Tons of 50/50 Autos From Jackson

I am currently in the process of going through all of my card boxes in order to help my good friend, Jackson, in lining up cards for Arizona.  Apparently there are a few events going on there at the end of this month, and he will be able to take a ton of cards and get them signed.  This should help me with a bunch of 1987 guys, and has also helped me clean out some room in my card boxes.

Jackson (not the one who went with me to Norfolk; another Jackson) took some cards for me last year, and finally got around to sending a bunch of them back.  He was able to get Jeremy Moore for me during Fall Instructional League a few months ago.  I was hoping Chris's TTM to Moore would come back, but I am thinking that maybe it'll come back during Spring Training.

I had Don Schulze in my TTM box since 2016, but never sent out to him.  When Jackson asked me to look for his cards, it didn't take me long.  He got everything I sent signed, and also sent me extras.

He asked me for Carmelo Martinez a long time ago.  So long ago, I forgot what I had sent him.  So, he sent me my 1987 back (I know I sent that one) and also an 89 and 91.

He tried to get an 87 Topps signed for me by Ed Lynch.  I didn't have one in my box, for some reason, so I had to rob from my completed set.  He got a card signed, but it turned out to be a 1987 Topps Tiffany.  Mine was still in his binder, so he will get that one done for me later on.  He did take care of Mark Davis and Craig Lefferts for me, though.

Thanks so much for getting these done, Jackson.  I hope you love the box I am about to send you.

We Are The (Co)Champions

Well now.  I never thought I would have been able to say this, but the Down East Wood Ducks are Co-Champions of the Carolina League.  In their first season of existence.  Following an improbable run in August and September that they parlayed into a playoff spot, the impending hurricane strike shortened the Carolina League playoffs and forced them to name co-champions for the first time since 1999.

I waited since the end of the 2011 minor league season for a team to come back to Kinston, and Chris and I have been with this team from the start.  We went to the first ever team practice, and the meet the team event in March.

This was my first ever season graphing minor league games, and in doing so, I got 964 baseball cards signed throughout the season.  During that time, I enjoyed chatting with all of the Wood Ducks (and some on opposing teams) players.

I remember thinking that the Wood Ducks would be pretty good this season, since I felt like the Rangers had a pretty good farm system.  Meeting the team in March helped us get to know some of them face to face, and we really worked hard in making them feel welcome here in Eastern NC.

We tried to watch their first ever game, an exhibition against Mount Olive College, but it was rained out.  We had to settle for the home opener a week later.

I believe I went to 31 Wood Ducks games this season (27 at home and 4 on the road).  That turned out to be a bunch!

Chris formed friendships with a few of the players, such as Emerson Martinez, who got the win tonight in the game that clinched their share of the league title.

Brett Martin started the game and pitched 2 and 2/3 innings.

I believe we all had a great time this season.  I hate to see it come to a close, but to close it out with a share of the league championship is just amazing.

Even my wife enjoyed going to the games.  Sure, she thought a few of the players looked better than I do, but I'm not worried, she still comes home to me!

I think Chris got more out of this season than anyone, though.  He has forged life-long memories this season.  He was able to go out on the field twice this season.  All of the players recognize him, and are happy to see him when he says hello.

I'm so happy that they won a share of the title.  This has been such a cool season; I can't wait until April, so another season will start.

Three Days of Graphing the Keys at Wood Ducks

This was the most anticipated series this season at Grainger Stadium for me.  The Frederick Keys were scheduled for only one trip to Kinston this season, and I made sure I was prepared to rack some future Orioles, as well as some Wood Ducks.

I made a few COMC and Ebay purchases so I would have some "different" cards for this series, and I also raided my Orioles PC boxes for some players who were on the Keys.  Finally, I picked up a couple team sets to round things out so I could get autos of some guys that I may not have been able to, otherwise.

This 2017 Bowman Chrome orange refractor of Josh Morgan was an Ebay purchase, and turned out really nicely.  The card is numbered 6/25.

I had help, of course, for this series.  I had my son, Chris, and my nephew, Jacob, helping out.  Their payment was a couple stacks of autos, once I completed 50/50s for my friends Gerard and Andrew.  Another Andrew from Instagram sent along a couple cards, as well, which we were able to get taken care of.

The above Jeremy Moore was a COMC pickup.  He even asked about it, "Why is this one orange?"  I explained to him that it was a factory set parallel.  This card is numbered 60/190.

These Ti'Quan Forbes came from COMC.  The red white and blue isn't numbered, but the orange is numbered 45/60.

Since the Wood Ducks aren't producing a card set this season, I picked up the 2017 Hickory Crawdads set.  Several of their players have already been promoted to the Wood Ducks, so I went ahead and got a few signed.

The cards are really dark, but they still turned out really nice.  I'm glad I was able to get a few of these guys, especially Shaq Matta.  He stops and chats with me briefly before every game, and always is smiling.

I also picked up a couple Aberdeen Ironbirds sets, hoping I could use some of them on the Keys.  I was able to get a few signed, which was nice.

A couple of the players were in multiple sets, so I was able to get a couple different cards signed, Like Ricardo Andujar.

Andujar was a New York-Penn League All Star in 2015, so this card is pretty cool.  I like how he signed it, as well.

Believe it or not, I began looking up team sets because I wanted cards of Alexander Wells and Austin Hays.  I got those guys, but they aren't with the Keys.  The Keys guys were a bonus.  I was happy to get an extra card of Keegan Akin to go along with the 2017 Pro Debut that I picked up at the card show.  His signature is really small and thin, but I like it.  He was actually the first auto I was able to get during this series.

Randolph Gassaway has been in the Orioles system for a long time, as evident by the 2013 Bowman and Bowman Chrome.  He has been playing really well, as of late, and may be on the Orioles radar, finally.

I figured that since Cody Sedlock was on the DL with a forearm strain (thank God it isn't a torn UCL), he wouldn't have made the trip to Kinston.  Thankfully, I was wrong.  We racked Sedlock.  He is such a nice guy.  He posed with the boys Sunday after the game, and on Monday, signed their photos.

I got a whole bunch of different cards signed by Sedlock, and took care of all of my 50/50s.

I even got his Aberdeen team set card signed.  On Tuesday, I wished him well, since I won't be seeing him anymore this season.  I hope he gets healthy and can contribute this season.  I am excited to see him progress, and he has two new fans in Chris and Jacob.

I had a bunch of Brian Gonzalez cards in my Orioles boxes, so I pulled all of them out and got all but one of them signed during this series.  They all turned out really nice, and will look so cool in my album.

Josh Hart is another player who's cares were scattered all over my Orioles boxes.  I was really happy to get some nice parallels taken care of during this trip.

The orange refractor is one of my favorite cards in all of the ones I got signed.

Hart is injured, and was another player who I thought I wouldn't be able to get while the Keys were in town.  I saw him come out onto the field right before the game started on Sunday, but I was able to get him post game.  He walked right up to me on Monday saying "You don't even have to ask me, I know what you want."  He then signed everything I had in my book at the time.  He was really nice, and smiled while signing.  I think he saw that my book was turned to his page (he must have recognized his cards), but my back was to him because I was answering a question for Jacob.  I turned around and there Hart was.  I thought it was pretty funny.

I was really worried that I wouldn't be able to get Ryan Mountcastle, mainly because I thought he would get called up before the Keys ever got to Kinston.  Luckily, he was still with them this week, and I was able to get every card I had of him signed.  He is one of the top Orioles prospects now, so I wanted to take advantage of my opportunity and get what I could done.  The cards will happily take a place in my album.

Mountcastle is in a bunch of different sets, so I had a lot of cards to choose from.  Trips to the card shop facilitated this venture as well, since Wendell has a few boxes of loose prospect cards to look through.

I actually pulled the yellow Mountcastle while I was in Illinois with Andrew.

He has some nice Bowman cards, so I was glad to get these signed.  The purple parallel turned out really nice.

I had a nice little mini PC of Alex Murphy that I started right when he was drafted.  The cards were in a box under my guest bed, so I went ahead and put everything in my graphing bag for this week.  I got everything signed, and am really happy with the results.  The green chrome is numbered 21/75; the silver wave is numbered 17/25 (and I remember it being from an early Instagram trade), while the rest of them are not numbered.

Finally, I used to not like seeing 1/1 cards signed, but since I spent the rest of the Murphy PC on graphing, it was only right that the printing plate end up in my album with the rest of its cousins.  It actually turned out really nice, and I am glad I got it signed.

Here is the stack of cards that Chris, Jacob and I got signed.  We got 129 cards signed, one photo each for the boys and I printed out a photo of Grainger Stadium and got 6 Wood Ducks on that.

During the final game of the series, Brett Martin pitched for the Wood Ducks.  He looked good out there, and is still working his way back to form from his back injury.  He took a hard-luck loss, with a few runs scoring on some fluke hits.  I think only two balls hit off of him were really squared up.  I made sure to ask each manager prior to the game for the lineup cards, and they both came through.  I think I will frame these and hang them up, instead of taking them to the games for signatures.

So, We all had a great time at the games, and my nephew has put together a graphing book that he can take with him to Winston-Salem Dash games.  I hope he sticks with it, because he seemed to really enjoy himself, and the stack of autos he is taking home with him.

I'd like to thank my friend, Neil, for the tickets to each game, as well.  The seats were great and we had an awesome time.

July 7 Graphing of Wood Ducks Vs. Astros

The Wood Ducks returned home tonight from a successful 3-game road trip where they won a series against the Winston-Salem Dash.  They carried that momentum into tonight's game and beat the Buies Creek Astros 7-1.  I had a great time tonight, as it was a return home for me, as well.  My last graphing experience didn't go as well as I had hoped, so a return to the friendly confines of Grainger Stadium was welcome.

I took this photo tonight and it was featured during the weather on WITN's 11:00 PM newscast.  I was really excited about that.

I have only been placing two cards of Howard Johnson in my autograph book, now, since he has pretty much been doing two-per at each game.  I have a couple nice cards, still, that I would like to get signed, so I hope I can get them during the next few games.  That way, I can finish the 50/50 from Gerard, and wrap up the season without too many cards left over.

The 2009 Topps Tribute turned out amazingly.  It is numbered  115/219.  The 1990 Donruss Best of The National League is also really cool.  I always loved the 1990 design, so adding a "parallel" (even though it isn't a parallel) to that was really cool.

I came home with one each of newcomer Yeyson (pronounced Jason) Yrizarri, Brett Martin, Jeremy Moore and Matt Lipka.  Lipka actually signed two, but one is for Gerard.  I was really happy that Lipka signed for me pre-game.  I hope I can get the last two cards of him taken care of.  His bat is coming to life, so maybe that has helped his demeanor.  Not that he was mean or anything, maybe he just doesn't like to sign.  That's fair enough.  I had a lengthy conversation with Brett Martin, which is always enjoyable.  I also spoke with Jeremy Moore twice.  He specifically asked about Chris, which was really cool.  Chris is on a trip, so when he gets back, we will have to make a point to go to Kinston so he can say hello to all of these guys.

Speaking of newcomers to the team, Ti-quan Forbes was recently promoted to the Wood Ducks.  I had a bunch of cards of him, so I went ahead and got the best of the bunch taken care of.  With him and Yrizarri, I knocked two more cards off of my Hickory set.  That was really nice.  I could have gotten a third, but I have yet to be able to get Peter Fairbanks.  I am kind of waiting for Chris to come back, since he told Fairbanks that he is his new favorite player.  I can always wait til after the game outside to get those cards taken care of.

Another newcomer to the Carolina League is Astros prospect, Forrest Whitley.  He signed two of the four cards that I had.  I will try Buies Creek at least one more time, so I think I can get the rest taken care of.

I went to the card shop while on my lunch today, and along with the Whitleys, I also picked up two Jake Rogers.  He was really nice, and signed both cards.

I also picked up these two Anthony Hermelyn cards that turned out really nice.

Finally, I had gotten a couple Brett Adcock cards from the shop, and also from an order on COMC.  I have a couple left over, but these were the best of the bunch.  That blue parallel really looks nice.

I felt so much better following this game, as opposed to the Salem Red Sox game.  I think it was a return to the field I am familiar with (graphing, at least) that helped.  Also, it was Food Truck Friday, and the food was amazing.  Maybe that was it.

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.