TTM Success - Abimelec Ortiz

A former Wood Duck signed two cards TTM for me via Rangers Spring Training.  I had these two Abimelec Ortiz cards pulled and hoped to get them signed.  I was glad to see them come back after a short wait.

I was happy to see Abi get a few cards after the great season he had last year.  His 2024 Pro Debut (above) is a really cool one. 

Ortiz (b. 2002) was an undrafted free agent picked up by the Rangers in 2021.  He has played in their system since then, reaching AA.  He has 368 hits, 83 home runs and a .248 batting average. 

I mailed to Ortiz on February 13 and got the cards back on March 31 for a 46-day TAT.

TTM Success - George Lombard Jr.

Here are some nice cards that I got signed TTM from Yankees prospect, George Lombard, Jr.  I got this awesome 2024 Bowman insert signed, even though you can't tell at first glance.  That's ok. 

I also added a 2024 Pro Debut to the album. The signature can be seen very easily on this one. 

Lombard (b. 2005) was a first round pick (26th overall) by the Yankees in the 2023 July Amateur Draft out of Gulliver Prep in Florida.  He has played in the Yankees system since 2023, reaching AA.  He has 151 hits, 6 home runs and a .248 batting average.

I to Lombard on January 18 and got the cards back on February 14 for a 27-day TAT. 

Jesse Helps With The Mudcats

Unintentionally, I took almost a week off from posting.  I meant to get this post up a couple days ago, but got so busy prepping for the National, I haven't had time to sit down and write (sorry, Jesse).

My good friend, Jesse, took some Mudcats cards for me and got them signed a couple weeks ago while I was out of town on vacation. He got my other 1/1 Josh Knoth signed.  This one came in from Ebay after the Mudcats left town the last time they were here.

Jesse also took my 2024 Bowman Filippo Di Turi cards and finished him off for me.  I'm completely out of Mudcats now, which is a good thing.

Thanks for taking these for me, Jesse.  I just might have to pick you up something from the National. 

July 9-14, 2024, Graphing of the Salem Red Sox at Wood Ducks

With our vacation ending, it was time to head back to Grainger Stadium to see the Wood Ducks take on the Salem Red Sox. I had pre-prepped a while back foe this series, so it wasn't as hard on me to get ready prior to Tuesday's game.

I picked up some cards off of Ebay right when coaches were revealed, so I had a couple nice cards to get signed by Ozzie Chavez.  This 2003 Bowman Heritage turned out great. I love this design, and was happy to get it added to the autograph album. 

The Red Sox were a bit tough all series, with no numbers on the front and most guys limiting.  Add in that there was a lot of rain and missed opportunities.  Still we did decently.  I finished off everything I had for Brooks Brannon.  Brooks is an amazing guy, who stopped and talked with us every game.  I am a fan now and plan to add some of his certified stuff to the collection at the National. 

Nazzan Zanetello signed for us most of the time.  He was pretty strict limiting his signing to post-game only.  The one day he didn't sign was after a tough Salem loss, so that was understandable.

Finally, I added two more team set cards to the album now that Danyer Cueva and Alberto Mota are back.  I also added this nice pink foil parallel of Danyer's 2023 Topps Pro Debut that Gerard gave me.

My buddy, Max sent me an assortment of James Jones cards recently, and Jones was here for this series.  I got Max's stuff done, as well as my Frisco team set cards.  James is a great guy and seems to be flourishing in his rover role this season.

The highlight of the series was that the Wood Ducks won the second game of Saturday's double header by spinning a combined no hitter.  I got Jesse's ticket stub signed by the Billy Waters Player(s) of the game (brought to you by Mount Olive Pickles): Julian Brock (catcher), Izack Tiger (starter) and Adonis Villavicencio (reliever).

Adonis's hands were still shaking when he signed the ticket and this ball for me.  I found the ball pre-game ad I walked into the park.  It is a beat up batting practice ball, but it still is cool that I was able to commemorate the occasion.

We don't get many nice things in Kinston, so it was awesome that we got to witness a no hitter in person.

In all, we got the following autographs: Tonight's graphing recap of the Red Sox at Wood Ducks: Danyer Cueva x 6, Alberto Mota x 3, James Jones x 20, Brooks Brannon x 23, Nazzan Zanetello x 9, Jojo Blackmon x 1, Carlos Maldonado x 1, Tommy Specht x 2, Antonio Anderson x 3, Ozzie Chavez x 2, Daniel McElveny x 1, Izack Tiger x 4, Adonis Villaviceno x 2, Julian Brock x 2, Paul Bonzagni x 2, Ivan Oviedo x 1, Josh Trentadue x 2, Fraymi De Leon x 8 and Freili Encarnacion x 3 (95 total autographs). 

June 11-16, 2024, Graphing of the Riverdogs at Wood Ducks

Another series is in the books at the Wood Ducks as they inch their way toward their final game at Grainger Stadium. Arch rivals (I said it), the Charleston Riverdogs came into town for a 6-game set. The series had me go after 4 different Charleston guys, and I came really close to running out of stuff to get done by Sunday.  This was also without a good bit of help all week.

Chris was only able to accompany me to one game, and Jesse was only able to make a couple. I spent a few of the games sitting by myself for a good bit, but it was kind of relaxing.  I resigned myself to the fact that I may not get a lot done, then still finished off a couple guys.

Adrian Santana was super nice, as well as TJ Nichols.  Carlos Colmenarez (rightfully so) got tired of seeing me, so I stopped trying for him by Saturday.  The Wednesday game was a camp day, so Chris went with Jesse since I had to work.  I didn't send him with any cards to that one.  The Wood Ducks played Charleston well; they won the series 4-2, with three walkoff wins in a row.  It was a nice week, honestly.

Finally, Jojo Blackmon came back off of the IL, so I got another team set card out of the way.

In all, we got the following autographs: (Carlos Colmenarez x 16, TJ Nichols x 18, Jojo Blackmon x 3, Alejandro Rosario x 1, Chris Villamon x 3 and Adrian Santana x 33 (74 total autographs). 

Some More 50-50s From Aidan W

My buddy, Aidan in Asheville, took a few cards for me recently to do a 50/50 on Bowling Green.  He got this 2024 Bowman Top 100 Colton Ledbetter signed, which looks pretty cool.

Aidan also got me Tre Morgan, Hunter Haas and another Colton Ledbetter; these three were 2023 Bowman Draft. 

I didn't send Aidan a whole lot, just a few cards to see if he could get them out of the box, and he nailed it. 

Thank you so much, Aidan, for getting these done for me!

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).