January 15-16, 2026, Trip To RedsFest

The baseball offseason is a long one.  I'm at the point where I really want to go out and do some graphing, so when my buddy, Aidan, mentioned to me that I ought to make a trip up to Cincinnati for RedsFest, I was intrigued.  I planned the trip for over a month, and looped Jesse in on it, since he is a huge Reds fan.  I treated him to the trip as part of his Christmas gift. It was a gift to me, as well, because I enjoy his company, and that would be a long ride to take on by myself. 

Jesse and I started the trip Wednesday night, driving across the state from Greenville to my parents' farm in Yadkinville.  We got up Thurdasy morning, visited with my mom (and sister, Elly), then grandma (and Uncle Joe; Jesse loves Uncle Joe) for a bit, then headed to the card shop.  I wanted to see if I could get some 2025 Bowman Draft (not at $725/box).  They did let me take the leftover base, which helped me add a few cards to the Reds box. 

We got into Cincinnati around 7pm and had dinner.  I was glad that I over-prepared ahead of time and didn't have to prep or add anything to my book, other than the couoke of Draft cards I got earlier in the day. We could relax in the hotel and rest up for a full day of graphing. 

Jesse and I met up with Aidan Friday morning and graphed outside the hotel near the convention center.  There were a ton of other graphers there, and it was really cold. Still, we were able to get a couple guys to stop and sign, which took the edge off of the huge lot of stuff I brought to get signed. 

RedsFest was very similar to Orioles FanFest, except that the autograph sessions are free to the first 225 folks to get in line, and you don't know who's going to be in each session until 30 minutes before the session starts.  You sign up for the text alerts and have a fighting chance to get in a line in time.  I'll say, we didn't miss getting autographs in any time slot. I was able to double up during most slots, as well, which was great.  The only session we tried to get into but skipped was one on Saturday that included Matt McLain, but we saw the mob of people heading in there, so we skipped it.

I also was cut off by the Reds employee for the line to meet Bronson Arroyo.  I went around the area and stood by the barrier until a guy that was working for Arroyo (he was selling copies of his LPs and CDs at the show). The guy took my card and had Arroyo sign it, a 2010 Topps Walmart black parallel.  Arroyo turned around and told me "that's a weird card man".  I agreed, then asked him what his favorite Pearl Jam song is.  He started by saying "all of them" then pivoted and told me "Black is always a transcendent experience", which was cool as hell.

Aside from the Bowman Draft cards I picked up as we were leaving Winston-Salem, I had prepped and brought 706 cards with me to split between me, Jesse, Aidan, Aidan's brother Riley and Aidan's friend Marcus.  I just happened to pull a few Pierce Johnson cards and prepped them, just in case he showed up.  He was a signing the week before the event, and he did show up.

Devin Mesoraco was one of the guys we got outside of the hotel Friday morning. He signed everything we had.  I even found the smeared 2012 Heritage on the ground after everyone else left, so it went into my slider box.

Every player we met was really nice.  A couple folks on Instagram commented that I was lucky to get a couple of the guys, so it seems that RedsFest does facilitate getting autos from some guys a little better.

For most of the players, I put out no more than 4 cards, with the majority of them being 3 on a page.  The only guys who limited were Graham Ashcraft (1), Tony Santillan (1), JJ Bleday (2), JJ Hoover (2) and Tucker Barnhart (1).

I actually didn't keep the Tucker Barnhart that I got done.  He signed a 2023 Topps Heritage that is going to Max for his Cubs collection. I also got Barnhart's 2022 Topps signed by his little boy who was coloring the table with a Sharpie as hus dad was signing. I asked him if he wanted to sign a card, and I think that made his day.

Aidan's buddy Marcus slipped a custom card of "Big Sugar" Zach Maxwell into my book when I wasn't looking.  I was glad to get it signed, and it drew a response from Maxwell. That was really nice of Marcus.

Finally, the last auto of the show was this custom of my buddy, Aidan.  He and I have graphed together quite a bit over the last year, and I am happy that we have hit it off.  He is a pitcher for Wake Tech, and hopes to get picked up by a 4-year university after this season.  I hope he does, as well.

I'm glad I was able to take Jesse with me, and make this part of his Christmas gift.  I know he had an amazing time (he met TJ Friedl, and found a pair of game used cleats from Blake Dunn's first MLB home run game). We are already talking about going back up to Cincinnati soon.

In all, I got the following autographs: Today's graphing recap of RedsFest: Julian Aguiar x 2, Graham Ashcraft x 1, Benson Barnhart x 1, Tucker Barnhart x 1, JJ Bleday x 2, Keith Brown x 2, Danny Graves x 3, JJ Hoover x 2, Zach Maxwell x 3, Luis Mey x 3, Dave Miley x 1, Tony Santillan x 1, Jose Trevino x 1, Aidan Warnock x 1, Bronson Arroyo x 1, Leonardo Balcazar x 1, Skeeter Barnes x 2, Tyler Callihan x 3, Blake Dunn x 5, Alfredo Duno x 1, Luke Hayden x 2, Luke Holman x 1, Pierce Johnson x 3, Carlos Jorge x 3, Tyson Lewis x 3, Devin Mesoraco x 8, Sam Moll x 4, Mason Morris x 4, JP Ortiz x 3, Connor Phillips x 3, Hector Rodriguez x 2, Ben Rortvedt x 2 and Chris Welsh x 1 (76 total autographs).

March 16, 2019, Raleigh Card Show Recap

I hadn't been to a card show since last year's National, and I really wasn't planning on going to the Raleigh show this past weekend.  I received a message from my friend, Jackson, who wanted to go, and he asked me if I would go with him to the show.  I figured it would be nice to spend time with him, so I decided to go ahead and attend.

I had some Christmas money that I hadn't spent, so I had a little bit of a budget.  I bought mostly stuff for other people, which is usually the case.  I did, however, find a few things for myself.  Most of what I bought was vintage stuff for TTMs and cirrent prospect stuff for graphing.  I did grab a few things for the collection, like the above 1949 Bowman Ralph Kiner.

The Kiner is really rough, but I liked it, and it was part of a bulk vintage deal with one of my favorite vendors.  I paid $20 for this card and a stack of lower grad vintage for TTMs.

This blue wave Riley Pint auto was part of the last deal I made.  The guy had a ton of nice Bowman parallels and autos.  I got a decent stack from him for $50.

I picked up a bunch of current and former Wood Ducks autos, as well.  I got this Eric Jenkins as part of a 2/$5.00 or 5/$10.00 deal.

Kyle Cody is a case of "buy low" at this point.  He has been out with arm injuries, but when he was on the Wood Ducks, he was pretty much "lights out".  I'm hoping he can bounce back and also spend a little more time in Kinston before he moves up (for selfish reasons, of course).

 I loved this green shimmer Cody auto, and this was the card that started that bulk $50 deal.  Jackson found it for me, and I made sure to take it home.

 This Jairo Beras auto was a steal.  He is a really cool guy, and even if he doesn't make the Show, I will hold onto this, since we met him several times.

I guess I have a small bit of a PC for guys that I have met, so adding this Jose Trevino made sense.  He was an awesome guy, even though he wasn't a Wood Duck.

This Ryan Ripken auto was a throw in on the bulk deal, and I was glad to grab it.  I was also glad I have finally learned not to wear Orioles gear to a show.  I got hosed back in the day when Ripken was first drafted, since I had an Orioles shirt on.

Finally, my big ticket item was this graded 10/10 Leody Taveras auto.  I paid $50 for it, and I think it will only go up.  I expect to see him again in Kinston this summer, but probably for not very long.

I had a great time at the show.  I was happy with everything I picked up, and I really appreciate Jackson inviting me.

2019 Wood Ducks Hot Stove Event

It still pains me that I missed the first Wood Ducks Hot Stove event back in 2017.  Thankfully, I get notifications from the team on a bunch of different platforms now, I should never miss any Wood Ducks news.

This year, the third annual Wood Ducks Hot Stove event brought current Rangers Willie Calhoun, Jose Trevino and Jeffrey Springs to Kinston (and in Springs's case, back to Kinston).  Again, the event was held at King's BBQ, which is a very great BBQ chain in Kinston.  This was my second time going to the event.  Tickets cost $30/person and came with 2 drink (for adults of course) tickets and dinner.  There was also a social hour where you could mingle among fellow fans, Wood Ducks employees and the Rangers personnel.  I brought my son, Chris and my brother, Andy, along and the two of them has as much fun as I did.  I posed for one photo, with Willie Calhoun, who was super nice.

Willie also posed with Chris and definitely won a new fan once Chris realized that Calhoun grew up a Giants fan.

Jose Trevino was really cool, as well.  We had met him last summer in Frisco.  We spent some time last night talking about football and who we thought would win in the playoffs.  Turns out, Trevino is a huge Cowboys fan.

Jeffrey Springs kinda sorta remembered us from 2017, when he was a Wood Duck, but the 30th round pick has gone on to become the second Wood Duck to reach the majors.  He is also a native North Carolinian, hailing from Belmont.  He and I discussed how disappointed we were in the Panthers' season and more specifically how disappointed we were in Cam.

We were introduced to new Wood Ducks manager, Corey Ragsdale, who seems to be a pretty cool guy.  This season, he will be doubling as Woodies manager and also Rangers Minor League Field Coordinator.

There was a roundtable discussion with the players, and I was able to ask a question of them: Now that they have reached the majors, who have they met that they were like "Oh man, I can't believe I met THAT GUY!"  Springs answer was Cole Hamels; Trevino answered Michael Young and Calhoun answered Barry Bonds.  The Rangers announcer, Matt Hicks, also answered my question by telling a story about how he interviewed the great Hall of Famer, Vin Scully.  The stories that were told definitely were a highlight of the night, and I was glad that my question elicited some of the best stories of the night.

Chris made a new friend in Calhoun.  Here they are after the event talking about the Giants and Barry Bonds.  According to Chris, he also talked to Calhoun about how it was having Tim Lincecum (still Chris's favorite player) as a teammate last Spring Training and how Calhoun collects his own baseball cards.  Apparently, Calhoun tries to get one each of his cards and signs them for himself.  For some reason, that cracked me up.  He seems like a really cool, down-to-earth guy.  I talked with him later about how it was meeting Bonds.  It turns out, Calhoun was introduced to his idol by his mentor, former pitcher, Dave Stewart.  Bonds and Calhoun formed a friendship this offseason and have spent a great deal of time working out together.  I may or may not have dropped a few hints to Calhoun by saying, "Man, I really need to find a way to get Barry to sign his 1987 Topps rookie card for me..."  Calhoun laughed and told me that each day he worked out with Bonds, he was bringing handfuls of stuff to be signed, and Bonds graciously signed everything he brought.

I picked up two nice items during the silent auction (well, one during the silent auction, and one after).  This team signed "Christmas in July" bat hadn't been bid on at the end of the show, so I offered to buy it at the minimum bid, and the folks were happy to take my money.

The bat is amazing.  I mean, it is really awesome!  It looks even better in person and I honestly have no idea where I want to display it, but it looks so cool.

It definitely is a high-end custom bat that they had made especially for the Christmas in July event last season.  So, Chris and I have jerseys for the event, and I have the team signed bat.

Of course, I couldn't do the event without doing some graphing.  I took 50/50s for my friends, Max and Gerard, and between Chris, Andy and I, we got everything signed.  The purple chrome Calhoun was pulled from one of those 2018 Bowman Chrome Mega Boxes from Target and is the special atomic refractor that was in those boxes.

I was out of Trevino cards, so I had to order some.  I liked this Frisco card from 2018, so I got that off of Ebay.

I also picked up a few parallels from 2018 Bowman, and a red Team USA card.  The 2018 Bowman Chrome base was my end of the 50/50 from Gerard.

My favorite Trevino was this gold shimmer parallel out of 2018 Bowman.  It is numbered 20/50 and scanned amazingly.  I had purchased a lot of 10 additional Bowmans, but they didn't arrive in time.  My friend, Max, will get those done for me at Spring Training.

I had never heard of Ragsdale before, but when I was informed that he would be the manager, I searched him real quick on EBay.  I saw that he was in 2006 Bowman, so I searched my Bowman box and found that although I had a ton of 2006 Bowman, I had no Ragsdales.  I bought a good many of them off of Ebay.

It turns out, though, that my LCS has boxes of "rookie cards" dating back to the mid-90s, which essentially means, there are boxes there that I had never gone through in the 10 years (that's right, I have been in the Greenville area now 10 years) that I have been going to the shop.  I picked up a handful of Ragsdale's cards just in case the ones I ordered didn't get here in time.  Luckily, those all came and I got them done already.

Finally, I got Jeffrey Springs on my Spokane and 2017 Woodies team set cards, along with a Roughriders card that I picked up.

I had such an amazing time at the event; I can't wait til the season starts.  I think I got my 2019 graphing season started off with a bang.  Now, onto Orioles Fan Fest!