May 24, 2026, Graphing of the Delmarva Shorebirds at Wilson Warbirds

Sunday, Chris and I jumped up and headed to Wilson to check out the new ballpark. Wilson is about 45 minutes from the house, and is now the closest affiliated team to me. I had waited to go to Wilson, as there aren't many guys on the team with cards, and the tickets aren't cheap.

I paid the $20/ticket and headed to the stadium. It is in an area in Wilson that will need a lot of work. We didn't have to walk too terribly far from out parking spot to get into the stadium. We got in and got one of the two Wilson guys I had cards of, Brady Ebel. He did one per for us, but I'll take what I can get. Graphing by the ramp to the dugout is tough there, and i can see there being huge issues when a bigger name is there. I also think it's crazy that this is a Low A team, and they charge as much for tickets as the AAA Bulls. Oof.

Chris and I did have a good time. We didn't stay for the whole game, as I was still tired from Durham the night before. I took my two Ebel autos and left in the 5th inning, went home and took a nap.

Sadly, the only autographs we got were: Brady Ebel x 2. Two total autographs. 

TTM Success - Stuart Levy

Soon, old team set cards will be dominating this space since the Frontier League has come to town and it seems that most of the guys who have cards are in random team sets.  In that vein, I started cleaning out my boxes and looked toward moving some old team set stuff.  I sent off some TTM and started getting a few back.  One player who returned his cards signed was former Orioles minor leaguer, Stuart Levy.

I got Levy on his cards from Aberdeen and Frederick.

Levy (b. 1992) was a 27th round pick by the Orioles in the 2015 June Amateur Draft out of Arkansas State University.  He played in the minors from 2015 to 2019, all in the Orioles system.  He wound up reaching AAA.  He had 157 hits, 12 home runs and a .207 batting average. 

I mailed to Levy on January 15 and got the cards back on February 3 for a 19-day TAT.

Levy also included a hand-written letter that said: Dear William, I appreciate you reaching out.  It is not often anymore that I get asked for autographs for anything baseball related.  It was a very special surprise. It brought back a lot of memories seeing these cards.  I hope they add nicely to your  collection, even from a nobody like me.  Sincerely, Stuart Levy.

April 18, 2025, Graphing of the Shorebirds at Mudcats

From the looks of things, graphing is going to be the only good thing baseball-wise for me this summer.  The Orioles are shit, so I'll save money and just concentrate on MiLB and soon Frontier League games instead of wasting my money on a bad MLB team.  Yeah, I said it.  They're poised to be BAD.  Anyway, I saw their Low A team take on the Mudcats in my first trip to Five County Stadium since 2021.  I was able to get Jesus Made (above) on the Brewers team card.

I got most of the Delmarva cards I brought.  I had help from Jesse and his brother Landon.  Braylin Tavera did only one per for us.  I should have handed Landon a card to get one more Tavera out of the box, but it's whatever.  We also missed Jacob Cravey, but had gotten him in the past so it wasn't a big deal.

I missed several Mudcats last year, like Eric Bitonti.  His 2024 Topps Pro Debut got done, as well as his 2023 Bowman Draft.

Braylon Payne was really nice. I got everything signed that I brought for the Mudcats.

Bryce Meccage was really cool as well.  I happened to look him up and saw him as he was coming off the field after Friday fireworks.  I got lucky and we got everything signed.

The big hits were the Mini Muddy and Muddy the Mudcat cards I finally got out of my boxes.  With the Mudcats leaving after this season, I wanted to get all of these signed. 

I know it's goofy to get mascot autographs but hey, it gets the cards into the album. 

In all, we got the following autographs:  Chase Allsup x 2, Maikol Hernandez x 15, Braylin Tavera x 2, Eric Bitonti x 5, Jesus Made x 2, Bryce Meccage x 4, Braylon Payne x 5, Muddy x 4 and Mini Muddy x 2 (41 total autographs). 

August 20-25, 2024 Shorebirds at Wood Ducks

A better series for the Wood Ducks came along when Delmarva was in town.  The weather was beautiful, and my good friend, Ryan, came down to enjoy the Saturday and Sunday games.

Ryan hooked me up with some nice 2024 Stars and Stripes cards.  They came in handy, as there were several guys with the Shorebirds who had them.  Also, during the series, the Orioles sent their first round draft pick, Vance Honeycutt, up to Delmarva.

I got Honeycutt on his debut ticket, a ball and a photo.  I had already put all of them up before I started the scans for this post.  Oops.  I also saw this weekend that Honeycutt has already been moved up to Aberdeen.

The Wood Ducks also have some 2024 Draft picks on their team, now.  Anthony Susac and Casey Cook both have Perfect Game cards.  We were also surprised that Brock Porter was back with the Wood Ducks. 

In all, I got the following autographs: Casey Cook x 8, Pablo Guerrero x 9, Maikol Hernandez x 33, Braylin Tavera x 3, Anthony Susac x 1, Vance Honeycutt x 4, Brock Porter x 1, Jon Clemmons x 1, Griff O'Ferrall x 6, Austin Overn x 1, Ryan Stafford x 2 and Ethan Anderson x 1 (70).

June 22, 2024, Graphing of Shorebirds at Woodpeckers

My good friend, Jesse, and I were discussing placed to graph this past weekend, and he noted that the Fayetteville Woodpeckers were doing a bobble head giveaway on Saturday.  It worked out for me because I am going to miss Delmarva when I head to the National.  A few of the Shorebirds that I missed earlier in the year were back off of the IL.  I finally was able to get Maikol Hernandez, which was great.  He did 4 of 6, which knocked enough out for me.

Leandro Arias and Jake Cunningham were finally with the team, so I got a few of them done.

Chase Jaworsky didn't have time to stop pregame and after Fayetteville lost, he wasn't signing for anyone post game.  I did get Kenni Gomez, which helped.  There were only two Fayetteville guys with cards, so I didn't have a whole lot in the first place.

The bobble head was pretty awesome, so I'm glad Jesse told me about it. I have already added it to the China cabinet.  I had a great time at the game.  Jesse brought his little brother, Landon, who we had helping us graph.  Then, we met a guy from Instagram who was on a graphing road trip down in NC, which was really cool.

In all, we got the following autographs:  Kenni Gomez x 3, Leandro Arias x 3, Carter Baumler x 1, Jacob Cravey x 1, Jake Cunningham x 7, Anderson De Los Santos x 1 and Maikol Hernandez x 4 (20 total autographs).

April 16-20, 2024, Graphing of the Shorebirds at Wood Ducks

This week's graphing of the Delmarva Shorebirds at the Wood Ducks was pretty much over right after the game on Tuesday.  I missed Wednesday since it was an 11AM game and Thursday was Chris's senior night for tennis.  With today's rain out, I only graohed three games of the series.  I also missed my friend, Ryan's cards because I put them in the wrong pile. 

The above 2022 Bowman Chrome ray wave parallel of Danyer Cueva was picked up at the National last year but ended up in a random box that I finally went through last week. It is finally signed and in the album. 

Delmarva had several guys with cards, however all but two of them were on the IL and didnt make the trip.  Jacob Cravey was really nice and signed everything I had.  A fellow graoher gave me the 2023 Bowman Chrome mojo Anderson De Los Santos so i could get him done, which was nice.

The Rangers had sent several rovers out to the park this week with Kenny Holmberg, Roy Silver and Matt Magill coming into town.  I was able to get a couple Silver cards in before the series ended.  I realized who Matt Magill was (by asking around; I'm not THAT good), and found two cards in my collection to get done.

My friend, Gerard hooked me up with this nice Marcus Smith Bowman Heritage gold parallel.  It's a pretty sweet card and looks great.

Alejandro Rosario made his professional debut for the Wood Ducks and went 4 innings with no runs allowed and 7 strike outs.  His fa.ily was there and we're really nice.  I was able to chat with his mom pre-game.

The highlight of Friday's game was when, around the 7th inning or so (I was talking and lost track), Jon (the Wood Ducks GM) came by where we were sitting and asked me to get up.  I had no idea why, but I got up and he said "we are honoring you for Season Ticket Holder Appreciation".

I was given a certificate, team signed baseball and a "golden" Bill Ellis bobble head.  Jon also gave me his hat, which was the Wood Ducks first Copa hat, the Patos Joyuyous.  I never got one for myself and had asked Jon if there were any more that he could find; I'd buy one.  He gave me his, instead, when he realized we wore the same hat size.

They also took a photo of me with Jon and DEWD.  I haven't seen the photo yet, but am excited to see how it turned out.  I was blown away by the gesture and it really meant a lot to me.  I've been very upset that the Woodies are leaving Kinston after this season.  I am so thankful that they took the time to recognize me.

In all, I got the following autographs: Danyer Cueva x 4, Marcus Smith x 1, Jacob Cravey x 9, Julian Brock x 1, Gleider Figuereo x 1, Alberto Mota x 1, Alejandro Rosario x 2, Roy Silver x 2, Matt Magill x 2 and Anderson De Los Santos x 1 (24 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).

July 13-18, 2021 Graphing of Delmarva Shorebirds at Down East Wood Ducks

This just-completed series with the Delmarva Shorebirds might have been one where I was limited the most with what I could get signed.  Most of the Delmarva guys I had stuff for either moved up to Aberdeen or they were on the IL.  Plus, I had a lapse in my planning and missed that Dave Anderson had a ton of cards.  That ended up helping, because I was able to spread out looking for Anderson stuff over several of the games, and still got a good bit of stuff signed.

The biggest highlight was that I was finally able to get a Luisangel Acuna signed for myself.  Everything else that I have gotten has been for other people, and this custom that was part of a 50/50 from Instagram afforded me the opportunity to add one to my album.  Yes, Acuna is related to Ronald Acuna, Jr.  He is Ronald's little brother, and has really come on strong with the bat recently.

I got a good many of the customs done, which was nice.  A few were of guys I haven't gotten yet, and I am also happy to add another Cody Freeman to the album.

There's no problem with another Thomas Saggese in the album.  Hudson Haskin was the only Shorebird that I had cards of, other than the below Ryne Ogren Delmarva team card below.  I was bummed that Carter Baumler and Anthony Servideo were on the IL.

I had actually missed this Ogren in my box, but thankfully the 6-game series helped me be able to get everything done.

It also helped me have time to look through a ton of boxes in order to pull every Dave Anderson card I could find.  I'm sure that a few of these sets are very under-represented in my autograph album.

I was able to get Anderson's full run of Topps cards signed.  I wasn't going to go for the 87, since it was already crossed off in my set, but upon further review, I upgraded from black to blue with this one.  So, I now have an Anderson (in black) available for trade.

Anderson was really nice.  You can get him talking, and he is very interactive with fans.  I enjoyed that I was able to talk with him as much as I did.

Finally, my keen eye noticed the little league team in line ahead of me on Thursday.  I was looking at the names on the backs of the shirts, because each kid had a nickname, and noticed that the coach was listed as Mike Devereaux.  I saw the coach and knew he looked familiar, because of all the time I spent studying the 90s Orioles lineups when I was a kid.  So, I walked up to their coach and asked "Mike Devereaux, the former Oriole?"  He said, "Yes, I am!", so I thanked him for all of the years as an Oriole and how I was a big fan of the team.

Devereaux was very awesome and posed for a photo.  He also signed a pocket schedule, since, of course, all of my Devereaux cards were at home.  It was a really good series, even though I didn't get as much signed as I maybe could have.

May 12, 2018 Graphing of Delmarva Shorebirds vs. Columbia Fireflies

It's fun graphing stadiums for the first time, especially when you have no clue as to where the players come out, and how accessible a stadium is.  Luckily, I was still successful last weekend at the Columbia Fireflies game.  I had a ton of cards for the Shorebirds, since they are the Single A affiliate of the Orioles.  I probably took away from some future graphing of the Keys, but since none of these guys are guaranteed of advancing, I went ahead and knocked them out.

I was most excited about meeting Ryan Ripken, son of Cal.  He was really friendly, and chatted with us for a bit.

My friend, Michael, picked up an Aberdeen set for me last season, and a few of those guys moved up to Delmarva to start the year.  That afforded me an opportunity to get quite a few cards done.  One interesting note, Zach Jarrett is a fellow graduate of UNC-Charlotte, which I made sure to point out to him.  What I didn't know up until a week before the game was that he is the son of former NASCAR champion, Dale Jarrett.

Justin Lord, one of the Shorebirds coaches, was the first auto we got.  He was at the wall talking with his family and signed for us after I helped take a photo of his family for him.

I was able to get some older Aberdeen set cards done that I had been sitting on for a while.  I also was glad to get a few of my 2013 Perfect Game cards signed that I got at the National last year.

Matthias Dietz was really nice.  He had a pretty cool mustache going, and we talked about that for a bit while he was signing these cards.  I especially like the Maryland Flag jersey on the 2017 South Atlantic League Prospect card.

Finally, here are some of the other Ryan Ripkens that I got done.

I wanted to get the Fireflies postgame, but we were all tired from a busy day, so we left early (after 14 total runs were scored) and went out to eat.  I plan on going back this season and graphing with my brother.  I'm sure he would be up for some graphing...

The PWE Bandit Strikes Again

I wish I could teach a course on trading baseball cards.  So many people ship cards unprotected, or with minimal protection, that it gets really old, really fast.  My latest run-in with poorly packaged items comes from an Instagram trade with a kid who's handle is ipautos100.  I'm sure he is a young kid and didn't really have an idea that the card couple be damaged in a PWE, but nonetheless, the main piece I traded for in our deal was creased badly.

The above manufactured hat logo relic was part of a two-for-one deal I made with him that also got me the below Bowman Sterling Hunter Harvey auto in exchange for a 2015 Museum Collection Dalton Pompey auto.  His Pompey got to him unscathed, mainly because I always securely ship my items in bubble mailers.  My Harvey patch got wrecked and when I sent him a pic of it, I got no response whatsoever.  So, lesson learned, I won't be trading with this kid anymore.

I can understand kids not having a lot on money to spend on shipping, but if you are going to be sending higher end, or thicker cards via USPS, they HAVE to be sent in a bubble mailer.  Something smart that these guys can do is save every bubble mailer they have sent to them, and re-use those so they can cut down on supply costs.  I haven't had to buy a bubble mailer in years due to this very reason.  Not only is it a cost-saving method, it is also good for the environment.

I was just really disappointed to get the Harvey patch in, only to see that it was damaged in shipping, and the fact that the kid didn't really seem to care.  He also didn't comment when I posted that it was damaged on Instagram and tagged him in the photo.  He did "like" the photo, though.  At least I have that going for me.

COMC Pickup - 2013 Bowman Sterling Chance Sisco Auto

Here is another of the cards that I picked up off of COMC recently.  I got this 2013 Bowman Sterling green parallel auto of Chance Sisco for $6.75 worth of store credit.  Not too bad, since I saw Sterling base autos of Sisco going for $5.00 at the last card show I went to.  I remembered lamenting the fact that I passed on grabbing one of them, but luckily, I got this one,  This card looks so much better than the base ones anyway.

Sisco is having some kind of season this year.  Tonight, he went 3 for 4 with a homer for Delmarva.  On the season, he is batting .338 with 143 hits (113 games) and 5 home runs.  Wow.  That is really good.  I would love it if the Orioles had a few high average hitters on the team.  You know, guys you could count on to hit .320 or .330 perennially.  I guess, in these days, that is really hard to come by.  Well, Sisco is doing well in the lower levels of the minors.  He should be headed to Frederick, next season.  Let's hope he can sustain this success, but I have to keep reminding myself that he is only 19.

IP Autographs From Jordan

I posted the other day that I got an IP auto of Hunter Harvey in a surprise package from my buddy, Kyle.  Before I knew Kyle was sending me his package, I had agreed to a deal with his best friend, Jordan, for a Harvey IP auto and a Josh Hart.  Both boys went to the Delmarva Shorebirds game together and picked up the autos.

Both cards look great and I really appreciate Jordan picking the autos for me.  I've definitely met some awesome people on Instagram and it was really nice of Jordan and Kyle to think of me when they were at the game.