More 50-50 Returns From Joseph

Here are some more 50/50 returns; these being from my buddy Joseph, who graphs Portland.  I got to meet Joseph this summer and he's a nice kid.  He took some Hartford guys for me, and a Portland player.  The main card I wanted back was the above blue shimmer refractor from 2020 Bowman Chrome of Grant Lavigne.  I found the card at the National, and it looks great.

Joseph finished my TJ Brock cards for me.  I missed Brock completely when I was in Hartford.  So, it was nice to get these signed and not have to put them in the Box Of Shame. 

Joseph got a 2019 Bowman of Leo Jimenez done for me, along with a 2020 Bowman Lavigne and an Alex Binelas that I found at the National. 

Thanks so much for getting these done, Joseph!

Jacob O 50-50 Returns

Some more 50/50s came back signed recently when Jacob sent me a team bag back from Portland.  He saw Hartford and took some of the cards that I missed when I was up there earlier this summer.

I had missed Warming Bernabel when I was there, so I was glad to get one of his cards signed. 

Jacob finished off the last Nick Yorke that I had sent up, along with another Tyler McDonough that I had sent him.  I missed Yanquiel Fernandez and Hunter Goodman, so it was good to finally get those done.

Jacob may have a couple other cards for me to get done, but I'm pretty sure we have finished the 50/50.

May 2022 Graphing of Yard Goats at Baysox

With the Wood Ducks out of town this weekend, I decided to head to Bowie and catch a few Orioles prospects that I had missed in the past.  I had the above 2021 Bowman Chrome aqua shimmer refractor of Jordan Westburg that I absolutely wanted to get signed.  He signed it, even though it is personalized.  That doesn't really matter to me, except for one of the guys I was with took one of my Gunnar Henderson cards and said "I'll get him to sign it for you."  I told him that Gunnar would ask his name an personalize the card and the guy said "That's ok, I'll tell him my name is William, too..."

So, I let him take my 2020 Topps Heritage Minors Gunnar Henderson, and he proceeded to tell him "Oh, my name is Carl..."  Meaning, he personalized the card to Carl.  I told Carl, "Hey, it's no big deal, you can keep the card.  I have a few other of these, so I'll bring one next time."  Carl said, "Oh, no, I don't want it.  It's funnier if you have a card in your collection with someone else's name on it."  I would have much rather he kept the card, though.  To be fair, he's my friend's uncle, and he was fun to talk to about baseball during the game, and he did seemingly have a good time.  I just don't think he quite understood how I enjoy getting autographs and put a lot of time in preparing for trips like this.  To each their own, I suppose.

I finally was able to move several Adam Hall cards out of my box.  My Staedtler seems to be dying; the cards at the top were signed with the dying Staedtler and were in my friend, Alex's book.  The ones on the bottom were signed with a new type of marker that I found at Hobby Lobby.  The new marker seems to be doing really well and is substantially cheaper than a Staedtler.

I also was able to get a couple cards signed out of my 2019 Delmarva team set.  Dean Kremer was rehabbing with the Baysox, but he ignored us.  Hudson Haskin also ignored us pre and post-game.  We also were ignored by Zach Watson.

Speaking of Watson, I almost missed that he was on the roster.  While thrashing on Friday to find some of his cards, I found two Riley Pint cards that I had picked up from a dime box at last year's National.  I also had found the 2020 Heritage Minors Michael Toglia card while looking for some 50/50 stuff.  So, after the game, Alex and his aunt and uncle left; I stayed behind and was able to get the two Yard Goat guys I had cards of.  I got them outside, which was a lot easier than I remember from the last time I was in Bowie.

Personalizations aside, I had a great with with Alex and his family, and I would definitely go with them to another game.  Bowie is really easy to graph at, even if you have some guys ignoring you.

In all, I got Adam Hall x 6, Gunnar Henderson x 1 (I'm not counting Carl's card), Jordan Westburg x 1, Kyle Moore x 1, Drew Rom x 1, Joey Oriz x 1, Riley Pint x 2 and Michael Toglia x 1 (14 total autographs). 

June 2019 Graphing of Hartford Yard Goats at Bowie Baysox

I had plans the weekend of June 1 to meet up with my friend, Ryan, and hit a Bowie Baysox game while on the way to Baltimore for a Sunday game against the Giants.  It all worked out so we were able to see Bowie on Saturday, stay the night there, and head to Baltimore in the morning.

I had been to Bowie once before, back in 2010 when Brian Roberts was there on a rehab assignment; ad he was the only player that I had sign for me.  I got him on a really nice bat.

This time around, I was fully prepped with card books, and ended up doing pretty well.  We only had cards for one Hartford player, Colton Welker, so we were fully concentrated on the Baysox as they came onto the field.  You can only get one team at a time in Bowie.

I had this Kennie Steenstra 1994 UD Minors card for years, and I was finally able to get it out of the box and into my album.  He was the first auto we got while we were there, and he was really nice.

I enjoyed seeing Ryan McKenna, again.  Initially, he didn't stop, and the old man next to me had some choice words to say about him, but I reminded the guy that McKenna had to stretch, and could always come back on his way to the dugout.  I was right, and McKenna couldn't have been nicer.  I was glad to see the guy have to eat his words a bit.

Rylan Bannon was one of the pieces in the Manny Machado deal, and he now has a few Orioles cards.  They turned out really well, as did the McKennas.

Carlos Perez did only one-per.  I had two cards of him in my book, and had I known he would only do one, I would have put the other in Chris's book.  Cumberland was one per, as well, but I was able to slip Chris a card while he was signing for Ryan.  I really wanted the South Atlantic League All Star card signed, and Chris helped with that.

We only got one Welker signed.  Chris went over to the opposing team's side after the game, and was able to get a 2019 Pro Debut signed.  We tried to wait outside for him, but he disappeared.  A lot of the players told us he was inside and about to come out, then all of a sudden we got "he left a long time ago..."  Oh well, we tried.  I'll just send the rest of what I had to my friend in Connecticut to see if he can 50/50.