Apologies for that and for this-this might not be the most exciting recap of a road trip that I've ever written or you have read!
Why was that?
Read on and see.
I've written about Charleston and things that we have been able to see and do in the area in the past, but this wasn't one of those trips.
This trip was pretty one-dimensional as we drove straight to the stadium other than a quickie lunch at Long John Silver's (try not to get too excited here) as the Power were placing on their website all week about long lines etc.
We arrived maybe 30-35 minutes before the five o'clock gate opening and there were maybe 25 people ahead of us.
The line did increase in size as the openings grew closer, but nothing that I would consider a long wait time and it was nowhere near what I would have expected for an event such as this.
The Power did give away a very nice commemorative metal tumbler that will be well used here as I gave it to the lovely Cherie, who didn't have a steel tumbler, but I did (go Bucks!)
While back in Maryland, I've been told near chaos was erupting at the Carolina League all-star matchup, we were among maybe ten people graphing and I was able to have most of my cards signed.
There were a few that I had a sizable amount for that did not arrive for various reasons, Adam Hall of Delmarva (I'll see Adam twice in the second half) and Josh Breaux and Josh Stowers of Charleston (The Riverdogs do not come to Hagerstown this season), so that was disappointing and I missed most of Delmarva's hitters as a Shorebirds fan that made the trip occupied much of their time,, but otherwise I did very well.
Delmarva's Grayson Rodriguez (2018 Orioles 1st rounder) signed everything I had including my top 100 and was very nice, while the other top 100 that I landed on the day was Ronny Mauricio, who is the shortstop for the Columbia Fireflies (Mets).
Mauricio is very quiet and I have a feeling he struggles with the language, the 100 would have been all that I would have reeled in, but later, Fred struck up a conversation with a Columbia fan traveling to the game and that fan knew Mauricio and helped Fred get another card (SAL top prospect, the first card out of the new set that I purchased during downtime) for me.
The other players that I needed were pretty accommodating, although Tristan Casas of Greenville (2018 Boston #1) and Charleston's Canaan Smith were only one per, Casas was nice (Fred nabbed Smith for me while I was getting another player).
There was a home run derby scheduled for six with the game starting around 7;30, but the derby took so long that they cut the second round out of the competition (it was supposed to move from eight to four to two) and moved to a four-hitter final round.
The derby was won by Hickory's Curtis Terry (Rangers and promoted to High A Down East a few days later) and we were able to get a few others as the teams left the field.
However, the derby had left things very short on time and we were walking around at 8;10 and the teams were still be introduced on the field.
This looked to be a very long evening now for a post-game attempt, so Fred and I conversed a bit, looked at what I hadn't gotten signed yet (Most were from Delmarva, who is the next team to come into Hagerstown) and decided to head out for dinner.
A dinner at TGIFridays across the street from our hotel, sleep shortly after and an early morning ride home the next day and the trip was over as I had to work later that night.
Not the most exciting read, but Fred and I always have a good time on these trips and I would bet money on one thing- we had a much better time than we would have had at Frederick!!!
No comments:
Post a Comment