May 5, 2024, Graphing of Dash at Grasshoppers

With the rain clearing out Sunday, Jesse and I decided to head to Greensboro to see the Grasshoppers take on the Dash and try to finish off some stacks of cards we had put together last month. We had seen the Grasshoppers at Dash, now we flipped that and Jesse could add another stadium to his list.

We graphed inside pre-game and outside post-game.  Samuel Zavala hit everything we had outside.  That almost completely wiped me out of his cards, save for three 2023 Pro Debuts that i couldnt reasonably fit into one of the books.

Peyton Pallette did something I hadn't seen before. He was late coming onto the field pre-game, so he said he would sign for us when he walked by after the first inning. He made good on that promise and signed everything we had.

I found some old Greensboro team sets for $5.00/set and got this 2010 Guilford the Grasshopper signed during the game.

In all, we got the following autographs: Jack Brannigan x 6, Guilford x 1, Termarr Johnson x 4, JP Massey x 1, Jacob Gonzalez x 2, Wes Kath x 1, Peyton Pallette x 5, Jordan Sprinkle x 5, and Samuel Zavala x 13. (38 total autographs).

June 13 and 15, 2023, Graphing of Cannonballers at Wood Ducks

Normally, a series is 6 games, and it usually takes me all 6 to finish off what I have.  In the case of last week's series between the Wood Ducks and Cannonballers, I was able to get everything done in the two games I was able to see.

I had help, of course.  Chris came along with me, as well as my cousin, Ale.  I got some cards in from my buddies Gerard and Max.  Gerard sent me some Andres Mesa parallels and a nice 2007 Upper Deck Premier Carlos Maldonado.  Max sent me some other Maldonados, including the above 2007 Fleer.

The big news of the series was that the Wood Ducks team set came out.  I got a bunch of cards from the set signed.

Normally, the Wood Ducks wait til the last possible second to issue the team sets, but with the new Minor League collective bargaining agreement, Choice's contract is about to expire.  Or so I've heard.

There were a couple guys on Kannapolis who weren't here early in the season like Tanner McDougal, Wilber Sanchez and Niah Schultz.  I also was able to rack Jordan Sprinkle and Peyton Pallette again.

In all, I got the following autographs: Danyer Cueva x 5, Willy Espinal x 1, Gleider Figuereo x 13, Logan Frandsen x 1, Carlos Maldonaldo x 9, Andres Mesa x 21, Yeison Morrobel x 7, Tommy Specht x 3, Tanner McDougal x 2, Peyton Pallette x 28, Wilber Sanchez x 7, Jordan Sprinkle x 25, Noah Schultz x 2, Jojo Blackmon x 4, DEWD x 4, Yosy Galan x 4, Josh Gessner x 4, Dylan MacLean x 4, Damian Mendoza x 4, Jesus Moreno x 4, Ian Moller x 7, Brock Porter x 2, Brian Pozos x 4, Henrik Reinertsen x 4, Adrian Rodriguez x 2 and Ruben Sosa x 4 (175 total autographs).

April 2023 Graphing of Wood Ducks Opening Week

Finally, the Wood Ducks are back in action, and I did a little bit of graphing last week.  Beginning with the Wood Ducks exhibition game against Mount Olive College, followed by the open practice/meet the team event for season ticket holders, and culminating with a shortened series against the Kannapolis Cannon Ballers, I got a decent amount of stuff signed.

The exhibition game was tough, since rosters weren't posted yet.  I still got some stuff signed.  The meet the team event was equally as difficult, since they didn't post the players names where they were sitting.  So, there was a lot of "What's your name?" going on.  I was able to get these four Carlos Maldonado cards signed that I had been holding onto since the 2018 season.  I had missed him on that team set, since he was sent to coach in Arizona (I think) halfway through the season.

I had held these Jeferson Espinal cards in my snap case for the bulk of last season, once I had heard that the Rangers had traded for him.  He never came last year, so I was glad to finally see him on the roster this year.

Some of the guys who have cards now were late-season call ups last year; while a couple who have Perfect Game cards (like Luis Ramirez) are new to the team.  I was able to knock out all of my Bowman stuff by the end of the meet the team event.  I have since moved on to some Ebay pickups and some 50/50s.

Some of the Ebay pickups have been 2022 Bowman Inception cards like the two above Yeison Morrobels.  The cards look awesome, and I have some en route for Danyer Cueva and Anthony Gutierrez.

I also got some of the true returning guys woh got new cards after the season, like Ian Moller and Cam Cauley.  The new Pro Debuts and Heritage Minors cards look great when signed, and I have already finished off what I pulled for the Woodies.

Finally, there weren't ,any guys on Kannapolis that I had cards of, so I was pretty much done with them after the first game.  Peyton Pallette commended on the 2022 Panini Prizm Draft card that I had pulled.  He was really nice, and asked me how I was doing the next time he saw me.

In all, I got the following autographs: Cam Cauley x 5, Danyer Cueva x 8, Yeison Morrobel x 8, Luis Ramirez x 4, Peyton Pallette x 2, Jordan Sprinkle x 9, Jeferson Espinal x 6, Carlos Maldonaldo x 5, Ian Moller x 5, Anthony Gutierrez x 4 and we also got a ball signed by the entire team, Anthony Gutierrez x 3 (54 total autographs on cards; I'm not counting the ball).