Day 3 of the Texas Trip - Reunited With Some Wood Ducks

The third day in Texas with Chris brought us to Dr. Pepper Ballpark, home of the Frisco Roughriders.  We were there to see where the Wood Ducks players go when they move up to Double A.

We got to the ballpark early, then met up with my friend, Ethan, and bought his lunch.  Chris and I weren't hungry, since we had eaten at our first Brazilian steakhouse earlier that day.

All of the pictures I had seen on Dr. Pepper Ballpark showed me that it was a really beautiful place.  I wasn't disappointed, as it definitely was one of the nicest looking parks I have ever been to.

While we were there, my friend, Sam, met us and graphed with us for a bit.  He actually helped Chris and I get a few Anthony Gose cards signed, since Gose only signs one per.

We also were able to get cards signed by some of the former Wood Ducks on out team set.  Josh Morgan, Brett Martin, Anthony Gose, Adam Choplick, CD Pelham, Jonathan Hernandez and Edgar Arredondo all remembered us.

I took a few 50/50s for Gerard for the Roughriders and their opponent, the Springfield Cardinals.  I was especially happy to get the 2010 Bowman USA 18U card signed by Chris Chinea.  I picked those cards up from a dime box at the 2012 National.

I got most of these cards from Gerard for the 50/50.  I think one of the Lane Thomas cards was mine, but I'm not even sure now.

I got a Gose card signed for my good friend, Cal, as part of a 50/50 with him.  Max also sent me a few, so I'm going to hook him up with one, as well.

This Victor Roache card was actually mine.  I foundit fairly quickly when I was looking through my box.

I also met up with fellow Instagrammer, John, who I had done 50/50s with earlier in the year.  He hooked me up with two 1987 Topps that I needed for my set.

This was our last baseball day of the trip.  We spent the next day hanging out at Dinosaur Valley State Park in Glen Rose, Texas, and returned home that Saturday.

Graphing a Four-Game Series Between The Wood Ducks and Mudcats

Four-game series are tough for graphing.  It has been tough just having the energy to get done what I need to get done, then get home and prepare for the next game.  I took on several 50/50s for this series between the Mudcats and Wood Ducks, then added on a few cards later on when I realized one of the roving instructors was a former major leaguer, and when I saw that the Wood Ducks finalls had the Carolina League Top Prospects sets in.

I went into the series with the hope that I could get everything that I had signed, but a few players were limiting autos, so it was difficult in getting everything done.  I did get some nice cards from Trent Clark, like the Team USA ones above.

Clark apparently has begun to limit what he signs, so I had to be strategic in what I wanted to get, and when I tried to get it.  He was friendly enough, and stopped to talk with Chris and I every game.

I knew going into the series that Monte Harrison would be a tough sign, and he was.  He would only sign one card per person, so by the third game, I was only putting one card in my book that I absolutely wanted.

Luckily, I pretty much covered all of the 50/50 commitments that I made.  I ended up with some nice ones, though, so I am happy.

I was especially glad to be able to get this 2013 Perfect Game card signed, since I pulled it out of a pack.

Corey Ray was really nice, as always.  I had some great cards of him, so I was happy when I completed everything of him by the third day.  I even took a card for a friend while I was there and got it signed as well.

Ray was the only current Mudcat in the prospects set.  They are nice cards, so I was happy to be able to go ahead and get his out of the way and into my album.

I had a lot of Medeiros cards, and a lot for the 50/50s.  I got all but two of the cards signed.

These draft board cards turned out really nice.  I ended up with a couple extra, so Chris was glad to get one.  He thought they were pretty cool, too.

I had gotten Medeiros back earlier in the season, but I couldn't remember what I had gotten, so I just went with what was in my stack.  I think I did pretty well.

Isan DIaz was on the DL with a wrist injury, but still traveled with the team.  He was one of the few players who (along with Ray) signed everything on our pages.

I had a lot of different stuff of Diaz, and I also was able to chat with him a bit while he was signing each game.

I found the black parallel Bowman of Marcos Diplan at the card shop right before the series started.  I thought I had more of his cards, but that was it, with the exception of the Mudcats team set I had picked up on July 4th.

Both Lucas Erceg and Cody Ponce were really nice.  They stopped and talked to us each game, whether we had anything for them to sign or not.

Trey Supak was really quiet, but friendly.  He signed everything we had on our pages, and the cards turned out really nice.  I was also glad that the Heritage Minors got signed, since I pulled it from a pack the Sunday before the series started.

 Speaking of my Mudcats team set, I knocked out a ton of the cards during this series.

Chris also got the same ones from his set signed.  We even were able to get most of the trainers and coaches, which can be tough.

The cards are super glossy, but they all turned out really well.

I think I got my money's worth out of the set.

Speaking of sets, I got my first Wood Ducks cards!  These are the only three in existence right now, since Brett Martin, Josh Morgan and Jonathan Hernandez are the only ones listed in the 2017 Carolina League Top Prospects set.  I think I was at the game where Hernandez is pitching.  I wish the Wood Ducks would have came out with sets this year, but for some dumb reason, they aren't.

I missed out on HoJo quite a bit during this series, but finally got him the last two games.  I have most of his cards signed now, so it is all really just taking care of 50/50s for him.

Finally, I learned that Dwaye Murphy is a roving instructor for the Rangers, and he was with the team this week.  Chris and I were able to get him on three cards, including a 1987 Topps.  I really like the colors on that one, and it adds to my Topps Project.

I have one more series that I am for sure taking in, Lynchburg next weekend.  I have no idea how I am going to be able to stand the offseason, but I likely will be spending it reloading and relaxing in anticipation of the 2018 minor league season.

August 8, 2017 Graphing of Blue Rocks at Wood Ducks

Chris and I took in a game (along with one of Chris's friends) between the Wood Ducks and Blue Rocks last week.  We were able to do a good bit of graphing that was the culmination of the dime box finds from the National.

The above Ti-Quan Forbes was a box topper from one of the boxes of 2013 Perfect Game.  The card turned out really nice.

These are Bowman Chrome minis that I found in a dime box at the show.  That seller had boxes of Bowman dating back as far as 2006, I believe.

They also had a ton of 2014 Bowman blue and black parallels.  I stocked up on the black parallels of a bunch of guys that I knew I would see this month.

I pulled two Josh Morgan cards out of my Perfect Game boxes.  I also found four Matt Lipka 1st Bowman Cards.  He was nice enough to sign all four at this game, and we also talked about how young he was in the picture.

I was able to get a few more Jamie Quirk cards signed.  Chris actually got to go out on the field and present the lineup cards to Quirk and the umpires.  He was invited out there by Jeremy Moore, which was a really cool moment,

I added some new Topps cards to my binder, thanks to Quirk.

I had some nice parallels of Scott Blewett as well.  They turned out really nice.  I also had a bunch of Chase Vallot, but he was on the DL and didn't make the trip to Kinston.

Finally, here are the Roman Collins cards that I got.  I got two refractors, one chrome and a paper base.

Now, I am off to try to get more Mudcats.

Three Days of Graphing the Keys at Wood Ducks

This was the most anticipated series this season at Grainger Stadium for me.  The Frederick Keys were scheduled for only one trip to Kinston this season, and I made sure I was prepared to rack some future Orioles, as well as some Wood Ducks.

I made a few COMC and Ebay purchases so I would have some "different" cards for this series, and I also raided my Orioles PC boxes for some players who were on the Keys.  Finally, I picked up a couple team sets to round things out so I could get autos of some guys that I may not have been able to, otherwise.

This 2017 Bowman Chrome orange refractor of Josh Morgan was an Ebay purchase, and turned out really nicely.  The card is numbered 6/25.

I had help, of course, for this series.  I had my son, Chris, and my nephew, Jacob, helping out.  Their payment was a couple stacks of autos, once I completed 50/50s for my friends Gerard and Andrew.  Another Andrew from Instagram sent along a couple cards, as well, which we were able to get taken care of.

The above Jeremy Moore was a COMC pickup.  He even asked about it, "Why is this one orange?"  I explained to him that it was a factory set parallel.  This card is numbered 60/190.

These Ti'Quan Forbes came from COMC.  The red white and blue isn't numbered, but the orange is numbered 45/60.

Since the Wood Ducks aren't producing a card set this season, I picked up the 2017 Hickory Crawdads set.  Several of their players have already been promoted to the Wood Ducks, so I went ahead and got a few signed.

The cards are really dark, but they still turned out really nice.  I'm glad I was able to get a few of these guys, especially Shaq Matta.  He stops and chats with me briefly before every game, and always is smiling.

I also picked up a couple Aberdeen Ironbirds sets, hoping I could use some of them on the Keys.  I was able to get a few signed, which was nice.

A couple of the players were in multiple sets, so I was able to get a couple different cards signed, Like Ricardo Andujar.

Andujar was a New York-Penn League All Star in 2015, so this card is pretty cool.  I like how he signed it, as well.

Believe it or not, I began looking up team sets because I wanted cards of Alexander Wells and Austin Hays.  I got those guys, but they aren't with the Keys.  The Keys guys were a bonus.  I was happy to get an extra card of Keegan Akin to go along with the 2017 Pro Debut that I picked up at the card show.  His signature is really small and thin, but I like it.  He was actually the first auto I was able to get during this series.

Randolph Gassaway has been in the Orioles system for a long time, as evident by the 2013 Bowman and Bowman Chrome.  He has been playing really well, as of late, and may be on the Orioles radar, finally.

I figured that since Cody Sedlock was on the DL with a forearm strain (thank God it isn't a torn UCL), he wouldn't have made the trip to Kinston.  Thankfully, I was wrong.  We racked Sedlock.  He is such a nice guy.  He posed with the boys Sunday after the game, and on Monday, signed their photos.

I got a whole bunch of different cards signed by Sedlock, and took care of all of my 50/50s.

I even got his Aberdeen team set card signed.  On Tuesday, I wished him well, since I won't be seeing him anymore this season.  I hope he gets healthy and can contribute this season.  I am excited to see him progress, and he has two new fans in Chris and Jacob.

I had a bunch of Brian Gonzalez cards in my Orioles boxes, so I pulled all of them out and got all but one of them signed during this series.  They all turned out really nice, and will look so cool in my album.

Josh Hart is another player who's cares were scattered all over my Orioles boxes.  I was really happy to get some nice parallels taken care of during this trip.

The orange refractor is one of my favorite cards in all of the ones I got signed.

Hart is injured, and was another player who I thought I wouldn't be able to get while the Keys were in town.  I saw him come out onto the field right before the game started on Sunday, but I was able to get him post game.  He walked right up to me on Monday saying "You don't even have to ask me, I know what you want."  He then signed everything I had in my book at the time.  He was really nice, and smiled while signing.  I think he saw that my book was turned to his page (he must have recognized his cards), but my back was to him because I was answering a question for Jacob.  I turned around and there Hart was.  I thought it was pretty funny.

I was really worried that I wouldn't be able to get Ryan Mountcastle, mainly because I thought he would get called up before the Keys ever got to Kinston.  Luckily, he was still with them this week, and I was able to get every card I had of him signed.  He is one of the top Orioles prospects now, so I wanted to take advantage of my opportunity and get what I could done.  The cards will happily take a place in my album.

Mountcastle is in a bunch of different sets, so I had a lot of cards to choose from.  Trips to the card shop facilitated this venture as well, since Wendell has a few boxes of loose prospect cards to look through.

I actually pulled the yellow Mountcastle while I was in Illinois with Andrew.

He has some nice Bowman cards, so I was glad to get these signed.  The purple parallel turned out really nice.

I had a nice little mini PC of Alex Murphy that I started right when he was drafted.  The cards were in a box under my guest bed, so I went ahead and put everything in my graphing bag for this week.  I got everything signed, and am really happy with the results.  The green chrome is numbered 21/75; the silver wave is numbered 17/25 (and I remember it being from an early Instagram trade), while the rest of them are not numbered.

Finally, I used to not like seeing 1/1 cards signed, but since I spent the rest of the Murphy PC on graphing, it was only right that the printing plate end up in my album with the rest of its cousins.  It actually turned out really nice, and I am glad I got it signed.

Here is the stack of cards that Chris, Jacob and I got signed.  We got 129 cards signed, one photo each for the boys and I printed out a photo of Grainger Stadium and got 6 Wood Ducks on that.

During the final game of the series, Brett Martin pitched for the Wood Ducks.  He looked good out there, and is still working his way back to form from his back injury.  He took a hard-luck loss, with a few runs scoring on some fluke hits.  I think only two balls hit off of him were really squared up.  I made sure to ask each manager prior to the game for the lineup cards, and they both came through.  I think I will frame these and hang them up, instead of taking them to the games for signatures.

So, We all had a great time at the games, and my nephew has put together a graphing book that he can take with him to Winston-Salem Dash games.  I hope he sticks with it, because he seemed to really enjoy himself, and the stack of autos he is taking home with him.

I'd like to thank my friend, Neil, for the tickets to each game, as well.  The seats were great and we had an awesome time.