June 27, 2021 Graphing of Drive at Grasshoppers

Last Sunday, I took my son, Chris, and my little cousin, Ale, to Greensboro to see the Greensboro Grasshoppers take on the Greenville Drive.  I also was going in hopes to finish what I started on Greenville while Ale and I were in Winston-Salem before he and I were shut down.

We did really well graphing inside and outside the stadium, EXCEPT I missed Jay Groome again.  He didn't sign outside, and I was left with my ton of Groome cards, still.  Thakfully, I had given the two best cards to my friend, Dugan, and he got those done.  The above 2017 Bowman Chrome blue shimmer was one of them.  It turned out great.

The other card was the 2017 Bowman Tek (top left).  I had been holding on to those cards since 2017, so I was happy to get them signed.  We were able to get everyone else that we set out to get, which was nice.

I was really glad to finish off most of my Greenville stuff.  I had it pulled, and had I not finished most of it, there would have been a bunch of stuff going back into my boxes.  

The Elih Marrero 2015 Stars and Stripes was found in a box after the trip to Winston, though.  Thankfully, I pulled it when I saw it and put it in my Greenville pile.  I need t do a better job of pulling stuff when I see it, instead of telling myself "Oh, I'll grab that out of the box the next time around.

On the Greensboro side of things, I had pulled some stuff with the thought that I would hit that team at some point this season, so getting stuff together for this series was a lot easier than it normally would have been.  Plus, Dugan was going by there, as well, so I had a couple guys pulled for him as well.

Nick Gonzales hit a homer while we were watching the game.  He signed one per, and only signed after the game.  When he did sign, however, he was really nice.

Dugan had gotten me a Liover Peguero autograph when he got my Groomes signed for me, so I included it here, as well.  I got my own Peguero (the 2020 Heritage Minors), as well.

All of the Greensboro guys were nice.  I see now that I included Drive pitching coach, Bob Kipper, among the Greensboro guys.  I guess that was because he was in a Pirates uniform on this 1989 Score (bottom left).

We all had a really good time at the Greensboro game.  Ale did a great job getting autographs, even though he hadn't done it prior to our trip to the Dash game weeks before.  He even told me he enjoyed graphing, which was nice to hear.  Hopefully, he keeps up with the cards I gave him when the trip was over.

Spring Training 50/50s From Gerard

As I sit here and prep my auto book for the 2018 season, I wanted to get the cards that my good friend, Gerard, had signed for me at Spring Training into my album.  He helped knock a 1987 Topps off of my checklist with Rich Gedman's signature on this Red Sox Leaders card.

Gerard got two Jerry Remy for me, and a ton of Bob Kipper.

I was really surprised he got Logan Morrison for me.  I had two different 2007 Topps signed by Dave Bush.

The 2017 Topps Pro Debuts were nice.  I have a ton of those, so it was nice to be able to send some out for signatures.

I was really happy that Gerard got a couple Turkey Red cards signed.  I have been wanting to add them to my album, and now I have a couple.  The black Rocco Baldelli really turned out nicely.

These Bob Kippers are non-Topps base cards.  The 1986 Topps is a Topps Traded.

Gerard got me a Paul Abbott.  I had tried to get him when he was with Salem Red Sox, but he wasn't signing for anyone that day.

I think I sent Gerard some of these Red Sox prospects.  Some others came from his own collection.  He is really generous with his cards, so I definitely appreciate it.

I had this Josh Ockimey from the MY-Penn Leage All Stars.  It turned out really well.

I provided the 2013 Leaf Perfect Game cards, which came from the 2017 National.  I was really happy to see the Carolina League Prospects card of Ockimey come back signed, as well.  The Heritage Olt was a dime-box find from the National.

Here are some more prospect cards that Gerard hooked me up with.

Finally, Gerard got some signatures using some team cards out of various Topps sets.  These cards really come in handy when you have no other cards of someone.  He got me: Ryan LaMarre, Eddie Guardado, Chrs Heisey, Wynston Sawyer, Brian Novieto, Christian Colon, Josh Smith, Shane Carle, Jason Hursch, Adeiny Hechavarria, Dave O'Brien and Sherten Apostel.

Thank you so much for getting these cards signed for me, Gerard!  We will be doing a ton more 50/50s this season, and I really look forward to it.

Doing 50/50s With Gerard

Ever since I have been able to graph the Down East Wood Ducks, I have had folks wanting to do some 50/50s here and there.  A 50/50 is an agreement between graphers to send x number of cards to the grapher for teams that they will be seeing.  Grapher gets the cards signed.  They can keep half of the cards for themselves, and the person providing the cards gets the other half in return.  I have been doing 50/50s with Max for a while, but now, with the Wood Ducks in town, I have accepted and sent out a ton more.

My good friend, Gerard, has sent me a bunch of cards for the Wood Ducks, but has also accepted cards of the Pawtucket Red Sox.  He sent me a huge package the other day with some of the results from his latest trip to a PawSox game.  The above Topps Chrome Blake Swihart might be the best card of the bunch.  This one looks so awesome in person.

Pardon my cards slipping on my scanner.  Gerard hooked me up with some nice autos on some more recent Topps cards.  The Brian Bogusevic cards were really nice.  I was able to get an extra Cubs one, and will pass that on to Max.

The 1987 Kipper adds yet another card from that set to the binder.  I had more Ty Buttrey in the past, but those ended up going out to a few Red Sox fans in the past.

I really like 2015 Pro Debut, so I was happy that Gerard was willing to send that Henry Owens back to me.  I thought I had more Kyle Kendrick, but I was only able to find four cards.  Thankfully, one of the ones I got back was the Bowman Chrome.  I have a ton of cards from that set, but haven't been able to get any signed, until now.

Finally, I got some cards signed for Gerard at the Wood Ducks games a few weeks ago.  Matt Lipka has been the hardest player that I have tried to get at Grainger Stadium.  He had blown me off so many times, I'm starting to think he owes me dinner and a movie.  Seriously, though, he is tough to get, so I had to wait around after a game to get him.  I have 5 cards left of the 50/50, so I may wait around after another game soon, then not accept any more Lipka cards for anyone else.

On the flip side of that, though, is Jeremy Moore.  Moore is super nice, and my son, Chris really likes him.  Moore (b. 1987) played in the majors in 2011 for the Angels.  He was drafted out of high school in Louisiana in 2005.  He appeared in 8 games for the Angels in 2011.  He collected one hit and retired with a .125 batting average.  Jeremy is a class guy and I always love chatting with him at games.

Jairo Beras has since been demoted to Single A Hickory as he makes the transition to pitcher.  He hasn't hit much since signing a nice contract out of Cuba, so the Rangers are trying his arm out.  I hope he is successful.

I have another batch of 50/50 cards that I am working on with Gerard.  I hope they come out as nicely as these.