Lots of Incoming Autographs For The Album

With the National, some Wood Ducks games, a concert and just being really busy, I have fallen behind on some 50/50s that I have gotten recently.

I'll start it off with these two Matt Manning 2016 Bowmans that I got back from my friend in Connecticut, Dylan.  He has offered to do 50/50s for me, but I have only been able to send him Manning cards.  Thankfully, he has been able to get those done.  I just need to sit down and try to find some of the other guys he has said he can see.

Max hooked me up with a nice stack of signed 1987 Topps cards while we were at the National.  He wanted to see me push my total of signed cards for that set up.

As of a TTM that came in yesterday, I have 70 signed cards from the 1987 set.  This is by far the most signed cards I have in any set.  I don't know if I will ever get all of them (likely not), but it is fun to push that total up.

Andrew hooked me up with some 50/50s that he did for me after I left his place.  I really wanted to get the blue 2015 Bowman Chrome back (bottom right).  He still has a couple cards left that he might be able to finish up before the season is out, but even if he doesn't, he did really well this season.

I was really happy to see that Andrew was able to get this one signed.  I had ordered it for my trip, but it came too late.  I'm glad to see that it is done and can take its place in my album.

My friend, Jackson, got a ball (to be shown later) and this 1990 Topps card signed by Bill Ripken.  My friend, Michael, got this card and a ball (to be shown later) signed by Ryan Ripken (Cal's son).  I had completely forgotten that I asked Michael to get the card and ball signed, as I had also sent a ball out for TTM.  It hasn't come back yet, but I still expect it to.

My good friend, Nate, hooked me up with a TTM return that he got back from drag racing legend, Kenny Bernstein.  I have met Bernstein in person a few times, but that was way back before I was getting any kinds of cards signed.  I do have a signed t-shirt somewhere.

My friend, Gerard, always hooks me up with awesome 50/50s.  I had sent him a bunch of Pawtucket Red Sox and Portland Sea Dogs cards, and he got a bunch taken care of.

I ended up with some extra of the coaches, so I will probably do a giveaway or something.

I'm just glad to be able to get a lot of these cards out of my boxes and out to people to get signed.

Gerard always does a great job in getting my stuff signed.  I feel bad that I missed two of the Wilmington Blue Rocks games this past weekend, or I would have been able to finish everything he sent me for that series.  It is also looking like I won't be able to catch the Buies Creek series this next weekend as well.

A lot of stuff is going on lately, and the minor league season is winding down.  I have really enjoyed getting all of the autos and doing 50/50s this seaon, though.

Finally, here is a card that I missed a few months ago when I posted about some autos that Max gave me.  This is a 2013 Topps Orioles team card that Max had gotten signed by Dan Duquette, the Orioles general manager.  I thought it was really cool, but didn't realize it was signed at first glance, so it ended up in my to be blogged pile and was kind of forgotten.

Thanks for all of the cards, guys!  I really appreciate all of the hard work this season!

IP Graphing Recap From My Trip

One of the things Andrew and I planned on doing while I was visiting him was to go to a Cardinals game, and also a minor league game in his area.  The Bowming Green Hot Rods are the closest minor league team to him, so we were able to find a home game to attend while I was in town.  We also were fortunate enough that the St. Louis Cardinals were also at home while I was there.

One of the highlights of being able to see Bowling Green (the Single A team for the Tampa Bay Rays) was that I could finally meet Jonah Heim.  Heim was a former Orioles farmhand who was dealt to Tampa last year for Steve Pearce.

I had a bunch of Heim's cards, so I split them with Andrew, and we got all of them signed.  I was especially happy about the 2013 Bowman Chrome green mini numbered 65/75.  I also got the blue shimmer, purple ice and refractor signed.

I bought some Garrett Whitley cards for the trip, and I also accepted a 50/50 from my good friend, Gerard, but Whitley only signed two cards for me.  One of them was the above yellow parallel from 2016 Bowman, and a 2015 Bowman paper for Gerard.

I got two cards signed by Lucius Fox.  I had bought three Bowman Platinum, but he wouldn't sign them.  He said that it wasn't him on the card, but how many Lucius Foxes are playing in the minors?

I also bought a bulk lot of Dylan Cease cards.  He was on the DL, but was gracious enough to sign for Andrew and I.  I got a 2017 Bowman Chrome taken care of for Gerard, and the rest of the ones I had signed were from what I picked up.

I really like how this blue parallel of Cease from 2016 Bowman Chrome turned out.  I got it pretty cheaply off of Ebay specifically for the trip.  Andrew is going to try to get the rest of the cards taken care of for me as the season progresses.

I did really well with the coaches, too, with the exception for mistaking the Hot Rods manager for Hector Torres.  Apparently there is about a 30-year age difference between the two, and the manager was happy to have a "serious discussion" (his words) with me.  I'm going to have to get one of his cards and send it to him and have him inscribe it "I am not Hector Torres".  That would be funny, and make my embarrassment worthwhile.

I dug through my mid-2000s Topps boxes at the last minute before I left for Andrew's, and found two Brian Lawrence cards.  I gave one to Andrew, and got this 2005 Topps signed.

I did have a little success at the Cardinals vs. Giants game the day before.  Andrew and I each got one of these 2017 Topps Giants team cards signed by Giants reliever, Josh Osich.  It really is a crapshoot in being able to figure out which MLB players will sign, so I was happy that I brought along the random team card.

I had a really great time at both ball parks.  I now have been to 4 MLB parks (Baltimore, Pittsburgh, Detroit and St. Louis), and countless MiLB parks (I will update my map soon).  I also had fun with Andrew, and hope I can get him down my way to graph the Wood Ducks sometime soon.