50-50 Returns From Aidan

My friend, Aidan in Asheville, took some 50/50s for me this summer.  I finally got around to scanning and posting them.  I really liked the above Heritage Minors insert of Blaze Jordan.  I really like the inserts that they put in Heritage Minors, and adding some to the album is always nice.

Aidan got my last Logan Cerny signed, and finished off all of the Braxton Ashcraft cards that I had left.

He also got some more Freudis Nova cards signed and a Michael Knorr, who I didn't get to see with Fayetteville. 

Thanks for getting these done, Aidan!

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.

August 2019 Graphing Recap of Tourists at Grasshoppers

I went to my parents' house recently to pick Chris up from his trip out there.  While we were there, I decided to go see the Tourists at Grasshoppers.  I had some cards sat aside, and left them at home, so he and I went to the local card shop out there and picked up some single Bowmans.

We ended up getting quite a bit signed, but a lot of the cards were duplicates from when we saw the Grasshoppers in Hickory, and the Tourists in West Virginia.

I was able to get some Pro Debut signed, which was nice.  I happened to have those cards with me, which helped.  It was more of me leaving in a hurry and leaving the cards I pulled on my dresser.  Oh well, I ended up getting some stuff done, and we were happy with how the game went.

TTM Success - Ryan Vilade

I got my first 2018 Topps Heritage Minors card signd with this success from Ryan Vilade.  The card turned out really well.  I had two of them, and went on to send them both.

I also was able to get a card signed out of my 2018 South Atlantic League Top Prispects set.

Vilade (b. 1999) was drafted out of an Oklahoma high school in the second round of the 2017 amateur draft by the Rockies.  He has played in two levels of the minors since he was drafted, Rookie League and Single A.  His most recent stop was the Asheville Tourists.  I almost went to Asheville this past summer to see him play, but the timing didn't work out and I didn't go.  It isn't too terribly far from my parents' house, so I may head that way this summer.

So far, Vilade has 161 hits, 10 home runs and a .280 batting average across 157 games.

I mailed to Vilade on October 22 and got the cards back on November 8, for a 17-day TAT.  In exchange for the autographs, I made a donation to Keeper of the Game, at Vilade's request.

Graphing the Asheville Tourists at Greensboro Grasshoppers

I wanted to get a game in this weekend while I was transporting Chris to my parents for his visit with them.  So, he and I checked out the schedule and decided to try to get Riley Pint with the Asheville Tourists.  I ended up finding some more guys from the team and had enough time to get in some 50/50s from Gerard.

I was able to get two Max George cards signed.  We couldn't get him inside the stadium as he was one of the last players to come out on the field and the coach had run Chris and I off (apparently, the players can't sign by the dugout...?).  We ended up getting George at the team bus.

I was really happy to get Pint.  I had wanted to follow his career, so I had picked up a few of his cards.  I was really worried, though, as I couldn't find the cards I had picked up until a couple hours before the game.  I also found a Pro Debut in a pack of cards that I got at the card shop in Winston-Salem.  Pint was really nice, and signed everything that Chris and I had.

We also got Tyler Nevin and Brian Serven,  I found Serven at the LCS, and Nevin I found through my last pass through my Bowman box before I left town.

Finally, I got Colton Welker at the team bus.  Welker was the last guy that I needed, and I really wanted to get this South Atlantic League Top Prospects card signed.  Chris was ready to leave but we saw some players coming out, so we decided to wait out traffic and ended up getting Welker and George.

Chris got two baseballs during the trip, and kept telling me how much fun he was having.  I'm glad, because I'll miss him while I am on my trip.

April 14, 2012 Hickory Crawdads vs Asheville Tourists

Since I knew I would have to get up early Sunday to go to the race with my dad, I decided to head to my parents' house on Saturday.  I called up my little brother and asked him if he would want to go to a minor league game with me, he said he would, so I checked the schedule and saw that the Hickory Crawdads were playing at home on Saturday night.  Hickory is about an hour away from Mom and Dad's, so it was a pretty easy choice.  Plus, it helped me add a new minor league park to my list.

L. P. Frans Stadium is the home of the Crawdads, the A affiliate of the Texas Rangers.  I also got to meet my brother's girlfriend and invited her along at well.

There weren't a lot of people there, even though they were giving away Eric Church bobbleheads.  We got there about 10 minutes before gametime, so we missed out on the bobbleheads.  Sorry Dodgerbobble.

Hickory has a pretty nice field.  It reminded me of Bowie for some reason.  The backdrop was nice, save for the Pepsi warehouse behind the right field wall.  I bet it looks pretty out there in the fall when the leaves are changing.

The Crawdads held an autograph session after the game, so I let Chris go down on the field so he could get the ball I bought him signed.  He got me a South Atlantic League ball from a little girl who caught a foul ball by trading one of the brand new Rawlings OLB balls that I had brought with me.  I guess she was looking for something prettier than the foul ball she caught.  Oh well, I thought it was a good trade!

So, here is Chris with his signed baseball.  He did get some compliments on his awesome overalls, which makes him look so cute.  As far as my brother and his girlfriend, I took an embarrassing photo of my brother eating a hot dog, but I don't want to embarrass him more than I already have, so I will keep that picture to myself.  Maybe I'll publish it in his senior yearbook a few years from now....

Greenville Drive vs. Asheville Tourists game 8/29/10

The whole reason we drove all the way to Columbia, SC (other than seeing my brother) was so that we could catch a Greenville Drive game. My brother had told me that Greenville's field was pretty nice, and it would be another different park I could go to this year.


Fluor Field is pretty nice. I liked the building paralleling the field, reminiscent of the Warehouse in Baltimore. You can see how packed the place was; the game had playoff implications, as I believe Asheville and Greenville were tied before this game atop the league standings. We were on hand to witness a pretty good game and ended up with some free baseball. Greenville ended up winning with a walkoff wild pitch. It would have been nice for a little extra drama, but I'll take what I can get.

Here are my son, Chris and my niece Harper enjoying the game. I could have done without the little leaguers bowling them over trying to get one of the outfielders to throw them a ball. I slid down the hill and threw some elbows to make sure our kids weren't trampled. Chris found it amusing, but Harper didn't know what the hell was going on. She did enjoy the game. I also bought her very first pack of cards earlier in the day, a pack of 1990 Topps for fifty cents. She enjoyed looking at the pictures, then threw them in my brother's floor board (she's 2, so thats understandable).

July 16, 2010 Greensboro Grasshoppers vs. Asheville Tourists

I returned to Greensboro's NewBridge Bank Park on Friday to catch another Grasshoppers game. I am on vacation and have my cousin visiting from Germany, so I wanted to make sure he made it to as many baseball games as possible...

We also picked up my brother Andy on the way and then met up with the wonderful Babe-O-Licious at the game,

I have already been to Greensboro's park before, and enjoy it. I'm not a fan of the net surrounding the park, I mean, I know safety is key, but the net is obstructive.

We got a few autos from Asheville players before the game, then watched them play a very sloppy game against an equally sloppy Grasshoppers team.

It was SO HOT at the game; we thought some thunderstorms were going to roll into the area, but they didn't before the game ended. We had a good time, nonetheless.