June 2022 Graphing of Drive at Crawdads

Following what was a tough week-plus, I finally got some graphing in.  We had a death in the family the week prior, then we had to put our dog, Rocky, down last week.  I wasn't really feeling graphing, but made myself go on Friday to Hickory while I was in the Winston area for my dad's annual race.  The race was Saturday, so I had plenty of time Friday night to relax and get some ink on some cards.  Chris was at my sister's house, so I flew solo, but actually made a friend while I was there.  We'll see how that goes.

One of the bigger surprises for me on this trip was that Luisangel Acuna has completely opened up to signing, finally.  He was the first player out of the clubhouse, and signed everything I had on the page.  I was impressed, and happy to get the stuff that I had brought, done.

I knocked out several more Hickory team set cards.  I have a different marker this time, and it stood up much better to the team set cards than my Staedtler did.  I still have a bunch to do, but have gotten most of them out of the way; especially the tough guys like Acuna and Evan Carter.

I also knocked out most of what I had left for Aaron Zavala.  Hickory had the SAL League Top Prospects set in, so I opened one and got Carter to sign the card of him in there.

Robby Ahlstrom was recently promoted to Hickory, so I was able to finish off the card I had left for him.  This card scanned so awesome.

This 2019 Bowman Chrome Draft Progression card is going to be tough to finish, but I got Chris Seise on it, and maybe I can get the other two guys at some point.

Finally, I had only a handful of Greenville guys, and even fewer stopped to sign.  I did get this 2021 Bowman Draft Tyler McDonough done, and it turned out nicely.  I tried a few other guys, but wasn't successful.  It didn't help that the players didn't have numbers on the front of their jerseys.

The Crawdads were wearing Thor themed jerseys, and I won Cody Freeman's (of course).  It will be shipped to me signed, and looks pretty cool.  I was glad to win another Cody jersey, and was even happier seeing him again.

In all, I got the following autographs: Luisangel Acuna x 6, Ben Amderson x 1, Robby Ahlstrom x 2, Evan Carter x 2, Carlos Cardoza x 2, Frainyer Chavez x 2, Randy Florentino x 2, Jon Goebel x 2, Spencer Mraz x 1, Keyber Rodriguez x 2, Thomas Saggese x 2, Chris Seise x 5, Ricky Vanasco x 2, Owen White x 3, Aaron Zavala x 3, Matthew Lugo x 1 and Tyler McDonough x 1 (39 total autographs).

May 7, 2022, Graphing of Crawdads at Dash

Something about best laid plans...  I had the bright idea of treating my parents to an anniversary present of taking them to a Dash game last weekend.  I bought six tickets after the earth stopped spinning when my dad agreed to go to the game.  The weather was horrible leading up to Saturday, including a rainout on Friday, forcing a potential double header for Saturday.  It rained all day, and the games ended up being canceled, after we had gotten into the ballpark and stood for an hour or so watching the Hickory guys play in the batting cages.  Even worse were the ushers who, I guess, didn't realize it was raining, that the four of us (Mom and Dad were smart to wait and not make the drive to the ballpark) were the only people in the cage area staying dry, and that we personally knew most of the players.

I don't normally fault someone who is just doing their job, but this made the third time in two years that I, and other people, have been run out of an area by the Dash ushers, for no discernable reason.  She said we needed a wristband to be where we were, but it WAS RAINING and we WERE THE ONLY PEOPLE THERE!  Furthermore, I heard that the following day, folks were allowed to graph in the same area and were not run out at all.  So, yeah, the Dash ushers are the worst I have come into contact with in any Minor League stadium.  Major Leagues are a different story.  All that being said, I still did fairly well graphing, and was able to see my guy, Cody Freeman.  He even took my books from me and put them on a table near the clubhouse door, so all of the Hickory guys could sign my cards.  John Matthews took it a step further, and took the books into the clubohuse to work on the newly minted team set, until the lady told us to leave.

All in all, I was still happy; I finally got my 2014 Topps Red Hot foil parallel of Danny Farquhar signed, along with these two 2019 Bowman Chrome parallels of Jake Guenther that didn't come in until after I got home from the last trip to Winston.  The rain and humidity, paired with the rough matte finish on the team set cards killed my Staedtler, so I got some crappy autos, as well.

My friend, Jesse, hooked me up with this 2020 Bowman First Edition TK Roby, which was a nice card.

I like the team set from this year, but the cards do have a bit of a rough finish that takes away from the signatures a bit.  I later switched pens, so maybe some team set cards I get signed later this season will turn out better.

It was nice seeing the guys as much as I was able.  The experience could have been better; I wasn't a fan of the lady standing and watching the players hug Chris and rush us along as they were trying to have a conversation with him.  It bothered my sister so much, that she has sworn off going back to the Dash, which is a shame.

I'll probably go back; I mean, I have to, I have six tickets I still need to use.  I was happy to see Cody, and get a hug.  He's still one of the nicest people on the planet, and I always enjoy catching up with him.

In all, I got the following autographs: Luisangel Acuna x 3, Joe Corbett x 2, Ben Anderson x 1, Marc Church x 1, Evan Carter x 1, Cody Freeman x 2, Jake Guenther x 4, Cristian Inoa x 1, Josh Smith x 2, John Matthews x 2, Nick Krauth x 2, Triston Polley x 2, Scott Kapers x 2, Thomas Saggese x 2, Spencer Mraz x 1, TK Roby x 4, Mason Englert x 2, Owen White x 6, Kawika Emsley-Pai x 2 and Danny Farquhar x 1 (43 total signatures).

Graphing Recap - April 10-11 Crawdads at Dash

The minor league season is up and running, and I have already put my first road trip to bed for the season.  I picked up my friend, Alex, in Richmond last Friday night, and we stayed at my parents' farm Friday night and Saturday night with the intention of checking out the Hickory Crawdads at Winston-Salem Dash.

I used the opportunity to visit family, as well, since I have a new niece.  Poor Alex got a crash course in just how large my family is.  I was also happy that Hickory was in Winston, since most of the Wood Ducks from last season moved up to Hickory.  We sat on the Hickory side both games, and reconnected with a bunch of the guys, like Cody Freeman, Nick Krauth, Mason Englert and Owen White.  Carlos Cardoza, manager of last year's Woodies, is now managing the Crawdads, and noticed me when he was coaching third about halfway into Saturday's game.  He came over after the game to chat and thank me for coming out.  My sister and her husband also came to the Saturday game, and were able to meet Cody and some of the other guys.

I was told by one of the players that I had missed Luisangel Acuna; he had injured his hamstring during the Friday game and had been sent back to Arizona.  Luckily, Acuna hadn't actually left yet, and I was able to get him to sign the above cards on Sunday after the game.

I was really excited to finally get some Chris Siese cards signed, since he never made it to Kinston.  He had been hurt much of the last several seasons, and when the leagues flip flopped, I knew it would be tough to get him.

I had even tried to get Siese TTM, but those cards were returned to sender.  They ended up getting signed, though.  I made sure those were the first cards in the auto book since they had so many miles on them already.

TK Roby wasn't at the Wood Ducks for long last season, and left before I could get the above Panini Prizm cards signed.  I found the above 2020 Bowman First Edition blue foil at a show in the offseason and was happy to move it into the autograph album.

I had the 2020 Bowman and Panini Prizm Trevor Hauver cards left over from missing him last season when I traveled to Hickory.  They got out of the Box of Shame and finally got signed.  I didn't realize I had any Scott Kapers until I was looking for someone else in my Spokane team sets, so I bought his Perfect Game card in a lot of 3.  My friend, Gerard, ended up getting one of them, and I'll use the other as trade bait, probably.  I didn't have any cards of Aaron Zavala until after last season was over, so it was nice to finally add him on a few cards.

Since Hickory is so tough to get pitchers at home, I was really glad that I could add some of the team set guys to the album.  I had help from Nick Krauth, who sent Joe Corbett and Spencer Mraz over to sign for me.  Nick is such a good guy.  I wish he had cards.  I got Owen White on the one different card that I didn't have during the season, the Bowman Platinum.  I also got Chris's signed, even though Owen had told Chris over social media that Chris could send to him TTM any time.  Chris and Owen have gotten close, and talk quite a bit.  Owen was disappointed that Chris had to work that weekend, bur I promised that we would come out to Hickory in June and see everyone.

Because I wanted to spend time on the Hickory side, I didn't bring much for the Winston-Salem guys.  I had James Beard cards in the book, but he had gotten sent to Kannapolis; and we missed Matt Thompson.  Thankfully, I was able to finally add Danny Farquhar and Nicky Delmonico.  My friend, Max, had gotten a couple Delmonicos signed for me a while back.  I had missed Farquhar last season, and misplaced a 2014 Topps Red Hot foil, which I found this past week when I wasn't looking for it.  Story of my life.

Most importantly, my friend, Alex, enjoyed his first minor league game away from the Richmond Flying Squirrels.  He enjoyed seeing Winston-Salem, and if he was bored meeting the family, he didn't show it.

In all, Alex and I got two signed baseballs from Cody Freeman, along with all of the signed cards: Ben Anderson x 5, Joe Corbett x 6, Trevor Hauver x 5, Scott Kapers x 4, Spencer Mraz x 5, TK Roby x 5, Chris Siese x 12, Josh Smith x 7, Owen White x 5, Aaron Zavala x 7 Luisangel Acuna x 4, Evan Carter x 6, Chris Siese x 12, Nicky Delmomico x 9 and Danny Farquhar x 3 (94 autographs).

I had a great time, and it was even better because I could see some of the players who we saw last season and had gotten close to.  I wish Chris could have gone to the games, but he will have more time this summer when tennis is over.  Stay tuned to see the rest of the graphing I did this past week.

July 13-18, 2021 Graphing of Delmarva Shorebirds at Down East Wood Ducks

This just-completed series with the Delmarva Shorebirds might have been one where I was limited the most with what I could get signed.  Most of the Delmarva guys I had stuff for either moved up to Aberdeen or they were on the IL.  Plus, I had a lapse in my planning and missed that Dave Anderson had a ton of cards.  That ended up helping, because I was able to spread out looking for Anderson stuff over several of the games, and still got a good bit of stuff signed.

The biggest highlight was that I was finally able to get a Luisangel Acuna signed for myself.  Everything else that I have gotten has been for other people, and this custom that was part of a 50/50 from Instagram afforded me the opportunity to add one to my album.  Yes, Acuna is related to Ronald Acuna, Jr.  He is Ronald's little brother, and has really come on strong with the bat recently.

I got a good many of the customs done, which was nice.  A few were of guys I haven't gotten yet, and I am also happy to add another Cody Freeman to the album.

There's no problem with another Thomas Saggese in the album.  Hudson Haskin was the only Shorebird that I had cards of, other than the below Ryne Ogren Delmarva team card below.  I was bummed that Carter Baumler and Anthony Servideo were on the IL.

I had actually missed this Ogren in my box, but thankfully the 6-game series helped me be able to get everything done.

It also helped me have time to look through a ton of boxes in order to pull every Dave Anderson card I could find.  I'm sure that a few of these sets are very under-represented in my autograph album.

I was able to get Anderson's full run of Topps cards signed.  I wasn't going to go for the 87, since it was already crossed off in my set, but upon further review, I upgraded from black to blue with this one.  So, I now have an Anderson (in black) available for trade.

Anderson was really nice.  You can get him talking, and he is very interactive with fans.  I enjoyed that I was able to talk with him as much as I did.

Finally, my keen eye noticed the little league team in line ahead of me on Thursday.  I was looking at the names on the backs of the shirts, because each kid had a nickname, and noticed that the coach was listed as Mike Devereaux.  I saw the coach and knew he looked familiar, because of all the time I spent studying the 90s Orioles lineups when I was a kid.  So, I walked up to their coach and asked "Mike Devereaux, the former Oriole?"  He said, "Yes, I am!", so I thanked him for all of the years as an Oriole and how I was a big fan of the team.

Devereaux was very awesome and posed for a photo.  He also signed a pocket schedule, since, of course, all of my Devereaux cards were at home.  It was a really good series, even though I didn't get as much signed as I maybe could have.

May 11-16 Graphing Recap of Mudcats at Wood Ducks

Oh, how I have been waiting for this.  After not graphing at a game since August 2019, I was finally able to do some IP graphing at my home field, Grainger Stadium in Kinston.  COVID restrictions are somewhat easing, and I was able to get a bunch of cards signed that I had been stockpiling for a long time.

Chris and I hit every game of this 6-game series, and we took 50/50s for a kid on Instagram named Cal (a different Cal than the one I have worked with in the past) and also for my good friend, Jackson.

The Wood Ducks were almost strictly no graphs inside, with a couple exceptions.  It has been very confusing, as we have seen that MLB has lifted restrictions, apparently, but here, no one has seemed to get the memo.  Still, we were able to get stuff signed, and we respected the players as we did so.  All were very cool, and they seemed genuinely happy that we were season ticket holders and at every game so far.

Chris made a friend with Wood Ducks pitcher, Mason Englert.  He seems like a great guy, and chatted with us outside after every game.  We also got autographs from Ronald Acuna's brother, Luisangel, on baseballs for my friends, Gerard, Andrew and Jackson.  Chris and I have yet to get Acuna on anything for ourselves.

For the Mudcats, I feel a but guilty, as we racked Caden Lemons.  I happened to have a ton of his cards, but he signed for us each day, and was really cool about it.  He even thanked us for our support, even though we were Wood Ducks fans.

All of the Mudcats players were super nice, and we got a ton of cards signed by them.  A good many of the players had cards to get signed, so it was nice to have options.

Freddy Zamora was really cool. I talked to him a good bit outside, then again inside later on.  He played the first game, then may have gotten hurt, as he and Micah Bello didn't play the rest of the series.  Zamora represents my first signed 2021 Bowman.

I also got this sweet Panini Prizm signed that I had picked up from a card show a while back.  I ordered 2 more to come in for the next series that they play, since I know someone who is a huge Miami fan.  I know he's still reading this blog, so I guess I'm spoiling a surprise, but oh well.  Zamora promised me that he would sign my other cards when they come in.

Bello was also really nice, even though we talked to him only after the first game.

Finally, Arbert Cipion was really cool.  He was only 2-per, but it didn't matter to me.  It turned out that he is from the same town in New Jersey as my mother-in-law, so we talked about that for a while.  He said hey to Chris and I before and after each game, and always smiled.

It felt great to be back in my seats at Grainger Stadium.  I really missed IP graphing, and my hope is that things continue to open up and we get back to normal.

In all we got:  Evan Carter x 4, Mason Englert x 2, Tekoah Roby x 4, Leury Tejada x 7, Micah Bello x 9, Arbert Cipion x 6, Caden Lemons x 27, Freddy Zamora x 6, Luisangel Acuna x 3, Joe Gray, Jr. x 5, Bendan Murphy x 21, Zavier Warren x 3, Antonio Cabello x 11, Noah Campbell x 4, Dane Acker x 2, Justin Bullock x 3 and Christian Inoa x 2, for 124 autos.