April 27-28, 2024, Graphing of Baysox at Flying Squirrels

This weekend, Chris and I went to Richmond and met up with Ryan to graph two games between the Baysox and Flying Squirrels.  I had been looking forward to this series since I pulled the above magenta lunar crater chrome parallel of Samuel Basallo's 2023 Bowman Draft.  Basallo was one of only two autographs I got on Saturday.

Basallo hit his paper Bowman Draft as well.  He was really nice, and had a great game on Sunday, hitting two homers.

Bowie was pretty tough on Saturday, like I said.  Sunday was much better, as the three of us, along with my friend Charlie, who showed up toward the end of Sunday's game, hit Bowie outside the stadium as they were boarding the buses.

I was able to get almost all of the guys I needed, missing Kade Strowd and Silas Ardoin completely.  Still, I got a good amount out of the boxes and into the album. 

Pregame Sunday, I concentrated on the Richmond side of the stadium for the first time.  Ryan and Chris hung back and tried Bowie.  I got Reggie Crawford first, which was really cool.  I was able to feed my book under the netting and Crawford did two of the three cards I had.

I was told ahead of time that Hunter Bishop would be one per, so I pulled this lime green parallel out of the book and fed it under the net when Bishop finally came over.  He ignored me at first as he went to stretch, then I made eye contact with him and signaled a request to sign.  He gestured that he would come over after he finished, but walked by afterward.  I had put the card up, only to see Bishop coming back.  I hastily found the card and was able to get it signed.  This 2021 Bowman has some miles on it, as it went out for a couple missed 50/50s.  It finally rests in the album with some ink on it.

The rest of the Flying Squirrels were really nice.  Each of Jimmy Glowenke, Grant McCray, Ryan Murphy and Will Wilson struck up conversations as they were signing.  I was glad to finally get a few if these guys, and feel like I did pretty well over on the Richmond side.

Post-game was when we did the best on Bowie.  Most of the guys we called over by the buses came over and signed a few cards.  We must have missed Ardoin, as we didn't see him get on the bus, but he must have when we were distracted by getting someone else to sign.

In all, I got the following autographs: Samuel Basallo x 4, Dylan Beavers x 5, Kyle Brnovich x 1, Jud Fabian x 2, Seth Johnson x 1, John Rhodes x 4, Anthony Servideo x 3, Hunter Bishop x 1, Reggie Crawford x 2, Jimmy Glowenke x 3, Grant McCray x 3, Ryan Murphy x 3 and Will Wilson x 3 (35 total autographs).

August 12-13, 2023, Graphing of the Baysox at Flying Squirrels

This past weekend, I made the trip back up to Richmond to try to get Jackson Holliday again.  Spoiler alert, I didn't get him.  I'll stick with my one Jackson Holliday auto while he signs multiples for everyone else.

The trip was still a good one, as Chris and I spent time our friend, Ryan, and his family.  Ryan graphed with us on Saturday, where we got the bulk of our autos.

I finished off Jud Fabian and Dylan Beavers, so that was a plus.  We didn't get John Rhodes at all, even though he looked right at us on Sunday.

I got this 2022 Panini Prizm Draft card of Silas Ardoin signed while I was there.  He put me on the board early by singing it.  This was a nice pickup from the National. 

I was extremely happy to get John Means as he was leaving the parking lot.  He was stuck waiting for traffic to die down and was nice enough to roll his window down and sign for the last few of us who stayed after missing Jackson on Saturday. The 2022 Topps Stadium Club Chrome (top of post) was another National pickup.

Chris and I went on our own on Sunday and came away with only 4 autographs.  It was very hot, so instead of braving the heat and trying to be denied after the game, we left early.  I found out later from another grapher that he was able to get Jackson on multiples outside near the bus.  It just wasn't meant to be for me.

In all, we got the following autographs: Today's graphing recap of Baysox at Flying Squirrels: Dylan Beavers x 2, Jud Fabian x 4, Billy Cook x 1, Silas Ardoin x 1, Collin Burns x 4, Connor Gillispie x 2, John Means x 5, Max Wagner x 2 and Donta Williams x 1 (22).

Even though we didn't get Holliday, it was a nice trip.  It is always nice spending time with Ryan, and doing some graphing with him.

May 2022 Graphing of Yard Goats at Baysox

With the Wood Ducks out of town this weekend, I decided to head to Bowie and catch a few Orioles prospects that I had missed in the past.  I had the above 2021 Bowman Chrome aqua shimmer refractor of Jordan Westburg that I absolutely wanted to get signed.  He signed it, even though it is personalized.  That doesn't really matter to me, except for one of the guys I was with took one of my Gunnar Henderson cards and said "I'll get him to sign it for you."  I told him that Gunnar would ask his name an personalize the card and the guy said "That's ok, I'll tell him my name is William, too..."

So, I let him take my 2020 Topps Heritage Minors Gunnar Henderson, and he proceeded to tell him "Oh, my name is Carl..."  Meaning, he personalized the card to Carl.  I told Carl, "Hey, it's no big deal, you can keep the card.  I have a few other of these, so I'll bring one next time."  Carl said, "Oh, no, I don't want it.  It's funnier if you have a card in your collection with someone else's name on it."  I would have much rather he kept the card, though.  To be fair, he's my friend's uncle, and he was fun to talk to about baseball during the game, and he did seemingly have a good time.  I just don't think he quite understood how I enjoy getting autographs and put a lot of time in preparing for trips like this.  To each their own, I suppose.

I finally was able to move several Adam Hall cards out of my box.  My Staedtler seems to be dying; the cards at the top were signed with the dying Staedtler and were in my friend, Alex's book.  The ones on the bottom were signed with a new type of marker that I found at Hobby Lobby.  The new marker seems to be doing really well and is substantially cheaper than a Staedtler.

I also was able to get a couple cards signed out of my 2019 Delmarva team set.  Dean Kremer was rehabbing with the Baysox, but he ignored us.  Hudson Haskin also ignored us pre and post-game.  We also were ignored by Zach Watson.

Speaking of Watson, I almost missed that he was on the roster.  While thrashing on Friday to find some of his cards, I found two Riley Pint cards that I had picked up from a dime box at last year's National.  I also had found the 2020 Heritage Minors Michael Toglia card while looking for some 50/50 stuff.  So, after the game, Alex and his aunt and uncle left; I stayed behind and was able to get the two Yard Goat guys I had cards of.  I got them outside, which was a lot easier than I remember from the last time I was in Bowie.

Personalizations aside, I had a great with with Alex and his family, and I would definitely go with them to another game.  Bowie is really easy to graph at, even if you have some guys ignoring you.

In all, I got Adam Hall x 6, Gunnar Henderson x 1 (I'm not counting Carl's card), Jordan Westburg x 1, Kyle Moore x 1, Drew Rom x 1, Joey Oriz x 1, Riley Pint x 2 and Michael Toglia x 1 (14 total autographs). 

June 2019 Graphing of Hartford Yard Goats at Bowie Baysox

I had plans the weekend of June 1 to meet up with my friend, Ryan, and hit a Bowie Baysox game while on the way to Baltimore for a Sunday game against the Giants.  It all worked out so we were able to see Bowie on Saturday, stay the night there, and head to Baltimore in the morning.

I had been to Bowie once before, back in 2010 when Brian Roberts was there on a rehab assignment; ad he was the only player that I had sign for me.  I got him on a really nice bat.

This time around, I was fully prepped with card books, and ended up doing pretty well.  We only had cards for one Hartford player, Colton Welker, so we were fully concentrated on the Baysox as they came onto the field.  You can only get one team at a time in Bowie.

I had this Kennie Steenstra 1994 UD Minors card for years, and I was finally able to get it out of the box and into my album.  He was the first auto we got while we were there, and he was really nice.

I enjoyed seeing Ryan McKenna, again.  Initially, he didn't stop, and the old man next to me had some choice words to say about him, but I reminded the guy that McKenna had to stretch, and could always come back on his way to the dugout.  I was right, and McKenna couldn't have been nicer.  I was glad to see the guy have to eat his words a bit.

Rylan Bannon was one of the pieces in the Manny Machado deal, and he now has a few Orioles cards.  They turned out really well, as did the McKennas.

Carlos Perez did only one-per.  I had two cards of him in my book, and had I known he would only do one, I would have put the other in Chris's book.  Cumberland was one per, as well, but I was able to slip Chris a card while he was signing for Ryan.  I really wanted the South Atlantic League All Star card signed, and Chris helped with that.

We only got one Welker signed.  Chris went over to the opposing team's side after the game, and was able to get a 2019 Pro Debut signed.  We tried to wait outside for him, but he disappeared.  A lot of the players told us he was inside and about to come out, then all of a sudden we got "he left a long time ago..."  Oh well, we tried.  I'll just send the rest of what I had to my friend in Connecticut to see if he can 50/50.

An Autograph From Ryan

My friend Ryan went to a Richmond game toward the end of the season and tried to get a few more cards signed for me.  They were playing Bowie, but the only autograph he was able to come away with for me was Ryan Mountcastle on this 2016 Bowman.  The card looks really nice.

Thanks for getting it signed for me, Ryan!  I can't wait to go back next season!

TTM Success - Stanton Cameron

This was a really cool TTM success with a card that I got from Andrew's little brother, Caleb.  I got two signed cards back from Stanton Cameron, so Caleb will be getting one of them, since he gave me the card.  I really liked it, since it has the awesome sunset in the background.  Cameron sent a letter back with the card saying that the player shown on the back of the card is TR Lewis, and I should try to get him to sign it as well.  I would, but it doesn't look like a current address for Lewis is available.

Cameron (b. 1969) never made the majors, and spent 13 seasons in the minors and independent ball.  He spent two years in the Orioles system, between Frederick and Bowie.  He retired from baseball with 972 hits, 167 home runs and a .269 batting average.

I mailed to Cameron on May 24 and got the cards back on June 19, for a 26-day TAT.

Deal For Schoop Bobble Head Yields A Headache and Extra Cards

I try to keep my blog posts positive, especially when I am discussing trades and deals with fellow collectors.  Most deals end well, I'd say 99.9% of them do, but sometimes, you learn from doing a deal with someone that you are better off declining them in the future.

This leads me to today's post.  On September 6, I paid a guy I know from Facebook and Instagram a sweet price for a Jonathan Schoop bobble head and another bobble head.  He was desperate for money, and after I initially declined his offers for the items, he finally lowered the price to something I just couldn't pass up and I reluctantly said we had a deal.  He was even going to throw in an OMLB ball that I had sent him to graph with, but never ended up using.  Subsequently, communication stopped after the Paypal payment (friends and family, of course) and I wasn't informed that the stuff had shipped in the days that followed.  I messaged him a couple times about a week later to see if he had shipped yet and I got no response.  Finally, he asked me for my address on September 19 and apologized for taking so long to ship.  A couple weeks went by, and still nothing, so I sent a couple messages to see what was going on, and they weren't even opened.  I kept my cool, but I was obviously frustrated, so I finally messaged him on every platform I had followed him on and said that he could just refund me the money and not worry about shipping the goods.  I wanted to end the deal amicably, since I still believed we were friends.  Within a minute of sending the message to refund me the money, he said that his mom had forgotten to ship.  He said on October 6 that he was sending extras to make up for the slow shipment.  Finally, on October 23, I got the package.  Inside the package was the stuff I bought, in good shape, yet, the OMLB wasn't there.

He did add a bag of autographed cards to the shipment, I guess to make up for everything, but has not actually sent me any kind of message since October 6.  I was never rude at all in the transaction, but my thought was that with the ignoring of messages and lack of communication, we probably weren't as good of friends as I thought we were.  That's a real bummer, but honestly, it probably is for the best.

I've known the guy since I started on Instagram, but we have only completed one trade, and it went just as poorly as this one.  I tried to let things go and not let it bother me, but I will not be trading with him any more.  I don't think it will be an issue, since he pretty much stopped talking altogether.  That's a real shame.

So, here are the IP autos that he sent along.  These are all guys in the Orioles minor league system.  Some of them are more promising than others, but they're all nice.  I'm particularly interested in Tanner Scott, for sure, since he is a lefty and can top 100+ MPH.

This Juan Yepez from 2016 Bowman Chrome is a nice card, as well.  I don't know what I'm going to do with it, but it is nice, nonetheless.

Finally, this Bowman Platinum Jonathan Singleton relic auto is also a nice card.  I have an idea what I'll be doing with this, so we'll see.

I just feel bad about this whole deal, though.  With the nominal amount that I sent him, I really shouldn't complain, but I think the lack of communication at all was a slap in the face.  I even thought about sending him some additional money via Paypal to cover the cost of shipping, but then I thought that if it really were that important to him, he would have at least messaged me a lot more than he had been.  The fact that this was the second time this has happened with the same person tells me that I will not be doing any kind of deals with him again.  It's really sad.

Adrian Marin IP Autos From Michael

My buddy Michael hooked me up recently when he took some Adrian Marin cards that I had sent him and got them signed for me.  He has met Marin several times and arranged to get me some autos.  Marin was a 3rd round draft pick by the Orioles out of a Florida high school.  He is currently in AA Bowie where he is batting .242 with 3 home runs across 79 games.

I really appreciated Michael going out of his way to get these cards signed for me.  I appreciated even more that I was able to go out to dinner with Michael recently when I was in Baltimore.  He has been a good friend for a long time, and any time I am in Baltimore, I try really hard to meet up with him.

Thanks so much for the autos, Michael!

Ebay Pickup - 2016 Bowman Trey Mancini Auto

I picked up my first Trey Mancini auto off of Ebay a couple weeks ago.  I knew I wanted one once 2016 Bowman came out.  Mancini was the Orioles minor league player of the year last year after hitting .341 between High A Frederick and AA Bowie.  He helped Bowie win the Eastern League Championship last season.  He started the season in AA this year as well, but was moved up to AAA Norfolk after 17 games.  He is currently batting .241 with 3 home runs at Norfolk.  Keep in mind, Harbor Park is tough on hitters, so Mancini's lower average should not set off any alarms.

I was also able to save on shipping on this card as well, since the seller I bought it from lives in the same town as me, and frequents the same LCS.  That worked out great!

Some Reimolds From Ryan

I visited my good friend, Ryan a few months ago to see the Richmond Flying Squirrels play the Bowie Baysox.  If you recall, this was the last game for Nolan Reimold in the Orioles organization and Ryan and I wanted to see Nolan before he was DFA'd.  Nolan ended up with the Blue Jays, then the Diamondbacks. He is now a free agent and should be picked up by someone for next season.

Ryan gave me a nice stack of O's cards when I visited and a bunch of them were minor league cards of Nolan.  I didn't have any of them, so I was glad Ryan hooked me up.

I hate that Nolan is no longer an Oriole, but I still am a fan and wish him well.  I really hope he gets a nice contract with someone and can stay healthy.

Ryan is a great guy and one of my best friends in the card community.  We do a lot of things together, be it Fan Fest or going to different games.  I know he was hurting as bad as I was when the Orioles were defeated in the ALCS by the Royals, but we both know that the O's will be back next year.

June 28-29, 2014 Bowie Baysox Vs. Richmond Flying Squirrels

I met up with my good friend, Ryan (from the blog O No Another Orioles Blog), and caught two Bowie Baysox games in Richmond this past weekend.  The highlight of the trip was that we were able to watch Nolan Reimold play for Bowie in the final two games of his rehab assignment.

Bowie took Saturday's game, 3-0 behind a stellar pitching performance by Tyler Wilson.  Wilson went 7 innings, allowing only 2 hits, one walk and striking out 9.  He was awesome.  The win put Wilson at 10-5 on the year with a 3.72 ERA.  He was aided by Nolan who went 2-4 with a SB, Christian Walker who went 3-4 and Dariel Alvarez who went 2-4.  Walker and Alvarez appear to be legit prospects and should be in Baltimore very soon.

After the game, Ryan and I met Nolan as he was exiting the stadium.  I'm sure I came off a little Kathy Bates-like (I'm your number one fan) when I talked to Nolan.  I couldn't help it.  I got nervous and ended up running off at the mouth.  I hope Nolan understood that I was just excited and didn't want to come off looking like some crazed fan.

The second game wasn't as eventful as the first. The Baysox lost 4-3 with Nolan going 0 for 4, lowering his AA average to .314.  Walker and Alvarez each went 0-4 as well.  The game was further marred by a dud of an outing by Orioles pitching prospect, Eduardo Rodriguez.  I'm sure folks have seen him throw better, but Ryan and I picked a bad time to watch him as he lasted only 3.2 innings, allowing 4 runs (3 earned) with 4 walks and 3 strikeouts.  Rodriguez looked like a typical Baltimore pitcher, throwing a ton of pitches early and walking a lot of guys.  I don't know what it is, but the Orioles need to work on better pitching development and finding guys who don't walk a ton of batters.

Before Saturday's game, I got autographs from Dariel Alvarez (above).  Can anyone help me with his inscription?  I can't make heads or tails of it.  Below is a signed ball by Christian Walker.  I had only one OMLB ball, which I got Alvarez with and I had a ton of synthetic cover balls that I needed to find a use for, so the Walker ball ends up being a bit of an experiment as well.  I used Ryan's Staedtler pen on both balls.  Let's see if this pen, which I have heard rave reviews of, can hold a signature on these synthetic leather balls.  If they work, I may have a use for these balls yet (and I will need to buy my own pen).

Finally, I treat you all with an amateur video I shot of one of Nolan's hits from Saturday's game.  I hope you enjoy.

I had a really good time at the game with Ryan, who I hadn't seen in over a year (wow).  I didn't mind the concrete monstrosity that was "The Diamond" (the RIchmond field).  It was very easy for us to get autographs, as we could stand by the wall right by the field, reminiscent of Kinston's Grainger Stadium.  The experience was fine and the hot dogs were really good.  The aesthetics of the park get a -1 out of 10, but other than that, I have no complaints whatsoever, so I would have to rate my overall experience as very high.  I miss being able to catch minor league games, so I think I need to go out and catch some more like I had been back in 2010 and 2011.  We'll see how that goes.

Black Friday COMC Pickups - Nolan Reimold

So, here are the Nolan Reimolds I was able to get on Black Friday from COMC.  I only purchased two Reimolds and had another one shipped that I had picked up a few months ago.

The first card I got was this 2008 Donruss Threads Diamond Kings.  Reimold is seen here in his Bowie Baysox uniform.  This is pretty cool because it almost matches my Reimold bobblehead.  I got this card for $0.71.

This is the card I had already paid for.  I got it for my 2009 Topps Reimold Rainbow, and as far as I know, I have all of his parallels (except for the printing plate).  I got this one for $1.24  It is numbered 537/2009.

Finally, here is another Reimold RC, this one being from 2009 UD Ultimate Collection.  These were really premium cards back when UD still had their MLB license.  I got it for $1.15 and it is numbered 495/599.  I liked how Ultimate Collection looked, but it still pales in comparison to the Topps Sterling Brooks Robinson that I got the other day.  So far, that one is the sharpest of what I picked up.

Brian Roberts To Go On Rehab Assignment Tomorrow!

Finally, after being out for over a year with post concussion symptoms, Brian Roberts will be making a rehab assignment with Double A Bowie starting tomorrow.

It will be awesome if Roberts can get back to the majors.  The Orioles are pretty beat up right now with several players on the DL.  Hopefully Brian can get back quickly and resume his stellar career.  A doubles machine, Roberts will give the O's stability at the top of the batting order and speed on the basepaths.  Welcome back Brian!  You definitely have been missed!

July 21, 2010 Bowie Baysox vs Binghamton Mets

We went to the second of our two planned games for the Bowie Baysox today. THis time, we were kind on underwhelmed. It was really hot and I just wasn't feeling it today for whatever reason.
We got to see Roberts again, but were unable to get him to sign anything. I'm not complaining because we scored big time yesterday, so anything else was pretty much a bonus.

I did have another conversation with Brandon Waring, congratulating him on his moon shot last night. He thanked me and went about signing for people.

Tomorrow, we will be heading to Camden Yards. My goal is to get Jim Thome. A bonus would be Joe Mauer. Keep your fingers crossed. I also plan on heading to the press box to meet Roch Kubatko in person as well. We'll see how it goes.

July 20, 2010 Bowie Baysox Game Part 1

I'm going to post better pictures of this stuff when I have time on Memorabilia Museum, but I couldn't resist blogging from the road...

I'm filing this entry from the Red Roof Inn in Lanham, MD after getting back from the first of two Bowie Baysox games in which I had hoped to meet and have Brian Roberts sign a bat for me.

The game was a high scoring affair on the Baysox' part, with a 7-run bottom of the fourth inning highlighted by back to back to back homeruns by Joel Guzman, Joe Mahoney and Brandon Waring. I was especially happy that Waring jacked one (and boy did he) because this was the third time I have spoken to him at a game. He is an alumni of Wofford College, the same college that my brother starred on the gridiron as a Tight End. Waring told me before that he remembered my brother, so I think its cool that we have something we can chat about before games.

Also, Brian Roberts was playing a rehab assignment before he is to be activated this weekend. He has been on the 60-day DL with a herniated disc in his back.

After the game, I was able to score a Roberts signature on the bat I brought in, plus, my cousin got a ball signed. I also gave a ball to the guy sitting behind us because he seemed really cool, and he got it signed, then gave it to me saying that he just wanted the thrill of having it signed... Pretty cool.

My cousin took a bunch of pictures and I will file another entry once he loads them on my laptop for me. These pictures were taken with my call phone, haha.

The baysox ended up winning 10-3 and Roberts went 3-5 with 2 singles and a double.