On the Signing Front

We return to the signing front for more cards as I try to put things away for the year.
My goal is to have everything put away before the season.
Good luck with that...

We start with the Myrtle Beach Pelicans,who were then a Texas Rangers affiliate and switched to the Chicago Cubs in the off season.
Looks like that switch will cause one class of players in the Rangers system (Last years Hickory players will now play in the California League in High A),to skip our circuit,but it'll be fun having the Cubs...
The biggest prospects were Jorge Alfaro on his top 100,Carolina League All-Stars and Prospects along with his team set card and Nick Williams on his all-star and prospect card.
Preston Beck and Royce Bolinger each made the CL all-star team,Lewis Brinson signed his SAL top prospect card and Christopher Bostick signed his Myrtle Beach card.
Bostick was obtained by the Nationals in the off season for Ross Detwiler and will likely play in AA Harrisburg...

The Carolina Mudcats were next into Frederick with the prospects of the Cleveland Indians.
Carolina and the Lynchburg Hillcats swapped the Indians with the Atlanta Braves in this off-season,so at least those two will remain in the Carolina League.
Like the Pelicans,the main attraction was knocking out team sets.
The Mudcats were a pretty mundane bunch with the biggest two in my opinion being former UCLA star Adam Plutko,who signed his USA and Lake County cards and Indians minor league pitcher of the year Ryan Merritt,who signed all three cards that I had.

I had next to nothing for the Lynchburg Hillcats-as in two cards as Cody Scarpetta signed an old pro debut and Lucas Sims signed his Carolina League top prospect....

Thanks to Mike Oravec for giving me a 1972 Alex Johnson.
Johnson had two cards with Cleveland and this was much appreciated.
Mike also gave me a 1989 Brian Fisher from the Pirates,

Thanks to the Superfan,who did multiple cards from the 2013 Aberdeen and 2014 Daytona sets.
The Cubs were uninspired,while the best Aberdeen catch was outfielder Mike Yastremski.
The Superfan also was able to add former Virginia Squires guard Dave Twardzik on a 75-76 Topps card.
Twardzik is currently the color commentator for Old Dominion's basketball radio network..

I had a few cards to fill in from the Akron Rubber Ducks,mainly players promoted from Carolina and Mike and Fred Landucci helped me with them.
All the Carolina League top prospect card were added as Erik Gonzalez,Louis Head and Shaun Morimando along with Eastern League All-Star cards of Shawn Armstrong and Joe Colon.

Tracy Mackereth gave me a card of Andy Reichard out of the 2012 Richmond set,which completed the 2012 Flying Squirrels.
I don't hear from Tracy anymore,but I always thought very highly of him,.

The Kannapolis Intimidators hit Hagerstown for their 15th (actually 4th) time and I had three players,the most notable being Toby Thomas on an Applachian League prospect card.

Thanks to Steve Nicholas in Indianapolis for getting me two Nick Kingham cards finished,the main one being a 1/100 Bowman Breakout Chrome card...

A special thanks to Brett Shaw-Brett did a Richmond team set for me since I couldn't get to Altoona in what was the only series that was close for me to do it.
I couldn't and Brett did it for me.Thanks,Brett-I appreciate it.
Notable players were Kyle Crick,Clayton Blackburn and Hunter Strickland,who was a post-season performer for the parent Giants.

Jason Christensen did a lot of work on the New Hampshire Fisher Cats and their team set along with some stragglers from Portland and Binghamton.
Notable pickups with Jason were Mets prospects Brandon Nimmo and Dilson Herrera on their pro debut card,while New Hampshire featured manager Bobby Meacham for the 1988 Score set,pitching prospect Daniel Norris on his Bowman,Donruss Elite and Midwest League top prospect and former White Sox pitcher Gregory Infante on his Topps Heritage and an old Carolina League top prospect that was nice to get out of the unsigned box.

Thanks to Patrick O'Connor for getting a few Trenton Thunder players-especially Mason Williams on a top 100! Dante Bichette Jr was another player that I didn't have...

This edition finishes with the Greensboro Grasshoppers in Hagerstown.
The Grasshoppers had won the SAL first half and would return for the playoffs,but we were able to get their team set finished along with some other things.
Top pickups were Brian Anderson on his New York/Penn league top prospect,Avery Romero on his SAL top prospect,Donruss Elite,Bowman and Batavia and Greensboro team set cards and Chad Wallach (son of former Expo third baseman Tim) on his SAL all-star card along with his Greensboro.

That narrows the pile further,but still a few more signing fronts to go,so more from the season to come!