TTM Success - Colby Thomas

The next private signing that my friend Jack set up was with Colby Thomas.  I was able to find and send off a 2024 Pro Debut (above) and a 2023 Bowman (below).

Unfortunately, after I mailed, I found another card that I wanted to send.  It was too late, so hopefully I get another chance later on.

Thomas (b. 2001) was a 3rd round pick by the A's in the 2022 July Amateur Draft out of Mercer University.  He has played in the A's system since 2023, reaching AAA.  He has 314 hits, 52 home runs and a .282 batting average.

I mailed to the signing on November 14 and got the cards back on January 29 for a 76-day TAT.  I didn't write down what I paid.

May 14-19, 2024 Graphing of the Mudcats at Wood Ducks

Last week, the Wood Ducks returned to Kinston after two weeks away to face the Mudcats.  The Mudcats have very few guys with cards, but I was able to rack anyway, since the Woodies had their team set come out on Saturday and my boxes of 2024 Bowman came in on Wednesday. 

I planned ahead and picked up a couple Josh Knoth 2023 Leaf Vivid cards.  Another was supposed to come in, but didn't get here in time. The card at the top of the page is a 1/+, which is cool.  Both of the Knoth cards scanned great.

I also got my first 2024 Bowman cards signed by Cooper Pratt.

Yhoswar Garcia was tough; he refused to sign for us a couple time.  When he did stop (finally), he his everything we had.  He probably got tired of seeing me.  Oh well, his stuff is completely done, so I won't have to bother him anymore. 

Finally, the Wood Ducks team set came out earlier than ever.  It was given out as a promotional giveaway this season.  Since the team is leaving after this season, they didn't want to get stuck with a bunch in a closet somewhere. 

The set looks nice.  It rained on Saturday, but I was able to get in and get our sets prior to the game being called.  It set up a double header for Sunday, and they were giving sets out again.  All told, I ended up with 6 of them.

The 6 sets are pretty much spoken for: one for me to get signed, one for me to keep unsigned and load into the Wood Ducks album, one for Chris, one for Gerard, one for Charlie and one for any of my group that may have missed the giveaway.

The double header on Sunday gave me 4 chances to knock cards off of the list.  I almost got everyone, save for a couple pitchers.  There are a few who have already moved up to Hickory, a couple injured guys and a couple who were bumped down to Arizona.

I also got this Bowman Heritage of Marcu Smith signed for Gerard, but he let me keep it.

The Woodies won the series 4-2, which was great, since the Mudcats always play them tough.

In all, we got the following autographs: Alejandro Rosario x 3, Josh Knoth x 4, Cooper Pratt x 6, Yophery Rodriguez x 2, Paul Bonzagni x 3, Willian Bormie x 3, Julian Brock x 3, Jorge Cortes x 3, Kolton Curtis x 3, DEWD x 3, Arturo Disla x 3, Kohl Drake x 3, Buddy Fultz x 3, Jose Gonzalez x 3, Wes Hunt x 3, Gleider Figuereo x 4, Kyle Larsen x 3, Jesus Lopez x 5, Carlos Maldonaldo x 3, Case Matter x 3, Wady Mendez x 3, Brayan Memdoza x 3, Danny Mendoza x 3, Chandler Pollard x 3, Brian Pozos x 3, Thomas St. Clair x 3, Justin Sanchez x 3, Luke Savage x 3, Marcus Smith x 4, Tommy Specht x 3, Marcos Torres x 5, Ryan Straney x 3, Josh Trentadue x 3, Echedry Vargas x 5, Kai-Noa Wynyard x 3, Juan Baez x 2, Yhoswar Garcia x 32 and Bishop Letson x 2 (152 total autographs). 

September 14-15, 2023, Graphing of Mudcats at Wood Ducks

The first round of the Carolina League playoffs was last week, with the first game on the road at the Mudcats on Tuesday.  The second game was at home in Kinston on Thursday, my birthday.  The Wood Ducks came in with a 1-0 lead in the best-of-three series.  The hope was that they would sweep and win the round on my birthday.  It didn't worm out that way, but the Wood Ducks did take the series against the Mudcats, setting up a rematch of the 2021 championship against Charleston.

There were a few Mudcat guys who I needed that weren't here the last time they came to town.  I finished off everything I had, except for Hedbert Perez, who was out for the remainder of the season with a broken leg.

Dylan O'Rae was really nice, he signed everything I had.  Daniel Guilarte also finished off everything I had pretty quickly.  By the time the Wood Ducks won the series on Friday, I was out of cards for both teams.  It was nice clearing out my box of Wood Ducks stuff, finally.

Quincy Scott gave me one of his bats and inscribed it Happy Birthday on Thursday.

We got to watch the celebration of the Wood Ducks moving on.  Their next game would be Sunday against the Riverdogs in another best-of-three series.

In all, I got the following autographs: Quincy Scott x 1, Danyer Cueva x 7, Gleider Figuereo x 6, Anthony Gutierrez x 9, Ian Moller x 1, Jace Avina x 10, Logan Henderson x 1, Daniel Guilarte x 21, Dylan O'Rae x 14, Carlos Maldonaldo x 2 and Tayden Hall x 1 (73 total autographs). 

August 20, 2023, Graphing of Hot Rods at Grasshoppers

Yesterday, Chris and I went to Greensboro to catch the Bowling Green Hot Rods at Grasshoppers.  I wanted to try to graph Termarr Johnson since he had been brought up to Greensboro.  We were supposed to meet up with a friend at the game, but our friend's plans changed at the last minute. 

We were able to get Johnson on 4 cards. I had a bunch of Greensboro stuff to get done for my friend, Gerard, and got everyone except for Tres Gonzalez.  He ignored both times he walked by.  Still, it was a very successful day.

It looks like my marker is on the way out, so I'll have to try to replace it over the next couple of days.  I prefer the Michaels Artosts Loft markers, but Michaels has been sold out evert time I've gone by there this summer.  There is a big difference between the marker I used and the Sharpie Chris had yesterday.  My hope was that the difference was due to excess powder on Gerard's cards, but when I looked back at my High Point stuff from the day before, I could see that the marker was starting to die off.

I switched up for post game and my Brock Jones turned out fine.  I've always got a backup marker, so I should be ok, but that'll leave me without the backup, of course.

I was really glad to finally get these two Jeff Hakanson cards signed.  I missed him the two times I saw Charleston this season, then he was called up to Bowling Green.  They're now done, so I have them in the album now.

The two Chandler Simpson cards are some that I found at the National; then he was moved to Bowling Green. I was glad to go ahead and get them signed, as well.  Willy Vasquez was tough.  He grabbed the black Sharpie that belonged to the guy next to me, signed my card with it (no big deal), but then looked right at Chris and skipped him.  Chris would walk up to him outside post game on the sidewalk and ask again. Vasquez told him "No, leave" so Chris walked away. Then Vasquez left.  Had I known that he had said that right away, I'd have told Chris to just give him the card and walk away. I don't normally like to do stuff like that when someone refuses to sign, but when someone is rude to my kid, I don't need to keep your unsigned card hoping you'll sign at a later time. This was coupled with us asking JJ Goss if he would sign.  He said "I'll put my stuff down and come back."  He never did.  So, all of Goss's stuff will either be put back in the mail to Gerard or will be dumped into a box.  I won't bother him again.

Other than the disappointment from both of those guys, we had a great time.  The weekend was filled with great weather, two really good games and a lot of graphing.  I also spent time with my family while we were out that way.  With school starting back soon, this may have been the last weekend I will have available graph with Chris.  I feel like we made it a good one.

In all, we got the following autographs: Jase Bowen x 3, Bubba Chandler x 6, Maikol Escotto x 5, Thomas Harrington x 2, Termarr Johnson x 4, Sammy Siani x 6, Jeff Hakanson x 2, Brock Jones x 1, Chandler Simpson x 2 and Willy Vasquez x 1 (32 total autographs).

Some Autos From Josh and Matt

My Wood Duck friends, Josh and Matt, went up to Hickory a couple weeks ago while Hudson Valley was in town.  They took the cards I failed to get signed on my trip, split them, and got a few.signed for me.

I was really glad they were able to get Spencer Jones to sign, because he completely ignored Chris and I.  Folks at the Hudson Valley game we went to kept telling us how great a guy Jones was; I didn't see him interact with folks quite like I was told he would.  I later found out that he's a lot tougher to get to sign that I was originally led to believe.  So, my cards are signed and I don't have to worry about asking him again. 

I didn't see Antonio Gomez until just before the game started when we were there.  Drew Thorpe was the starter, so he wasn't signing pregame anyway.  Sergio Santos ignored Chris and I.  Then, of course, the game was cut short due to the storm thar rolled in, so we didn't get another chance to ask for signatures.  Thankfully, Josh and Matt both got these cards signed for me.

Josh also included a couple more custom cards he made from his and Matt's MLB The Show game.  These are some pretty unique customs.

Finally, Josh surprised me with an old card from his T-ball days.  I still can't understand why he signed across his face.  I gave him a hard time (all in good fun) for signing over his face.

Josh and Matt are good dudes.  Both have been instrumental in getting a lot of cards signed for me this season.  They've really embraced graphing and seem to enjoy it.

Thanks guys for taking these cards and getting them signed for me.  It takes a lot of the annoyance away from me having missed getting them done on my trip.

June 2023 Graphing of Mudcats at Wood Ducks

Before we left for vacation, Chris and I got to three games between the Mudcats and Wood Ducks. Anthony Gutierrez was finally back off of the DL.  I had a bunch of his cards to get signed, and got them done.  The above lunar crater parallel turned out great.  This is by far my favorite parallel this year.

I got the aqua lunar crater parallel (above, right) of Gutierrez signed, as well.  My friend, Gerard, ordered a bunch of parallels of Andres Mesa.  They all turned out great.  Mesa is super nice and always signs well.

The parallels turned out awesome.  I hope Gerard gets me some more for me to keep.  I got an orange refractor signed for him.  I'm ready for one of those for my album. 

I got a bunch of Wood Ducks team set cards signed during this series.  I'm not done with the set, just yet.  Still, I've made a huge dent in the set, and am looking forward to finishing it.

The team set cards look great, and look even better when signed. 

I had an assortment of Kenny Holmberg cards in the autograph books all season, and he finally came in during this series.  Holmberg is such a nice guy, I was glad to get him to sign the cards I had.

I had extra Holmberg cards that I gave out to Jessie and Billy.  I'm not sure if they saw Holmberg when he was here, but here's to hoping he comes back. 

Finally, some new Mudcats with cards were here.  I got some Jace Avina and Luis Lara 2023 Bowmans signed, along with a Will Rudy 2022 Panini Prizm Draft.

I was able to rack the three games I saw; in all, we got the following autographs: Jojo Blackmon x 1, Cam Cauley x 7, Danyer Cueva x 8, Aidan Curry x 2, Anthony Gutierrez x 40, Kenny Holmberg x 9, Jackson Leath x 4, Leandro Lopez x 4, Dylan MacLean x 2, DJ McCarty x 4, Damian Mendoza x 1, Andres Mesa x 14, Jesus Moreno x 1, Alberto Mota x 5, Konner Piotto x 4, Luis Ramirez x 1, Adrian Rodriguez x 1, Tommy Specht x 2, Jace Avina x 11, Jeferson Figueroa x 1, Luis Lara x 9, Hedbert Perez x 20, Will Rudy x 2, Jheremy Vargas x 6, Gleider Figuereo x 13, Nick Janssen x 4, Ian Moller x 5, Neal Ori x 4, Ryan Straney x 4, Matt Brosky x 4, Carlos Maldonaldo x 5, Joseph Montalvo x 5, Brock Porter x 2, Julio Valdez x 2 and Kai Wynyard x 1 (208 total autographs).

May-June 2023 Graphing of Fireflies at Wood Ducks

Scanning all of these cards has been an arduous task, but I finally got it done after my scanner had to be rebooted.  Anyway, I was able to get a lot more Columbia stuff signed this week, after getting a taste last week.

Several 2023 Bowman Chrome parallels that I had ordered finally came in, so I was able to get some cool stuff signed this week, like the above Andres Mesa pearl parallel.  It had a small scratch on the surface, so I guess the seller opted to not have it graded.  That's ok with me, since I wanted to get one signed and into my album.  The card looks amazing.

I also was able to get the base chrome, as well as an aqua Lunar Crater parallel and a green grass parallel signed.  They all look really cool.

Tommy Specht was finally brought up from Arizona, and I got my Perfect Game and Panini Prizm cards taken care of.  Specht is now the second youngest player on the team, behind Gleider Figuereo.

Wyatt Sparks finally is here, after getting injured after the team set came out in 2021.  I have a couple other of these cards somewhere, but I don't know were, at this moment.  A fellow grapher sent me two of the 2022 Bowman Chrome sapphire parallels of Danyer Cueva, so I got to keep one for myself.

I finally got the 1988 Topps John Habyan signed.  My friend, Billy, gave me the 1987 Classic, which looks really cool.

Habyan cleaned me out of all of the cards of his that I had pulled over the winter.  I was hoping he would be back, and I was glad that I got these taken care of.

I finished getting the 2023 Bowman paper of Lizandro Rodriguez.  I also got the chrome 2022 Bowman of Steven Zobac.  The 2017 Panini Stars and Stripes of Wesley Scott turned out nicely, as well.  I think he said he was 15 or 16 when that photo was taken.  He also said that his mom got a ton of the cards.

I was glad to almost finish off the 2023 Columbia Fireflies team set.  I was missing two players who were in the set, but not with the team.  That got me really close.  I may have to see where the other two guys are and try to get them TTM or something.

Scanning this set was a pain.  This was the reason why the scanner had to be rebooted, but I finally got everything done.  It was crazy that this team set was $18.00.  I was glad to get it, though, because a lot of the guys who signed their cards said that it was the first time they had signed any cards for anyone.

Also, the set looks pretty cool.  I like the Fireflies colors.  Having the extra cards made it so I had folks to look for at every game, which kept me engaged the whole week.

The Wood Ducks won the series 5-1, which was great.  We also welcomed a new face into our graphing group, a great guy named Jesse.  He wants me to teach him the ropes with graphing, which I enjoy doing.  It has also been nice having someone else to chat baseball with us at games.

In all, I got the following autographs: Danyer Cueva x 6, Gleider Figuereo x 2, Carlos Maldonaldo x 1, Andres Mesa x 4, Wyatt Sparks x 1, Tommy Specht x 10, Omar Florentino x 1, John Habyan x 30, Omar Hernandez x 1, Brennon McNair x 1, Ben Kurdna x 8, Frank Mozzicato x 9, Shane Panzini x 5, Erick Pena x 15, Lizandro Rodriguez x 4, Brett Squires x 1, Levi Usher x 1, Daniel Vazquez x 7, Marcus Olivarez x 1, Tony Pena Jr x 3, Enmanuel Pire x 1, Lizandro Rodriguez x 2, Matt Schmidt x 1, Wesley Scott x 3, Steven Zobac x 16, Ian Moller x 1, Ari Adut x 1, David Hollie x 1, Cooper McKeehan x 1, Jean Ramirez x 1, Oscar Rayo x 1, Dionmy Salon x 1, Yeison Morrobel x 1, Luis Ramirez x 2, Taylor Bloye x 1, Junior Calderon x 1, Roger Leyton x 1, Shane Panzini x 2, David Sandlin x 1, Ben Sears x 1 and Samuel Valerio x 1, Kevin Varitek x 1, Nevan Dominguez x 1, Ted Elsner x 1, Eduardo Herrera x 1, Chazz Martinez x 1, Mauricio Veliz x 1 and Cam Cauley x 3 (161 total autographs).

Week of May 9-14 Graphing of Shorebirds at Wood Ducks

With the arrival of 2023 Bowman, I have some fresh product that I was happy to get into my book and get signed during this week's series against the Delmarva Shorebirds.  I could have easily skipped this series, since the Orioles sent Jackson Holliday up to Aberdeen, but I went ahead and caught the entire series, with the exception of the Wednesday early game.  Those darn education days...

I was glad to get the above Spotlight insert of Anthony Gutierrez signed; the card looks sharp!

I took some 50/50s for my friend, Aidan, so I got a couple 2023 Bowman First Editions into the album.  One was the above Gleider Figueroa, and the other was the Andres Mesa, below.

I pulled the Andres Mesa 2023 Bowman Chrome gold parallel numbered to 50 out of one of the boxes that I opened.  The card got signed immediately.  It turned out amazing.

I took some 50/50s for a guy named Ryan recently, and as a gift, he sent me the 2021 Bowman Draft chrome green refractor of Cam Cauley, above.  That card looks awesome.  I'm trying not to ask Cam much anymore, now that I have gotten his stack down to nothing.  I made the mistake of getting Dylan MacLean on the Panini Prizm tiger stripe parallel.  It was supposed to be a gift from my friend, Gerard, to Dylan, but I forgot the memo, so I got it signed.  I let Dylan know, and he told me not to worry about it.

We sat in front of Brock Porter's parents during the Saturday game, and found out that he had told his parents about us.  All good things, from what we were told, so that was cool.

Now that Jackson Holliday is gone from Delmarva, Luis Gonzalez is the only guy on the team that I had cards for, with the exception of pitching coach, Adam Bleday.  I got Gonzalez on everything I had, which was good.

I tried to get Gonzalez to sign one of the extra 2022 Heritage Minors cards with my friend, Matt's orange paint pen, but I didn't prime the pen enough, and the auto didn't come out as nicely as I had hoped it would.  Still, it is a bit of a novelty, and it will go into my album anyway.

In all, I got the following autographs: Cam Cauley x 20, Danyer Cueva x 20, Gleider Figueroa x 12, Anthony Gutierrez x 28, Dylan MacLean x 3, Carlos Maldonaldo x 1, Andres Mesa x 11, Ian Moller x 13, Brock Porter x 5 and Luis Gonzalez x 15, Yeison Morrobel x 18, Adam Bleday x 2 (148 total autographs).