May 9, 2026, Graphing of Express at Bulls

We were looking forward to Round Rock coming through Durham since the schedule was announced toward the end of the season last year. The graphing was pretty good, but it didn't live up to the hype we had built up. This was mainly because there weren't as many former Wood Ducks as we had hoped. The ones that were there didn't really recognize us, so that was a bit of a bummer.

I got a couple Hickory team set cards signed. This team set was from 2022, so i had been holding onto the Marc Church and Trevor Hauver cards for a while. 

I was the only one of the graohers there on Saturday who got Ryan Brasier. I got him by the bullpen once the game ended. He wouldn't stop for the rest of us outside.

I chipped away at my stack of Nick Prattos that I had pulled a while back. I was glad to pull a bunch of Mason Thompson cards; the 2016 Bowman Draft came from one of the boxes I got in Richmond this winter. I was also surprised that Aaron Zavala signed more than one per. He always was a strict one per back in the day. I was able to get everything I had left of him done, finally.

The Durham team set is already out. That feels really early in the season. I chipped away at sets for Gerard and I. The set looks nice, but was a disorganized mess. I soebt a coupke innings alphabetizing and organizing it into my book.

I got a bunch of the team set taken care of. I'll have to keep working on them through the next couple of times in Durham.

In all, Jesse and I got the following autographs: Dairon Blanco x 3, Ryan Brasier x 2, Jonah Bride x 1, Diego Castillo x 1, Cam Cauley x 2, Marc Church x 1, Trevor Hauver x 4, Michael Helman x 1, Jose Herrera x 1, Richie Martin x 1, Nick Pratto x 9, Trey Supak x 2, Emiliano Teodo x 1, Mason Thompson x 7, Aaron Zavala x 5, Cam Booser x 2, Cooper Bowman x 2, Homer Bush Jr x 5, Carlos Colmenarez x 5, Alex Cook x 2, Luis Guerrero x 2, KC Hunt x 2, Ty Johnson x 2, Dominic Keegan x 1, Cooper Kinney x 4, German Melendez x 2, Brian Reith x 2, Chrystal Rowe x 2, Blake Sabol x 3 and Logan Workman x 2 (79 total autographs).

Matt and Josh Help Get Some Cards Signed

Two of the guys (Matt and Josh) who regularly sit with me af Wood Ducks games went up to Hickory a couple weeks ago and got a few cards signed for me.  The above 2021 Bowman Draft gold parallel of Cam Cauley turned out nicely.

They also knocked out two of the Wood Ducks team set cards for me, Brett Platts and Jose Corniell.  They also saw this year's Rangers first round pick, Wyatt Langford, and got him on my Perfece Game card.

The team set is down to one card, and that should get done soon.  Thanks for the help, Josh and Matt!

May 16-20, 2023, Graphing of the Peckers at Woodies

This week, the Fayetteville Woodpeckers came into town and I got a few cards signed. I missed the Wednesday game since it was the last education day/11am start, caught the double header on Saturday, and skipped today, since I didn't have much else to get signed.  I got some 50/50s in for some new folks, one of which gave me some nice parallels.  The above 2021 Panini Prizm Draft green parallel of Cam Cauley turned out nicely. 

He also gave me a coupke Bowman Sapphire parallels that look really cool.  The 2023 Bowman Anthony Gutierrez refractor was also a gift from him. 

I had been running with this Hickory Crawdads team set card in my slider box for over a year since Sharnol Adriana showed up last season as a roving instructor.  He was here this week, and I finally got this card signed.

I know my friend, Jessie, has the Bowman Prospects Anthony Gutierrez for me, but it was also sent to me as a 50/50.  I'll also put Jessie's in the autograph album, since he gifted me the card.

I got several autographs from Dauri Lorenzo.  I missed Tyler Whitaker, who wasn't in uniform at all this series.  I finally saw him yesterday. He said he couldn't write due to a wrist injury, so that pretty much shut me down for today.  Also, the weather forecast wasn't looking great, which is ultimately the reason I didn't go.  I ended up seeing Guardians of the Galaxy Vol 3, which was pretty great.  It was worth taking the day off.

In all, I got the following autographs: Sharnol Adriana x 1, Cam Cauley x 12, Danyer Cueva x 5, Gleider Figuereo x 5, Anthony Gutierrez x 12, Andres Mesa x 3, Yeison Morrobel x 3, Nolan DeVos x 2, Dauri Lorenzo x 18, Andrew Taylor x 1, Ian Moller x 2, Luis Ramirez x 1, Trey Dombroski x 1 and DEWD x 1 (67 total autographs).

Week of May 9-14 Graphing of Shorebirds at Wood Ducks

With the arrival of 2023 Bowman, I have some fresh product that I was happy to get into my book and get signed during this week's series against the Delmarva Shorebirds.  I could have easily skipped this series, since the Orioles sent Jackson Holliday up to Aberdeen, but I went ahead and caught the entire series, with the exception of the Wednesday early game.  Those darn education days...

I was glad to get the above Spotlight insert of Anthony Gutierrez signed; the card looks sharp!

I took some 50/50s for my friend, Aidan, so I got a couple 2023 Bowman First Editions into the album.  One was the above Gleider Figueroa, and the other was the Andres Mesa, below.

I pulled the Andres Mesa 2023 Bowman Chrome gold parallel numbered to 50 out of one of the boxes that I opened.  The card got signed immediately.  It turned out amazing.

I took some 50/50s for a guy named Ryan recently, and as a gift, he sent me the 2021 Bowman Draft chrome green refractor of Cam Cauley, above.  That card looks awesome.  I'm trying not to ask Cam much anymore, now that I have gotten his stack down to nothing.  I made the mistake of getting Dylan MacLean on the Panini Prizm tiger stripe parallel.  It was supposed to be a gift from my friend, Gerard, to Dylan, but I forgot the memo, so I got it signed.  I let Dylan know, and he told me not to worry about it.

We sat in front of Brock Porter's parents during the Saturday game, and found out that he had told his parents about us.  All good things, from what we were told, so that was cool.

Now that Jackson Holliday is gone from Delmarva, Luis Gonzalez is the only guy on the team that I had cards for, with the exception of pitching coach, Adam Bleday.  I got Gonzalez on everything I had, which was good.

I tried to get Gonzalez to sign one of the extra 2022 Heritage Minors cards with my friend, Matt's orange paint pen, but I didn't prime the pen enough, and the auto didn't come out as nicely as I had hoped it would.  Still, it is a bit of a novelty, and it will go into my album anyway.

In all, I got the following autographs: Cam Cauley x 20, Danyer Cueva x 20, Gleider Figueroa x 12, Anthony Gutierrez x 28, Dylan MacLean x 3, Carlos Maldonaldo x 1, Andres Mesa x 11, Ian Moller x 13, Brock Porter x 5 and Luis Gonzalez x 15, Yeison Morrobel x 18, Adam Bleday x 2 (148 total autographs).

June 2022 Graphing of Riverdogs at Wood Ducks

Another series has come and gone at Grainger Stadium.  This week, the Charleston Riverdogs came to town for a 6-game series that went back and forth.  The Wood Ducks settled for a series split with the Riverdogs.  I was hpoing they would take the series, as a little bit of payback for last season's loss in the Championship round.

I got some nice cards in of Robby Ahlstrom.  The above 2021 Panini Prizm is the snakeskin parallel, numbered 11/25.  Ahlstrom liked these cards and remarked how he hadn't gotten any of his own cards, yet, so I ordered one of these off of Ebay that night.  The card will arrive while the Woodies are out of town, so I will have to give it to Robby next time they are home.

I had also picked up these two parallels.  Both of them look awesome, and I really wish I had been able to find Prizm when it came out.

Ryan Garcia was added to the roster during this series, so I was finally able to get these cards signed that I had pulled for Hickory last season.  He had Tommy John surgery, followed by two lat strains, which kept him out last season.  He pitched on Saturday, and looked really good.

I was also able to get this 2020 Pro Debut signed.  I was really glad to get these cards off of my desk, which is where they sat after my visit to Hickory last season.

I got some nice parallels signed of Ian Moller (who hit his first home run of the season, this series), Jose Rodriguez, Cam Cauley and Dylan MacLean.  My friend, Gerard, hooked me up with the Jose and the Dylans; the gold Heritage Minors of MacLean is numbered 14/18.

I had met Jonathan George a few series ago, when he was in town scouting for the Rangers.  Since then, I have carried his cards in my book, waiting for him to come back.  He was finally back yesterday (Saturday) and signed the 5 cards that I brought with me.

Several of the Riverdogs players that had cards were on the IL, so a lot of what I had pulled and prepped went back in the Box of Shame.  The guys that were there were fairly tough.  Only one of the six games of the series saw the Riverdogs with numbers on the front of their jerseys.  That made spotting the guys tougher at the onset of the series.  Carson Williams was the toughest of the guys with cards.  He only signed a couple of times, then shut me down saying "I got you yesterday; I'm only doing one per person now..."  He also told a few people that he would only sign cards when they showed him photos to sign.  I'm pretty sure he did sign a couple baseballs for some folks early in the series.

Nick Schnell was supposed to come through last season when Charleston was here at the end of the year, but had gone on the IL right before that series started.  I carried over the cards I had of him of my own and also 50/50s for guys until now.  He signed one per each time he came by, but signed every time he came by, which was nice.  I ended up finishing all of my Schnell cards, which was a goal.  I don't like having to put stuff back in my boxes.

Finally, JJ Goss was another of the guys who was supposed to come through last season, but also had gone on the IL.  I ended up with a ton of his cards, but he was good for 2 per prior to every game, except for Saturday when he was starting.  I finished off a good many of his cards, but still have a bunch I will need to carry over until the next time I see him (Durham, maybe?).

In all, I got the following autographs: Maximo Acosta x 3, Robby Ahlstrom x 3, Mitch Bratt x 4, Cam Cauley x 10, Ian Moller x 15, Dylan MacLean x 6, Jose Rodriguez x 4, Sandy Gaston x 2, JJ Goss x 14, Nick Schnell x 13, Carson Williams x 7, Ryan Garcia x 14, Alejandro Osuna x 2, Jonathan George x 5 and Xavier Valentin x 1 (on Chris's bat he was given Saturday), for 103 total autographs.

May 2022 Graphing Recap of Hillcats at Wood Ducks

This past series of the Hillcats at the Wood Ducks may be my most successful series graphing in a long time.  I was able to knock out a ton of cards, and helps several folks with 50/50s.  I took a few team bags of Carolina League coaches from my awesome friend, Max, and started him off right with a bunch of signed Omir Santos cards.  I really loved this 2006 Bowman Sterling that Max provided.

I had also ordered a few Santos cards off of Sportlots, and they came in just in time.  The 2006 Bowman Heritage that Max sent turned out great, along with the other cards I got signed (a 2006 Bowman, 2006 Bowman blue parallel, 2009 Topps Update Gold, 2010 Topps gold and a 2009 Bowman).

There were a few Hillcats players with cards, and fout of them had 2021 Topps Heritage Minors cards.  I added these four of Milan Tolentino (Milan is pronounced like the city in Italy), Carson Tucker (brother of Cole Tucker), Isaiah Greene and Yordys Valdes.

Tolentino and Valdes had cards in 2021 Topps Pro Debut (base), and both were landscape oriented.  The cards were very similar and I had mixed them up on my pages at least once.  

I actually had pulled the blue parallel of Greene's Pro Debut insert out of my boxes last year, so it was nice to get it signed and not have to buy one.

Greene was also in 2020 Bowman Draft and 2021 Bowman.  He was really nice, but very quiet.  His signature isn't much, but the cards are signed.  I can't complain there.

Milan Tolentino was the toughest of all of the players, and after all was said and done on Sunday afternoon, I had only two cards left over, and they were Tolentino.  They went back to Gerard, so he could try again another time.  I also was able to get Jake Fox on two new cards for the album; this is a different Jake Fox than the former Oriole farmhand who lit up Spring Training a while back.

I added a few new Guilder Rodriguez cards to the album.  This is a 2015 Topps mini that Gerard sent along.

Sharnol Adriana was the rover this week, and I got him on two Hickory team set cards.  He was helping out with hitting instruction this past week.  I also added a Guilder Rodriguez chrome refractor and x fractor from 2015.

The Rangers finally moved Cam Cauley and Ian Moller to the Wood Ducks.  Both were drafted last summer, and I have been picking up some of their cards.  I got a ray wave parallel of each guy, along with their respective Perfect Game cards.

My friend, Jesse, gave me a Teodoro Ortega card from the Spokane team set, and Gerard gave me a few more parallels of Dylan MacLean.  I also added some Mitch Bratt parallels.  Jesse hooked me up with a Junior Paniagua Elite Extra Edition.

Finally, here is the die cut parallel of Dylan MacLean's Elite Extra Edition that Gerard sent along.  I had gotten one of these done for him already, so this was my end of the take.

In all, I got the following autographs: Today's graphing recap of Hillcats at Wood Ducks: Maximo Acosta x 6, Mitch Bratt x 9, Dylan MacLean x 15, Cam Cauley x 14, Yosy Galan x 4, Ian Moller x 15, Milan Tolentino x 26, Leury Tejada x 12, Guilder Rodriguez x 13, Carson Tucker x 34, Omir Santos x 16, Yordys Valdes x 17, Junior Paniagua x 3, Bradford Webb x 2, Tucker Mitchell x 2, Isaiah Greene x 25, Sharnol Adriana x 2, Teodoro Ortega x 1, Jose Rodriguez x 1 and Jake Fox x 12 (229 total signatures).

A highlight of the series was meeting some fellow graphers who had traveled from the NJ/Philly area, Brian and Joshua.  I have talked to both of them for years on Instagram, and Joshua has read my blog for even longer than that.  It was really nice putting some faces with the names, and helping the guys have a fun and positive experience graphing at my home stadium.