Road Trip:Lake County

Our trip had one day to go and this day wasn't set until the morning.
Derreck and I had two plans set depending on whether or not, we will hear from my aunt Becky and uncle Terry.
Becky has been noted in the past, is easily my favorite aunt (I never have problems saying things like that, the truth is the truth after all), Terry might be the same in the uncle division. although he does have some competition-ha ha and I wanted to try to see them before we left, if they had time.
So, we decided if we hadn't heard from anyone by say 11;00, we would leave and be on our way to Pickle Bill's for a seafood lunch, but if we would hear from them, we would stay in town for lunch and then move onto Lake County.

About 30 minutes before we were going to leave, we heard from them and agreed to meet at Buffalo Wild Wings.
Ashland had been one of the first few places to have a BWW franchise, but their store had become very small and time had passed it by so in the last year or so, a new restaurant had opened in a different portion of town.
Derreck, of late, has developed an issue with BWW, while I on the other hand, quite like it.
I might have chosen local champion Lyn-Way, but Becky said they are constantly loaded with people
on Sunday mornings.

While they prepared (and picked up Missy as well) to drive in, Derreck and I first hit a packed Grandpa's Cheesebarn to bring some cheese and more for the ladies and then a Wal-Mart stop for some supplies for the drive home.
As we walked through the parking lot, Derreck received a call that told her that they were there and since we only had to cross the lot to reach BWW, we were there in a minute.
They were kind enough to buy us lunch and the catching up and stories (I even learned something new about my dad) was very enjoyable.
Thanks to Terry and Becky for picking up the tab and for spending such a good time with us.

We drove to Lake County for yes, yet another heat index of over 100 degrees.
The waiting team was the Fort Wayne Tin Caps, a San Diego Padre affiliate and since we do not have any San Diego teams on our circuit, there was a chance to add some players that we have to travel to see.
The hoped-for hit was the Padres 2017 first rounder and top 100 pitcher Mackenzie Gore, who ignored our requests (Derreck and I were alone in an area) and walked across the outfield.
I did add Tin Cap Luis Almanzar on his Bowman, so the Tin Caps weren't a total loss, but not tagging Gore for the top 100 set was disappointing.
I was able to add a few Captains, most notably perhaps my favorite Indians prospect that no one is talking about in outfielder Oscar Gonzalez on three cards.
I asked Gonzalez to sign and he said he'd come back.
90 percent (if not more) of the time, that's a kiss-off, but Gonzalez came right back to me.
Gonzalez is still raw with just ten walks as of this writing, but his. 286/11.43 line is still encouraging to me, yet Gonzalez did not make the Midwest All-Star game and teammate Will Benson did,
Benson, who signed one card for me, is having huge issues despite 13 homers as of this writing as he is hitting just. 173 with a Tebow-like 99 strikeouts in 266 at-bats.
Despite the talent and power potential, strikeout numbers like that don't tend to get better as you rise in the minors and for the life of me, I don't get how a guy hitting .173 makes the All-Star team.

After I bought a Midwest League top prospect set and a Captains logo baseball, we watched a few innings and Derreck asked what do you want to do?
As in stay for post-game and another shot at MacKenzie Gore or hit the road and arrive home a few hours early.
We talked for a bit and I told him that I was fine either way as both had their advantages.
Finally, he decided to go and his reasoning was sound- Had we spent that time, staying longer and getting home later and we didn't get Gore to sign-the ride home was going to be long and very gripe-filled!
Neither of us was really hungry, so we didn't stop on the way, which was faster as we went home via the Pennsylvania Turnpike, which continues to raise their prices to now 28 bucks from the Ohio line to the Breezewood exit.

Believe it or not, this was my first ever trip with Derreck alone through our long friendship.
Derreck is like a younger brother to me and my family and I had a great time with him, especially since he hasn't been graphing as often this season.
Also special thanks again to Missy, Aunt Becky, Uncle Terry and a very special thank you to "Aunt' Gayle for providing us her home to stay in...

That finishes the road trip coverage for now, but we have plenty coming up with massive inbox cleaning, the TRS boxing ratings, the non-sports podcasts that I listen to, so stay tuned!

Road Trip:Akron

The second day added a special spin for Derreck and I as we picked up my cousin Missy for the first portion of the day.

Missy is my favorite cousin in a field that ranges from family that I don't know very well to family that I don't care for and we were bringing her along to a local stop that she had never been to before.
It's funny how that seems to work out- we seem to never get around to visiting the places that others want to see in our backyards.

We were on our way to nearby Mansfield and the Ohio State Reformatory.
The OSR has been closed to prisoners for quite a while but has drawn visitors for several different reasons.
Many come because they believe in ghosts and want to hunt for them.
Others are there for the experience of seeing how the prisons of the past were run and others even come for the gothic architecture, but we were there to take one of the various tours entitled "History and Hollywood" to see the many parts of the prison that featured filming of the Shawshank Redemption- which is not only a classic but a favorite of mine as well.

The tour was interesting and I even learned a few things about the movie (Tom Cruise was the original choice for Andy Dufresne and then Tom Hanks was taking the role but had to give it up for Forrest Gump and that left the role to Tim Robbins) along seeing so many of the locations.
The tour was an hour and a half long and really was way too much to recount, but if you are in the area and have any of the interests that I mentioned above- you really do need to check the OSR out.
A few notes though if you are considering it.
There is a lot of walking and many steps as well.
It is far from handicap friendly and with all the walking, I would say not an easy navigation for children under 12.
Also if you have a fear of heights, you may have a problem because you are often four floors in the air looking down.
It's not unsafe, but it could bother the acrophobic and if you are bothered by closed in places, there are a few of those as well.

We then had a quick lunch at the A&W root beer stand.
I wanted Derreck to try the coney's and the shredded chicken sandwich, but only eat those because we still had another stop before hitting Akron.
We ate at a local park and had a great time chatting before taking Missy back to her home.
Because we ate just a little, we had space enough after the hour drive to eat at my favorite chicken place in Belgrade Gardens.
I've raved about Belgrade in the past and once again, it lived up to the billing.
I had chicken of course and two slaws (dinner comes with THREE sides) and fries that I ate only a few of.
I do love their very vinegary slaw though and missing out on Belgrade Gardens is about the only thing that I miss about not taking the Pennsylvania Turnpike anymore (Belgrade is in the opposite direction of the "Back Way" that I often use.

Derreck and I were off to Akron for the Clu Haywood bobblehead as Akron does a Major League bobblehead every year.
I wasn't really interested in the Hayward (I will be very interested when the Rubber Ducks do the heel of the sequel Jack Parkman), but part of bobbles, especially popular ones is getting there and yes- standing in line.
This wasn't an all-time bobble wait and paled in comparison to the one time at State College, but still, I get so bored in these situations, it's usually hot (although this was far hotter than even a usual summer day and rarely is the item something I care about.
Upon arrival at Canal Park, I was surprised to see the team store open.
I've always wondered why more teams didn't open their store on these nights with a captive and hot crowd looking for something to do and occasionally get cool.
I went inside the store (and as soon as I left, the store closed) and bought a few things, but as I checked out, I saw two hats of the old Akron Aeros.
Longtime readers might remember my first visit to Akron after their name change to Rubber Ducks, where it looked like it had been a government coup with nothing at all even in the clearance area that said Aeros and I was more than surprised to see these two hats.
I asked the fellow behind the counter if those were for sale and he said he didn't think so, but he'd check.
He came back with the manager and a story, that if true, was pretty cool.
Supposedly, in a stadium cart in a storeroom that was cleaned out over the winter held a case of Akron Aeros hats-one in each size.
Normally, I would wear a size 8, but with these the size 8 was way too large and the 7 7/8 was still a little big, but the 7 3/4 was somewhat small, so I wondered if I should buy one or not.
New Era's hats simply have no consistency in how they made- I have tried size eight's that was like wearing a trash can and eight's that were insanely tight- Their game needs to be stepped up.
Of course, I bought one, I mean really- you should have known the story was headed in that direction!

After waiting for the gates next to a person that bore a stunningly resemblance to a grapher that currently resides in the Midwest, the gates finally opened and Derreck got his wonderful bobblehead.
I moved to the Ducks side to graph some and hopefully add some really Tristan McKenzie cards to my collection.
I never saw McKenzie and the area was really crowded, even with being able to position in a good spot beside the field.
With a sellout crowd and a Boy Scout promotion on the field, I was stuck in a position with a heat index of over 100 degrees pouring over me, it wasn't worth the problems to have Derreck come down and help.
He waved at me from the concourse and would wait until the end of pregame for me.
Or so I would assume as you will shortly see.
I did manage to get five cards signed, most notably Bobby Bradley before finally breaching the wall of people that had me wedged in and Derreck on the outside and walking up to the concourse before the game started.

It was the concourse that I expected to find Derreck at, thereafter we would watch the game etc,
But I walked up, No Derreck.
I would bet cash money that I walked that busy ( the concourse at Akron is very crowded) concourse more times than I could count and still No Derreck.
But I walked it from far left field to the team shop which is on the right field side but ends in short right field because I figured Derreck would be on the left field side and I just couldn't see him.
After three innings of this, the ridiculously high heat index began to work on me and I really started to be affected by the elements.
I didn't feel like I was going to have heat stroke, but it started to mess with me mentally and my thinking became a little muddy.
For the first time, now in hindsight, I can see how elderly people's thoughts can get disoriented in particular situations and frankly I have so much empathy for that now than I did in the past.

Finally, after more fruitless searching, I asked guest services to page Derreck and have him meet me at the team store.
I waited for a few minutes and again-No Derreck (It turned out when I asked him later- He never heard the page-so much for paying attention), so now I'm pondering just what the hell I'm going to do next and I looked to the fellow next to me.
I did a double take as I thought "Boy, this fellow looks familiar" and then he spoke to me "Are you, Shawn"?
Turns out that someone had been trying to contact me all day to ask if I was going to Akron, but Gayle doesn't have Wi-Fi, so I had been at the mercy of the free providers during much of the trip.
I was stunned to meet Vince Samano- As in Vince Samano. my friend that I had never met in person and helps with the TRS Boxing Rankings!
What this means is that Vince Samano, who had never met me in his life had walked into a sold out  7,600 seat stadium and had instantly found me, where Derreck Chupak, who had come with me to Canal Park had not been able to in four innings!
I talked boxing to Vince for a few minutes and then with my head clearing a bit, I asked if he would mind if I could use his phone as I thought of an idea.
I called the lovely Cherie at home and asked her to please find me Derreck's phone number, so I could call him and see where he was.
She said to call back in a minute and she'd have it, but needed to find it.
Cherie instead called Derreck and explained that I could use his help.

I talked to Vince some more before he had to return to the event that he came for (a nearby barbeque event) and I only wish I would have been a better conversationalist.
Vince loves the boxing game and the history of the sport as much as I do and I'd love to have a better shot at a good discussion with him.
I'm hoping that I can have that chance in the future when I am in the area.
And as Vince Samano walked east, a grinning face moved closer from the west.
Derreck Chupak seemed no worse for wear, compared to me and why should he have been so?
After all, he had been sitting under a tiki hut in RIGHT FIELD!
Now, normally I'd give myself some grief here for not looking there, but not this time!
Our seats were on the left field side, I had been graphing on the left field side and we had seen each other on the left field side, so it is easy to think- that Derreck is somewhere on the LEFT FIELD SIDE!
This was followed by the kicker- "you should have figured out that beer was cheaper on the right field side".
This was a mistake on my part, I don't drink, so I didn't even consider beer as a possible reason on where to look or even consider that beer in a ballpark might be more or less expensive from one place to another.
These are major things to think about if this situation ever happens in the future because if you knew Derreck Chupak, you would know the importance of beer.
Had I thought like him, none of this would have happened.
Still, suffering through this enabled me to meet Vince, so things worked out for the good.

We watched a little more of the game before driving back to Ashland, where Derreck wanted another pizza from Donna D's for dinner.
After pizza and watching the constant updates on NBA free agency, I went to bed for more podcast listening and to drift off..

One day to go as we wrap up the trip in Lake County...

Road Trip: Columbus

I had been looking forward to getting back to Ohio for a while and the plans for the trip looked like it was going to be a fun schedule of events.

Derreck Chupak arose from the land of the missing to travel on this trip and we hadn't seen much of each other during this season (which stunningly to me is over halfway completed ), so it was going to be fun catching up.

I worked the Thursday night into Friday (as did Derreck ) and we didn't bother to go to bed as we left shortly after getting home from work.
Both of us knew that it would be a long day, but when you work the night shift, you realize that more often than not, no sleep can be better than a little sleep.
The weather was hot, as it would be for all three days, with heat indexes at each stadium over 100 degrees.
We went what I call the "back way" to Columbus, which allows me to miss the current cash grab that goes by the name of the Pennsylvania Turnpike.
The alternate route isn't that much slower going to Columbus than the turnpike, but there is a difference in time between the two when you go to more northern towns in Ohio than Columbus.

The issue with the alternate route (and it's even worse taking this route for a portion of the trip to Charleston WV) is that you really have to plan ahead if you are planning to eat.
There just aren't an abundance of places and you have to try to project down the road when you think you'll be ready to eat.
Fortunately, I've been able to remember where to stop and where not to and I remembered a Quaker Steak and Lube, which is a usual stop on trips whenever I can find them (and if I haven't eaten already) was on the way.
Derreck stopped there and ate and I was able to adroitly tick Derreck off on the subject of tips.
Derreck doesn't believe in tipping, so I picked up the full tab and had him add the tip.
This drove him up the wall and sent him grumbling good-naturedly throughout the trip about "having to pay a tip"!

We cruised into Columbus for my return to Huntington Park with the Columbus Clippers (Indians) hosting the Indianapolis Indians (Pirates).
The last time that I had been inside the stadium was in 2010 (although the GPS sent me there in 2016 when Ryan and I were looking for the remains of Cooper Stadium), so it had been quite a while.
Huntington Park hadn't really changed other than a very minor change in the scoreboard, but I still liked the layout of the stadium.
My only minor quibble with Huntington is the lack of a wraparound concourse in the outfield.
Newer stadiums are often designed to ease the traffic flow and Huntington stops in centerfield, which tends to clog foot traffic in the shaded concourse, which runs from first to third base behind the plate.
In other words, if you are located on one side of the field, you have to walk entirely around the facility rather than move across the outfield.
All the outfield seating in Huntington Park is in the left field area, with the exception of some standing room space in the right field vicinity and when the sun goes down in Columbus, if seated in the outfield-you are looking directly into the sun.
This can give you a very nice picture but can make it very difficult to follow the game, so keep that in mind for a potential visit.

The Clippers allows fans to enter the stadium 90 minutes before game time instead of the more standard 60 minutes and this allowed extra time to hit the team store along with seeing some batting practice.
I wish more teams would do this. Fans love it and the team makes more money with fans inside the door than they will standing outside the gate in the heat-especially on hot days like this.
Derreck was gracious enough to grab me an International League baseball that an Indianapolis player had hammered over the left field wall.
Being in the stadium early allowed me to hopefully have a chance to grab Indians shortstop Kevin Newman on his Top 100.
I didn't bring a lot of cards for Indianapolis as I remembered that you could only do one team or the other in Columbus, so I kept it light.
I asked Newman to sign and he said that he would sign after he stretched before the game in about an hour.
I've never quite understood that in similar situations as I was alone and the time that it took to give an explanation, Newman could have signed the card and be finished with me, but everyone has their manner of doing things.

Derreck and I moved to the other side of the stadium and I saw a small sign in the concourse, which would be easily ignored unless you fell into it.
Which of course, I almost did (not literally) and mentioned to Derreck about the free bobblehead.
Since he is a bobblehead guy, this made him very excited and interested, yet quizzical about what the catch was for the giveaway.
After all, how often do you truly receive something for nothing?
Well, it was next to nothing as Ballpark Digest was doing their annual fan voting for best ballpark at the different levels and Huntington Park was in the semi-finals.
The cost of the bobble was voting for their stadium and proving it to them (showing your mobile device) and you were handed a bobble.
Derreck was given a Corey Kluber for his trouble and he asked if I was going to vote.
I wasn't going to bother, but I thought about it and a Francisco Lindor would have been a keeper, but I planned on giving it to Derreck if I was given anyone else.
As Mike Oravec is fond of saying "One hand helps the other" and in this hobby, I've helped friends with stuff and I've been helped, so I like to do things when I can.
After I voted and handed Derreck a Carlos Santana bobble, he expressed his gratitude and asked what he could do for me- "Could you get Kevin Newman on the other side for me?"
He was happy to help and that enabled me to try for the two Columbus top 100's (2018 Francisco Mejia and 2017 Bradley Zimmer) and work on the Clippers team set.
I don't buy very many AAA team sets, but I always buy Columbus, Indianapolis, and Sacramento.
I don't usually wind up with many signed cards from them, but I always like having them around.

Alas, the Clippers weren't a success as I never saw Bradley Zimmer at all, Francisco Mejia wasn't in the original starting lineup before being inserted suddenly ten minutes before game time (He had very little time to get loosened up, so I understood his lack of interest) and in the end, I was able to get just one team set card signed- pitcher Ben Taylor.
Derreck came through with Kevin Newman (as well as pitching prospect Nick Kingham, now back with the Pirates) though, so I still consider the night a success!
We watched some of the game, but with our seats being in the dreaded left field seats directly in the path of the sun and the heat pounding down on us. we discussed whether we were doing postgame or not.
If we weren't, then discretion should be the better part of valor and we should head on up the road.
Another inning of heat later and we tossed in the towel for the hour plus drive to Ashland.

My wonderful "Aunt" Gayle (she's not my blood aunt, but I look at her as such- sue me!) allowed Derreck and I to stay at her home while she was away in San Antonio, so we checked in there after ordering dinner at Donna D's, yes the same Donna D's I usually eat at when in town.
Derreck was especially anxious to try this after hearing my raves throughout the years and after hearing similar questions about Quaker Steak before we stopped there (Thank goodness, it was a hit). I was a little concerned about Donna D's living up to the hype.
Donna D's didn't help themselves when we arrived back to pick up our pizza's and Derreck's hadn't been prepared and the resulting wait wasn't exactly welcomed.
Luckily for me, when Derreck eventually was given his pizza, he thought it was delicious and I breathed yet another sigh of relief of an arrow that was dodged.

It wasn't too much longer before we were ready for bed as Derreck fell asleep a little before I trudged off to Gayle's spare room to turn the lights out and drift off to sleep as a podcast droned on in the background to help me sleep.
The trip was off to a good start and the new day awaited with a trip to a place that I've been by often in my life but had never actually seen up close and the Akron Rubber Duck for another bobblehead with a classic story for the archives!

Road Trip;Carolina/Zebulon

The road trip continued on day two as we visited the small town of Zebulon,NC to visit the home of the Carolina Mudcats.

After an excellent breakfast at McLean's Old Time Cafe (This meal would be the only thing that I would eat all day) and a waitress that told me she was from Barberton,Ohio (we each agreed that trying to explain to others about Barberton Chicken is a futile exercise unless they have tried it),we moved on and entered Five County Stadium.
Five County Stadium is located in Zebulon,a tiny town,for one reason-Raleigh NC wanted a team and was more than large enough to handle the original Mudcats (AA),but was well within the 50 miles radius that an existing team can block a team to moving within.so the Durham Bulls could block any team from moving to Raleigh,so the trick was finding some place as close to Raleigh as possible without the Bulls being able to block the incoming team-therefore little Zebulon had itself a AA (for 11 years) team and then the High A Carolina League franchise.
The stadium looks like a late 80's-early 90's stadium-lots of concrete and little shade!
The sightlines are good,but you are farther from the field than from newer stadiums.
Still Five County is kept up well and is more than acceptable to watch a game in...

The Mudcats allow graphers to come into the stadium to autograph in far left field (Mudcats) and far right field (Visitors-Winston-Salem Dash on this day),so for a little over two hours,we had the run of the place as the staff prepared the field for the game.
Doug Hopkins and I went to the team store,which the Mudcats graciously opened for us.
I didn't buy much,just two shirts for the ladies at home,but Doug bought plenty.
I walked up a ramp to the upper deck and snapped a picture that included the water tower in the upper left of the photo that was painted like a baseball with the Mudcats written in script.
I was impressed by the way that the Mudcats allowed us to graph and walk around,I wish more teams would allow that.
The only thing is the Mudcats will ask you to leave the stadium 30 minutes before the gates open,which is very reasonable,so that the team knows that everyone in the stadium has a paid admission.
Nothing wrong with that and I'm sure people appreciate the Mudcats friendliness toward their fans.

We worked on Carolina first,mainly because their side was where we came into the stadium and there was a little bit of shade on a hot day from the upper deck.
The heat didn't bother me as much as these huge flies that kept buzzing around and being really annoying.
The left field wall was close enough for us to touch from our position to touch and that gave us an unusual perspective from a stadium viewpoint.
I had gotten all of my major needs from Carolina on the previous day's visit to Buies Creek,but I helped the guys with a few needs and filled in a few stragglers as well.

We weren't sure how much access would be allowed on the visitors side of the stadium and their clubhouse could only be seen from the right field concourse.
We went down a flight of steps and were surprised to have pretty good access as the players for the Dash had to walk across a crushed stone area from a clubhouse that from the outside looked more like an industrial sized garage!

I was able to fill in some Dash (Dashers?) players that I needed such as 2016 Washington number one pick Dane Dunning,who I had talked to in Hagerstown,but my cards were with Derreck, signed three cards for me,Luis Alexander Basabe signed the only card that I had (Chicago obtained Basabe as part of the Chris Sale trade) and we saw former Hagerstown Sun Jake Johansen,who had just been signed by the White Sox,but the player I really needed was catcher Zack Collins on his top 100 card.
Collins was the final top 100 card and obtaining him would give me 8 of 9 top 100 cards for the trip.
However,before Collins came out,it was time to leave the stadium as required by the team.
We had about a half hour to kill,so we tried to stay as cool as possible before broiling!

When we went into the stadium,the employees were giving out sample packets of something called "Bull Frog" which is sun screen of some type.
Considering it's summer time,I'm surprised more teams don't give away similar items before games!
We walked by a former Hagerstown employee and when Derreck tried to say hello,this fellow wouldn't even speak to him!
Sometimes,I wonder about people...

We went straight to the area from before to try to work on more Winston-Salem players including Zach Collins,who we all needed on various items.
As we stood there,a player walked over and asked if we "had anything for me".
I didn't recognize him and said that I didn't,he then showed his glove with #55 stitched on it.
It was White Sox pitcher Carlos Rodon,who was there on an unannounced rehab assignment!
Rodon had been through the Carolina League,but not Frederick,so I had never seen him before
Rodon signed a few things for other graphers,but I had nothing for him.
Too bad for me as Rodon did have a 2015 top 100 that was residing back in Hagerstown.
Carlos did talk to us for more than five minutes and told me to send the card to him in Chicago once he returned and he'd sign it.
You never know on these things,but Rodon is reported to be a great signer through the mail,so I'll be willing to give a shot!

As I steamed over a lost opportunity,finally Zack Collins came out and I was lucky to get the top 100 taken care of,so it was a productive stop in Zebulon after all.
Collins isn't exactly what you would call overly friendly or a willing signer,but I cannot complain-I needed one and he signed it,anything else from me would sound ungrateful.
We couldn't stay much longer in Zebulon as Kinston loomed as our final stop an hour away,so we had to move quickly if we were to make that game!
We said goodbye to Derreck and Brandon,who were skipping Kinston as Derreck had to get to work that night and prepared to leave..

Next time,I'll finish the trip with our stop in Kinston NC and Grainger Stadium.
Keep in mind,we'll have the Devils draft pick Friday night and the boxing challenge coming with Ward-Kovalev II on Saturday night...

Road Trip:Durham

The little over an hour drive from Buies Creek to Durham went by quickly and we would arrive in the early portion of the game between the homestanding Bulls (AAA Tampa Bay) and the Pawtucket Red Sox (AAA Boston) to meet Derreck and Brandon.

Durham Bulls Athletic Park is turning 20 this year,but through consistent upkeep and the occasional renovation to keep things fresh,this looks like a ballpark that is no more than a few years old.
Wide concourses and plenty of food choices,the home of the Bulls reminds one of a big league park,which a AAA park should be-a smaller version of a beautiful major league field.

Sorry for the crooked pic,the Kindle is sometimes hard to hold evenly

Entering the stadium with a standing room only ticket as the game was sold out otherwise for a fireworks night,it was a pretty sight walking up the ramp to see the field itself.
The field is one of those that hits you in the face upon arrival and for a 20 year old field is quite amazing.
The famous Bull sign stands tall in left field above a high wall and in right field,there is a large grassy area for lawn seats and a roomy spot down the right field line to eat and drink from one of the many stands.
As noted in the Buies Creek post,I didn't eat,so I'm not sure how the food there was,but there were plenty of choices to choose from.

Since for the most part,I (and Fred too) didn't feel like standing,the two of us with Derreck walked around the park for various pictures and sightlines.
Doug hit the team store,while Michael & Brandon moved around the stadium doing whatever as the game played on.
After that,we sat in the area with tables in right field and watched the remainder of the game from chaired seats.
The heat was starting to get to Fred a bit,so the relaxed setting allowed him to get his bearings a bit along with giving us a seat,which we didn't have otherwise.

After the game,there are many exits,so you don't have the clog of so many parks and we moved to the outside to make our only attempt to graph in Durham.
Derreck,Doug, Brandon and Michael decided to stay in the front of the park and attempt to acquire Pawtucket players,while Fred and I moved to the first base side of the stadium to work on the Bulls.
I had done the Bulls last season in our visit to Syracuse,so I had a few guys already and with AAA,I try to stick to a few targets that I want most rather than do a team set or bring cards for most of the team.
In this case,since I rarely do AAA or Tampa Bay affiliates,I wanted to concentrate on Top 100's-2 from the 2016 set (Blake Snell and Jose DeLeon) and 3 from the new 2017 set (DeLeon,Brett Honeywell and Willy Adames).
I didn't have anything for Casey Gillespie,since I had him sign a card at Syracuse last season,but Fred needed him and Gillespie was far from polite as he stomped by everyone without signing,although as he walked down the street,he did stop once reluctantly before moving away.

The first of the group to come out was Brett Honeywell,who was easy to pick out because of his long hair and cowboy boots,that Fred pointed out that he wore when we saw AA Montgomery last year in Tennessee.
Honeywell was quiet,but nice enough as I added his top 100 to this years set.
Blake Snell was easy to pick out as well because he pitched for my fantasy team before being sent to Durham,so I knew what he looked like.
Snell likes to joke around and mess with you as he signs and was very friendly in chatting while he signed his 2016 100-2 for 2.
Jose DeLeon was the only player that I had two top 100's for and I was hoping to get lucky and have him sign both.
I didn't and chose the 2017 with Tampa over his 2016 with the Dodgers because I saw him with the Rays organization.
Derreck and Brandon are said to be returning to Durham in a few weeks and hopefully,they can get the other DeLeon for me.
Willy Adames was the final 100 and due to help from my traders,I only needed the new one after the 15 and 16 were done in the past.
Adames came out with three other players and started walking,by the time that I realized that it was him,he was halfway down the street-the race was on and for a fat guy and when motivated (remember Chance Sisco?) I can move,so I managed to run Adames down,get him to sign on the move and finish the night strong!
4 for 4 in players,4 for 5 in top 100's,which is an excellent batting average for AAA.
Combined with the three from the Carolina Mudcats,the total for the day was 7 of 8 in cards,7 of 7 in players-Not bad.

The ride back to the hotel was about an hour and we were welcomed with a really bad room in Dunn NC at their Quality Inn.
I never had a bad room with the Choice Hotel chains,but this one was bad and looked like Choice bought a lower level facility (think Super 8 or Econolodge) and just slapped the Quality Inn name on it.
The room had 1970's decor,which wouldn't have been bad,had it not come with 70's bed linen complete with cigarette holes.

On the overall,I liked Durham.
Nice park,graphing pretty good for AAA and Derreck ranked it at the top of his AAA list above Nashville,which we both really liked from last year.
I'd rank it as competitive with Nashville and Columbus,but my gold standard for AAA parks is still Louisville as my top choice.

Good run and a great time,but two more parks and stops ahead,so stay tuned for the next stop in Zebulon,NC for the Carolina Mudcats (cleaning up stragglers) and the Winston-Salem Dash.

Road Trip:Norfolk

I've been on the road a lot over the last week and didn't have a chance to write about the Cavaliers two wins and one loss on their way to winning the Eastern Conference for the third year in a row.
I'm planning a title series preview covering the Cavaliers and the Golden State Warriors later this week,but since that series doesn't start until next Thursday-I'll do that in a few days...

I added another stadium to my passport as I visited Norfolk Virginia with one of my normal travelers in Derreck Chupak along with Brandon Diehl,who has went on trips with us before and a new voyager in Patrick O'Connor.
I'm not a huge grapher of AAA baseball because it's a lot of work,but this was intriguing because of the visiting Charlotte Knights.
The new Bowman top 100 set was released and with luck,I could get five percent (five for the non-math majors out there! Ha Ha) of the set in one visit with four Knights and one member of the home Norfolk Tides.

The trip was originally scheduled to be taken to Trenton,NJ for the Trenton Thunder and I took off work to do so,but the trip was changed with the reported lack of signing of top prospect Gleyber Torres,scared us off a bit.
Being that I had never been to Norfolk and I was knocking a ball park my list anyway,I was fine with the change.

We drove straight to Harbor Park and did "arrival" so we could get a head start.
AAA graphing is difficult mainly for two reasons-the prospects are getting hammered by graphers from all over as they travel through their various systems and AAA guys are getting their first shot at them and the veterans are often older guys that think they should be in the majors and are grumpy for being in AAA.
I didn't get many players during the arrival period-Tyler Danish,who was always a good signer with the White Sox lower level teams,signed a few,veteran journeyman outfielder Ryan Raburn signed his Indians heritage card,but was grumpy doing it.(I wager he was in a better mood in a few days when he was traded to Washington to bolster their bench) and the biggest catch came with Carson Fulmer.
Fulmer was my first top 100 of the weekend with maybe my favorite card of the entire set-this year's Fulmer showed Fulmer pictured in the throwback uniforms from the early 1980's!
Fulmer signs just one card at a time,but he is so nice and easy to deal with and I'm really rooting for the Vanderbilt product to succeed in the bigs..
Those players all walked from the hotel and we weren't as fortunate with the remainder of the team,who took the bus to the park as none of those players signed.

A quick trip back to our hotel,where a computer snafu left us scrambling for our reservation,having to find Ryan and a re-send of the reservation to finally get settled in before a return to Harbor Park,which despite a mist of rain and winds which made the night long,was not melting in the dark.
We tried to do some pre-game graphing by the visitors dugout in hopes for a few cards to be finished and that's about what we had in a few cards from the Charlotte pitching coach and former Oakland Athletic Steve McCatty.
Harbor Park is a two tiered park with the lower deck having far more seating than the cheaper upper deck and we were given pretty decent seats from the Tides.
We were very fortunate to have two prospects charting for Charlotte with Carson Fulmer signing my second (and final) card for me and former Sun Reynaldo Lopez signing his top 100 for my second of the series.
The cards he signed for us were the only ones that we saw Lopez sign for anyone over our time in Norfolk.
I know that players sign less and less as they move higher and higher in baseball,but this one surprised me a bit.
Lopez was always a great signer and very gregarious in dealing with graphers when in the Washington system,it's sad to see him sour on signing,but I'll still remember him best for one night in Hagerstown.

Norfolk does have some pretty good hot dogs as Brandon recommended and at reasonable prices at 4.50 per.
I had one "Frito Dog" (Chili,Cheese and crushed Frito) and one "Oriole Dog" (real Crab and Mac and Cheese).
I loved the Frito dog and the crab on the Oriole dog was good,but the mac and cheese could have been done without.
I ate one of each and the other guys ate more than that.
If I had ordered another one,it might have been an Oriole-hold the mac!!
The pictured dogs were Derreck's second helping of dogs!!

We left the game after the seventh inning in order to get into position to land the biggest fish-the number one prospect in all of baseball-Yoan Moncada.
Moncada was the largest chip that Boston had in trading for ace starter Chris Sale with the White Sox and Moncada is expected to be a star for the White Sox for years and could be in Chicago soon.
Moncada was ranked as number one in the top 100 set by Bowman and I was never able to get him to sign for me last year in games that I saw him play in the Boston system with both Salem (High A) and Portland (AA).
As we waited for players as the game wound down,more and more people began to arrive.
We were in great position and a fellow that Derreck met earlier in the day arrived and began acting strangely,pointing at us and had some less than nice things to say as reported by Patrick.
Both of us would have loved to have put this guy in his place,but we had came to get Moncada (and others),we didn't want to lose that spot for some guy that likely had too much to drink.
We move on to Brandon's favorite player,Lucas Giolito,who signed his top 100 to me (Lucas always personalizes,which bothers me much less than others,it seems) and then chatted with Brandon and Patrick for a bit.
Lucas threw a seven inning no-hitter earlier this week in his first start since our visit and might be turning things around after a awful start to the season.

As our "friend" continued his proclamations,Moncada peeked out around the corner to check the amount of graphers,he waited a bit and came out.
This is where the leaving early to gain position won the day-Moncada signed for the four of us (Top 100 for me),a kid with a baseball and Derek,who I had just met.
Derek is on the SportGraphing message board and did a Danville team set for me on consignment last season.
Glad I was able to meet him in person as he's a good guy and an excellent grapher!
Moncada was finished now and walked onto the bus and now this guy mentioned earlier went from drunken happy to drunken unhappy!
The guy began to scream at the bus and walked the length of the bus with his middle finger extended.
He then looked to be moving to the parking lot to leave,but a few minutes later,returned to do the same thing!
Finally,his girlfriend/wife showed up and told him he was embarrassing her,which ended his evening.
I don't write this just to demean this fellow,who I hope just had too much to drink,I write to show two things.
1) This type of behavior helps to contribute to why players get tired of fan interaction.
2) The actions of guys like this makes all of us in this hobby look bad and that's sad because even though graphers like this exist,they aren't around all the time.

I wasn't finished after Moncada as I was able to add a few more players in former Padre outfielder Rymer Liriano (two) and former Padre shortstop Everth Cabrera (two) to end the evening at Harbor Park before an Uber ride through what seemed to be the rougher side of Norfolk and Portsmouth,which is where our hotel was located across the river.
At the end of the day,four top 100's down,some other cards finished,a ballpark on the list and a few interesting tales to tell-good day...

After some sleep,we returned to the stadium to see what we could get on arrival before we left for Hagerstown.
I had worked on Charlotte more on day one,but with the 100's finished,I was trying to fill in cards from both teams,but most importantly,the remaining top 100-Norfolk catcher Chance Sisco,who we had been told that came in very early before almost any of the other Tides.
I did get three Knights in former Phillie Cody Asche (minor heritage),Will Lamb ( 2014 Myrtle Beach) and another Tyler Danish (Bowman) that went to Craig out in Utah.
Norfolk did provide a few in former Braves infielder Chris Johnson (Heritage),who was very nice in signing.Jimmy Yacabonis (2016 Frederick) and Mike Yastrzemski (2016 Bowie),so I was able to feel OK about the Sunday morning hour,but I was disappointed to miss Chance Sisco.
The Knights got off their bus and all walked into the stadium without signing,but as I put away my stuff,Brandon came running over and said Chance Sisco had pulled into the lot.
I've lost some weight,but now the time had come-could I run from the stadium end to stadium end before Sisco entered the clubhouse?
Derreck took my briefcase,so it wouldn't slow me down and the race was on!
I was slow before I gained all this weight,but I suppose motivation can occasionally defeat natural gifts because I made it
in time to get Sisco on his top 100 and make it a perfect five for five on the trip!
I wasn't as out of breath as I thought I'd be,but still I'm surprised I pulled that off!
Former Indian Michael Bourn arrived via Uber,but waved us off with "Not today Ya'll" and that finished our day.

We ran into a lot of traffic on the way home,so a long ride became longer,but I had a great time with Derreck,Brandon and Patrick and it was successful as well.
AAA is far tougher than what I usually do (Even AA) and I don't think I'd enjoy it every day,but it was quite fun and I'd consider doing it again-On occasion!!!!

Still plenty to catch up on and that'll include my anniversary trip and my first trip to Whitaker Bank Ballpark,the home of the Lexington Legends...

Road Trip-Williamsport (times two)

I realize I promised a return to the Appalachian league,but I decided to combine my two road trips to Williamsport PA into one since I was there last night...
For the purposes of this post-there will be some things that might blur together between the trips and they might not be as detailed as usual..

Doug Hopkins was with me on both trips,but Bill Cover and Derreck Chupak were with me for the first visit with the Landucci pairing of Fred and Michael traveling with Doug and I last night.
It had been ten years since I visited Bowman Field-so long ago that the Crosscutters were a Pirates affiliate,Ryan was still living at home and this blog was months away from being started.

On the 1st trip,we suffered through rain (most of the day),humidity and pretty nasty staff (a young man named Aaron),while the 2nd trip was much better (We only saw Aaron once) as far as staff goes.
We had great meals on both trips in different styles.
The Kast Hotel literally is a early 20th century building that brings to mind the old television shows depicting the time period.
Doug ordered a plate of nachos that had to be seen to be believed size wise and he was fortunate that he didn't order anything else!
The rest of us ordered burgers and were pretty pleased,
The term "retro" is used pretty loosely anymore when it comes to themes and I wouldn't call the Kast Hotel retro,it is just an old place that serves pretty good food-If in the area,give it a try.

Same goes for trip two as I looked on TripAdvisor and selected three choices for everyone else to choose from.
The selection was the Sticky Elbow and despite the less than classy name,was more of an upscale restaurant.
Fred and I shared an order of nachos and a chicken dish that had pulled chicken with buffalo sauce and celery slaw inside a flatbread that was then tempura fried.
Delicious!
The nachos were awesome and again more than enough for everyone to jump in.
I'm not sure if Fred and I could have gotten this finished without help from Doug and Michael!
Two different types of place with two different ways of doing things,but if you go to a Cutters game-try one of them,I think you'll enjoy it...

Bowman Field has changed since my last visit as they have installed a party deck down the left field line and are installing improvements down the right field line which removed some of the seating area.
Those should be ready for 2017,but it severely limited the autographing for the home Crosscutters.
Bill and I (we didn't try on trip 2) had some good luck from outside the stadium and putting cards through the fence since the Cutter locker room is right beside the entry gate.
However,inside-the same area is cut off,an usher chased everyone away from near the field (which is vital since the dugouts at Bowman are VERY far from home plate and were generally rude.
The folks at the gate on the second trip were much nicer with the ticket manager there instead of Aaron.
Visitors access is much better,although we were told by a local fan that it too will be curtailed next season with more work.
Doug and Derreck did very well with the Auburn Doubledays (Washington) and the day two group did well with the Mahoning Valley Scrappers (Cleveland).
Auburn was knocking out much of the team set and the same with Mahoning Valley with the big score being former first overall pick Brady Aiken on his top 100 among three other cards.
We missed on the other Scrapper prospect as Juan Hillman started the game,but I think we got most of the rest of the team-so I thought this was a very nice graphing night.

Trip one ended in a rainout,so that story ends here,but trip two saw a wonderful late summer night with a small breeze once the sun went down.
Michael was treated with a local beer (Genesee) that saw him make the bitter beer face (remember those commercials from long ago?


The facility is roughly the same age as the Hagerstown Muni (2 yrs older) and shares the sizable covered grandstand look as well.
Most of the seats in Bowman Field are under the roof and have a one piece back that runs the length of the row rather than the individual seats of the Muni.
It was a much quieter and older crowd than most places and the "star" was someone named "Mad Chad",who had a routine based on juggling oddball items like chainsaws and doing a lot of screaming.
Mad Chad didn't do much for us.

The company was good and the day was long,but trip two was a success.
I like Williamsport and Bowman Field to watch a game and I'd come back to see how the autographing is affected by the upcoming changes in the future.
Thanks to everyone from both trips for having me and allowing me to have fun and see another ballpark...

I may be without internet at work tonight,but my intent is to try to work on a post for Pulaski and maybe a podcast since I will have plenty of time....

Road Trip-Syracuse

The road trip season and dream year of knocking off new ballparks continued with a trip to Syracuse,New York with Derreck Chupak and Doug Hopkins along with Brandon Diehl.
I had worked all night,which didn't really bother me because I wasn't driving,so even though I would be tired,I was able to doze a little when needed.

The drive up was pretty uneventful with just a few pit
stops for gas/snacks.
We arrived in Syracuse early per usual as the entire reason for the trip (for Derreck at least) was the Bryce Harper bobblehead,which came complete with a fireman hat,which looked ridiculous in my opinion,but was sponsored by someone involved with that industry.
Sitting in a hot parking lot didn't seem very appealing to Doug and I,so other than getting our tickets and a Chiefs staff member being kind enough to open the team store for us,we pretty much killed the time talking around the car,while Derreck and Brandon actually met some bobblehead traders for the first time.
I know how neat that is from personal experience,so I was happy for them,despite the time that needed to be ate away.

NBT Bank Stadium was opened in 1997 and it is a pretty ordinary AAA stadium.
It seems to be located in an industrial area of town and the outfield looks to have a lot of brush and a railroad track behind the wall.
Those tracks likely allowed the Chiefs to retain their name in this era of political correctness as they changed their logo from an Indian to a steam engine.

I got my voucher for the bobblehead that was redeemed elsewhere in the stadium (that's an awesome way of giving them out in my opinion) and gave it to Derreck.
I mean,really-what would I want with that thing?
Doug and I went down to the field level to attempt to do a little autographing,while Derreck and Brandon went around and gathered more firemen.
It was a little crowded and one dum-dum almost knocked me over from behind,but it wasn't that bad.
Triple-A graphing is never easy and I brought just a few cards and just one was important to me with shortstop Daniel Robertson having a needed top 100 for that set from 2015.
I did get that card done,so that made the trip a success.
I also got a heritage of Richie Shaffer (very nice),a Midwest top prospect of Casey Gillespie (not so much) and Jaff Decker signed three cards (very nice) for my graphing haul.
Best story-well traveled catcher J.P,Arencibia walks over,grapher calls him wrong name,J.P: "I've been around here so long and you still don't know who I am?" "I'm not signing for you" and he went out and stretched.
Upon returning,the same guy asked again and the response was the same "You guys called me the wrong name,so I'm not signing".

Doug and I climbed the steps and watched a bit and chatted with my friend Jason Christensen and his buddy Gary,
Jason was there when we arrived and we swapped a few cards earlier,but I was so tired,I didn't get to spend as much time as I would have liked with him.
We then left the stadium early (missing a no hitter by Syracuse's Justin Marks) in order to eat at a recommended site-Dinosaur Barbeque.
When we arrived though,the line was around the building and some of the block,so with a ride of five hours looming,we reluctantly decided to pass.
However,we did get a great meal at an old school A&W in Cortland New York that even surpassed my hometown favorite one as they had a small eat-in area and retained the affiliation with A&W itself!
I enjoyed a burger and coney with some great root beer and they even had miniature golf on site had we had time to play.
And the best bonus was the statue out front of the A&W Bear which I even took a picture with!

I slept a lot of the way home,so I don't have a ton else to add,but I enjoyed the trip to Syracuse more than being there.
That's not a knock against the Syracuse Chiefs or their stadium,it's more like the old saying that getting there is half the fun!
I always have a good time on road trips and I have a few more to go during the remainder of the season

Podcast-Chasing Cardboard!!

Another edition of Chasing Cardboard from the world of minor league baseball with Derreck Chupak!

Day Three-Chattanooga and Tennessee

The trip entered its final day with stops in Chattanooga and Sevierville-the respective homes of the Lookouts and Smokies.

A quick stop for breakfast at Shoney's was an unexpected treat.
We couldn't (and didn't) stay long, but since Shoney's has left our area completely, it was cool to return there.
I never really liked their dinner menu very much, but I always liked their breakfast buffet...

Chattanooga was two hours away from Nashville and we had to move quickly because in order to do pre-game there and still make it to Sevierville for post-game, we had to keep moving.
The interesting thing about the road to Chattanooga (which sounds like a network promo for an NCAA tournament) was that we kept seeing these signs for Ruby Falls and Rock City, which I had never heard of before, but I'll not forget soon!

Chattanooga really is on top of a mountain-so much so that the team has an escalator installed at AT&T Field to bring fans from the parking lot to the field.
It's a steep climb and I bet older fans (and ones like me) appreciate the escalator, but the hill is so steep that a down escalator might be a good future investment.
When we left, the hill was pretty steep and I bet some people have fallen through the years at Chattanooga.
Upon entering, we were serenaded by the lady that gives away their programs with "Free Programs, FREE"! She was so loud that you could hear her at the bottom of the hill in the parking lot.
I still hear her mantra in my head a week later!

The team store wasn't really up to an average AA team store to my surprise and I didn't buy anything.
I might have been tempted to buy old team sets, but usually, the team sets from past years are severely discounted and Chattanooga didn't do that at all.
The concourse felt a lot older than a ballpark opened in 2000, but the field was neat and there is a raised grandstand in the right field for some seating and a party deck as well.
We graphed in an area way down the right field line where you could get both teams, which on this day were the Lookouts (Minnesota Twins) and the Biloxi Shuckers (Milwaukee Brewers).
The Lookouts came out from behind a door right beside the right field line, while the Shuckers (and some dazzling blue uniforms) arrived through a door in right center.
I only wish the Shuckers had a hat that combined the blue with the cool oyster logo, they don't and that's too bad because I'd consider buying one of those!

I didn't bring as many cards for the two Sunday stops as I did the previous days, but there were some important players.
Chattanooga's big addition for me was Mason Melotakis, but I was able to get their manager Doug Mientiewicz on two cards for Ryan's showdown set.
It always makes me feel good to get those for Ryan because it was with Ryan after all that I started this crazy hobby that allowed me to make such good friends...
The Shuckers had the biggest catch with new top 100 player Brett Phillips, who was super nice in signing all of my cards. but also added outfielders Victor Roache and Tyrone Taylor as well.

Finally, as we prepared to leave, I was able to see Josh Hader, who I had gotten in Delmarva, and at the California/Carolina All-Star game as he prepared to chart.
Hader signed all three of my cards and when I told him of seeing him in Hagerstown, he asked "That place has more than three showers that work yet"?!
Gotta love the "House of Sadness"!!
I grabbed a frozen lemonade from the concession stand that was more slush puppie than frozen lemonade but was still very good before we traversed the hill that I noted earlier and made the two-hour trip to Sevierville, my buddy Corey White, and the Tennessee Smokies.

The Smokies ballpark was different than the one that we left back in 2011.

There were plenty of decks and buildups beyond the outfield fence in both left and right fields that didn't exist in my previous visit.
Compare the picture that I took and compare it to the 2011 picture to see some differences.
The Smokies had built things up in the ballpark and the players now stay in the hotel built next door rather than the Days Inn down the road (Corey said it had burnt down).
Meeting up with Corey, swapping items, helping Corey with Birmingham pitcher Tyler Danish and getting the lowdown on the Smokies along with the visiting Birmingham Barons, and getting to see the final two innings of the game all wrapped up the prep work for the final graphing stop of the trip.
After a team shop stop for another Doug Hopkins program, we went outside to add the Barons as the teams exit from opposite sides of the stadium.
The big get for me was 2015 first-rounder Carson Fulmer on his top 100.
Fulmer was nice enough, although the signature isn't very neat and I got to see a long-time favorite in Nicky Delmonico, a former Frederick Key that is always very accommodating.
Some other Barons were added although Courtney Hawkins slipped out somehow and getting Fulmer as well as Corey's top 100 help with Willy Adames and Conor Gillespie among others in the early year made this a great stop.

The drive home was long, but fun as we did the podcast that you see below and lots of chat with my buddies.
Thanks to Kendall for all the legwork and planning and to Derreck for setting up things on the trip.
I appreciate everything and value your friendship.
Thanks for having me!

Whew! Now that the trip recap is over, I've got a large inbox to straighten out, Cavaliers this evening. a boxing challenge to do and plan for yes -another trip this weekend!
Thanks for reading and I'll be back soon....

Day Two-Nashville

Day two saw the trip continue with the Nashville Sounds and their ballpark, which is in its second year.

We were able to eat at some pretty good places in the Music City and I'll get into those as we go on.
We woke up and were treated to a terrific breakfast buffet at the Henpeck Village Market, which has the motif of an old country store with a fabulous buffet.
It was terrific and if I'm ever in Franklin (a Nashville suburb) again, I'd be sure to check Henpeck out again!

There is so much to be said for southern cooking done without the chain restaurant food and we had a great lunch too at the Row, but first a trip to the ballpark for some pre-game graphing.
It wasn't a total success, but we did get some Nashville Sounds players coming in such as Max Muncy, former Pirate farmhand Andrew Lambo, who delivered the line of the day during postgame, Joe Wendle (always nice going back to his days with the Indians) and Dillon Overton, who was especially cool in chatting with us a bit.
Fresno and their Grizzlies came in on two shuttle buses, but we left before the second of the two showed up.
We did get Colin Moran to sign one card (Moran was just promoted to Houston on Wednesday) as it seemed that most of the Fresno players that we needed were on bus two.

We were then off to the Row for lunch.
The Row is near downtown Nashville, but not in the middle of the tourist area, and looks like a retro "run down" joint, but on the inside is anything but.
The country music motif is in evidence here as each booth honors a different country music star on the wall with a huge picture and biography.
The Row features barbeque (although it isn't just B-Q) and I ordered a pulled B-Q turkey sandwich with fries.
I was very thirsty after being outside and guzzled several sodas (Thank goodness that they were diet Cokes) and the meal was excellent.

Nashville is in its second season at First Tennessee Park and it is a great park.
The stadium has a wide concourse and on a night that was a sellout, that was a huge help.
The team store was one of the best that I've ever been to and I bought Cherie and Rachel each a Nashville Sounds shirt and a program for Doug Hopkins.
The stadium has great sightlines and of course a newer version of the famous guitar scoreboard from their previous home at Greer Stadium.
This version is bright and more high-tech than the famous one and I love stuff like this inside stadiums.
I wish more stadiums would have such features unique to their area and history!

Pre-game graphing was tough with a sellout crowd.
I did get a few guys with the best being Matt Olson of the Sounds, who signed his 2015 top 100.
Olson was a bigger deal than I thought when we were told afterward that he rarely signs.
Those top 100's are always important, but even more so when you only get one shot at getting them finished.
I also was able to get one of Renato Nunez of the Sounds and Chad Pinder as well.
Nunez was reported to be not so bad as a signer, but Pinder was noted as being occasionally tough.
Derreck got blown off by former Hagerstown Sun Jake Smolinski when he asked if he would sign, Derreck was met with a sneer and "not right now" with the unspoken term being not at all.
Derreck tried again for Smolinski off the field from warmups and was met with a barely discernible head shake no.

I spent much of the game talking to a family in front of us that told me that it was their first Sounds games and that the father was a high school friend of Dan Uggla, the former big league second baseman that rehabbed with the Suns last season.
The game was nothing special (a Sounds win) that saw Derreck's new friend Jake Smolinski homer, but the best part was the racing country music legends.
Johnny Cash, George Jones, and Reba McIntyre were a fun and interesting touch that again brought a local flavor.
Imagine that compared to a beer can, wine glass, and beer bottle.....

We did manage to get a few guys off the field from Fresno-Matt Duffy (3/3), Andrew Aplin (2/2), and Nolan Fontana (1/3) before going to the back of the stadium to try to do some more post-game.
I met local graphers Shane and Bryce there and they were involved in the line of the night as they asked the aforementioned Andrew Lambo to sign.
As they tried to get to their cards quickly (On this trip, I knew the feeling) Lambo said "Fellows, the shot clock is on in this situation" and walked away.

The Fresno shuttle went inside the stadium and few made the walk down to us.
Tony Kemp (since called up to Houston) did, but I didn't have cards for him and Jonathan Singleton was a pleasant surprise in signing three cards for me.
The rest didn't bother including former Hagerstown Sun Eury Perez, so that was about it for the Grizzlies.
I did get a few more Sounds including fast-moving pitcher Daniel Mengden, who signed three cards, and Rangel Ravelo on his heritage card before we left.

We left through the craziness of downtown and saw all the craziness of the tourist section in Nashville, but the funny part was after we took a wrong turn on the way back.
We went to turn around and were in a parking lot with a large sign that said something motel and touted its rate-three hours for twenty-eight dollars!
We said it was the type of place that was so slimy that we should have had condoms for our tires!
The even better part was the two vehicles on our bumper waiting to turn into the motel!!

All and all -I really enjoyed Nashville, the park, and its surroundings, and added some pretty good stories to the bank too.
I'll try to be back later with a look at the Cavaliers win and maybe tomorrow with the final day in Chattanooga and in Sevierville for the Tennessee Smokies!

Day One-Bowling Green

One of my trips for 2016 was off to a great start and as I got off work early to be driven by Kendall Morris and accompanied by Derreck Chupak to Bowling Green Kentucky for a visit to the Bowling Green Hot Rods,the Low A (Midwest League) affiliate of the Tampa Bay Rays.

Kendall likes to drive fast and stop seldom,but I must add a story to our only stop for gas in West Virginia.
I'm not sure of the exact name of our stop,but the sign following it was "Big Otter" WV and the stop was a treat.
As I pumped the gas,Derreck and Kendall went inside and reported that the cashier ran to the back of the store like the old 1980's WWF wrestler the Repo Man!


As I came in,Derreck was loudly crowing about his "new hick friend" who had touted "just down the road is the geological center of West Virginia"!
Being that I imagine that the rock that was the "geological" center,doesn't really exist by itself-I guess that he meant "Geographical",which was funny enough on its own merits,but to add "my new hick friend" cracked me up.
Cracked me up to the point of being unable to look the cashier in the eye as I checked out with Derreck and Kendall already out the door and because I couldn't look him in the eye,I got a view of this guy's name tag "Denzl" as in Denzel Washington,but missing the second "E".
I just couldn't stop laughing as I left the store and entered the car.
We discussed Denzl a good bit over the course of this trip!!

We drove through most of Kentucky,including a really neat drive through Lexington that enabled me (an old horse racing fan) to ride by Keeneland Race Course and the famous Calumet Farm.
For me,that was a really big deal just to see as we drove by..
When we finally arrived at Bowling Green (very hungry),we were greeted by the ballpark not opening until 30 minutes before the game instead of the standard 60 minutes.
That would then mean a severe cut in the amount of time spent graphing,time that would come back to haunt us later.

We did manage to get some players from the Hot Rods,which was the more important of the two teams rather than the visiting Lake County Captains,who we can see when they jump a level to High A in the Carolina League.
The best prospects were Jake Cronenworth (hitting .377 as of this writing),and former Maryland Terrapin Brandon Lowe.
We were able to meet Lowe's parents at the game as well as they were visiting from Virginia.
The most intriguing prospect was one that we didn't have a card for-left reliever Jose Alvarado.
Alvarado hit 98 on the radar gun and consistently was in the 95-96 range,but struggled with control.
A lefty arm like that will get plenty of chances with Tampa Bay and beyond.

The food at BG was memorable as in being Suns-worthy in being bad.
My hot dogs were decided upon after dreadful ratings for the burger and fries by both Kendall and Derreck.
They were average at best,but beat the reports on the pizza that Derreck and Kendall gave.
Between the crummy food and two dollars for a program that wasn't as good as the one that the Frederick Keys give away for free,the Hot Rods concessions left much to be desired.

But there were two positives to the Hot Rods.
One was sitting next to Kim,a superfan that was super into the game and knowledgable to boot.
I didn't introduce myself,but I really enjoyed sitting near her and watching her enthusiasm.
The other was Jennifer Johnson (I looked on her nametag).
Jennifer walked the concourse and seemed interested in interacting with fans,answering questions and actually listened-which is a refreshing change from the Suns.
Ms.Johnson is exactly the type of person the Suns need and if I owned the Suns,I'd be calling her tomorrow for the GM job,but in her current position,she was quite impressive-the Hot Rods need to keep her around.

I was using the "book" of a friend to try for the trip and frankly,I didn't care for it.
It was mostly me being uncomfortable with it and getting flustered,but it just wasn't smooth for me.
Every grapher has their own ways of doing things and what works for one grapher can be clunky and
difficult to handle.
In the end,it has to be what works for you in getting to what you need quickly and easily and for me,that just isn't the book.

In between games,Derreck and I discovered the outfield at Bowling Green and that gives the best access of all.
The players walk from their clubhouses to the field through a walkway in left-center field and through a set of steps,you can get players from both teams,which we managed to get a lot of players to sign between games.
We figured we would be able to finish up in that area after the game,but alas it was a fireworks night and we weren't allowed in the area.

In the end,I just didn't feel the "it factor" in Bowling Green from the fans and from a ballpark that opened seven years ago and felt like it was twice that age,
Ok,but nothing spectacular other than stretching that stadium chart a little further west...

Back tomorrow or later with day two in Nashville....

Podcast: Chasing Cardboard Episode 2!

The podcast returns with Chasing Cardboard with Derreck Chupak and Kendall Morris from the road!
We catch up on lost time and discuss our trip to Kentucky and Tennessee...

Podcast-Chasing Cardboard Episode 1A

We return on the ride home with a recap of the nuttiest night we've seen in graphing as Chasing Cardboard features a postgame wrapup of the Reading Fightin' Phils and things I still do not believe with J.P.Crawford.
Co-Host Brad Adams and guest Derreck Chupak discuss the craziness...

Podcast: Chasing Cardboard Episode 1

Our initial episode of Chasing Cardboard with tales and stories from week one on the graphing circuit with co-host Brad Adams and guest Derreck Chupak....