April 6, 2025, Graphing of the Space Cowboys at Bulls

On Sunday, the Durham Bulls held a "meet the team" event in Durham prior to their game against the Sugar Land Space Cowboys.  Chris, Jesse and I made the trip and racked both teams.

A big reason I wanted to get to the signing was to try and get Eloy Jimenez on an Orioles card.  I got him on the 2025 Topps, which looks great and becomes the first 2025 Topps to get into the album. A couple came in TTM, but they haven't been scanned yet.

I spent hours on Saturday prepping for the trip.  It was worth it.  I cleaned out all of my Morgan Ensberg cards, along with several other players.

I was happy to see Jonathan Hernandez again; I talked to him about the Wood Ducks for a bit.  I had purchased several Sean Hunley cards, thinking I'd see him with Charleston or Bowling Green, but I missed him.  I cleaned all of those cards out as well.

Chris and Jesse helped me with some good Eloy cards. I also got Joey Krehbiel on his Norfolk card.

Coco Montes stopped to admire the 2024 Topps Finest.  He had never seen the card before.  The Tanner Murray was a pickup at the National out of a parallels box.  I was lucky to remember that I had it.

The 2014 Bowman Chrome Jamie Westbrook was a quick last-minute find.  I knew I had his cards somewhere. I saw that I had gotten him TTM a while back and his extra cards were sitting in the same spot on my other desk since 2021.  Kind of sad.  I was glad to get my Carson Williams 2024 Panini Prizm parallel signed.  It turned out nicely. 

I bought a few cards for the trip like the two 2022 Topps parallels of Cole Sulser.

In talking with Jonathan Hernandez about the Wood Ducks, I had him sign this extra Wood Ducks team card from the 2017 team set.  I had found this card in a random box here at the house.  It's possible it was Chris's at some point.

I almost sold this 2023 Bowman Chrome pearl parallel of Kenedy Corona.  I had gotten it thinking I'd see Corona with Fayetteville. I didn't and wasn't sure it would ever get signed.  I got it done on this trip and was really happy to add it to the album. 

Miguel Castro was really nice.  I was disappointed that I couldn't find his 2019 Topps Update card showing him as an Oriole.  I took what I could find on the trip and he signed everything.  The Colton Gordon was a lucky find in a stack of 2024 Panini Crusade that I happened to purchase.  The coolest find in the box of shame was the 2017 Buies Creek team set card of Nick Hernandez.  His 2017 Carolina League All Star Card was an ebay purchase prior to the trip.

The above Joe Thurston relic is numbered 001/100, which I thought was cool.  I was also glad to get my 2019 Midwest League All Star Card signed by Cesar Salazar.

We waited outside for quite a while to get the Sugar Land guys.  Their plane flight was scheduled to leave at 9pm and it was 4pm when we got outside.  We were able to get some Bulls on their side while waiting.  It worked out for us that we were able to maximize who we saw.

The 2023 Topps Update Astros Rookies card (signed by Salazar) is a black parallel that I was lucky enough to find in one of my boxes.  I was disappointed to see tonight that my buddy Max got a 2022 Topps Update card signed by Tanner Banks.  I could have completed the card but didn't think to look and see if I had one signed already.  Maybe I'll see Sousa again sometime. 

We had a great time graphing with some awesome weather. In all, we got the following autographs: Garrett Acton x 2, Dru Baker x 4, Morgan Ensberg x 9, Joey Gerber x 2, Jonathan Hernandez x 13, Sean Hunley x 6, Eloy Jimenez x 3, Joey Krehbiel x 1, Coco Montes x 4, Tanner Murray x 1, Eric Orze x 1, Joe Rock x 3, Connor Seabold x 13, Ian Setnour x 3, Chandler Simpson x 3, Cole Sulser x 2 Jacob Wagiespack x 1, Jamie Westbrook x 2, Carson Williams x 1, Miguel Castro x 9, Kenedy Corona x 2, Colton Gordon x 1, Nick Hernandez x 2, Tyler Ivey x 6, Brice Matthews x 4, Jacob Melton x 2, Nick Robertson x 3, Cesar Salazar x 4, Bennett Sousa x 1, Joe Thurston x 1, Brandon Walter x 14 and Blake Weiman x 1 (125 total autographs).

July 3 Graphing The Wood Ducks and Pelicans

It is July 4, today, but when I take a look at the upcoming Minor League schedule, I can see that the season is drawing to a close.  The Wood Ducks finish their season in less than two months, and with my trip the the National coming up, I will be limited in when I can see them.  I will not see the Pelicans, Dash, or the Nationals at Grainger Stadium any more this season.  I have one three-game series against Frederick where I will have to work hard to get any Orioles prospects I want.  I have one more shot at Wilmington, and one shot at Lynchburg.  I can always supplement my time with a trip or two to the Mudcats, like I am today.  I missed a chance to get the Salem Red Sox, so I am catching them today in Zebulon with my good friend, Dugan.

With the games winding down, I have finished up most of the lots of cards that I bought early this season.  I have finished up Josh Morgan, Bobby Rose, all but one Brett Martin and most of the Hickory Team Set (guys who made it to the Wood Ducks at least).  I have answered all of my 50/50 commitments, with the exception of a few Howard Johnson for Gerard.

I did pick up some COMC cards of Johnson and some Lynchburg guys recently.  I think it was 6 Johnsons, and I got two of the signed last night.  The above 1995 Score Platinum turned out amazing; I'm glad I went with that one first.  Johnson has been doing two-per lately, so I will have to space things out and hope I wrap everything up by the end of the season.

This 1990 Jumbo California Sunflower Seeds card was a nice rarity that I found cheap on COMC.  I thought it would look great in the album, so I picked it up.  I met a kid from Statesville at the game last night who couldn't believe that Johnson was the Wood Ducks manager.  He said that he tried to tell his dad that it was the same guy, and his dad wasn't buying it.  I bet his dad will be excited to see the two cards I donated to the kid, and then helped get them signed.  I also gave him 4 Bobby Rose and a Brett Martin, but we weren't able to get Martin to sign.

Finally, I got one last Eloy Jimenez on this 2014 Bowman Chrome refractor.  I tried to get one more card form Eloy at the end of the game, but he refused.  I think they were late and wanted to get a team meeting in before they left town.  The game was a 4.5 hour marathon that ended in the 11th with the Pelicans winning 11-7.

Last Week's Graphing of Wood Ducks, Dash and Pelicans

I've been realy busy the last week or so by getting cards together and doing some Wood Ducks graphing.  I completed some 50/50s with the Dash and Pelicans, as well, for my friends, Andrew, Dugan, Nick and Gerard.

I had bought this Eduard Pinto off of Ebay because I wanted to be able to get some more of the Wood Ducks.  I'm glad I got Pinto when I did, because he was traded yesterday to the Blue Jays for Jason Grilli.  This All Star card from last year turned out really nice.

I have 4 cards left from a 50/50 with Gerard, and he is the toughest person on the Wood Ducks to get to sign.  He actually stopped before stretching the other day and signed a couple cards, one of which was the above Panini Prizm that I had found in my rookie box.  The Team USA card was from Gerard.

My wife was kind enough to help me out during a couple of the games so I could knock down the number of cards that I have.  A few of them didn't turn out all that well because we grabbed a crappy sharpie, but they are ok, I suppose.  I was happy to finally get this Topps Sticker from 1990 signed.

I also got a few of Gerard's cards signed, along with these that were mine.  Max gave me the top right Fleer Ultra, which turned out great.

I got all of Gerard's 50/50s for Jeremy Moore done, but the coolest thing was that I was able to wish Moore a happy birthday the other day.  I surprised him that I knew, but he was happy that I remembered nonetheless.

This Jeremy Moore turned out the best of all of them.  I loved the golden parallels, and adding this to the album was pretty great.

I finally was able to get Bobby Rose on the lot of cards that I picked up early this season.  I got him twice during the last two games that I went to, and he was really nice both times.

I was happy to add a bunch of Brett Martin cards.  He is back on the active roster, and pitched decent for his first time back on Thursday.

I have officially exhausted my supply of Josh Morgan cards.  I bought the top right green parallel from Pro Debut on Ebay; I found the top left 2014 refractor at the card shop, and the two Perfect Game cards were nice touches as well (left was Ebay and right was from the shop).

II wanted to get another Willie Harris signed, but I couldn't find an more of his cards in my boxes.  I found this 2009 O Pee Chee Nationals team card, and Harris is listed on the back, so it counts.

While I was looking for Harris cards, I did find this 1992 Stadium Club of Brian Drahmann that I hadn't gotten signed before.  It turned out great.

One of the casualties of the crappy Sharpie that my wife picked up was a Bowmans Best Zack Collins.  I ended up giving that card to Chris anyway.  I got these two Collins from two different games, and they look great.  I had actually pulled the Team USA card from a pack, so I was really happy to finally get it done.

I got a few more Dane Dunning cards signed, including the above (left) Pro Debut.  I still haven' been able to open a pack of this product, but I really enjoy it.  I plan on looking for some boxes of it at the National.

I have gotten all of the Myrtle Beach Pelicans signed that I had set out to get, with the exception of a couple Eloy Jimenez.  I am going today to try to wrap those up, and this is the last time the Pelicans will be in Kinston.  I found the above (right) Tyler Alamo in my rookie box, and I know it has been in that box for years.  I was happy to see it make the light of day, and get a place in my album.

Jumping back to the Dash, I was really happy to get these autographs from Jake Johansen.  He was one of the friendliest players that I have talked to.  He asked me my name, and took the time to inscribe two of the cards to me.  My friend, Matt, went with me to a game on Saturday, and he was talking about really nice players who seemingly are stuck in High A ball.  Johansen was one that he brought up.  I am happy to report that Johansen was recently promoted to AA Birmingham!  I hope he can continue to move up and make the majors.  He is a really nice person.

Weekend of Graphing the Pelicans and Wood Ducks

I went to three of the four games between the Down East Wood Ducks and the Myrtle Beach Pelicans this weekend, beginning on Thursday.  I had some 5/50s to take care of for Weston, Billy, Max, Dugan, Andrew and Gerard.  I also ended up with a bunch of extras, so my good friend, Brayden, will probably be seeing a care package soon, as well.

The biggest name on the Pelicans' roster is Eloy Jimenez.  He signed one per, but I was able to get him both pre and post game at all of the games.  I did really well, I think.  I also had Chris helping me on Thursday, so that worked out as well.

I've already pulled out all of the cards going out for the 50/50s.  Max was a big help in getting me stuff from the Pelicans that I could get signed.  They are a Cubs team, so he will be happy with the autos that he will be getting back.

I met a father and son on Thursday who were graphing together, and they gave me a few Ryan Kelloggs, so I ended up with extras after helping Max with the 50/50.

I skipped the Saturday game to go to the card show in Raleigh, which helped me replinish some of my Wood Ducks stock, and I also picked up a few Carolina League guys for future use.  I also grabbed a couple more Jimenez and Justin Steele cards while I was there.

I continued to "rack" Josh Morgan and Jeremy Moore.  I didn't get a chance to get Morgan's opinion on autographing multiple cards, but seeing him sign 32 cards between two people made me feel a lot better about my pages of four.

There have been some recent call ups to the Wood Ducks, so I was able to get a few more cards signed from my Crawdads set that I bought.  That reminds me, I need to look through Chris's set and make sure he has covered some of these guys as well.

I spoke briefly with Emerson Martinez, mainly about a player (Zack Bird) who's card he didn't recognize.  It appears that there are players who are listed on the roster who aren't with the team, and this comes as a surprise to folks who actually are on the team.  It was kind of a funny, but helpful moment.

 I was able to add two new Topps cards to my ledger with the 1985 and 1990 All Star shown above.

I was able to get some nice HoJo cards signed.  He is only doing two-per as of late, but that is fine with me.  Bobby Rose has been away from the team, so I am still sitting on some cards of his to get signed.  I hope I can get moving on them soon.

In all, here is how I did:  I got Howard Johnson x 12, Josh Morgan x 24, Chuck Moorman x 1, Tyler Sanchez x 1, Jeffrey Springs x 1, Jeremy Moore x 10, Jairo Beras x 4, Brett Martin x 1, Emerson Martinez x 1, Jonathan Hernandex x 1, Justin Steele x 8, Ryan Kellogg x 7, Tyler Alamo x 2 and Eloy Jimenez x 6.  I also got Matt Lipka x 4, but those are pending Gerard's approval of what goes and what stays.  So, I ended up with 79 signed baseball cards.

I gave away a bunch of my extra Josh Morgan cards to some kids who were standing there wanting autographs, so they could at least come away with something.  I traded for a 2017 Pro Debut with Colin and his dad, then they gave me a handful of blank ones that I could get Morgan to sign myself.  I was glad to get those, because Pro Debut has been tough to find.

I am now taking a few nights off from graphing, and searching boxes.  This past week has been exhausting with all of the 50/50s I have been working on.