2023 National Signed Card Pickups

Of course I still have stuff to post from this year's National.  In an attempt to catch up on my TTM posts, I put some National stuff on the back burner.  In cleaning up my desk and card room recently, I found this stack of random autos I picked up on the last day of the show.

I found a vendor who had boxes of IP autos at good prices.  I picked up a bunch of those autos.  As Michael and I were walking out of the show, I had a little money left to spend and came across a vendor who made me a great deal on the above Ronald Acuna signed Allen and Ginter.  The price was great, and the card is PSA authenticated.  I had to pick it up.

Among the random IP autos I got, I grabbed a bunch of old team set stuff. The above Ryan Minor is really nice.  Minor has recently entered Hospice care for his Stage IV colon cancer.  I met Minor several times and he was always a great guy.  It's super sad to hear what he's going through. 

Some other cards I picked up were an assortment of Kinston Indian signed team set cards.  I grabbed duplicates of some of these and gave them to my friend, Billy, toward the end of the season.  It's really cool to go back and see some of these old team set cards.

Finally, I got a handful of old Orioles IP autos and two other random cards.  I really enjoyed going through their box.  I probably would have gotten more, but I was sitting there until the first signing of the day.

I hope the same guy is at the 2024 National, so I can grab some more.

August 2019 Graphing Recap of Keys at Wood Ducks

The Frederick Keys made their last stop in Kinston on August 26-29, culminating with a meet and greet with the Wood Ducks team on August 29, since that was the final home game of the regular season.

During this series, I got everything I had of Cadyn Grenier signed, which turned out to be a ton of cards.

I had help from Chris and a few other folks who were at the games.  Grenier was really nice, but if you had multiples of the same card on a page, he would not sign more than one of them.

He also wouldn't call you out if you got him more than once in the series, which really helped.  So, I got a lot of stuff done, and also helped out a bunch of folks with their 50/50s.

I got cards from a couple different Delmarva team sets, along with the Carolina League All Stars from the Keys, and this season's Keys team set.

I really like this season's Keys team set, and was able to get a bunch of the cards signed.

Chris and I enjoyed talking with the Keys players, as always, and one of the best was Brenan Hanifee.  He was really cool the last time I saw him come through, and this time around, Chris was there, and spoke with him at length.

I was surprised at all of the team set cards I was able to get done.  I don't think I missed anyone, save for one Bobby Rose card from the Carolina League All Star set.

I was disappointed to learn a couple days ago that all of the coaches for the Keys will not be retained for next season.  While that may provide an opportunity to see some new faces coaching them, I liked Ryan Minor, and will miss talking to him next season.

I was glad to get a lot of these cards signed, so I won't have to keep up with many unsigned ones from the sets for next season.  I don't necessarily mind, as a lot of the guys will show up at Orioles Fan Fest, or be at other MiLB stops in their system.

This series marked the last home series of the Wood Ducks regular season.  I knew Chris and I would be out of town for the first round of the playoffs, so he and I treated it like it would be the last seried of the year.  Unfortunately, we turned out to be correct.  I am glad we were able to meet and greet the team during that last game.

TTM Success - Ryan Minor

I added some cool cards of a former Oriole with this TTM success from Ryan Minor.  He is currently the manager at Single A Delmarva in the Orioles system.  He was once a prospect for the Orioles, who's claim to fame was that he started at third base for the Orioles on the day that Cal Ripken ended his streak.

I had quite a few of Minor's cards in my Orioles box, so it was easy finding some to send out for the TTM request.  I pulled this 1999 Topps out of the box I got while I was at Andrew's last month.

I really like the 1999 Bowman set.  Those are really cool-looking cards.  The Topps Finest turned out really nice, as well.

Minor (b. 1974) played in the majors from 1998 to 2001 for the Orioles and Expos.  He had 56 hits, 5 home runs and a .177 batting average.

I mailed to Minor via the Delmarva Shorebirds on May 10 and got the cards back on June 15 for a 36-day TAT.

June 4, 2010 Greensboro Grasshoppers vs Delmarva Shorebirds

I was afforded a chance to go the the new Greensboro park to watch the Greensboro Grasshoppers take on the Delmarva Shorebirds (Orioles Low A team) on Friday, June 4, 2010. I met up with my good friend who knows a thing or two about baseball and we watched the Orioles 2009 1st round (5th overall) draft pick Matt Hobgood pitch. He kind of disappointed me a bit in that he struggled in his start (although he did go 7 innings) and seemed to be overweight. His fastball was ranging between 87-91 MPH and seemed to have trouble repeating his arm slot.
I met and spoke with Hobgood after the game and let me tell you, the kid is a real pleasure to talk to. He shook my hand twice and signed a ball for me. I was able to meet Hobgood after Steven Bumbry (son of Al Bumbry) let Hobgood know that I was interested in meeting and talking to him. Bumbry signed a ball for me also and was very nice to track Hobgood down for me. I won't forget that.

I also met and talked to Mike Devereaux, a former Oriole who I watched when I was a kid growing up as an Oriole fan. He was a good player in the early to mid 1990s. I'm glad he is back with the organization. He definitely seemed appreciative when I told him that I grew up watching him and appreciated the effort he gave on the field. He also signed a ball for me.

I got a cool autograph from former Oriole Ryan Minor. He is significant in that he played in place of Cal Ripken the day The Streak ended. With me being a huge Cal fan, this ball is going to hold special significance to me. Also, because I thought it was a good conversation piece, I got him to sign a ball for Max as well.

Here is a look at the Greensboro field. I really liked it there. I liked that instead of bat boys, they have bat dogs (dogs trained to retrieve the bats). That was really cool to see. The park was easily accessible and I plan on going to several more games there in the future.

The Mendoza Line and Set Complete 1998 Topps

I would like to congratulate myself on post #200!!!!!! I am now at the Mendoza line. Yeeee Hawwww. I never thought I'd have this much to say about cards and stuff. Thanks everyone for reading! I hope you have enjoyed the 199 previous posts.

Now, I would also like to turn your attention to my completer card for 1998 Topps. I had no idea the last card I needed was the Boone/Beltre rookie card. I knew former Oriole Ryan Minor was on the card.

Anyone know the significance of Ryan Minor in Orioles history?

He is the person who started in place of Cal Ripken on the day The Streak ended. I remember catching some Orioles games in 1999 and booing Minor hard. I feel bad about it now, the poor guy didn't ask for the attention. Kind of like how Doug DiCences felt when he took over for Brooks... he could never measure up, nor did he want to.