Autographed Cards From Gerard

My friend, Gerard, took some 50/50s for me recently, and I got a few back from him.  The above Stephen Gonsalves turned out really nicely, I thought.  Gonsalves has a great auto.

Gerard has been able to take care of some older cards for me with the coaches that he sees.  I can't remember which Rich Gedmans I don't have anymore, so the two above went into my album anyway.  I was pretty sure I didn't have the 1988 Fleer of Bobby Meacham.  I really like that set; they look really nice signed in blue.

Someone, somewhere, made these customs, and Gerard gave them to me.  They look nice, with the 1964 style.

I found these Brian Bannister cards early this year for Gerard, and they turned out great.  Bannister has a great auto.

It's always noce to get a 2014 Bowman signed.  I feel like this was my favorite issue of Bowman.  The parallels were great.  I really enjoyed pursuing those for my former Chris Davis PC.  I would like to see Bowman with some more of those crazy parallels.  Especially the bubble chromes.

Speaking of parallels, Gerard was able to get me these Bowman Platinum cards signed by Mike Olt.  I found them at the Chantilly show in April.

Gerard got me a Pawtucket Red Sox team set and got most of the cards signed for me.  I really appreciated the effort, because I know how hard it is to get team sets signed.

Supposedly, the Wood Ducks have a set coming soon, so I have to keep an eye out for that.

Thank you so much for the cards, Gerard!

Birthday Gift From Gerard

My birthday was fairly low key this year.  I didn't tell too many people that it was coming up, but a couple of my friends knew anyway and sent a few things along.  My good friend, Gerard, picked up a few things for me and sent them along with the last 50/50 batch for the season.

I didn't have a signed mini helmet yet of Nolan Reimold, but now I do.  I will put this in my display case with some of my other Nolan stuff.

Gerard also sent this Zach Britton relic along, which I really like.  I haven't picked up much of Britton's stuff, so this was a nice item to add to the collection.

Gerard has been the person that I have leaned on the most for 50/50s this season.  He has sent me a ton of stuff to get signed, and I have sent him some cards for Pawtucket.

Gerard worked on these cards for the bulk of the season, and came away with some nice autos.

I need to find some more cards of Pawtucket guys so that he has more options.  I, obviously, will wait until the new year when rosters are set.

Gerard had asked me for Mike Olt cards a few times, so at the National, I picked up a few from the dime boxes.  I thought they were all going to be for him, but he sent two of them back to me signed.

Finally, he hooked me up with these signed cards.  I liked the Castillo, since I wasn't sure he would be able to get one signed for me.  Luckily, Gerard came through, as always!

Thank you so much for the birthday package, Gerard!  I enjoyed it!

Doing 50/50s With Gerard

Ever since I have been able to graph the Down East Wood Ducks, I have had folks wanting to do some 50/50s here and there.  A 50/50 is an agreement between graphers to send x number of cards to the grapher for teams that they will be seeing.  Grapher gets the cards signed.  They can keep half of the cards for themselves, and the person providing the cards gets the other half in return.  I have been doing 50/50s with Max for a while, but now, with the Wood Ducks in town, I have accepted and sent out a ton more.

My good friend, Gerard, has sent me a bunch of cards for the Wood Ducks, but has also accepted cards of the Pawtucket Red Sox.  He sent me a huge package the other day with some of the results from his latest trip to a PawSox game.  The above Topps Chrome Blake Swihart might be the best card of the bunch.  This one looks so awesome in person.

Pardon my cards slipping on my scanner.  Gerard hooked me up with some nice autos on some more recent Topps cards.  The Brian Bogusevic cards were really nice.  I was able to get an extra Cubs one, and will pass that on to Max.

The 1987 Kipper adds yet another card from that set to the binder.  I had more Ty Buttrey in the past, but those ended up going out to a few Red Sox fans in the past.

I really like 2015 Pro Debut, so I was happy that Gerard was willing to send that Henry Owens back to me.  I thought I had more Kyle Kendrick, but I was only able to find four cards.  Thankfully, one of the ones I got back was the Bowman Chrome.  I have a ton of cards from that set, but haven't been able to get any signed, until now.

Finally, I got some cards signed for Gerard at the Wood Ducks games a few weeks ago.  Matt Lipka has been the hardest player that I have tried to get at Grainger Stadium.  He had blown me off so many times, I'm starting to think he owes me dinner and a movie.  Seriously, though, he is tough to get, so I had to wait around after a game to get him.  I have 5 cards left of the 50/50, so I may wait around after another game soon, then not accept any more Lipka cards for anyone else.

On the flip side of that, though, is Jeremy Moore.  Moore is super nice, and my son, Chris really likes him.  Moore (b. 1987) played in the majors in 2011 for the Angels.  He was drafted out of high school in Louisiana in 2005.  He appeared in 8 games for the Angels in 2011.  He collected one hit and retired with a .125 batting average.  Jeremy is a class guy and I always love chatting with him at games.

Jairo Beras has since been demoted to Single A Hickory as he makes the transition to pitcher.  He hasn't hit much since signing a nice contract out of Cuba, so the Rangers are trying his arm out.  I hope he is successful.

I have another batch of 50/50 cards that I am working on with Gerard.  I hope they come out as nicely as these.