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). 

Huge Trade With Brian

I completed a trade with my friend, Brian, of the blog - Base Set Calling, recently when he bought a partial set of 2014 Topps Series 2 and several parallels.  As part of the deal, he sent me 49 cards I needed for my 2013 Topps Emerald set.

I was so happy to knock these off of my list (which has been updated).  I don't know if I will ever finish the set, but I'm going to keep trying.  Never give up!

Thanks for the deal, Brian!  I know we will do more soon, especially when 2015 Series 1 comes out!

Some More From The Dana Package

I wanted to show off a bit more of the cards I got from Dana before I top load them and add them to my PCs.  The first card is this 2013 Select Wei-yin Chen auto.  I really like Select, but there was no way I was going to buy a pack of those at their SRP ($50, I think).

Another version of a pack of cards being well out of my reach is Topps Triple Threads.  I learned a long time ago that it is a lot easier buying the card I want off of Ebay or another site than it is for me to buy it by the pack and pull a Mark Prior relic.  Uggh.  So, I was very happy when Dana hooked me up with the Chen up above and the Brooks Robinson purple parallel.  Triple Threads is always a solid offering, but it is routinely out of my budget.

Finally, Dana can join the club of folks who recently have hooked me up with Cal Ripken cards that I didn't already have.  The Triple Threads is really nice, again.  I'm glad she hooked me up with both Brooks and Cal.

Finally, Dana sent me a ton of Orioles 2014 Donruss cards.  I'm a big fan of these, even though they don't have logos.  I know I said it before, but I feel like Panini is making a solid effort in the baseball card genre and their having a license along with Topps would be nothing but a good thing.

So, that will wrap up my posts from the package from Dana.  Thanks so much for the cards.  I really appreciate it and I hope we can trade again (after I replenish my wiped out Braves trade stack).

Another Trade With Alex

I got a huge package in the  mail the other day, another trade with my new friend, Alex. Alex writes the Dodger blog, Chavez Ravining.  He sent a huge stack of Orioles, most of which I needed, like the above Select Wei-Yin Chen.  I had never seen any of these cards in person and man, they look great.  Again, Panini hits one out right here with a solid product (based on the one card I've seen).  I know the price point for Select was pretty high, so I don't think I'll be opening much of this at all.  I may pick up a few other Orioles base cards from the product, though.

Alex also surprised me with this gold parallel Davis/Cabrera/Jones AL RBI leaders card.  I didn't have it yet and it will definitely go in my Davis PC.

Thanks for the additional trade and all of the cards, Alex!  I know we'll be doing more of this in the future!

Trading Again With Zach

I sent over some duplicate 2013 Topps Emeralds to my friend and fellow Oriole fan, Zach, and in return, he sent me a few cards.  The above graded 1955 Topps Al Rosen is pretty cool.  Anyone who reads my blog knows (or should know) that I really enjoy the 1955 Topps set.  I also really like Rosen since he was a heck of a player in his day and is so generous with TTM requests.

Another of the cards Zach sent was this 2012 Bowman Chrome Wei-Yin Chen RC.  Chen has become a solid pitcher for the Orioles and I am glad that they picked him up.

Thanks for the trade, Zach!  I know we'll be doing more trades in the future!

September 29, 2012 Buckle Up Rally

Before Saturday's game, we all (me, Ryan, his wife, my wife and my son) went to the Baltimore Animal Shelter and attended one of the Buckle Up rallies that had been held to pump fans up about the team.  At the event were Orioles players such as Brian Matusz, Jake Arrieta, Chris Tillman, Nate McLouth and Wei-Yin Chen.  You were supposed to buy the $15 BARCS Pet Calendar in order to get an autograph, but the players were signing anything put in front of them.  I did get the calendar, in case you were wondering.

They were also giving away T-Shirts, so I got a free Buckle Up shirt and Chris got two free shirts, Arrieta and Matusz.  I was hoping he could get a Chen shirt, but they were all gone by the time we got there.

Here is a photo of Wei-Yin Chen signing Chris' baseball.  We were at the tail end of the line and were being rushed through.  The event was supposed to end at 2PM, but we got to the front around 2:10.  They still signed for the remaining folks in line, which I thought was nice.  The handlers wouldn't have had this problem, however, had they moved the line along quickly to begin with.

Here is a rare shot of my wife making it onto my blog.  She was flirting with Brian Matusz, I think.  Trying to bribe him with her endless pad of signatures.  Actually, he flipped through her pad and wanted to look through it, but he didn't have enough time.  He even told my wife that he was dying to know who all she had in there.

Here is my Matusz ball.  I now have 3 signed baseballs from Matusz.  I might be willing to trade one if someone has anything to offer.  Just saying.

Here is my Jake Arrieta ball.  This one, along with the one below were a little tough to distinguish 'which way is up.'  I had to go on Ebay and look at some other Arrieta autos in order to tell which was the proper orientation for his auto.  The photo above is the correct oriantation.

So, now, this one is really cool.  Wei-Yin Chen came from the Japanese league, but is actually from Taiwan.  He signs his name in Mandarin Chinese and it is read from top to bottom (I think).  At least, he put his number at the bottom, so I assume that is how it is to be read.  If any Chinese scholars would like to correct me on this, please feel free to do so.  I know English and German, so Chinese is definitely not a strength of mine.  I was excited to get this ball, however.  I got the Matusz and Arrieta autos on Rawlings OLB balls, and the Chen on a Selig OMLB ball.

We had a blast at the Buckle Up rally and got 3 good signatures for only 15 bucks, so I feel like we made out pretty well.

Birthday Package From Scott

I got a nice birthday package today in the mail from my good buddy Scott.  Inside the package was a good bit of Orioles cards from various years.  The highlight of the package was the below Wei-Yin Chen purple rookie refractor from 2012 Topps Chrome.

This is a really pretty card.  I like the different colored refractors, so getting one of Chen (and a RC) was a plus.

I'm pretty sure I didn't already have this Cut Above Cal Ripken.  I may have pulled one from 2012 Topps Series 2, but I can't remember.  It is a nice card and it is nice to be able to continue to add new Cal cards each year, long after he has retired.

Here is a nice 2010 Topps Chrome Mark Reynolds.  I'm sure I had several of these cards, but probably traded them away long before Reynolds was complacently devouring sunflower seeds as an Oriole.  I'm glad I have it now and will add it to my Reynolds PC.

Finally, you can file this one under 'blast from the past.'  I forget sometimes that former Cy Young Award winner Pat Hentgen pitched for the Orioles.  Hentgen was signed before the 2001 season to be a part of the Orioles' rotation, but injuries ruined his time in Baltimore.  It would have been nice for him to be healthy in Baltimore, but it wasn't meant to be.

So, thanks for the birthday package, Scott!  I really appreciate it!

Rookie Cards From the National

I got a ton of single cards from the National and I really don't think I will be able to scan them all to show them off, but there are several that I would like to show, so I decided to start with a few of the rookie cards I was able to pick up.

First up is a 1978 Topps Jack Morris RC that I got out of a 4/$1.00 box at the show.  I already had the card in my 1978 set, but for a quarter, I figured it would be a good addition to my RC collection.  Morris was a great pitcher who probably won't get into the Hall of Fame.  We'll have to see over the next few years if he gets in.

I really liked this 2001 SPX Brian Roberts RC, but the guy selling it was a dealer from Baltimore who had a pretty big upcharge on his cards.  Initially, he wanted $25 for this card, and as much as I like Roberts, that was really ridonkulous.  His excuse was "Well, it's serial numbered."  Uhh, this isn't 2003, you know.  Serial numbering, in my opinion, isn't as hot a commodity as it once was.  Anyway, I bought the card without a lot of arguing because I added a ton of Orioles inserts and RCs (Including some Matt Wieters and Dylan Bundy MiLB cards( and got the whole deal for $40.  Probably a little too much, but oh well.  Where else would I be able to find all those Oriole cards in one place?

I got this Adam Jones RC from the same dealer, and I'm not sure what he was asking for it, since I just added it to my pile.  The guy didn't have prices on 95% of the cards; I imagine he was just pricing in his head as he went.  Oh well, I guess I'm a sucker.  Anyway, this 2006 Bowman Heritage is a really cool card, patterned after the 1949 Bowman, down to the blurry photo.  Still a cool card for an Oriole who is having a pretty good year.

Finally, I found this 2012 Allen & Ginter Wei Yin Chen RC.  Chen is doing really well in his rookie season with a 12-7 record so far.  He was the lesser touted of the two Japanese signings for the O's this offseason (the other being Tsuyoshi Wada) and has done a tremendous job.  Hailing from Taiwan, Chen has emerged as the ace of the Orioles' pitching staff since Jason Hammel went on the DL, Jake Arrieta forgot how to pitch and Brian Matusz from 2010 has disappeared.  I like what Chen has done so far and I hope he can keep it up as the season winds down.