high school.  He has shown a great deal of power so far in the minors, with 76 homers over 381 minor league games.  He strikes out a lot, and has a pretty low batting average (.246).  He is still really young (21), and would likely be finishing college right about now, so he still has a chance to move up in the A's system.  He is currently at AA Midland (GO ROCKHOUNDS!!).

I don't think I did too bad with this pull.  I love getting patches, and for the $4.00 price of the pack, I am pretty sure I got my money's worth.