May 2025 Graphing of Jackals at Bird Dawgs

The New Jersey Jackals came to town last week and I was able to get some nice cards signed.  I had some help from Chris and Jesse.

It was cool that a former major leaguer was on the Jackals.  Miguel Gomez was really nice and signed everything we had.

Chris got a bunch of them done which helped me out since I missed the Wednesday day game.

I also had some nice 2018 Bowman Chrome Arbert Cipion.  I had gotten him a while ago when he was with the Mudcats.  I also got some team set cards of Colt Webb signed.

In all, we got the following autographs: Albert Cipion x 5, Miguel Gomez x 30 and Colt Webb x 4 (39 total autographs). 

Last Batch of 2023 50-50s From Logan

Here are some more 50/50s from this season.  These came back from my friend, Logan, who graphs Wichita.  He was able to take some guys I thought I'd never see.  The above 2018 Bowman Chrome gold shimmer refractor of Michel Baez sat in my Bowman box for years until I saw that Logan would be seeing him.  I'm so glad this card is now signed and in the album!

Logan got my 2017 SAL All Star card of Trevor Bettencourt signed.  My brother, Adam, gave me the set way back when, so I was glad to add it to the album.  Logan also took a ton of my Yusniel Diaz cards and got a couple signed for me.  He also took some Dodgers prospects and got them signed by Luke Little and Brandon Lewis.

I was really glad to get these two Henry Henry cards signed.  Another from my 2019 Midwest League All Star set got signed, which was great.

One of the last cards Logan took was my 2020 Bowman Marco Raya card.  It got separated from the rest of my stuff for some reason and almost didn't get to him in time.  Logan also took all of my Tanner Dodson cards and got them all done.  I had a bunch of his stuff; now they are all signed.

I had a ton of Kody Hoese stuff and sent Logan 2 or 3 packages with Hoese cards.  I was surprised that all of these got done, but it was great. 

I didn't realize until I went back through the package that Logan got new Yankee Jorbit Vivas for me on 4 cards.  He was just traded to the Yankees to make room on the 40-man roster for Shohei Ohtani.

I wish Logan could have gotten Michael Busch, but he didn't see him.  Still, the Kody Hoese end of the card got done, so I'm halfway there. 

Thank you so much for getting all of these cards signed for me, Logan.  I loom forward to what I'm able to send out for 2024.

TTM Success - Quentin Holmes

Sometimes I'll take a shot on a TTM that I'm not sure will be successful.  That could be for many reasons like maybe I missed the guy when they came through, or maybe they hadn't signed in a long time and I want to take a shot.  In the case of Quentin Holmes, I didn't see him come through against the Wood Ducks, so I wanted to try to get a few of the cards that I stockpiled signed. It worked out this time.

The above 2018 Bowman Chrome purple refractor was picked up at some point with the hope that I'd see him come through Kinston.  He never did, so the card sat in my box for a couple of years.  I was so glad when it came back signed, as it looks great.

I sent off some of Holmes's other cards: 2017 Bowman Draft, 2017 Bowman Draft Chrome, 2018 Pro Debut and 2018 Topps Heritage Minors.  I like how all of the cards turned out.  I also liked how I was able to get them all out of the box and into the autograph album.

Holmes (b. 1999) was a second round pick by the Indians in the 2017 June Amateur Draft out of a New York high school. He played in the minors from 2017 to 2022 (missing 2020 due to the COVID shutdown) in the Indians system.  He reached AA.  He had 161 hits, 10 home runs and a .190 batting average. He played in Independent ball during the 2023 season.

I mailed to Holmes on February 2 and got the cards back on July 19, for a 167-day TAT.

TTM Success - Brendon Little

Here are a few prospect cards that I had hoarded a couple years ago in hopes of getting them signed while graphing at the Wood Ducks.

I had these really nice Brendon Little cards and finally found a working address for him, since I never got him when Myrtle Beach came through.   The above 2018 Bowman Chrome gold refractor is really great, and one of the main reasons why I was itching to send the cards off in the first place.

I also got his 2017 Bowman, 2018 Heritage Minors and a 2018 Bowman Chrome gold shimmer refractor signed.  Both of the gold parallels are numbered out of 50.

Little (b. 1996) was a first round pick in the 2017 June Amateur Draft by the Cubs out of the State College of Florida Manatee-Sarasota.  He made his major league debut last season, pitching in one game for the Cubs.  He has a record of 0-1 with no strike outs and a 40.50 ERA.

I mailed to Little on January 4 and got the cards back on February 6, for a 33-day TAT. 

TTM Success - Matt Festa

This 2018 Bowman Chrome Arizona Fall League card of Matt Festa hung around in my Bowman box for quite some time.  It had some residue get on it from some tape and had to be cleaned up with a micro fiber cloth before I sent it out TTM.  The prepping worked, as the card turned out great.

Festa (b. 1993) has played in the majors 2018, 2019 and 2022 for the Mariners.  He has a record of 2-2 with 89 strike outs and a 4.36 ERA.

I mailed to Festa on February 1, 2022, and got the card back on December 30, 2022, for a 332-day TAT.

Another TTM Success From Adam Haseley

Here is another TTM success that came in from Spring Training, a second success from Adam Haseley. The above 2017 Panini Contenders turned out really well.  I didn't have but maybe one pack worth of cards from that set, and this was one of them.

I also got a few other nice cards done, like a green 2019 Bowman, an insert from 2018 Bowman Chrome and a 2021 Topps.

I mailed to Haseley on March 10 and got the cards back on April 20, for a 41-day TAT.

Past 50-50s From Andrew

Graphing season is about to start up next week, and I have been thrashing to get some stuff together for an early-season series out of town.  In doing so, I had to search for a snap case of cards I didn't get signed last season, which led me to go through a ton of stuff on my desk.  I realized that I had a ton of stuff that still needed to be scanned and blogged.  That means I'm going to have to start back doing blogs at least twice a day to knock down some of the non-TTM stuff I have sitting here.  The first of which was a stack of cards I got back from Andrew while we were at the National.

Andrew actually had these cards since at least the 2019 season, when Chris and I visited him in Evansville.  He was going to get Wander Franco on a ball for me that year (he did, thanks, Buddy!) and also took some 50/50s.  COVID messed up us meeting in 2020, so I had to wait til the 2021 National to collect some of the cards he had waiting for me.  The above completed dual of Mike Siani and Jonathan India is one I actually forgot about, but was happy to see in the stack.

I'm pretty sure all of these came from Andrew.  The problem was, stacked fall over from time to time, and stuff gets mixed up.  I remember him giving me the Amir Garrett 2016 Heritage Minors and the Harrison Bader 2017 Bowman.  He maybe had the 2015 Naquin as well, or I may have picked it up, myself.  Andrew can tell me, but I think he did give it to me.

So, I'm hoping to reduce this stack of non-TTM autos in the coming days, but the fun part is that there is some nice stuff that I completely forgot about.  I guess that's a sad thing to say about the condition of my desk.  Thanks for the cards, Andrew!

Another TTM Success From Kyle Cody

Former Wood Duck, Kyle Cody, wasn't a Wood Duck for long, but when he was, he was really good.  I had hoped that I would see him during the 2018 season, but he kept getting hurt, then ended up in Frisco.  I had sent to him TTM a little bit before this request, and got a return from his home address.  I sent these cards to Rangers Spring Training last year.

This 2018 Bowman chrome mojo parallel turned out nicely.  I was glad to get this one signed, as it had sat in my box for a long time.

Cody (b. 1994) had played for the Rangers since 2020.  He has a record of 1-3 with 32 strike outs and a 3.71 ERA.  This season hasn't been too kind to Cody; he is 0-2 with a 7.94 ERA and is on the 60-Day IL with shoulder inflammation.

I mailed to Cody on February 22, 2020, and got the cards back on March 30, 2021, for a 402-day TAT.

July 10, 2021, Graphing Recap of Hillcats at Mudcats

A snap decision to take a look at the Lynchburg Hillcats while they were in Zebulon facing the Mudcats led me to almost missing getting several cards signed.  I had a couple guys send me Lynchburg cards to get signed as a 50/50 just in case I saw them, and I had some put aside from 2020 and 2021 Bowman.  I missed the guys I had pulled back in 2018 and 2019 and put aside in a Carolina League graphing box that I had put together.  Thankfully, about 15 minutes before we left for Zebulon, I remembered that I had that stash of cards.  I got them all prepped and into my snap case in time to leave for the game, then loaded them into my books for pre-game.  One of the cards was the above 2018 Bowman Chrome gold refractor of Lenny Torres.

The day actually called for a double header, and I came only armed with Hillcats cards in three books; me; my son, Chris and my friend, Tyler.  We were able to finish up everyone by the start of the second game, which was great, because it was super hot and humid out there.  We ended up leaving halfway though the second game since we were really tired and thirsty (and didn't want to continue to pay $6.00 for bottled soda).

I was worried that I wouldn't be able to finish off some of the cards, since this would be the only time I would see the Hillcats.  Luckily, none of the players limited, and we were able to see all of the ones I had brought cards for.  Daniel Espino was especially nice, signing everything that each of us had, and also carrying on lengthy conversations with each grapher he came into contact with.

I had a whole bunch of different Espino cards, and I was really happy with how they all turned out.

I was worried that I would miss Petey Halpin.  He walked by before the first game and said he would come back.  Turned out, he meant he would come back after the first game.  He did, and signed everything we had.

Finally, we were able to get Josh Wolf, who also was really nice, and talkative.  The whole group of Hillcats that we saw were all super nice and talkative.

We ended up getting: Espino x 21, Christian Cairo x 5, Petey Halipn x 4, Korey Holland x 3, Gabriel Rodriguez x 2, Lenny Torres x 6, Yordys Valdez x 3 and Josh Wolf x 10, or a total of 54 signatures.

A Few More Autos From Gerard

My friend, Gerard, took on a bunch more 50/50s for me this season, and I finally have gotten around to posting two of the batches that were sitting here on my desk.

I had found this 2018 Bowman Chrome blue refractor of Josh Ockimey at the National this year (I think), and it turned out really well when it was signed.

I also was surprised that I had missed this Chaf De La Guerra card from the 2015 NY-Penn League All Star game.  I have had those cards for a couple seasons, now, and have hit a wall on getting any of the remaining ones signed.  I was glad to take this one out of the box, though, and now it will be put away.

Here are some other cards that Gerard was able to take care of for me.  All of them are ones that I had for quite a while, so it is always nice to see them come back signed.

I know I have had these Jeff Niemann cards for a long time, and I was beginning to think this was a player who I wouldn't be adding any time soon.  I had looked him up fairly recently to see if he signed TTM, and he did not.  It doesn't matter, now, because these are done.

Finally, Gerard helped knock off a card from my 1987 set.  I was hoping to get Jose Guzman sooner, but it never worked out.  I have him now, and am crossing him off of the list.

Thanks for the cards, Gerard!

2019 Wood Ducks Hot Stove Event

It still pains me that I missed the first Wood Ducks Hot Stove event back in 2017.  Thankfully, I get notifications from the team on a bunch of different platforms now, I should never miss any Wood Ducks news.

This year, the third annual Wood Ducks Hot Stove event brought current Rangers Willie Calhoun, Jose Trevino and Jeffrey Springs to Kinston (and in Springs's case, back to Kinston).  Again, the event was held at King's BBQ, which is a very great BBQ chain in Kinston.  This was my second time going to the event.  Tickets cost $30/person and came with 2 drink (for adults of course) tickets and dinner.  There was also a social hour where you could mingle among fellow fans, Wood Ducks employees and the Rangers personnel.  I brought my son, Chris and my brother, Andy, along and the two of them has as much fun as I did.  I posed for one photo, with Willie Calhoun, who was super nice.

Willie also posed with Chris and definitely won a new fan once Chris realized that Calhoun grew up a Giants fan.

Jose Trevino was really cool, as well.  We had met him last summer in Frisco.  We spent some time last night talking about football and who we thought would win in the playoffs.  Turns out, Trevino is a huge Cowboys fan.

Jeffrey Springs kinda sorta remembered us from 2017, when he was a Wood Duck, but the 30th round pick has gone on to become the second Wood Duck to reach the majors.  He is also a native North Carolinian, hailing from Belmont.  He and I discussed how disappointed we were in the Panthers' season and more specifically how disappointed we were in Cam.

We were introduced to new Wood Ducks manager, Corey Ragsdale, who seems to be a pretty cool guy.  This season, he will be doubling as Woodies manager and also Rangers Minor League Field Coordinator.

There was a roundtable discussion with the players, and I was able to ask a question of them: Now that they have reached the majors, who have they met that they were like "Oh man, I can't believe I met THAT GUY!"  Springs answer was Cole Hamels; Trevino answered Michael Young and Calhoun answered Barry Bonds.  The Rangers announcer, Matt Hicks, also answered my question by telling a story about how he interviewed the great Hall of Famer, Vin Scully.  The stories that were told definitely were a highlight of the night, and I was glad that my question elicited some of the best stories of the night.

Chris made a new friend in Calhoun.  Here they are after the event talking about the Giants and Barry Bonds.  According to Chris, he also talked to Calhoun about how it was having Tim Lincecum (still Chris's favorite player) as a teammate last Spring Training and how Calhoun collects his own baseball cards.  Apparently, Calhoun tries to get one each of his cards and signs them for himself.  For some reason, that cracked me up.  He seems like a really cool, down-to-earth guy.  I talked with him later about how it was meeting Bonds.  It turns out, Calhoun was introduced to his idol by his mentor, former pitcher, Dave Stewart.  Bonds and Calhoun formed a friendship this offseason and have spent a great deal of time working out together.  I may or may not have dropped a few hints to Calhoun by saying, "Man, I really need to find a way to get Barry to sign his 1987 Topps rookie card for me..."  Calhoun laughed and told me that each day he worked out with Bonds, he was bringing handfuls of stuff to be signed, and Bonds graciously signed everything he brought.

I picked up two nice items during the silent auction (well, one during the silent auction, and one after).  This team signed "Christmas in July" bat hadn't been bid on at the end of the show, so I offered to buy it at the minimum bid, and the folks were happy to take my money.

The bat is amazing.  I mean, it is really awesome!  It looks even better in person and I honestly have no idea where I want to display it, but it looks so cool.

It definitely is a high-end custom bat that they had made especially for the Christmas in July event last season.  So, Chris and I have jerseys for the event, and I have the team signed bat.

Of course, I couldn't do the event without doing some graphing.  I took 50/50s for my friends, Max and Gerard, and between Chris, Andy and I, we got everything signed.  The purple chrome Calhoun was pulled from one of those 2018 Bowman Chrome Mega Boxes from Target and is the special atomic refractor that was in those boxes.

I was out of Trevino cards, so I had to order some.  I liked this Frisco card from 2018, so I got that off of Ebay.

I also picked up a few parallels from 2018 Bowman, and a red Team USA card.  The 2018 Bowman Chrome base was my end of the 50/50 from Gerard.

My favorite Trevino was this gold shimmer parallel out of 2018 Bowman.  It is numbered 20/50 and scanned amazingly.  I had purchased a lot of 10 additional Bowmans, but they didn't arrive in time.  My friend, Max, will get those done for me at Spring Training.

I had never heard of Ragsdale before, but when I was informed that he would be the manager, I searched him real quick on EBay.  I saw that he was in 2006 Bowman, so I searched my Bowman box and found that although I had a ton of 2006 Bowman, I had no Ragsdales.  I bought a good many of them off of Ebay.

It turns out, though, that my LCS has boxes of "rookie cards" dating back to the mid-90s, which essentially means, there are boxes there that I had never gone through in the 10 years (that's right, I have been in the Greenville area now 10 years) that I have been going to the shop.  I picked up a handful of Ragsdale's cards just in case the ones I ordered didn't get here in time.  Luckily, those all came and I got them done already.

Finally, I got Jeffrey Springs on my Spokane and 2017 Woodies team set cards, along with a Roughriders card that I picked up.

I had such an amazing time at the event; I can't wait til the season starts.  I think I got my 2019 graphing season started off with a bang.  Now, onto Orioles Fan Fest!