June 28, 2024, Graphing of the Dirty Birds at Rockers

The next stop before Chris and I went on our road trip was to High Point to see the Rockers take on the Charleston Dirty Birds.  Originally (back in February), Charleston had reportedly signed former Wood Duck, Anderson Tejeda.  Now, I can't find that transaction anywhere.  So, the next best thing for me was to get my above 2014 Bowman Sterling (that I finally found) signed by Colin Moran.

I had picked up a few lots of cards from Ebay, which included several Taylor Guerreri and Cam Bedrosian.  The 2018 Topps negative parallel of Bedrosian turned out great.

I got some more Frank Violas signed, along with some Clint Fraziers.  We were lucky to get Frazier, because he retired a few days after we saw him.

Frazier was nice but he made it pretty clear that he didn't enjoy playing in the Independent League. Still, it was great adding him to the autograph album. 

A couple of the ebay pickups that I got done included the above gold mini refractor of Taylor Guerreri and a 2017 Topps Mini.  Both of these turned out great.

In all, Chris and I got the following autographs: Phil Ervin x 4, Clint Frazier x 6, Cam Bedrosian x 4, Taylor Guerrieri x 12, Jameson McGrane x 1, Colin Moran x 4, Neil Ramirez x 1 and Frank Viola x 6 (38).

June 6, 2024, Graphing of the Long Island Ducks at High Point Rockers

The past few days have been a whirlwind.  Chris's graduation from high school was on Saturday, and we had planned a trip to High Point on Friday to see Pablo Sandoval. I had PDOs to burn, so I went ahead and took both Thursday and Friday off to prep for the trip.  We had some family stuff happen earlier in the week with my grandma, along with Chris getting off of work on both Thursday and Friday, so we went ahead and went up Thursday morning. I prepped some cards for the Long Island Ducks in case we could get by there Thursday night after sitting with Grandma for a bit.  We got to High Point and absolutely racked Long Island.

I was excited to see Wei-Yin Chen again; I had gotten him on a baseball a while back, but never on a card (as far as I can remember).

Another player I was excited to see was Josh James.  I had him pulled a while back, then missed him.  He was with Memphis earlier this year but was repeased before i could get him.  He had been elusive until after Thursday's game.  He signed everything Chris and I had as he was leaving the dugout.

It had rained off and on during the game, resulting in two rain delays.

I was glad to get Mike Montgomery because i had tracked him with a radar gun in Kinston back in 2009.  He was really nice and did two per for Chris and I.

Chance Sisco was another player I had wanted to get for a while, and finally cleaned out all of the cards I had pulled of him. 

I had gotten Ryan McBroom TTM a while back, but he signed my 2020 Topps in black. I upgraded that card with this one in blue.  I also cleaned out all of my Lew Ford cards, along with all of the Ford cards that Max sent me.

I split all of the Fords between Max and I.  I hope he likes the ones I sent him. 

My Wei-Yin Chen cards look cool signed in Mandarin Chinese.  I cleaned out some old cards when I pulled my Daniel Corcino and Hector Gomez cards. I also found an Ivan Castillo card at the last minute and was able to get it out of the box.

I had pulled a bunch of Alexi Casilla cards to try him TTM a few years ago.  I never got around to dropping those cards in the mail, but I knew exactly where to find them.  He signed everything we brought with us; another player who cleaned us out.

Finally, as we were walking out of the stadium, we ran into Colin Moran.  He was good for one per, so I got the 2013 Donruss Elite Extra Edition signed, while Chris got my 2022 Topps Heritage done.  Moran was the only High Point Rocker that we went for, so we wouldn't miss the Ducks guys that we needed.

In all, we got the following autographs: Colin Moran x 2, Alexi Casilla x 17, Ivan Castillo x 3, Wei-Yin Chen x 4, Daniel Corcino x 1, Lew Ford x 16, Hector Gomez x 3, Josh James x 16, Ryan McBroom x 3, Mike Montgomery x 4 and Chance Sisco x 9 (78 total autographs). 

Another Card Care Package From Drake

My friend Drake sent me another care package of autographs the other day that had a few guys I haven't been able to get before.  The above Luis Rodriguez Virtuosic Vibrations card is pretty cool. 

He sent me these signed cards of Shea Langeliers, Chavez Fernander, Jesus Luzardo, Alejo Lopez, Yusmerio Petit, Blake Mitchell,Starling Heredia, Matt Vierling and Fran Alduey.  I believe Langeliers is the only one of these guys that I was able to see in person.

Here are Austin Smith, Jhon Diaz, Nick Williams and Harrison Bader.  I have Diaz on a few cards, but I liked the paint pen used on this one, so it made the cut to get into the album. 

I don't know how to feel about this 2011 Bowman Brandon Martin auto.  He is serving a life sentence for murdering his father, uncle and a security system installation contractor by beating them with a baseball bat.  I don't know where Drake found this card, but wow.  That's rough.

Anyway, thanks for the cards, Drake.  I appreciate the care package and I should be able to put one together for you soon. 

TTM Success - Jace Peterson

This TTM success from Jace Peterson came in from Spring Training the other day, and was a nice surprise. I hoped the cards would come back signed, and I wasn't disappointed. I especially liked adding the above 2019 Topps, which shows Peterson as an Oriole .

I also got one of the several 2012 Topps Pro Debut cards that I jad of Peterson out of the box. 

Finally, Peterson signed a 2016 and a 2017 Topps to cap off the return.

Peterson (b. 1990) has played in the majors since 2014 for the Padres, Braves, Yankees, Orioles, Brewers, A's and Diamondbacks. He has 545 hits, 42 home runs and a .228 batting average. 

I mailed to Peterson via Diamondbacks camp on March 2 and got the cards back on April 1, for a 30-day TAT. 

TTM Success - Alex Avila

When looking at recent signings on SCN, I was surprised to see Alex Avila was signing.  I found two of his cards pretty quickly and dropped them in the mail.  The above 2019 Topps turned out nicely.

I also got a 2021 Topps signed, which looks great.

Avila (b. 1987) played in the majors from 2009 to 2021 for the Tigers, White Sox, Cubs, Twins and Nationals.  He had 714 hits, 105 home runs and a .233 batting average. He was an All Star in 2011 when he finished 12th in the AL MVP race and took home a Silver Slugger Award.

I mailed to Avila on January 12 and got the cards back on January 26, for a 14-day TAT. 

Another Blind Trade With Drake

After falling way behind on trade and 50/50 posts, there looks to be a light at the end of the tunnel.  I have a few stacks of cards that need to be scanned and uploaded, and with my laptop being on its last legs, scanning and uploading has become an arduous task.

That being said, I am not intentionally withholding scans.  It's just a huge pain in the butt.  I got this blind trade from my friend, Drake over the summer, and have just recently been able to scan the cards.  The Trey Mancini at the top of the post is a key highlight of the blind trade.  Drake also sent me a bunch of team set cards of some guys that he has seen, while I hooked him up with an almost complete Wood Ducks team set (where I sat those Julio Valdez cards, I cant seem to figure out).

The KeBryan Hayes 2019 Topps Heritage Minors card shown here was a big surprise.  Drake really hooked it up with what he sent. 

Je sent a good many Bowman cards, including a Kenen Irizarry 2018 Bowman.  I was going to send Drake a few of mine, since Irizarry was playing independent ball near Drake, but he talked me out of it.  It seems Irizarry is a tough auto still.

My niece could have saved Drake the trouble and signed Jacob Berry's card for him.  What a signature.  

I missed out on getting Kevin Made with Myrtle Beach, so Drake helped me out there as well.  He also got the above dual of Benny Montgomery and Jaden Hill signed.  I had someone else get one of these done for me as a 50/50 this season, also.

The above Dan Radison is different.  I keep looking at it, thinking it is a Starting Lineup card, but it isn't. 

Drake also added a couple Topps cards to the album in the above 2019 Topps Jakob Junis and the 2020 Topps Edwin Rios.

Thanks for the trade, Drake! I appreciate all of the work you put into it.

2023 National - Pre-Show Dinner With Max

One of the (many) benefits of having the National in Chicago ever other year is that I can get there and visit with one of my very best and longest friends in the card community, Max.  He and I are approaching 10 years of knowing each other, and it has been really cool watching him grow up and also helping each other add to our respective binders.  Over the course of this season, so far, Max has been helping me get a bunch of cards out of my boxes.  We have our long-standing agreement of providing cards for each other, knowing a lot of what I send will be coming back my way, signed.

Not only does Max get me current major leaguers, he also gets coaches.  This helps me really clear out some room in the boxes where I would normally have stuff just sitting idle.  Guys like Darnell Coles and John Mabry (above) would normally be buried in these older boxes, but now, these cards have been signed and moved into the album.  The 2001 Upper Deck Jason Hart (bottom row, left) would normally be a needle in a haystack, but now the card is done (and looks great; 2001 Upper Deck is such an underrated set).  I also like that I was able to get a 2023 Topps Jon Berti (top row, right) signed.

Kristoper Negron (middle row, right) is a player that I tried to sent to Spring Training TTM, but never got my cards back.  I had some leftovers that I had pulled, so it was easy to find him and send the remainder to Maxx.  I had gotten Brad Keller TTM before, but had a lot of cards left over, so Max got a bunch more signed for me.  The two Mike Blowers cards (middle row, left and middle) turned out great.  For some reason, I had pulled Tom Murphy.  I think it was because someone was supposed to see him, but didn't.  That made it easy to find his cards, as well.

I had tried to get Logan Gilbert back when I went to Charleston (West Virginia Power) back when I visited my good friend, Josh.  I missed Gilbert, so it was nice to get a card back signed by him.  I also moved a couple Isaac Paredes cards from the box of shame.  That made some room for a few guys that I missed this season in Durham.

The Gabriel Arias 2022 Topps Cosmic Chrome turned out awesome.  I enjoyed opening that box, and I have been able to get a few cards from the set signed.  I was also glad to add some signed cards of former Buies Creek Astro, Myles Straw.

I love the 2019 Bowman Heritage set, so adding the Brad Keller (middle row, left) to the album was great.  I got a couple more 2023 Topps signed in Scott Barlow and Nick Pratto.  The Cubs Sticker is signed by Brant Brown.

Max and I use the team stickers for the same goal; have something with you, in case you run into someone who you don't have cards for.  These two are signed by Eduardo Salazat and Paul DeJong.

There were quite a few landscape-oriented cards, so I had to separate them for scanning purposes.  The 1996 Score Select John Mabry (third row from top; right) turned out great.  Those are some really nice-looking cards.  The bottom two team cards are signed by Kyle Freeland (bottom, left) and Angel Sanchez.

These team cards are signed by (starting top left): Andrew Knizner, Jason McLeod, Danny Hultzen, Tom Ricketts, Peyton Battenfield, Brayan Rocchio. Carlos Estevez and Eduardo Salazar.

These are signed by (starting top left): Steve Cishek, Rich Nye, Pete LaCock, Adam Russell, Cole Tucker, Michael Reed and two more Cole Tucker.

Finally, these are signed by: Freddy Fermin, Jose A Herrer, Jim Hickey, Paolo Espino, Jim Hayes (who couldn't believe Max wanted his autograph.  He does a podcast that Max listens to, and Max wanted to get him to sign something), Jose Fermin and Marty Brennaman with a Hall of Fame inscription.

Thank you so much for adding all of these autographs to my album, Max.  I enjoyed dinner, and hope that we can get together much sooner!

TTM Success - Tyler Naquin

Tyler Naquin is a player who I've kept an eye on for a while since a good friend of mine is a big fan of his.  I was actually surprised that I even had some Naquin cards left over, as I usually give them to my friend.

All of the cards are personalized, but that's ok.  All of then turned out nicely. 

Naquin (b. 1991) played in the majors from 2016 to 2022 for the Indians, Reds and Mets. He is currently on AAA Nashville's 7-day IL.  He has  439 hits, 61 home runs and a .264 batting average.

I mailed to Naquin on October 12 and got the cards back on February 25, for a 136-day TAT.

April 29, 2023 Graphing of Long Island Ducks at High Point Rockers

Graphing independent ball is a challenge that is a bit different than affiliated ball.  You have to have a wide range of cards, and a lot of time devoted to finding stuff of the guys on the teams you're going to see.  I had found out that Daniel Murphy had signed with the Long Island Ducks and that they would be visiting High Point on a weekend that the Down East Wood Ducks were out of town.  So, I planned early for a trip to High Point, and took a bunch of cards with me from some older boxes.

I got Murphy on two cards, which was nice.  I got him inside pre-game, and outside after the game.  I wish I had put the Gypsy Queen parallel that I had in my book by itself so I could have gotten that signed, but I was still happy that he hit this 2016 Topps Chrome.

He signed this 2019 Topps outside.  I had hoped he would do more than one outside, but I am still happy with what I was able to add to my album.

Wally Backman was the first signer for me yesterday.  He signed two inside pre-game and one outside as he was walking to the bus.  He was nice enough, even though he didn't say a whole lot.  I was glad to add a couple of these 80s Topps and a 1992 Upper Deck to the album.

I had to raid my factory sealed 2006 Topps set to get the two Lew Ford 2006 Topps cards.  I also had to raid my hand-collated 2005 set for that card, as well.  I went ahead and ordered replacements in case I was able to get him on all three, and I did well.

Adieny Hechavarria was really cool.  I got him on everything in my book pre-game, right before the National Anthem.  I refilled what I had left, traded a 2015 Bowman for the 2010 Pro Debut and got him again outside after the game.  He was super nice, and commented on how he liked the 2018 Topps Big League card.

I was surprised that I had some Sam Travis cards.  He was nice, as well.  I felt bad but I presented a ton of cards to Edward Salcedo, since I didn't want to put any 2010 or 2012 Pro Debuts back in the box.  He didn't seem to mind signing a bunch of the same cards, so I have some stuff I can send out in some blind trades.

Al Albuquerque was nice.  He made like he was going to sign for us, walked away with a hat, then made like he was coming back; then he finally did come back and signed everything I had.  I don't think he was messing around, he looked like he was trying to find someone.

Ian Clarkin was the starter, so I was unable to get him before the game.  So, it was guaranteed that I was going to try to get some autos outside after the game.  He was really cool outside.  He talked to me, along with a couple other graphers about his night.  He also commented on how fun these mini Bowman Chromes are.

I also got three other different Bowman Clarkins signed; his 2014 Chrome, 2014 paper and 2015 Chrome.  He signed some extras, no problem, so I have even more trade bait.

I was worried that I missed Kyle Lobstein, so when a pair of players walked outside, I asked them if Lobstein was still inside.  One of them said "I'm right here" and he signed my cards.  We laughed a bit, but he was really nice.

Matt Vogel got shelled in the game, but was still nice enough to stop and sign my two cards at the dugout post-game.  I appreciated him stopping, even though he didn't have to.

Finally, I got Frank Viola to hit a page in my book of a bunch of different cards.  I was surprised that out of all of the cards he signed for me, only one of them was one I had gotten before.

I had a snap case sitting on a desk here at the house from a past trip to High Point.  I was glad I had found it and got some Violas out of it and into the autograph album.

In all, I got the following autographs: Al Alburquerque x 5, Wally Backman x 3, Ian Clarkin x 7, Lew Ford x 3, Adeiny Hechavarria x 9, Kyle Lobstein x 5, Daniel Murphy x 2, Edward Salcedo x 10, Sam Travis x 4, Frank Viola x 8 and Matt Vogel x 2 (58 total autographs).