As in my alarm was supposed to go off at 5;15 for a 6:00 AM departure and I rolled over and saw the clock read 6:07.
It took me about 10 minutes to get ready ( Glad I was ready with card work before I went to bed!) for the waiting Landucci's in the lobby and we were off for the three-hour drive from Asheville to Danville VA.
Upon arriving in Danville, we were forced to wait until the gates opened despite the ticket manager standing out front talking to us.
She was very nice, so it must be the team's policy on when they open up, but it always makes me wonder why teams are so stringent on such things.
Danville is a stadium that isn't difficult to graph, but might be if you are short!
Each team walks from their clubhouse and has a short walk to their dugout, which is visible to fans and reachable to get items to and from- if you can get your item over the fence that is, so I can see where that could be a problem for the shorter person.
Danville hadn't released their team set as of then (or as of now for that matter), so I worked on the visiting Bluefield Blue Jays, who did have their team set released.
I managed to get all, but a handful of the set signed for my set and Mike Oravec's as well. (I was doing his set as well), so I was pleased.
Fred and Michael needed the Blue Jays top draft pick Jordan Groshans on a baseball (I didn't have anything for Groshans), so we stayed to watch the game and try for more postgame.
I've always like Danville's field and their grandstand area because it's compact, reasonably close to the field and best of all for a grandstand- they have ceiling fans installed to break up the humidity a bit for the comfort of their fans.
The previous Augusta stadium also had those applied to the ceiling of their grandstand and that would be a great idea for Hagerstown's Muni (problem is getting someone to pay for them) to help cool the fans (the human type) and perhaps more people would pay to sit there on hot days.
Another thing that caused Fred some struggles and I'm not sure that anything could be changed about short of an entirely new grandstand is some very narrow areas and steep steps (Say that really fast).
Fred had quite an issue navigating these at times, so keep that in mind, if you ever go to Danville.
After the game (a Bluefield win), Fred and Michael nabbed their man in Groshans, I picked up a few more players for the team sets and we decided to move down the road to Winston-Salem for their scheduled game with Myrtle Beach.
While we were driving, we discovered that their game the previous night had been rained out and there would now be a doubleheader, which the Dash would be opening the doors only fifteen minutes before the game.
Due to staying in Danville, there would be no way to get to Winston-Salem in time for pre-game, so with a certain amount of disappointment, we stopped for an early dinner at Bad Daddy's Burger Bar.
Fred and I had enjoyed our trip there earlier this season, it was easy to find and not that far from the ballpark.
After our meal and a LONG wait behind a less than friendly patron at the box office, we watched game one and tried to get the lay of the land before any graphing at the end of game one.
There is an area near the Dash dugout that you may stand (unless the area is sold) and try to get the home team.
We were allowed down to the area and I was rewarded with Luis Robert (The only guy that I needed badly) running right by, just as an usher told us that we had to leave (All of us, not just Michael and me).
I really try to go with the flow in these situations and just left, but after I climbed the steps and moved away, another usher ran over and said the first usher was wrong and we could stay there.
I appreciated the correcting of the mistake, but the mistake cost me a good position and I would have next to no chance when Robert ran by again to warm up for game two.I did have a gentleman and his wife ask me if we had been removed from the area and I explained what happened quickly as I moved to the outfield area.
You just may hear from that gentleman in part four.
I still had one more Robert chance as he warmed up on the field, but once again, no interest, although I did nab Nolan Brown and Michael was able to add Blake Rutherford for me, so it was not a total defeat.
Meanwhile, Michael was disappointed in White Sox first-rounder Nick Madrigal (I had nothing for him), who signed one baseball, not on the sweet spot, and when Michael asked if he would sign his full name (Michael collects baseballs with the first middle and last names) Madrigal said: "how 'bout I sign it like I usually do"?
The player has the right to sign (or not) in any manner that they want, but that essentially gave Michael a baseball (at 15 dollars a pop) that for his collection was worthless.
Madrigal could have said, " is that OK or not"? and gave the choice to Michael for his baseball.
With Winston-Salem being 150 miles away from our base in Asheville
, a frustrated bunch discussed at the beginning of game two about staying for postgame.
Between Robert (Myself) and Madrigal (Michael), we talked about the distance between the hotel and just how long that drive was going to be if the pair didn't sign after the game.
It was very frustrating to all of us and it just made us wonder if sticking around was worth the time spent when you consider the mileage back to the hotel.
The more we talked and the more we chatted about, the less we felt like taking that risk, so we began our drive back to Asheville.
Only it didn't go so well- we wound up getting caught in traffic, road work and miscues of our own to basically three times wind up going in the direction of Winston-Salem- the wrong direction!!
These trips around the interstate ranged from laughable to irritating
After we arrived at the hotel for the final night, I had packing to do and cards to prepare for the final leg of the trip in Pulaski Virginia for the Princeton Rays and super prospect Wander Franco before I could go to bed.
Danville ranks near the top of my favorite Appalachian League parks (I've been to them all after this trip) and I'll always make an effort to squeeze them in on a trip.
Winston-Salem is my favorite Carolina League park overall and despite the issues this time, I'll be back there sometime as well.
The day was long and not always fruitful, but it was still a fun day overall.
I'll likely be writing about the final day early next week as we have a lot coming up to work on over the next few days-Boxing Challenge, PPM, Browns Preview to start and then Ohio State, boxing coverage and then the Browns opener to fill our dance card.
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