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).

Graphing Recap - Kentucky Wild Health Genomes at High Point Rockers

When I get the chance to graph the Independent Leagues, I try to jump at it.  I was off from Wood Ducks games this past weekend, so I took the opportunity to go to the High Point Rockers and see former Oriole, Felix Pie, back in action in the states after 10+ years.

I thrashed last week to find cards for the trip, and feel like I did really well.  The above 2010 Topps copper parallel was the one card I wanted to get signed, but I had no idea where I had seen it last.  I was packing the car and about to walk out of the door when I picked up one last team bag of cards in a box, which yielded the card.  Whew.  The card is numbered 151/399, and I don't recall where I got it.  I just know that I opened a ton of 2010 Topps, and didn't pull any copper parallels that I can remember.

I was able to get Pie by the dugout pre-game, and outside post-game.  I was afraid that I wouldn't be able to get too many autographs, but I really had no problem.  The barriers weren't made for short people, so I struggled getting my book to some of the guys, but in the end, I did really well.

Chris Shaw's cards were all over the place in my card room, since he had been with Norfolk fairly recently.  So, there were a few cards in the Box of Shame, as well as a few in an old box I had for the Orioles a few years ago in my closet.

By the time I put my bag away Saturday night, I had gotten Shaw on 12 cards.  He signed a full page inside and then stood and talked to me as he signed another full page outside after the game.

This 2017 Bowman Chrome blue shimmer refractor of Chase Vallot was another card that I really wanted to come away with signed.  I had it way back when Vallot came through the Wood Ducks during the 2017 season, but it got misplaced.  Thankfully, I had found it and kept it close by in order to get it signed, finally.

Max Povse was the player who "put me on the board" Saturday.  I was able to get him quickly, even though he was the starter.  I really wish that I had his 2017 Bowman Chrome to get signed, but I never did get one.

Several of these Aaron Blair cards had frequent flyer miles on them.  I had sent 4 of them TTM to him a few months ago, only for them to be RTS.  I keep the RTS envelopes near my desk, so finding his cards was pretty easy.

I took a couple of my boxes to the farm the night before the game, stayed up listening to the Orioles game and searched the boxes for these cards.  I also took the time to organize that box, since it was one of the ones from the former LCS.  It had an assortment of 2013-2019 Bowman in it, so I can now merge all of those into my other Bowman box.

Jonathan Crawford was the only player who limited while I was in High Point.  It was post-game by the dugout, so I'm sure he was ready to get in the clubhouse.  High Point had come from behind and walked it off in the 9th, so everyone was excited.

Most of the Logan Morrison cards I got signed were Box of Shame cards, as well as the Ran Dulls.  I have no idea who gave me the Johnny Field relic card (it may have been my friend, Dalton), but my brother Philip hooked me up with a little painter's tape before I left for the game so I could secure it in my book.  The card was too thick for my photo corners.

I was super excited about completing the 2015 Topps A's rookies card with Max Muncy that I got signed a few years ago.  Hopefully, my friend, Max, can help me add Ben Gamel to the 2016 Topps cards already signed by Johnny Barbato.

Here are the other LoMo and Ryan Dull cards that I got signed.  I didn't realize beforehand, but Dull is from Winston-Salem, which was pretty cool.

Here are the rest of the cards I got signed by the players.  I lucked into getting Brady Lail; I asked a group of guys that were coming out of the clubhouse if Lail was still there and he introduced himself.

The last person I was able to get was former pitcher, Frank Viola.  Viola serves as High Point's pitching coach.  We talked for a bit outside about the town he now lives in.  I had spent a lot of time in that town, so I was able to make a good Chinese food recommendation to him, which he appreciated.

I graphed on my own this weekend, and in all, I feel like I did pretty well.  I came away with the following autographs:  Aaron Blair 7, Anderson Miller x 1, Felix Pie x 9, Riley Mahan x 3, Chase Vallot x 4, Chris Shaw x 14, Jonathan Crawford x 2, Max Povse x 1, Johnny Barbato x 2, Ryan Dull x 3, Johnny Field x 2, Tyler Ladendorf x 6, Brady Lail x 3, Logan Morrison x 4 and Frank Viola x 7 (70 total autographs).

I want to hit High Point again, especially since I am able to remove some older cards from my boxes.  I hear some of the teams are pretty stacked this year, so I may be headed back up there some time the Wood Ducks are out of town.