Some Missed Cards From Drake

My stack of stuff to be scanned got mixed up a while back, and some stuff that people had sent me didn't get posted correctly.  Some of the cards that got mixed up were part of the blind trade I did with my friend, Drake.  I was able to finally figure out who sent what (pretty much) and am now only days away from being all caught up with scanning.

Drake hooked me up with a bunch of cards in this blind trade.  Basically, a blind trade is each of you sends each other a number of cards, the other person matches that number.  It worked out pretty well for the both of us.  Drake did pretty well in not doubling up on guys I had already gotten.  He also sent me a bunch of random team set guys who will look cool in my album.

I was really happy that Drake included this Drew Robinson card.  I had tried Robinson TTM last season (or maybe it was this season), but didn't get a card back.  Robinson's story is an interesting one.  He is an advocate now for mental health, as he suffered tremendously with his.  To the point where he tried to take his own life.  He survived, and was able to get a Spring Training invitation from the Giants, without the use of one of his eyes (it was permanently damaged as a result of his attempt).  He is now a mental health coach for the Giants, and his story can be found online.  It is a recommended read.  Click Here for a link to the article.

I liked these random cards from Drake, as well.  He definitely added an assortment to the album.

Finally, here are some recent Bowmans that Drake sent along.  I was glad to add these to the album.

Thank you so much for the cards, Drake.  I really appreciate the cards!  I hope you liked yours.

A Ton of Autographs From Drake

This post may seem like a card/scan dump.  I regret that I didn't break my friend, Drake's shipments up and post them when they came in.  I know Drake was disappointed that I waited to scan and post everything that he has sent me this past year.  I got busy trying to catch up on TTMs and then in-season graphing, I let his stack of cards get super huge.

Still, I finally sat down to scan everything, and even though my scanned froze several times, I finally got through it.

Drake has taken a ton of cards for 50/50s from me over the last two seasons.  He sees some teams in Florida and also Illinois.  He also has been able to see some players on rehab assignments in Florida, and I believe he also went to Tampa for a Rays game.  He was going to get Randy Arozarena and Wander Franco for me, but I don't think he was able to.  I am really happy with the Josh Lowes he got signed.  He has my 2020 Topps Heritage Minors blue parallel still, and that should be coming in the mail soon.

It was really hard sorting the stiff he had sent into some kind of pattern that would make it easy to post and discuss, so I decided to try to put stuff together that was similar, even though they may not all be the same teams.  Drake knocked out a bunch of Bowman products for me.  Several minor leaguers I may not have been able to see, he got them.

That's what appeals to me the most about doing 50/50s with folks.  They take cards from me of guys I wouldn't normally see, and I get them guys that I see.  We swap, and everyone is happy.  It also helps me clear space in my Bowman boxes for new product, and keeps teams that I never see from just sitting there collecting dust.

I especially like knocking out 2021 Heritage Minors cards.  I'm not working on the set, by any means, I just like the colorful cards and I also like reducing the stack that I have here at the house.

Drake took a couple Jordan Walkers from me that helped reduce the leftovers I had from my trip out west.  Maybe next season, he and I can get together and graph.  I'd enjoy it.

Drake also has helped me clear out some extras that I have here at the house.  He loves doing "blind trades" where he is happy taking any set number of cards and exchanging them card for card.  He doesn't mind obscure players or team personnel, so I try to send him some stuff he wouldn't normally see.  He does the same for me.

This has put several random team set cards in my album, and since I enjoy the randomness of my album pages, the cards fit right into my theme.

Here are some older Heritage and Heritage Minors cards that Drake has sent me.  I feel like Heritage and Heritage Minors are nice cards to get signed.  I also appreciate that they don't have to be prepped.

The Bowman cards Drake sent go back to the early 2010s.  I have some from those years, but seeing guys who were in those sets are getting tougher and tougher to see.  I have to go to places like AAA to see some of those guys, or wait until they become coaches.

I wonder just how man extra autographs Drake must have, since he sent me a ton.

He also included some older Topps cards that I can use to check off of my Topps ledger for some of those early 2000s sets.

This Tirso Ornelas was one of those 2017 Bowman Chrome minis.  I have seen them around, but never pulled any.  I have a few of them from some former Wood Ducks.

So, Drake really hooked me up with a bunch of stuff.  I hate that it took me so long to scan and post them, but they're finally here, and also have finally been added to my autograph album.

Thank you so much, Drake, for all of the cards, and also for taking all of the 50/50s the past two seasons.

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.

TTM Success - Conner Capel

When I am able to get an old team set card signed TTM, that is always a good day.  I also got two other cards back signed with this TTM success from Conner Capel, so I definitely was excited.  The above 2018 Carolina League Top Prospects card turned out nicely, and has been liberated from my box.

He also signed my 2019 Topps Heritage Minors and 2019 Bowman, which both turned out great, as well.

Capel (b. 1997) was a 5th round pick by the Indians in the 2016 June Amateur Draft out of Seven Lakes High School in Texas.  He has played in the minors since 2016 for the Indians and Cardinals organizations, reaching AAA.  He has 475 hits, 58 home runs and a .250 batting average.

I mailed to Capel on April 29, 2020, and got the cards back on March 28, 2022, for a 698-day TAT.

Another TTM Success From Jonathan Hernandez

There were a bunch of Jonathan Hernandez cards in the boxes I got from my former LCS when it closed down.  I had gotten him TTM before, but I couldn't resist sending again, to Rangers Spring Training, because the cards were all parallels or just nice ones in general.

The above black and white 2019 Bowman Heritage turned out great.  I got almost a whole 3,000-count box of 19 Bowman Heritage, and have been able to add a few of them to my autograph album over the course of the year.

I also was able to get a 2020 Select, 2020 Donruss parallel and a green 2019 Bowman signed.

Hernandez (b. 1996) is a former Wood Duck and was supposed to be the Rangers closer this season.  He is down with Tommy John, so he won't be back for a while.  So far, he has a 7-2 record, 50 strike outs and a 3.40 ERA.

I mailed to Hernandez on February 9 via Rangers Sprig Training and got the cards back on March 20, for a 39-day TAT.

TTM Success - Garrett Whitlock

 This might be one of my more disappointing TTM successes.  I had some nice cards of Garrett Whitlock, and the cards I got back had some pretty bad autos on them.  The aboce 2019 Heirtage Minors blue parallel is numbered 68/99 and it looks like his pen was on its deathbed.

The 2018 South Atlantic League Top Prospects card has a signature that you can barely see.  The 2019 Bowman Holiday has the impression of a pen on it, but no ink.  I may send these back at some point, but as of now, they'll just sit in my album.

Whitlock (b. 1996) was an 18th round pick by the Yankees in the 2017 June Amateur Draft out of the University of Alabama at Birmingham.  He has a record of 12-8 with 201 strike outs and a 2.41 ERA while rising up to the AA level.

I mailed to Whitlock on January 6 and got the cards back kind of signed on July 24, for a 200-day TAT.

TTM Success - Grant Lavigne

 Here are some cards that I got signed TTM by Rangers prospect, Grant Lavigne.  I had seen Lavigne when he played for Asheville, but these cards came out, and I saw that he was signing TTM.

These are all 2019 versions of Topps products (Heritage Minors - Top, Pro Debut - above left, and Bowman - above right).

Lavigne (b. 1999) was a first round draft pick (42nd overall) by the Rockies in the 2018 June Amateur Draft out of Bedford High School in New Hampshire.  He has reached A ball in the Rockies system (Asheville),  Over his two seasons in the minors, he has 176 hits, 13 home runs and a .272 batting average.

I mailed to Lavigne on January 6 and got the cards back on February 28, for a 53-day TAT.

California 50/50s

I received a message on Instagram from my friend Dylan in California saying that he was going to an event organized by Daniel Robertson.  There were a good many players attending, and Dylan was nice enough to take some cards off of my hands for a 50/50.

I was really glad that Dylan was willing to take Brice Turang, since I still had a bunch of his cards on hand.  I didn't send him too many, because Dylan wasn't sure how many Turang would sign, but I believe he ended up taking 6 of my cards.  He actually sent 4 signed cards back, so Chris got one of the extras.

I sent Dylan every Josh Staumont that I had, since I had a bunch of his all together because I thought I would see him with Wilmington.  I never did see him, but it helped that they were all in one place.

I missed Cody Ponce signing this 2016 Pro Debut, so getting that out of the Box of Shame was nice.  I only had one Daniel Robertson, and Dylan was nice enough to not require another card as part of the 50/50.

I was disappointed that I missed sending him some of my 2013 Perfect Game Jacob Nix cards.  I forgot he was in that set.  It would have been nice to get rid of some of them.

I had the 2015 Bowman Rio Ruiz set aside for Orioles Fan Fest, but since they canceled it, I was able to get one back from Dylan.

Thank you so much for taking the cards, Dylan!

Some 50/50s From Vince

I sent a few cards off to my friend, Vince in Illinois, toward the end of the MiLB season.  He got a few of the cards signed for me, but wasn't able to see all of the teams that he thought he would have.

Still, a few of the cards got done, and turned out well.

I had bought a Midwest League All Star set because I knew some of the guys would come up through the Carolina League, and Vince told me he would try to get some of the guys that I might not see.  He got these 4 cards done, and they look great.

He also got these two Freudis Nova cards done.  Nova is likely to come through Fayetteville next season,  but it was nice to go ahead and get these two cards signed.

Thanks for taking the 50/50s, Vince!

Some 50/50s From Zach S.

I've known this kid, Zach S., on Instagram for some time now.  Probably at least 2 years.  Our initial meeting did not go well; he tried to scam me out of some cards.  After a while, and some apologies, we got to chatting again, and reservedly, I sent him a handful of cards for him to try a 50/50 since he saw the Fort Wayne Tincaps, and also since he was taking a trip to Florida and would see Fort Myers.

Zach thanked me for trusting him with my cards, and he came through.  He got me autos of Blaze Alexander, Alek Thomas, Jackson Goddard, Levi Kelly and Royce Lewis.

All of the cards turned out well, and I feel like Zach did a good job.  I think I will send him a few more 50/50s to do next year, since he has earned back my trust.

He tried really hard with Fort Myers, but since he wasn't all that experienced with the park, he didn't do too well.  He also ended up not seeing nearly as many games as he thought, so this was the only Royce Lewis that he was able to get done.

Thanks for getting my cards signed, Zach.  We will definitely do some more next season.

Lyon Richardson Consignment Autos From Parker

A kid named Parker saw me bust 2019 Bowman on my Instagram livestream and offered to get my Lyon Richardson cards signed.  I sent him the base card, which was the only one I had at the time, then I followed up with this Bowman Mojo refractor that I found later on in a Target Mega box.

The autos came out great, but since I only had one Richardson at a time, Parker agreed to take them as a consignment instead of a 50/50.  So, I sent him a couple signed 2018 Heritage Minors autos in exchange for him getting me these two cards.

A 50/50 would have meant that I send Parker 2 Richardsons, and he gets them signed, keeps one and sends the other back to me... you split 50/50.

A consignment works by either trading something or paying straight up for an auto.

May 2019 Graphing of the Pelicans at Wood Ducks

The Wood Ducks returned from a long road trip for a brief three-game series at home this past week against the Myrtle Beach Pelicans.  This was the last time that the Pelicans would come to Kinston this season, so I was eager to finish off what I had of them.  I had recently gotten my boxes of Bowman in, and pulled the above atomic refractor of Miguel Amaya.  The card is numbered 65/150, and looks really great signed.

I got all of the Aramis Ademan and Miguel Amaya that I had signed.  Ademan has such a nice signature, and it looks great on some 2019 Bowman.

I was glad to finally find some Steve Lerud cards.  I found them the day after the Pelicans left the last time, and got them into my book.  I also saw that Jake Stinnett was on the Pelicans roster for a rehab assignment, but realized that I had sent all of my Stinnett cards on to Max in Chicago.  Luckily, I had missed one, so I was able to get this 2014 Prizm signed.

There was a huge Rangers contingent on-hand during this series, so I was able to get a few rover cards signed.  I missed Dwayne Murphy last season because I had forgotten to put him in my book.  This year, I had him in there from Day One, and was able to get this 1979 Topps done, and also the A's Leaders card form 1986 Topps, below.

In addition to Murphy, Kenny Holmberg and Rick Strickland were on hand.  They had been here late last month, so I was able to Fins Holmberg's 2008 Bowman in my box, and I had found the above 1988 Cape Cod League card of Strickland on Ebay.  He was impressed that I had found the card and remarked that the card was "several pounds ago".  He also joked about how tight his pants were in the photo on the card.

I got a chrome 2019 Bowman done of JP Martinez, and this custom card of Bubba Thompson that my friend, John, sent me.

The Wood Ducks are on the road again, and will return home next weekend.