April 2, 2025, Graphing of Cannon Ballers at Dash

On Wednesday, the Winston-Salem Dash hosted the Kannapolis Cannon Ballers in another exhibition game.  I had two tickets, since Winston-Salem was doing a $0.52 promotion, but ended up being unable to fill the second spot.  That ended up being ok, because the graphing scene (at least on the Kannapolis side) was a mess.

Players from both teams limes up on the field pregame for a signing event, but it was very disorganized. Rosters with uniform numbers hadn't been released prior to the game, so we had to ask everyone what their name was.  That was pretty embarrassing, but I've had to do it before.  Still, everyone was pretty cool and signed a good bit of what I had.  Most limited, but that was ok.  I can try to see Winston-Salem again soon.

The White Sox have quite a few guys with Bowman cards from the last several years.  I knocked out a lot of players who had been in my Bowman box for years like the two 2023 Bowman Wilber Sanchez cards.

It turned out that the Kannapolis guys who lined up for the signing had no cards.  They were cool about it though and chatted with us for a bit.  We made our way to the Kannapolis dugout, which ended up being swamped.  I was in the scrum, right in the middle of it, but still got a few guys that I needed.  I wasn't too worried about the guys that I missed because I plan to catch them in either Fayetteville or Zebulon.  Hopefully I can.

I ended up leaving early, around the 3rd inning, because I had a long ride home.  I did get to see George Wolkow launch a bomb of a home run.  He crushed that ball.

I had a good time, even though graphing is more fun with friends. 

In all, I got the following autograohs: Sam Antonacci x 2, Lucas Gordon x 4, Wes Kath x 1, Seth Keener x 3, Jeral Perez x 3, Wilber Sanchez x 2, Samuel Zavala x 2, Ryan Burrowes x 4, Darius Day x 2, Nick McLain x 3, Brayden Montgomery x 1, Casey Saucke x 2, Jordan Sprinkle x 5 and George Wolkow x 5 (39 total autos).

2024 National Paid Signer - Omar Vizquel

Back to the National for a moment, I paid to meet Omar Vizquel and finally get this photo signed of he and Chris at the last game of the Wood Ducks 2018 season.

I could have sent the photo to a private signing, but I wanted to see him sign it in person and hope for any kind of reaction.

I did get a reaction, which was cool.  He saw it and said "this looks familiar..." and laughed.  He then showed the picture to his handler, which was cool.  The signature looks cool in gold Sharpie.

I appreciated Vizquel coming to the National and signing.  His price wasn't too bad, which helped. I've now framed the picture and put it on my wall in my home office room.

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).

April 14, 2024, Graphing of Grasshoppers at Dash

After our trip to Hickory, Jesse, Chris and I went to Winston-Salem to see the Greensboro Grasshoppers take on the Dash.  We got Termarr Johnson on a few cards.  He walked over to me while I was standing along the wall without me even calling him.  It was nice to add a few more cards to the album. 

Johnson was really cool.  He did two per for us.  I got some 2023 Bowman Draft and a couple 2023 Pro Debut signed.

I was really happy to get my gold parallel Jack Brannigan from 2023 Pro Debut signed.  The card is numbered to 50 and looks great.  We got Hunter Barco and Hudson Head outside the stadium after the game.  The weather was beautiful, and it was a nice day to be outside. 

Finally, we got a couple of the Dash guys prior to the game; Samuel Zavala signed for us post game as the team was coming off of the field.  I almost messed up and sent my Zavalas to my friend, Logan, as I had looked at a bunch of rosters and thought he was on Tulsa.

I had heard a few times that Wes Kath was super tough.  He signed for us just before the game began and was nice enough about it. He did one per, but still signed.

In all, we got the following autographs: Hunter Barco x 4, Jack Brannigan x 4, Hudson Head x 6, Termarr Johnson x 6, Patrick Reilly x 2, Jacob Gonzalez x 1, Wes Kath x 3 and Samuel Zavala x 7 (33)

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.

August 22, 2021, Graphing Recap of Dash at Crawdads

A last minute trip t Hickory yesterday yielded a few autographs to put into my binder after I did a little pregame graphing with Chris.  We had gone to one of my dad's races in Mooresville, and I figured I would try to get a few cards from the Wood Ducks team set taken care of while I was in the general area.  Unfortunately, most of the former Wood Ducks I needed were pitchers, and I learned that it is really hard to get pitchers to sign in Hickory with their COVID restrictions.  You can hardly get near any of them if they hang in the bullpen area.

Still, we came away with a few signed cards, even though we left in the third inning so we could get home at a decent time.  I was really glad to get the above 2017 Panini Elite Extra Edition David Garcia signed.  I got this card when the 2017 Elite Extra Edition came out, and kept the card with my Rangers stuff, waiting for him to come to the Wood Ducks.  He never did, but thankfully, I noticed him on the Crawdads roster, and remembered exactly where I had the card.  It looks great, and it is one less card hanging out in my box, now.

I knocked out a couple Jonathan Ornelas cards; he signed 2 per for both Chris and I.  I also took a 50.50 from Gerard, and got a could Jared Walkers knocked out for him.  The 2014 Bowman was mine to begin with, and he provided a blue wave chrome version of that same card, and two of the 2014 Elite Extra Editions.

I dug deep in my boxes and came up with the 1998 Team Best Hiram Bocachica, which was a cool find.  He was really nice, and spoke with me and a nice lady who was beside me, a Crawdads season ticket holder who helped me identify the players as they walked by.  She saved me a ton of time from having to look at the roster and match up numbers.

I was able to get one former Wood Duck, Dustin Harris, which was nice, because he is tearing up High A pitching at the moment.  It was also nice to hit a couple 2019 Bowman draft, and also the 2020 Topps Heritage Minors Ezequiel Duran.

The season is winding down, and I doubt I'll be able to do many more away games at other stadiums, but I'm going to try.  I know I've knocked out more cards that I thought I would this season, and there's still 3 or 4 weeks to go.

June 12 Graphing of Drive at Dash

What started off as a decent graphing experience at the Winston-Salem Dash went a bit downhill as my cousin, Alejandro, and I were shut down inside and outside by Dash personnel.  They cited MLB's COVID protocols as the reason why NO ONE could sign autographs.  I found this to be ridiculous, as three people I spoke to got autographs there earlier in the week with no problems.  Regardless, Ale and I were able to get a few autographs before being shut down, so that was a plus.  It was also nice to get Ale, who is 12 (and pronounced Al-E, or Allie), accustomed to graphing.  He showed some interest in going to the game with me, so, Chris hung back and spent some time with my brother, while I took Ale on our first excursion together.  Chris missed out, though, because one of his favorite former Wood Ducks was playing for the Drive, and asked where Chris was.

Tyreque Reed would always fist bump Chris as he came onto the field at Grainger Stadium, until he got injured.  He must have been picked up by the Red Sox organization, so I was able to get our team set cards signed.

Ale and I got Kole Cottam easily, with no issues.  It was when Cole Brannen was signing for us that a Dash employee informed us that Brannen couldn't sign.  It was news to Brannen, so he told the guy "I'll stop after this one..."  So, it was disappointing, to say the least.  Still, Ale and I had a good time together, and my sister and her husband also showed up in the first inning, so we turned it into a little family time.  Ale got a hat, which he loved.  We tried to graph outside after the game, but were shut down again by a different dash employee.  We complied, but Ale was a bit disappointed there, too, as was I.  He, now, wants to come out here to visit, where I can show him how things are really done, in Kinston.

July 2019 Graphing of Dash at Wood Ducks

I had to consult my calendar, but it appears that my graphing stacks are backlogged all the way back to early July; before I went to the National.

So, here is the oldest series that I graphed and haven't posted.

I must have done pretty well during this series; I was able to get JP Martinez on my team set card.  He has been the toughest person to get to sign anything this season.  I try to not take it personally, but sometimes, you wonder if it's you.  Oh well, I haven't tried to ask him much lately, as he has just ignored me, so I'll just keep chatting with Bubba Thompson and Noah Bremer.  Those guys are super nice, and I'll leave it at that.

Isias Quiroz was up with the Wood Ducks for a brief cup of coffee, then went down with an injury, and I haven't seen him since.

I also got to work on my All Star cards that Michael sent me.  Most of the guys in that set got sent up to AA right after the All Star game, but I'll keep trying to get them signed.

July 2019 Graphing of Dash at Wood Ducks

The Wood Ducks came back into town at the beginning of the month for a quick 3-game series against the Dash before they headed out on the road again.  I went to all three games and did pretty well with getting stuff signed.

I'm running low on Wood Ducks, which is fine with me, since I don't want to be stuck with a bunch of stuff at the end of the season, and I can concentrate on the opposing teams.  That being said, the Woodies team sets came out, so I picked up a bunch of them, and worked on getting what I could signed.

Also, a couple pitchers from higher up are in town on rehab assignments, so I was able to get some of their stuff done, as well.  Take the above 2017 Wood Ducks team card of Scott Williams, for example.  I have had this card for a while, and finally got mine, Chris's and Gerard's done.

I also picked up some cards of Collin Wiles, and he signed them all.  Chris got one each of all of these, as well.  He also got a 2013 Bowman mini, and so did Gerard.

I liked these High Desert team cards, and the seller on Ebay had this Jairo Beras along with the Wiles, so I picked them both up.

The Wood Ducks team set is already almost complete.  There are several guys who have been moved up, so I will have to send them on up to Frisco.

Alone with sets for Chris and I, I also worked on sets for my friends John, Ethan and Gerard.

I feel like I did pretty well in getting them going.  I wish I could go ahead and knock Yanio and JP off of the list, but those two are tough, as usual.

I did get everyone that is with the team who is in the set, other than Yanio and JP.  I feel like I did a pretty good job for the folks I am helping.

I didn't have a whole lot for the Dash, and was able to knock it all out pretty quickly in the first game.  My friend, Jackson, gave me some stuff to do for him and I got those done in the next two games.

The Wood Ducks will be back this week when Lynchburg is in town.  Too bad Nolan Jones just got called up to Akron.  I was hoping to add him on some more cards.

May 2019 Graphing of Dash at Wood Ducks

The Winston-Salem Dash came to Grainger Stadium in Kinston for the first time this season this past weekend.  Last year, they were stacked with players who had cards.  This season, Nick Madrigal remains on the roster, with a couple other players who have something they can sign.  Madrigal limits to 2 per, but he stopped for us before and after each game, with the exception of the first game of the series (he was late coming onto the field due to giving an interview).

I had a bunch of Madrigal cards that I had hoarded over the winter, and got each one signed.  The Bowmans Best at the bottom right was given to me by my friend, Ben.

I really like Panini Contenders, and they turn out really well when signed.  I prepped both of the cards, just to be safe, and they turned out nice.

John Ely is one of the Dash coaches.  I used to have a ton of his cards, but I gave most of them away years ago to a friend who was a Dodger fan.  I ended up ordering some more Ely cards off of COMC, but their shipping is so slow, I missed getting them signed this series.

I got a few random cards signed that I had found.  The George Timke is a leftover from last season, after having been given to me by my friend, Kolby.

With all of the 2017 Bowman that I opened, I'm surprised that the chrome refractor on the top right is the only Jameson Fisher that I had.

I got more of my Spokane Indians set cards signed with some new players on the Wood Ducks roster.  I also saw that I had missed a Kenny Holmberg card from that set, so I got it taken care of.

Joe Kuzia is really nice.  He stopped and talked to Chris a few times during the series, but we got our Hickory cards signed.

Sam Huff was also called up to the Wood Ducks, after mashing 15 home runs for Hickory in the first month of the season.

Leody stopped for us during this series, so I whittled down my total of his cards to, I think, 8 cards remaining.  I would like to finish them all off, but in the end, it doesn't really matter.  I have what I want done, and if the rest don't get signed, that's ok, too.

Finally, our friend, Scott, will be leaving the Wood Ducks soon.  Chris and I met him as we walked in the stadium for the first ever Wood Ducks practice, back in 2017.  He has stopped and talked to us every time we have seen him at the games.  He is about to leave to go into the Army, so when he told me, and gave me this signed photo, he and I got a bit emotional.  I wish him the best, and I know we will keep in touch!