August 1-6, 2023, Graphing of the Pelicans at Wood Ducks

The posts from the National have been coming at a decent enough pace, but I am still behind.  I wanted to squeeze in a couple graphing posts before I finish off the National signers this week.  There are a few cards that I got signed during this series against Myrtle Beach that I picked up at the National, so the theme is still there.  The above 2023 Bowman Chrome blue ray wave is a card I found at the top of a parallels stack at the show.  I had to pick it up, since it was one of my guys. 

I got Mesa on the Tuesday game and found out by Thursday that he had been released.  The Rangers released Andres and also Yenci Pena.  I was really sad to see Andres go. It made sense because the previous regime traded for him and he wasn't hitting. With the new draft picks coming in, they had to make room.

This Anthony Gutierrez is another card I found at the show.  The card is beautiful.  I was really excited when I found it.  I purchased it in a bulk deal along with several other inserts and parallels.

My good friend, Gerard, hooked me up with some more Dylan MacLean cards.  These turned out nicely.

Christian Hernandez was a tough one-per, but I had a lot of help, and got a bunch of his cards signed.  I was able to keep my 50/50 folks happy, which is always good.

The top two Drew Gray Panini Prizm Draft cards were pickups from the National.  I pulled the bottom left Prizm out of a blaster I bought a while back. 

The left two Jackson Ferris cards also came from the show.  He was born in Winston-Salem, so we talked about that for a little bit during a game.

The Bruce Billings 2010 Topps Pro Debut had me pulling my hair out early in the week.  I had put the cards aside prior to the start of the season when I saw that Billings was added to Myrtle Beach's staff.  I just didn't put them aside where they needed to be.  I took my friend Billy's advice and stopped looking for them, and found them in time to get them signed.

I got a ton of Corey Ray cards signed during this series.  I was excited when he was announced as a coach for Myrtle Beach, as I had a ton of my own cards and also cards from the former card shop that I needed to get out of the boxes.

There was a nice variety of Ray cards that got done during the week, ranging from 2016 to 2021.

Ray was super nice and seemed ge uinely happy to sign for us all week. It's a shame that I have to tell people that I did have several people helping me, and I wasn't putting 30+ cards in front of him aat a time.

Finally, my friend, Ben, gave me some Cubs signature cards.  I used them on (clockwise from top left) Brett Bateman, Andy Garriola, Brian Kalmer and Malcom Quintero.

In all, I got the following autographs: Gleider Figuereo x 2, Anthony Gutierrez x 4, Andres Mesa x 7, Ian Moller x 1, Buddy Bailey x 1, Drew Gray x 19, Christian Hernandez x 30, Pedro Ramirez x 8, Jefferson Rojas x 9, Corey Ray x 46, Luis Ramirez x 2, Jackson Ferris x 9, Nick Hull x 1, Ismael Mena x 17, Dylan MacLean x 7, Parker Chavers x 1, Tommy Specht x 1, Bruce Billings x 2, Danyer Cueva x 8, Brian Kalmer x 1, Brett Bateman x 1, Andy Garriola x 1 and Malcom Quintero x 1 (180 total autographs).

Autographed Cards From Dugan

I finally was able to get up with my good friend, Dugan, recently, and picked up the cards he had been holding for me for almost a year.  For whatever reason, we just couldn't connect on making the handoff, but when we finally did, it was a really nice package of cards.

I had completely forgotten that I sent him this Kevin Maitan to get signed for me, but he came through.  I was pleasantly surprised when I opened the package and saw the card.

Dugan got some other cards signed for me when Norfolk came through Durham.  I'm not sure where he got the Jay Gibbons, but I was glad to have that as well.

The Corey Ray and Marcos Diplan were from July 4th last season, and finally got back to me.  Dugan and I had to work out the time gap in between, but in the end, it all worked out.  I'm glad he and I are friends, and I hope to catch some more games with him.

Some 50/50s From Fun in the Sun

My friend, Jackson (not the one who went with me to Norfolk) goes by the Instagram name, Funinthesungraphs.  He recently moved from Chicago to the Phoenix area, and was able to get me a few autos during Spring Training, and thereafter.  One of the autos he got knocked a card off of my list for 1987 Topps, Henry Cotto.

He also asked me to send him any Bobby Knoop that I found, and said he could complete the 1964 Topps Angels Rookie Stars that I had gotten signed by Bob Lee TTM.

He traded for my Japanese Dennis Sarfate that my good friend Ryan got me a while back.  Normally I wouldn't have let the Sarfate go, but Jackson has a Japanese card PC, and has met Sarfate several times.  I figured it would be a good thing to do.  Jackson also got Alex Lange to sign some cards, when I failed to do so.

Finally, he got Corey Ray to sign this Bowman's Best.  Ray has moved up to AA, and I can no longer see him with the Carolina Mudcats.

Thanks for the autos, Jackson!

Graphing a Four-Game Series Between The Wood Ducks and Mudcats

Four-game series are tough for graphing.  It has been tough just having the energy to get done what I need to get done, then get home and prepare for the next game.  I took on several 50/50s for this series between the Mudcats and Wood Ducks, then added on a few cards later on when I realized one of the roving instructors was a former major leaguer, and when I saw that the Wood Ducks finalls had the Carolina League Top Prospects sets in.

I went into the series with the hope that I could get everything that I had signed, but a few players were limiting autos, so it was difficult in getting everything done.  I did get some nice cards from Trent Clark, like the Team USA ones above.

Clark apparently has begun to limit what he signs, so I had to be strategic in what I wanted to get, and when I tried to get it.  He was friendly enough, and stopped to talk with Chris and I every game.

I knew going into the series that Monte Harrison would be a tough sign, and he was.  He would only sign one card per person, so by the third game, I was only putting one card in my book that I absolutely wanted.

Luckily, I pretty much covered all of the 50/50 commitments that I made.  I ended up with some nice ones, though, so I am happy.

I was especially glad to be able to get this 2013 Perfect Game card signed, since I pulled it out of a pack.

Corey Ray was really nice, as always.  I had some great cards of him, so I was happy when I completed everything of him by the third day.  I even took a card for a friend while I was there and got it signed as well.

Ray was the only current Mudcat in the prospects set.  They are nice cards, so I was happy to be able to go ahead and get his out of the way and into my album.

I had a lot of Medeiros cards, and a lot for the 50/50s.  I got all but two of the cards signed.

These draft board cards turned out really nice.  I ended up with a couple extra, so Chris was glad to get one.  He thought they were pretty cool, too.

I had gotten Medeiros back earlier in the season, but I couldn't remember what I had gotten, so I just went with what was in my stack.  I think I did pretty well.

Isan DIaz was on the DL with a wrist injury, but still traveled with the team.  He was one of the few players who (along with Ray) signed everything on our pages.

I had a lot of different stuff of Diaz, and I also was able to chat with him a bit while he was signing each game.

I found the black parallel Bowman of Marcos Diplan at the card shop right before the series started.  I thought I had more of his cards, but that was it, with the exception of the Mudcats team set I had picked up on July 4th.

Both Lucas Erceg and Cody Ponce were really nice.  They stopped and talked to us each game, whether we had anything for them to sign or not.

Trey Supak was really quiet, but friendly.  He signed everything we had on our pages, and the cards turned out really nice.  I was also glad that the Heritage Minors got signed, since I pulled it from a pack the Sunday before the series started.

 Speaking of my Mudcats team set, I knocked out a ton of the cards during this series.

Chris also got the same ones from his set signed.  We even were able to get most of the trainers and coaches, which can be tough.

The cards are super glossy, but they all turned out really well.

I think I got my money's worth out of the set.

Speaking of sets, I got my first Wood Ducks cards!  These are the only three in existence right now, since Brett Martin, Josh Morgan and Jonathan Hernandez are the only ones listed in the 2017 Carolina League Top Prospects set.  I think I was at the game where Hernandez is pitching.  I wish the Wood Ducks would have came out with sets this year, but for some dumb reason, they aren't.

I missed out on HoJo quite a bit during this series, but finally got him the last two games.  I have most of his cards signed now, so it is all really just taking care of 50/50s for him.

Finally, I learned that Dwaye Murphy is a roving instructor for the Rangers, and he was with the team this week.  Chris and I were able to get him on three cards, including a 1987 Topps.  I really like the colors on that one, and it adds to my Topps Project.

I have one more series that I am for sure taking in, Lynchburg next weekend.  I have no idea how I am going to be able to stand the offseason, but I likely will be spending it reloading and relaxing in anticipation of the 2018 minor league season.

Graphing The Wood Ducks Vs The Mudcats

I'm getting more and more comfortable graphing at Grainger Stadium.  So much so, I brought a friend from work to the game with me last Thursday and wasn't embarrassed that she was able to see me in action.  I had accepted several 50/50s and with some events upcoming, I wanted to make sure I was able to get the Ducks as soon as I could.  They are also on a long road trip now, so Thursday would be my last chance for a while to get some cards done.

I had bought this 1992 Donruss Elite Howard Johnson off of EBay for around $8.00.  I have the Cal Ripken auto from that set, but I saw the Johnson and figured that would be a cool card to get signed.  He usually signs only one or two cards, but this time around, he signed all 4 cards I had on my page.  The other three were part of a 50/50 for my friend, Gerard.  I will post the cards I get to keep from the 50/50, once I complete all of the cards he sent, and we decide on who keeps what.  This card is numbered 9,136/10,000.  That is pretty high numbering these days, but back then, everyone was excited that it was serial numbered.

I wasn't 100% sure I was going to the game until the night before, so I thrashed looking for Mudcats cards that night.  Surprisingly, I found a ton of cards, and did pretty well getting a lot of them signed.  I had two each of Isan Diaz and Jake Gatewood, and they took care of all of them.

Same goes for Kodi Medeiros and Freddy Peralta.  I was surprised I was able to get Peralta, since he was the starting pitcher that day.

Trent Clark only signed two of the 4 cards that I had, but that isn't a big deal, because I can go to Zebulon and see the Mudcats again.  That way, I'll still have some cards I can take along.  I also got a 2017 Bowman Chrome signed for Andrew.  We pulled a couple of them while I was visiting him last week.

My friend, Angela, actually got the two Josh Morgan 2014 Bowman signed for me after the game.  He was really nice, as always, and signed twice for me.  The 2017 Bowman green chrome parallel is numbered 72/99.  The red isn't numbered.

I still had some of the Hickory Crawdads team set that I could get signed, so I was able to get this Wes Benjamin taken care of.  I also saw Brett Martin for the first time in a while.  He is just about ready to come back from the DL.  He stood and talked to me for a while and signed my cards.

I had also accepted a 50/50 from a kid named Alex in New Jersey.  He wanted a Tampa Yankees Mike O'Neill signed for his set, and gave me two 2014 Chrome O'Neills.  I got one of the two Chromes signed, and can get the other next time I go.

I also was able to get Brewers prospect Corey Ray to sign a baseball (Official Carolina League) after the game.  He had said he would sign after he stretched, but we ended up having to wait until after the game.  Here are all of the autographs I got from the Mudcats, which isn't too bad, considering that I thrashed the night before to get cards together.

These are all of the Wood Ducks autos that I got.  The O'Neill for the 50/50 with Alex is at the bottom right corner.  I also did 50/50s for Gerard, Andrew and Dugan.  Dugan will get a Brett Martin 2014 Bowman, and a bunch of Crawdads team cards.

I hope I can get to the Wood Ducks again during their next homestand, but it is only a three-game series against Wilmington, June 4-6.  I'm not sure if I can get to those games or not.  The Wood Ducks then will go on the road and won't be home until June 15,