September 14, 2024, Graphing of the Tides at Bulls

When planning my birthday week, I realized that I hadn't seen Norfolk all season, and that they were going to be in Durham when I was coming back from Maryland.  So, Chris and I planned to hit Durham on Saturday, September 14 (my birthday) to do some more graphing.

We left Hagerstown Friday night and drove about an hour and a half south til I was too tired to drive any further.  We stayed overnight just past DC and got up the next morning to head to Durham.  I wasn't planning on doing arrival there, but as we were walking toward the stadium, we saw our good friend, Billy, outside graphing with two other graphers we knew, John and Jacob.  We got Daniel Johnson almost right away, so we stuck around and graphed with them, then went to get a drink to wait til the gates opened.

One of the highlights of this trip to Durham was knocking out several more Morgan Ensberg cards.  I got my steps in as I was following him when he signed, but we did knock out 10 more of his cards.  I also added one more card to my 2024 Durham team set in Michael Gomez.

Jacob Waguespack was easy to spot; he may as well have been wearing a name tag.  His shirt had his name on it, advertising his family's business.

I finally finished this 2024 Topps Heritage Mini Jacob Lopez.  I busted two boxes of Mini, and loved them.  Once the word got out on them, the boxes got tough to find.

I chipped away at my 2023 Norfolk team set while in Durham, hitting three coaches and Nick Vespi.

I hit all of the Garrett Cooper cards that I could find in a pinch, since I had sent him out for a 50/50 a while back.  I also had picked up a few of his cards while I was at a card shop.outside of Hagerstown the day before.  I also got a bunch of Corbin Martin done.  I found even more after I got home once I figured out where I had sat the hoard I piled up when I thought I'd see him with Buies Creek years ago (I was wrong, he was beyond BC by then).

Forrest Wall and Daniel Johnson cleaned us out, which was great.  There are still some Johnsons in a box somewhere around here that I had pulled for 50/50s, but I have no idea where I sat them.

Finally, here are a couple Levi Stoudt cards that I got signed.  He was a really nice guy and credit to the little kid who called him the wrong name, which Stoudt corrected and said "No, I'm Levi".  Thanks for the help, kid!

In all, we got the following autographs: Morgan Ensberg x 10, Michael Gomez x 1, Jacob Lopez x 1, Jacob Waguespack x 1, Samuel Basallo x 2, Buck Britton x 1, Garrett Cooper x 5, Daniel Johnson x 5, Corbin Martin x 12, Chayce McDermott x 1, Justin Ramsey x 1, Ramon Sambo x 1, Levi Stoudt x 4, Nick Vespi x 1 and Forrest Wall x 5 (51 total autographs). 

Birthday Gift From Gerard

Another birthday has come and gone.  This one wasn't very eventful, which is what I wanted.  I took the day (was a Wednesday) and then the following Thursday and Friday off.  I was going to try to travel to a game, but ended up staying around the house since we were down a car.  I used the time to organize my card room a little better and also to scan a bunch of cards (hence all of the posts).

Meanwhile, I got a couple birthday packages in; this one is from my buddy, Gerard.

Gerard sent me some autographs of current and former Wood Ducks.  Those have been put away for now.  At some point, I want to put an album together of those kinds of cards, but in the meantime, they are in a box labeled "Wood Ducks".  I'll probably buy an album and box of pages specifically for certified autos of current and former Wood Ducks and just fill it randomly as cards come in.  That's an idea, at least.

Gerard also sent me these cool graded proof cards of Cody Freeman for the PC.  I think these are really awesome, and are pretty unique for me.

Thank you so much for the gifts, Gerard.  I really appreciate it.

Birthday Gift From Tomie - 1963 Fleer Brooks Robinson

My friend and coworker, Tomie, surprised me at my birthday party with this awesome 1963 Fleer Brooks Robinson.  It was made that much better to learn that Tomie had gotten his card from our mutual friend, Neil.  Since this came out of Neil's personal collection of 1963 Fleer, it means even more.  Neil's first memories of baseball cards were of his dad selling 63 Fleer to convenience stores back then, since his dad was a supplier to those stores.  So, that set and this card have a special connection with him, and that isn't lost on me.

Both Tomie and Neil know how much I love Brooks, and adding this card to my collection is really special!  Thanks to the both of you!

Birthday Gift From Andrew

My birthday was back in September, but with all of the TTMs I have backlogged, I have drawn out posting my stuff that I got for my birthday.  My good friend, Andrew, sent me some really great cards that I wanted to show off.  The above 2011 Topps Black Diamond Wrapper Redemption Virgil Trucks auto is just a beauty.  I had one of these, already, but Andrew knew how much I loved these, and picked this one up.  I still am looking for the canary numbered to 10, but have yet to find one.  I'll take as many of these as I can get, though.

Andrew found a few Orioles cards that I needed, which can be tough.  I haven't been able to find much in the way of recent cards, so these come in handy.

He also got me some cards of a couple former Wood Ducks in the Sam Huff and Sherten Apostel seen on the bottom row of this scan.

Thank you so much for the birthday gift, Andrew!

Another Hall of Famer on Mom's Ball - Lefty Gomez

Mom thinks I forgot about this amazing baseball that covers my birthday and Christmas presents from now until something like 2034, but I did need something to kick off the birthday posts.  Yeah, my birthday was almost a month ago, but I do like to stretch things out, and since this year was a nice round number, I figured I wasn't in any kind of a hurry to get things going on that.

Anyway, here is the last Hall of Famer on Mom's ball that I didn't yet have in my collection.  I kept getting Lefty Gomez and Lefty Grove mixed up, but Grove is the tougher of the two, having died in 1975.  On this ball is Lefty Gomez.  This Lefty is a Yankees legend and still a "tough get" as far as single signed baseballs go.  Mom was worried that I would only want single signed baseballs of these guys, but I'm happy taking what I can get.  My entire collection was built on a budget, and if I can knock out 3-4 guys on one ball, let's do it!

Gomez (b. 1908 - d. 1989) played in the majors from 1930 to 1943 for the Yankees and Senators.  He had a career record of 189-102 with 1,468 strike outs and a 3.34 ERA.  He was a 20-game winner 4 times (1931, 1932, 1934 and 1937) and an All Star in seven seasons (1933 to 1939).  He won the pitching Triple Crown in 1934 and 1937.  His best MVP finish was 3rd in 1934.

Gomez won the World Series 5 times with the Yankees, in 1932 and 1936 to 1939.  He was elected to the Hall of Fame in 1972 via the Veterans Committee.

Gomez's numbers don't quite stack up to some other starting pitchers in the Hall.  He may be benefitting from being on the Yankees.  There is a pitcher not in the Hall of Fame who appeared in 17 seasons (albeit one game in one of those seasons) who has a similar won/loss record (177-135), more strike outs (1,534) and an almost comparable ERA (3.39).  The other pitcher won 20 games only once, however, and also had only one World Series win.  Anyway, Gomez is in, and you can't take that away from him.

Gomez is my 151st Hall of Famer on a baseball.  There's another nice round number.

When I can get caught up with some other posts, I will come back to this baseball and feature the other guys on the ball.  That will be a lot of fun, and should happen sometime in the not-too-distant future.

Again, thanks for the awesome ball, Mom!

Birthday Gift From Nate - Lee Smith Signed Baseball

My good friend, Nate, sent me this Lee Smith signed baseball for my birthday.  I really appreciated him sending me something I could cross off of my Hall of Fame checklist.  The bad thing is, I could have sworn that I already had Smith, but apparently, I did not.  I had to search this blog and my baseball collection to confirm.

Smith (b. 1957) played in the majors from 1980 to 1997 for the Cubs, Red Sox, Cardinals, Yankees, Orioles, Angels, Red and Expos.  He had a career record of 71-92 with 1,251 strike outs and a 3.03 ERA.  His 478 saves were the all-time record when he retired, but now they rank third (behind Mariano Rivera and Trevor Hoffman).  He was a 7-time All Star (1983, 1987, 1991, 1992, 1993, 1994 and 1995) and finished a career-best 2nd in the 1991 Cy Young Award voting.  His best finish in the MVP voting was 8th, also in 1991.

Smith was elected to the Hall of Fame by the veterans committee for induction in 2019.

Lee Smith is my 146th Hall of Famer.  Thanks for the ball, Nate!

Birthday Gift From Cal

My buddy, Cal, sent me a really nice birthday package a couple months ago. In it were some Orioles cards and this really cool Topps Tier One Adam Jones.  The card is really sharp, and will go into the Jones PC.  That PC will be suspended and put with Roberts and Markakis, now that Jones is gone from the Orioles.

Thank you so much for the birthday gift, Cal, it was definitely appreciated.

Birthday Gift From Nate

My good friend, Nate, really dug deep, and knocked off some cards that have been sitting on my wishlist for years.  I have wanted the above 2011 Topps Diamond Die Cut Cal Ripken since 2011.  I just hadn't gotten around to picking one up.  Nate helped me out, and now the card is crossed off of my list.

Nate also helped me knock off 23 cards from my 2013 Topps Emerald set checklist.  I haven't given up on this set; I just haven't found any of these in any boxes at shows.

Still, I am a long way toward completing it, but I have made a significant dent in the checklist.  People like Nate have really been the ones who have pushed me toward getting this tough set done.

Thanks so much for the birthday gifts, Nate!  I really appreciate it.

Birthday Gift From Max - 1987 Topps Set Needs

Max has contributed so many cards to my 1987 Topps set, so I wasn't surprised that the set is where he put his focus for my birthday gift.  What I didn't expect was that he would hook me up with two guys I sent to TTM, but have, so far, eluded me.

I have been waiting on my 1987 Topps to come back from Lasorda for some time now (over a year, I think), so I'm just about set to write it off.  Maxx hooked me up, so I don't have to worry about hunting one down later on to complete the set.

I sent to Mike Maddux at Spring Training, and I'm sure the card will come back eventually, but Max, still, decided to send me one that he had gotten in person.  If the TTM one ever comes back, I can use it as trade bait to knock something else off of the list.

Thank you so much for the birthday gifts, Max, I truly appreciate them!

Birthday Gift From Michael

I got a package in the mail a few days ago from my buddy, Michael.  He had just sent me a package that had a bunch of IP autos that he picked up for me, but this time around, he sent me my birthday package.

In it was a signed locker nameplate of David Lough, a signed 8x10 of Mychal Givens, a signed post card of Joe Orsulak, a coupld IP autos, and a Jeremy Hazelbaker auto from 2017 Stadium Club.  The IP signed cards were Buck Showalter on a 2011 Heritage and a 2017 Topps Mariners team card signed by Andrew Albers.

Thank you so much for the birthday package, Michael!  I really appreciate it!

Birthday Gift and Some Autos From Nick H.

My buddy, Nick H. has been doing some 50/50s for me this season, and has been talking with me for a couple years now.  He's a really great guy, who graphs the Columbus Clippers.  He surprised me with a nice little package for my birthday, which had a nice assortment of Orioles.

I didn't have this 1962 Topps Brooks Robinson All Star card, to my recollection.  It has seen a lot of love over the years, but will now be retired to a top loader and a home in my Brooks box.

I did have the above 1967 Topps Orioles champions card, but I took it and added it to my 1967 set.  I'm pretty sure I didn't have the 1968 Topps Frank Robinson All Star card.

These two Orioles relics were really nice.  I believe Nick had just recently went to a card show, which means that he was thinking of me while he was there, which is always a nice feeling.

I liked these Donruss Orioles as well.  Kind of odd seeing the last two posts showing the last two Orioles to wear #10.  Interesting, I suppose.

Nick has been getting me autos all season of Columbus players, as well as other guys who have come by.  These were the last of the cards that he was due to send me.  Jerry Owens is a coach for Columbus, and Nick has gotten his auto for me on some nice cards.

Finally, here is a Richie Shaffer that I had sent Nick a while back.  He was finally able to get it signed before the season ended.

Thank you so much for the birthday package, Nick.  I feel bad that it took me this long to get it posted, but I am slowly catching up on my stacks.

Birthday Gift From Gerard

My birthday was fairly low key this year.  I didn't tell too many people that it was coming up, but a couple of my friends knew anyway and sent a few things along.  My good friend, Gerard, picked up a few things for me and sent them along with the last 50/50 batch for the season.

I didn't have a signed mini helmet yet of Nolan Reimold, but now I do.  I will put this in my display case with some of my other Nolan stuff.

Gerard also sent this Zach Britton relic along, which I really like.  I haven't picked up much of Britton's stuff, so this was a nice item to add to the collection.

Gerard has been the person that I have leaned on the most for 50/50s this season.  He has sent me a ton of stuff to get signed, and I have sent him some cards for Pawtucket.

Gerard worked on these cards for the bulk of the season, and came away with some nice autos.

I need to find some more cards of Pawtucket guys so that he has more options.  I, obviously, will wait until the new year when rosters are set.

Gerard had asked me for Mike Olt cards a few times, so at the National, I picked up a few from the dime boxes.  I thought they were all going to be for him, but he sent two of them back to me signed.

Finally, he hooked me up with these signed cards.  I liked the Castillo, since I wasn't sure he would be able to get one signed for me.  Luckily, Gerard came through, as always!

Thank you so much for the birthday package, Gerard!  I enjoyed it!

Birthday Gift From Anthony

I figured my birthday was long gone, but I have still seen a couple gifts trickle in here and there.  That has made it so I could stretch my big day out for almost two months.  Definitely nothing wrong with that!  I was surprised last week when I got a gift in the mail from my friend, Anthony.  He has kept with a theme in his gifts in sending me an Orioles card numbered to 5.  I like this theme, actually, as he has found me some pretty sweet cards.

This time, Anthony hooked me up with this red parallel of Orioles prospect, Ryan McKenna from 2015 Bowman,  I like the red parallel, it really pops.  McKenna is 19 and was a 4th round pick by the Orioles in the 2015 amateur draft.  He spent this past season at Low A Aberdeen and had 53 hits, 1 home run and a .241 batting average across 62 games.  He probably will see more time in Aberdeen next season, with a chance to be moved up to Delmarva later in the year.

Thank you so much for the gift, Anthony!  I love the card and really appreciate the thought!

Birthday Gift From Zach

Although my birthday was a month and a half ago, a few care packages have still come in to commemorate it.  One such package was from my good friend, Zach, whom I have sincerely enjoyed getting to know over the last few months.

Zach is a really nice guy from California who I have been helping with his Chris Betts PC and also sending him some Mike Trout and Red Sox cards.  I have really enjoyed helping him grow his collection.

He sent me some nice Orioles cards for the PC, one of which is the above 2011 Topps Zach Britton RC.  Britton has a strong shot to be named the AL Cy Young Award winner, which would be a really awesome accomplishment.  He had an amazing year, and I hope the award seals it.

Zach also included these two autograph cards.  I honestly haven't heard of Jacob Nix but I do know who Mitch Moreland is.  However, both cards are really nice, and I appreciate Zach sending them along.

Thank you so much for the birthday gift, Zach!

Birthday Present to Myself - Rocky Set

Because of the amount of money that I spent at the National, I told my wife that she really didn't have to get me much of anything for my birthday.  On top of that, I really didn't want her to re-gift a bag of socks that I had bought myself and forgot about (long story) either, so I bought myself one thing that I had seen advertised on Topps.com.  When it arrived from Topps a week before my birthday, I had my wife wrap it up to give to me on my day.

This Rocky 40th Anniversary card set was being offered by Topps at a pretty decent price, so I picked it up.  I didn't pull one of the randomly inserted Sylvester Stallone autograph cards, but overall, I was really happy with the set.

The set features scenes from each Rocky movie from the original to Rocky Balboa.  They did not include anything from Creed.  That's ok, though, because they had plenty of Apollo to go around!!

Birthday Gift From Max - Delivering Some Awesome Orioles

I received an amazing birthday gift from my very good friend, Max, recently that included some really awesome stuff.  He had already shown me the above Eddie Murray - Chris Davis jumbo relic booklet card since he knew it wouldn't arrive in time for my actual birthday.  Still, the card is amazing, and I am really happy to get it in the collection.

The booklet card is numbered 4/5 and had actually been something I had been watching on Ebay for a while.  When the card fell off of Ebay, I figured I missed out, but luckily, my good buddy had picked it up.

This card came from 2015 Museum Collection and will look great among the rest of my Davis booklets.

Max also sent along some cards that he had gotten autographed recently, as well.  I sent him every Bill Ripken base card that I had since Max informed me that he had a chance of meeting him at Wrigley Field.  Max got a few cards signed for himself and sent these, along with his unused card, back to me.

I am really excited about adding these to my IP/TTM binder.  Max has been a huge contributor to this binder, and he has been the biggest inspiration for me to add to it.

Finally, Max had pulled this 2016 Bowman purple Sonny Gray and offered it to me in trade.  I send him tons of Cubs stuff, so I know I will have something that will match up with it very quickly.  This card is numbered 49/250.

I first traded with Max a couple years ago via Instagram and really hit it off with him.  An easy-going personality, a great sense of humor and a selflessness beyond his years has completely endeared him to me.  He went out of his way last year to invite us into his home and host us for the 2015 National.  He is a constant force in helping guide my collection these days.  He makes time to skype with me and go through 5,000-count boxes and pull the best base cards for graphing.  I don't believe I would have jumped headfirst into getting random base cards signed.  This has led to my new appreciation for 80s-era junk wax cards.  It has been a lot of fun seeing some of those cards come back with signatures.  Max has been an awesome friend, and I can't thank him enough for all of the help that he has given me over the years.  His letter that was included with the package assured me that he felt the same way on his end.

Thank you so much for the package, Max.  I appreciate it beyond words.

Birthday Gift From Nick - Prospect Autos Galore

The best part of receiving birthday packages from the card community has been the originality and thought that fellow collectors have put into what they have sent.  I oftentimes tell my friends that I would much rather receive a nicely written note instead of them spending their hard-earned money on me.  I got a package from my little buddy, Nick, on Friday and loved what he sent along.

I had cleaned him out of Orioles stuff long ago, so Nick scrambled to find some things that he gelt would suffice as a birthday gift, but he really could have just stopped at the above Topps custom card.  The card features Nick from several years ago when he met Houston Astros ace, Dallas Keuchel.  Nick signed the card and personalized it to me.  For someone so young, you can tell that Nick has practiced his autograph for quite a while.  The card is awesome.  Nick actually is a very talented ballplayer.  He messages me after each game that he plays, and they always seem to be wins.  I hope to hear his name called in a couple years during the MLB Amateur Draft.  I'll already have a pretty sweet auto!

Nick sent along some prospect cards that he had been holding onto recently.  This Patrick Leonard from 2013 Bowman Platinum is a really nice card.  It's not numbered, but the jumbo relic and auto are still nice.

Bowman Inception is probably one of the most appealing to the eye of any product you will see.  I watched my buddy Robert bust several cases of this at the National, and the cards just looked amazing.  I was really happy that Nick sent this along, this card looks great.

Not a prospect or an auto, this Masterpieces Randy Johnson relic is still a nice card.  Masterpieces was always a great offering from the last days of Upper Deck.  This is one of those products that I wish Panini or Topps would buy the rights of (can they do that?) and re-release into the market.

Finally, here is a really good prospect auto from 2016 Chrome.  I'm not a Red Sox fan by any stretch of the imagination, but I recognize that Owens is a pretty good prospect.  I know a lot of Red Sox fans who would want this, but since it was a gift from Nick, I won't let this leave my collection.  I will likely redeem it soon.

I met Nick through Instagram maybe two years ago and completed a couple trades with him.  We talked off and on after our initial dealings, but really hit it off earlier this year.  We pretty much talk every day.  He has to be one of the funniest people I have ever met; not for sheer comedy alone, but the fact that when Nick has something on his mind, he is not afraid to speak it.  Usually, that elicits some pretty candid responses from others in our Skype calls.  Nick cracks me up.  He is also amazing with my son, Chris.  Nick is always reaching out to Chris and chatting with him.  I think it is good for Chris.  Maybe one day, he will work on giving more than one-word responses.

Thank you so much for the birthday package, Nick!  I really appreciate it!

Birthday Package From Drew - Something off of the Top Ten Wishlist

I got a couple birthday packages in the mail today, which helps extend my birthday for a few more days (not complaining about that!).  One of the packages was from my good friend, Drew.  Drew has been easing himself back into the blog world since he returned from an awesome study abroad program earlier this year.  Unfortunately, the trip exhausted Drew and his funds, so he wasn't able to attend this year's National.  Drew was sorely missed, especially since the National was relatively in his back yard.

Drew surprised me by crossing a card off of my Top Ten Wishlist.  This 1948-49 Leaf "John" Wagner is a card that I have kept an eye on for a while.  I almost picked one up at the National, but the guy wanted way too much for it.  This one has awesome edges and corners, but some paper loss on the corners; likely due to someone having it taped into an album.

The back of the card looks flawless, and is a nice read.  I especially like the ad for the All Star Baseball Gum Big Pictures "for hanging in your room or club".  How many kids these days build club houses?  This is an awesome card.

Drew also included this really cool Frank Robinson relic from 2005 Donruss Champions.  This was a nice set that came out back when I had just gotten back into the hobby.  I always liked these cards, but didn't pull any hits.  This Frank will look nice with my other Robinson cards (of which there are few, since Frank eludes me most of the time).

Finally, we have this Adam Jones framed relic from 2016 Ginter.  The framed relics seem to be tougher to find, since they now have the full card relics.  I made a trade with Drew to pick this one up.

Other than Mom or Andrew, Drew may be someone I have talked about the most on this blog.  He and I have been trading since he first broke into the hobby.  He was just about 12 at the time, I believe, and now he is almost done with college.  We have been close friends for well over 7 years now, and have even taken a trip to the Hall of Fame (Chris still says he didn't break your dad's car door).

Thank you so much for the awesome cards, and most of all, your friendship, Drew!  I greatly appreciate it, and can't wait to see you at next year's National!