TTM Success - Drew Rasmussen

The card probably got put back in the return envelope while the ink was still wet, but this is a TTM success from Drew Rasmussen.

I had gotten Rasmussen at a Durham Bulls game a while back, and asked him if he had seen my mailer.  I guess he finally found it and returned the card. 

Rasmussen (b. 1995) has played in the majors since 2020 for the Brewers and Rays.  He has a record of 20-12 with 301 strike outs and a 2.95 ERA.

I mailed to Rasmussen on February 9, 2021, and got the card back on November 1, 2024, for a 1,361-day TAT.  He kept the 4 cards I sent and sent me this one.

The Biggest Return From Max Yet

My friend, Max, has helped me tremendously with getting cards out of my boxes and into my autograph album. He was the person who first helped me set up my graphing book back in 2017 and I haven't looked back.  His latest return of signed cards to me had to have been the largest one so far, and it had some really cool stuff that I was excited to file into the album pages.  The above Curtis Mead parallel was something that I wanted to get signed ever since I pulled it.  Mead is a tough graph these days, so I'm glad this one is done.

Max likes to take these Topps team cards to cover for guys he has no cards of.  Thankfully, he always labels them so i know who he got.  These cards are, left to right then top to bottom: Colten Brewer, Shawn Armstrong, Austin Shenton, Ronel Blanco, Ben Brown, Garrett Cooper, Declan Cronin, Calvin Faucher.

I try to send him the older ones, too.  The 1994 Score stadium cards are also helpful.  These are, from left to right and top to bottom: Logan Porter, Jhonny Peralta, Sean Doolittle, Carson Spiers, Trevor Megill, Pat Murphy.

Max completed a 2018 Topps Heritage that i had gotten signed by Heath Hembree when he got it signed by Ildemaro Vargas.  He also got Yuki Matsui, Matt Wise, JR House, Bryan Hoeing, Tanner Scott, Sam Hentges and Ricky Gutierrez.

This Alika Williams Jumbo relic card is pretty cool.  I was disappointed that I couldn't find my other Williams cards in time.  I had him pulled in the past, and couldn't remember which box they got put in.  I did find them, but I'm afraid Max won't see him again.  Let's hope he does.

Here are skme recent cards that he got signed by Alec Marsh, Jordan Lyles, JP France, Hunter Brown, Harold Ramirez, Kyle Farmer, James Karinchak, Dylan Floro, Jake Irvin.  I was glad to get these added to the Topps ledger.  I have already gotten several 2024 Topps done, which is nice.  Hopefully my Series 2 come in soon, so I can go for some more.

Here are some 2022 cards signed by Scott Barlow, Stuart Fairchild, Emmanuel Rivera, Triston McKenzie, Martin Perez, Rene Pinto, Jhoan Duran and Angel Zerpa.  I especially like the holiday parallels.  Those are always fun to get signed.

This next group, signed by Zack Littell, Luke Maile, Skip Schumaker, Rod Barajas, Mike McCoy and Doug Waechter go farther back in time for Topps flagship sets.  There is also a Bowman Chrome Rod Barajas and a 2008 Upper Deck First Edition of Skip Schumaker.

Even more older cards signed by Jeremy Guthrie, Matt Capps, Jayce Tingler, David Bell, Miguel Cairo, Jody Reed, Bob Scanlan and Rod Allen go as far back as 1989 Fleer (Allen).  The 1995 Fleer Bob Scanlan is also awesome.  You know, because 1995 Fleer is great!

Here is a Kyle Farmer 2021 Topps Update, a Garrett Hampson 2019 Topps, Gabriel Arias 2021 Heritage Minors, a cool Thyago Viera Diamond Kings that I kept seeing during several passes through my boxes, a Bryan Abreu 2019 Heritage Minors, a Quintin Berry 2012 Bowman, a Collin Cowgill 2012 Bowman, a Chris Johnson 2009 Bowman (which is crazy because I've heard he never signs), and Rays manager Kevin Cash on a 2002 Bowman Chrome. 

The above Tanner Scott turned out awesome.  I like this Bowman insert set. There are two Gaby Sanchez parallels, a JR House 2001 Bowman Chrome, an upgraded Garrett Cleavinger signed in blue, an upgraded 2022 Topps Chas McCormick and a few more Ildemaro Vargas cards.

Max hooked me up with a few team set cards signed by Jacob Young, Rene Pinto, Bryan Abreu.  I've made good progress on the giveaway set from when we went to Fredericksburg last season.  There may be one or two left that I need to get signed (I didn't go by the card shop and get the two special ones they offered).  I was also happy to see the 2019 Carolina League Top Prospects card get signed by Bryan Abreu.

Finally, here are a couple old.team set carda signed by Zach Rosscup and Alec Zumwalt.

Max really hooked it up, and is still.goi g strong on the season.  Hopefully, he can keep knocking out these cards and I can keep finding stuff for him.

Thanks so much, Max!

TTM Success - Ryan Feltner

Here is a nice 2022 Topps that I got signed TTM by Ryan Feltner.  The card turned out great.

Feltner (b. 1996) has played in the majors since 2021 for the Rockies.  He has a record of 6-14 with 128 strike outs and a 6.06 ERA.

I mailed to Feltner on August 11 and got the card back on October 19, for a 69-day TAT.

Another TTM Success From Ryan Vilade

Back I'm 2018, I got a TTM success in from Ryan Vilade.  Five years later, I got him again on a couple really cool cards.  The above 2022 Panini Diamond Kings card turned out great.  It is nice and colorful; it will make a great addition to the autograph album. 

This is a 2022 Topps factory set shimmer parallel, and turned out amazingly.  I found both of the cards at the National this year.

Vilade (b. 1999) made his Major League debut in 2021.  Appearing in 3 games, he had no hits.  He hasn't made it back to the majors since.

I mailed to Vilade on August 1 via the Indianapolis Indians and got the cards back on August 15, for a 14-day TAT. 

TTM Success - Nick Ahmed

These cards came back signed TTM from Nick Ahmed.  I had sent to Diamondbacks Spring Training.  The above 2021 Panini Mosaic blue parallel turned out great.  These were really nice cards that I ended up with a lot of.  I was glad to get this one signed and into my album.

I also got a 2011 Bowman Chrome, 2017 Topps and a 2022 Topps signed.

Ahmed (b. 1990) has played in the majors since 2014 for the Diamondbacks.  He has 678 hits, 70 home runs and a .234 batting average.  He was a Gold Glove Award winner in 2018 and 2019.

I mailed to Ahmed on February 14 and got the cards back on June 6 for a 112-day TAT.

Another TTM Success From Spencer Strider

Spencer Strider is having a good season.  I had forgotten that I jad gotten him TTM before but I sent off this 2022 Topps and got it back signed. 

Strider (b. 1998) is 19-5 on the season.  With 6 or 7 games left, he may get one more start to push for 20 wins.  He is the only pitcher with a chance at 20 this year.  He also has 274 strike outs and a 3.81 ERA.  He was an All Star this season.

Strider has a great shot at the National League Cy Young Award this year.  It is a crowded field in the NL, but he has a good shot.

I mailed to Strider via the Braves on May 20 and got the card back on June 2, for a 13-day TAT. 

Another TTM Success From Randy Dobnak

Randy Dobnak is a pretty prolific TTM signer, so I sent to him again this season during Spring Training.  The above 2020 Topps Fire was the card that pushed me to sending again.  This is a wild set, and looks cool in my album. 

I also got a 2021 Topps, 2022 Topps and a 2021 Topps Heritage signed.  All of the cards turned out great.

I mailed to Dobnak on February 24 via Twibs camp and got the cards back on March 31, for a 35-day TAT.

TTM Success - Stephen Ridings

Another Spring Training TTM success came in recently when I got this one back from Stephen Ridings. The 2022 Topps that I sent came out nicely.

Ridings (b. 1995) played in the majors in 2021 for the Yankees.  I saw him earlier this season when he was playing for AAA Syracuse in the Mets system.  He has a record of 0-0 with 7 strike outs and a 1.80 ERA.

I mailed to Ridings on February 13 and got the card back on March 10, for a 25-day TAT.  I asked him when I saw him in Durham; he is not related to the Ridings family that populated the neighboring street I grew up on.

Autographs From Max - Some Cubs and Rangers

The partnership with my awesome friend, Max, and I has helped me move a lot of cards out of my boxes and has helped me add some cool stuff to my autograph albums.  Max is the person who really helped push me toward concentrating on signed cards, as opposed to baseballs.  Now, I have something like 18 full albums of signed cards, which is kind of crazy.

I had this 2021 Bowman Chrome ray wave refractor of Ed Howard for a while, and Max finally got it signed for me.  I had sent it off to someone else for a 50/50, but it came back unsigned.  I am glad it is finally done.

Max took some Rangers guys from me recently, and hit it big on a few of them.  I believe he is cleaned out on Ian Kennedy, so I am going to help provide some more to him in short order.  He also helped me add Jon Gray and Josh Smith to the autograph album.

I was glad to get a few of these "mojo" refractors signed, since I had a bunch of them.  The silver pack Dane Dunning 1986 Topps chrome turned out pretty great, as well.

Here are a couple nice Cubs cards that Max got signed for me.  The top one is Justin Steele and the bottom one is Miles Mastrobuoni.

Finally, Max got a Cole Ragans card signed for me.  I had a bunch of his cards hoarded, since I thought he was going to come through the Wood Ducks.  He skipped Kinston, so I missed out completely.

Thanks for getting these signed for me, Max, I really appreciate it!

May 6, 2023, Graphing of the Frederick ? at the High Point Rockers

With my sister graduating from Salem College this past Saturday, I was afforded another opportunity to graph at High Point.  Another Saturday of Independent Ball, and I was pretty excited.  The Atlantic League Baseball Club of Frederick still has not been named, so they took the field in some pretty cool question mark jerseys, complete with question mark hats.  I liked them so much, I bought a jersey and hat before the game started.

A problem I have noticed the last couple of years while graphing at High Point is that the independent leagues are terrible at updating their rosters online.  Their scores are also hard to find on their webpages.  So, I went into this game a little blind.  Add in the fact that the Frederick team was missing 11 foreign players due to visa issues.  This included the one player I was really looking forward to seeing, Starlin Castro.  I was told by the manager that the players would arrive 10 days after the game.  This didn't do me a whole lot of good.  Still, it was a successful trip.

I hit up Ebay, since I knew well in advance that I would be seeing Frederick.  I picked up this oversized Johnni Turbo for the post card album, mainly because his name was so cool.

I also had plenty of time to go through my boxes, since the Wood Ducks were out of town the last two weeks.  I found a bunch of my Steven Brault cards, including a couple from the box of shame.

I found a ton of John Nogowski cards at the local card shop in Winston-Salem as I was killing time before the game.  That was nice, because I wouldn't have gotten him at all, had I not gone by the shop.  The Jeff Johnson card was the last card I would get signed.  I only needed him, Kole Cottam and AJK Cole outside after the game.

Cottam was really nice.  I picked his cards up off of Ebay, and he even commented on the green refractor.  I know Gerard had gotten him for me in the past, but I wanted to have something in the book for this trip.

I knew my mom would like to see the Charleston Charlies cards make their way into the album.  These were really cool West Virginia Power team set cards that I found on EBay.

I was also really happy to finally get these 2013 Perfect Game Justin Twine cards out of the box of shame.  I had been waiting to get those, as well as his 2014 Bowman, signed for quite some time.

These four Max Povse cards were Ebay purchases, and they turned out great.  I had one more Povse card that I had ordered that missed the cut.  It came as I was out of town.  I'll have to try to see Frederick again, and add that card to the book then.

AJ Cole was really nice.  I missed him post game by the dugout, since he had pitched in the game and had already gone to the clubhouse afterward.  I got him outside, and when I asked him to sign, he asked "Are you sure you want me to sign?"

Cole laughed, and signed my cards anyway.  He missed the Bowman Chrome at the top of the post, but quickly signed it after I asked him nicely if he would include it.  That was the ONE card of his that I really wanted to get signed.

Of course, I got Frank Viola to sign some more of his cards.  He had actually came out of the dugout and into the crowd to sign autographs.  He is such a nice guy, I enjoy going to High Point just to see him.

It will be a while before I run out of Viola cards, but as long as he is cool about signing, I am going to keep asking.  He seems to legitimately enjoy interacting with the fans in High Point.

In all, I got the following autographs:  Steven Brault x 7, Kole Cottam x 4, Jeff Johnson x 1, David Kubiak x 3, Mark Minicozzi x 2, Max Povse x 4, Justin Twine x 7, Johnni Turbo x 2, Elih Villanueva x 2, AJ Cole x 6, John Nogowski x 8 and Frank Viola x 8 (54 total autographs).

Spring Training Returns From Drake

My friend, Drake, may appreciate how I have my autograph albums set up almost as much as I do.  I enjoy the variety of each page and how so many different cards from different sets populate the albums.  Drake has helped me get cards signed for a few years now, and he really came through during this year's Spring Training.

He even mentioned to Maikol Escotto (above) how the card he was signing would end up as the cover photo of a future blog post (even though I don't blog by request).  I honored Drake's wishes and put this card first as part of a deal we made while he was assembling the return package.

Drake helped me clear a lot of room in my prospects boxes by taking the cards he took for Spring Training.  He also helped get a bunch of cards out of the box of shame, which clears room for some missed opportunities from this season.

I was really happy to add the 2022 Panini Capstone Pablo Lopez (top right) to the album.  Those cards look really nice, and look even better signed.

I was really happy with the 2022 Topps Cosmic Chrome Griffin Jax that Drake got done for me.  That was a cool box that I ordered off of Topps.com, and this is the first from that set that I have been able to get signed.

Drake got Joey Gallo to sign (top left), but Gallo switched markers on him.  I don't care, though, he gets added to the album anyway.  The 2014 Bowman Byron Buxton turned out nicely, as well.

Several Bowman Draft highlight this page, as well as a 2017 Topps Heritage Minors Chance Sisco.  I missed Sisco a few times, but was finally able to get this card out of my boxes.

Drake added a couple extras of his own, like the 2019 Topps Heritage Minors Brock Deatherage blue parallel and the 2014 Leaf Perfect Game Andrew Cabezas.  He also tossed in the 2022 Panini Prizm Curtis Terry, which was nice, since Terry is a former Wood Duck.

There is a 2001 Topps Rocco Baldelli that Drake got done for me, as well as a 2020 Topps Big League orange parallel of Chance Sisco that I really wanted to get signed.  Drake read my mind, and got that one taken care of for me.  He also provided me with several project cards with multiple players to try to get signed.  Thanks buddy!

I was surprised to see this 2021 Topps Heritage Minors Austin Martin stickers insert get signed.  I'm sure it was tough to add it to his page, but it is cool to add one of these to my album.  Martin was tough last season when I went to Wichita, so for Drake to get two cards done for me out of my box of shame, I was really happy.

Finally, Drake added this 1989 Donruss signed by David Cone that Drake traded for.  He had a friend get Cone at Royals opening day (I think), and it is something really awesome to add to the album.

Thank you for all of your hard work, Drake!

TTM Success - Jakson Reetz

Jakson Reetz is a player who I graphed originally at Wood Ducks games and has graduated to the majors.  I got him to sign two cards TTM, the above 2022 Topps and the below 2022 Topps Chrome.

The cards turned out nicely, even though the marker started to die on the bottom card.

Reetz (b. 1996) played in the majors in 2021 for the Nationals.  He had one hit, no home runs and a .500 batting average over the two games in which he played.  He became a free agent after the 2021 season and signed with the Brewers for 2022.  He didn't make it back to the majors in 22 after being released by the Brewers and picked up by the Royals.  He was resigned by the Royals at the end of 2022, and has a shot to be called up again for the 2023 season.

I mailed to Reetz on January 6 and got the cards back signed on January 21, for a 15-day TAT.

First IP Graphing Of 2023 - Wayne County Hot Stove Event

The first IP (in person) graphing event of 2023 is in the books, and I was able to add a few cards to the autograph album.  I was told about the event by a fellow Wood Duck fan, and made my way to Goldsboro last night.  Entry for Chris and I was $15 each, and we were able to meet Marlins player, Brian Miller, as well as Goldsboro native, Jerry Narron.  I knew about Miller ahead of time, so I picked up the above 2022 Topps green foil card.

I also used my 2022 Topps base cards of Miller for a couple more autos.  I brought a clean OMLB and two filler cards just in case I ran into someone else at the event.  I was glad I did, because I was able to get Jerry Narron on a 1987 Topps checklist and a game insert/ad card.  I get asked all of the time about why I use the checklists.  I had, at one point, about 200 checklists, so they are easy to grab and put just about anyone on.  Same with the ad inserts.  A lot of people like to use blank dummy cards, but I've also seen where players won't sign blanks, so I figure these will pass as decent enough items to put some ink scribbles on.

I got a couple cases of ROMLBs from my old friend, Sam, and he would be happy to know that I have put two worthy subjects on two of the balls, so far.

I sat at a table with fellow Wood Duck fan, Jessie, and had a good time.  The food was good, along with the stories.  It was a nice start to graphing in 2023, with a couple more events coming up for me in the next couple of weeks.

In all, I got Brian Miller x 3 and Jerry Narron x 3 (6 total autographs).