September 16, 2025, Graphing of the High Point Rockers

My last opportunity to graph this season came and went on Tuesday when I saw High Point for the last time.  I didn't even bother with trying to get the opposing team (Charleston) this time around.

The biggest reason I wanted to see High Point one more time was to see David Hess.  Hess, a former Oriole, is a two-time cancer survivor and all-around great guy.  I bought the above 2019 Topps Chrome orange refractor for the potential trip.  The card is numbered to 25.  He signed the card, along g with a 2019 Topps base card for my friend, Ryan.

Frank Viola was great, as usual.  I'm running out of different Viola cards to get signed.  I do still have a ton overall, though.

I was looking through boxes for some cards to send to Max, and found a bunch of Alex Dickerson 2011 Bowmans.  I got those done, along with a few others.

I got several High Point team set cards signed.  George Greer was surprised that I wanted his autograph, so he signed my team set card, told me to hold on and brought me the Cardinals card from the clubhouse.  I thought that was really cool.

The 2017 Bowman sky blue refractor of Luis Gonzales was found in a bargain bin at the National.  I got most of the cards I found there signed.  I enjoyed finding the various parallels at the show and getting them into the album. 

I went to the fame with my brother, Andy.  I miss how we went to Wood Ducks games back when he was here for college.  It was good to get together and spend some time with each other.

In all, I got the following autographs: Alex Dickerson x 9, Ryan Dull x 1, Luis Gonzalez x 2, George Greer x 2, David Hess x 2, Jamie Keefe x 1, Drew Mendoza x 2 and Frank Viola x 9 (28 autographs).

July 25, 2025, Graphing of the Ghost Peppers at Rockers

This past Friday, I went to High Point to try to knock a few Gastonia cards out that I missed from my road trip last month.  I didnt exactly clear many Gastonia guys out, but I did do pretty well with High Point. 

A lot of the Gastonia guys that I needed were on the IL.  I did get a couple guys like Tony Fossas and Cory Thompson. 

I did pretty well with High Point, like I said above.  Alex Dickerson was added to the roster since the last time I had been there.  He was really nice and signed almost everything that I had.  I helped Max complete some 2017 Topps Heritage Minors trio cards, which was cool.

In all, I got the following autographs: Tony Fossas x 1, Jack Reinheimer x 4, Cory Thompson x 2, Kevin Watson x 1, Alex Dickerson x 8, Kyle Halbohn x 1, Drew Mendoza x 3, Frank Viola x 9, and Luis Gonzalez x 7 (36 autographs).

May 17, 2025, Graphing of the Legends at Rockers

On Saturday, I made a trip to High Point for the first time this season. I always enjoy graphing the Atlantic League, and was able to get some more cards out of my boxes.  I also picked up a 2022 High Point team set, just for fun. I only got two of the cards signed, but it doesn't matter.  With the amount of random team set guys I'm seeing these days, I figured $10 wasnt a bad price to pay.

I got a bunch of Jordan Luplow cards out of the Box Of Shame.  He signed 6 of the 9 cards I showed outside after the game. 

I mistook Tanner Tully for another pitcher, and even called him by that name, but their cards were beside each other on the page and Tully hooked me up.

A trip to High Point isn't complete until you can add more Frank Viola cards to the autograph album.  I got a bunch of him done, and a few will be headed to Max in Chicago.

A lot of the guys I got were ones I had gotten before, so this trip really was a "clean out the box" trip.

In all, I got the following autographs: Nick Laio x 1, Curtis Terry x 8, Tanner Tully x 2, Patrick Wicklander x 1, Ben Aklinski x 1, Tommy Doyle x 4, Luis Gonzalez x 2, Jordan Luplow x 6, Drew Mendoza x 3 and Frank Viola x 10 (38 total autographs).

June 28, 2024, Graphing of the Dirty Birds at Rockers

The next stop before Chris and I went on our road trip was to High Point to see the Rockers take on the Charleston Dirty Birds.  Originally (back in February), Charleston had reportedly signed former Wood Duck, Anderson Tejeda.  Now, I can't find that transaction anywhere.  So, the next best thing for me was to get my above 2014 Bowman Sterling (that I finally found) signed by Colin Moran.

I had picked up a few lots of cards from Ebay, which included several Taylor Guerreri and Cam Bedrosian.  The 2018 Topps negative parallel of Bedrosian turned out great.

I got some more Frank Violas signed, along with some Clint Fraziers.  We were lucky to get Frazier, because he retired a few days after we saw him.

Frazier was nice but he made it pretty clear that he didn't enjoy playing in the Independent League. Still, it was great adding him to the autograph album. 

A couple of the ebay pickups that I got done included the above gold mini refractor of Taylor Guerreri and a 2017 Topps Mini.  Both of these turned out great.

In all, Chris and I got the following autographs: Phil Ervin x 4, Clint Frazier x 6, Cam Bedrosian x 4, Taylor Guerrieri x 12, Jameson McGrane x 1, Colin Moran x 4, Neil Ramirez x 1 and Frank Viola x 6 (38).

May 4, 2024, Graphing of Revolution at Rockers

This past weekend, Jesse and I made the trip to High Point so Jesse could knock another stadium off of his list.  He also had never been to an independent league game, so that was new to him also.  Jesse turned me onto the above 1993-95 Cardtoons of "Frankie Violin".  I didn't recall seeing this card before, so when he showed me, I bought one to take to High Point to get signed.

Viola signed everything we had right before the game was set to start.  Once he hit the last card on Jesse's page, the rain started to fall.

We got the game in, though.  Viola ended up being ejected when the Umpires heard some chirping coming from the Rockers dugout.  Unable to identify who it was, he tossed Viola.  It was a bit of extra entertainment added to an already entertaining game.

I knocked out 10 cards (including the Viola) from my 2023 High Point set.  I missed Jeremy Rhoades, but he did start the game, so if would have been tough anyway. I forgot to look for him post-game outside.

We were lucky to get Kyle Barraclough.  He was picked up by the Rangers today.  I finally got the two Ryan Meisinger cards shown above signed.  I had been waiting to get them done for a while. I had been waiting longer to get Peter Solomon, though.  His 2018 Carolina League top prospects card had floated around my boxes since that season.

My friend, Gerard, sent some supplemental cards that I couldn't get in a pinch like the above 2019 Bowman green parallel of Evan Edwards.

Colin Moran was signed to High Point last Thursday, so I was able to find 8 of his cards before I pulled out of the driveway on Friday.  He signed for us twice, doing one per each time.

Jamari Baylor was the only York guy that I was able to get.  I missed Ethan Lindow and Will Stewart.  I'll try to get them sometime later this season. 

In all, we got the following autographs: Ben Aklinski x 1, Kyle Barraclough x 4, DJ Burt x 1, Evan Edwards x 4, Ryan Grotjohn x 1, Jamie Keefe x 1, Ryan Meisinger x 3, Colin Moran x 4, Neil Ramirex x 4, Austin Ross x 1 Peter Solomon x 8, Frank Viola x 17, Ryan Weiss x 1, Zander Wiel x 1 and Jamari Baylor x 8 (59 total autographs).

August 19, 2023, Graphing of Revolution at Rockers

Yesterday, Chris and I met up with my friend, Tyler, and the three of us graphed York Revolution at High Point Rockers.  I had wanted to get back to High Point since my two cards of Daikan Yoh (aka Dai-Kang Yang) came in.  The above 2013 Topps Tribute WBC card turned out amazingly.  It should have; I spent a good bit on the card.

I had also picked up this awesome Japanese card of Yoh.  This also looks awesome.

I had a bunch of cards pulled for High Point, so I graphed them by the dugout pregame.  I got most of the guys I needed, so we graphed by our seats at the York dugout post game.  I only needed a few York guys, so I finished off who I could outsode post game, then went over to the High Point side and finished off everyone I could over there.  I finally was able to get Cam Bedrosian when he was one of the last guys out of the clubhouse.  I was really happy to get the above 2014 Topps Update red foil card signed.

I picked uo a team set for High Point before the end of the game, and was able to get a few guys on that.  I also got a 2011 Bowman Chrome Taylor Guerreiri and some 2018/2019 Shed Long cards out of the boxes.

I didn't sweat too hard over trying to get the team set guys done. I just got who I saw.  I probably will try to finish some of those guys off if they come back next season.  The set was cheap enough; I'm just happy with what I got. 

Between Chris, Tyler and I, all of the Frank Viola cards I had pulled over the course of the last two seasons have been signed.  I'll have to do a deep dive through some of my boxes if I want to find more cards of him.

These two might be my favorite Viola cards that I added to the album.

There weren't a whole lot of York guys with cards, but I was still able to get a few things done. I did miss Richard Urena, so that was disappointing. 

Tyler gave me a 2020 Bowman Drew Mendoza, since I couldn't find any in my Bowman box.  I also had the above Nellie Rodriguez sitting on my desk for quite a long time.  It is now resting in the album, finally out of the way.

In all, I got the following autographs: Cam Bedrosian x 4, Ryan Dull x 2, Albert Gonzalez x 1, Taylor Guerreri x 2, Shed Long Jr × 7, Frank Viola x 21, Dai Kang Yang x 2, Joe Johnson x 1, Trent Giambrone x 2, Drew Mendoza x 1 and Nellie Rodriguez x 2 (45 total autographs). 

May 6, 2023, Graphing of the Frederick ? at the High Point Rockers

With my sister graduating from Salem College this past Saturday, I was afforded another opportunity to graph at High Point.  Another Saturday of Independent Ball, and I was pretty excited.  The Atlantic League Baseball Club of Frederick still has not been named, so they took the field in some pretty cool question mark jerseys, complete with question mark hats.  I liked them so much, I bought a jersey and hat before the game started.

A problem I have noticed the last couple of years while graphing at High Point is that the independent leagues are terrible at updating their rosters online.  Their scores are also hard to find on their webpages.  So, I went into this game a little blind.  Add in the fact that the Frederick team was missing 11 foreign players due to visa issues.  This included the one player I was really looking forward to seeing, Starlin Castro.  I was told by the manager that the players would arrive 10 days after the game.  This didn't do me a whole lot of good.  Still, it was a successful trip.

I hit up Ebay, since I knew well in advance that I would be seeing Frederick.  I picked up this oversized Johnni Turbo for the post card album, mainly because his name was so cool.

I also had plenty of time to go through my boxes, since the Wood Ducks were out of town the last two weeks.  I found a bunch of my Steven Brault cards, including a couple from the box of shame.

I found a ton of John Nogowski cards at the local card shop in Winston-Salem as I was killing time before the game.  That was nice, because I wouldn't have gotten him at all, had I not gone by the shop.  The Jeff Johnson card was the last card I would get signed.  I only needed him, Kole Cottam and AJK Cole outside after the game.

Cottam was really nice.  I picked his cards up off of Ebay, and he even commented on the green refractor.  I know Gerard had gotten him for me in the past, but I wanted to have something in the book for this trip.

I knew my mom would like to see the Charleston Charlies cards make their way into the album.  These were really cool West Virginia Power team set cards that I found on EBay.

I was also really happy to finally get these 2013 Perfect Game Justin Twine cards out of the box of shame.  I had been waiting to get those, as well as his 2014 Bowman, signed for quite some time.

These four Max Povse cards were Ebay purchases, and they turned out great.  I had one more Povse card that I had ordered that missed the cut.  It came as I was out of town.  I'll have to try to see Frederick again, and add that card to the book then.

AJ Cole was really nice.  I missed him post game by the dugout, since he had pitched in the game and had already gone to the clubhouse afterward.  I got him outside, and when I asked him to sign, he asked "Are you sure you want me to sign?"

Cole laughed, and signed my cards anyway.  He missed the Bowman Chrome at the top of the post, but quickly signed it after I asked him nicely if he would include it.  That was the ONE card of his that I really wanted to get signed.

Of course, I got Frank Viola to sign some more of his cards.  He had actually came out of the dugout and into the crowd to sign autographs.  He is such a nice guy, I enjoy going to High Point just to see him.

It will be a while before I run out of Viola cards, but as long as he is cool about signing, I am going to keep asking.  He seems to legitimately enjoy interacting with the fans in High Point.

In all, I got the following autographs:  Steven Brault x 7, Kole Cottam x 4, Jeff Johnson x 1, David Kubiak x 3, Mark Minicozzi x 2, Max Povse x 4, Justin Twine x 7, Johnni Turbo x 2, Elih Villanueva x 2, AJ Cole x 6, John Nogowski x 8 and Frank Viola x 8 (54 total autographs).

April 29, 2023 Graphing of Long Island Ducks at High Point Rockers

Graphing independent ball is a challenge that is a bit different than affiliated ball.  You have to have a wide range of cards, and a lot of time devoted to finding stuff of the guys on the teams you're going to see.  I had found out that Daniel Murphy had signed with the Long Island Ducks and that they would be visiting High Point on a weekend that the Down East Wood Ducks were out of town.  So, I planned early for a trip to High Point, and took a bunch of cards with me from some older boxes.

I got Murphy on two cards, which was nice.  I got him inside pre-game, and outside after the game.  I wish I had put the Gypsy Queen parallel that I had in my book by itself so I could have gotten that signed, but I was still happy that he hit this 2016 Topps Chrome.

He signed this 2019 Topps outside.  I had hoped he would do more than one outside, but I am still happy with what I was able to add to my album.

Wally Backman was the first signer for me yesterday.  He signed two inside pre-game and one outside as he was walking to the bus.  He was nice enough, even though he didn't say a whole lot.  I was glad to add a couple of these 80s Topps and a 1992 Upper Deck to the album.

I had to raid my factory sealed 2006 Topps set to get the two Lew Ford 2006 Topps cards.  I also had to raid my hand-collated 2005 set for that card, as well.  I went ahead and ordered replacements in case I was able to get him on all three, and I did well.

Adieny Hechavarria was really cool.  I got him on everything in my book pre-game, right before the National Anthem.  I refilled what I had left, traded a 2015 Bowman for the 2010 Pro Debut and got him again outside after the game.  He was super nice, and commented on how he liked the 2018 Topps Big League card.

I was surprised that I had some Sam Travis cards.  He was nice, as well.  I felt bad but I presented a ton of cards to Edward Salcedo, since I didn't want to put any 2010 or 2012 Pro Debuts back in the box.  He didn't seem to mind signing a bunch of the same cards, so I have some stuff I can send out in some blind trades.

Al Albuquerque was nice.  He made like he was going to sign for us, walked away with a hat, then made like he was coming back; then he finally did come back and signed everything I had.  I don't think he was messing around, he looked like he was trying to find someone.

Ian Clarkin was the starter, so I was unable to get him before the game.  So, it was guaranteed that I was going to try to get some autos outside after the game.  He was really cool outside.  He talked to me, along with a couple other graphers about his night.  He also commented on how fun these mini Bowman Chromes are.

I also got three other different Bowman Clarkins signed; his 2014 Chrome, 2014 paper and 2015 Chrome.  He signed some extras, no problem, so I have even more trade bait.

I was worried that I missed Kyle Lobstein, so when a pair of players walked outside, I asked them if Lobstein was still inside.  One of them said "I'm right here" and he signed my cards.  We laughed a bit, but he was really nice.

Matt Vogel got shelled in the game, but was still nice enough to stop and sign my two cards at the dugout post-game.  I appreciated him stopping, even though he didn't have to.

Finally, I got Frank Viola to hit a page in my book of a bunch of different cards.  I was surprised that out of all of the cards he signed for me, only one of them was one I had gotten before.

I had a snap case sitting on a desk here at the house from a past trip to High Point.  I was glad I had found it and got some Violas out of it and into the autograph album.

In all, I got the following autographs: Al Alburquerque x 5, Wally Backman x 3, Ian Clarkin x 7, Lew Ford x 3, Adeiny Hechavarria x 9, Kyle Lobstein x 5, Daniel Murphy x 2, Edward Salcedo x 10, Sam Travis x 4, Frank Viola x 8 and Matt Vogel x 2 (58 total autographs).