Pawtucket Vs. Louisville(Reds) (David Ross, Xander Bogaerts, Billy Hamilton, Jackie Bradley) 8/13/13

I've had some solid 'graphing days this summer, and this was towards the top of them. Lousiville was in town, which meant the Billy Hamilton show was here, and David Ross was rehabbing from his concussion for Pawtucket. On top of those factors, Pawtucket is of course STACKED with other great Red Sox prospects.

David Ross was actually one of the first players that I got. He wasn't talkative at all, but was nice enough to sign a batting practice Official MLB Baseball, and take a photo with me:

Another great autograph that I got was Xander Bogaerts. He has been a tough get this year, but I am always happy when I can get the Red Sox #1 prospect. He actually signed for everyone today, and I got a photo taken with him as well.

What happened next SHOCKED me. I can't stress enough how difficult Jackie Bradley is compared to last season. It really is night and day. I mean I'm sure he's a nice enough person, but he barely even will mutter a word to autograph collectors anymore. Ohh well, I'm just glad I got him. This may be the first time I have gotten the Red Sox #1 & #2 Prospects in the same day... not quite sure.

I didn't really get much for Pawtucket quantity wise, but the quality was almost as good as it possibly could have been for this team.

Other guys I got were the always fan-friendly, Jose Contreras:

Chris Carpenter:

Pedro Beato, who was just sent down from Boston signed 5 for me:

And, Anthony Carter. For whatever reason, he just kept avoiding me (I have maybe asked him once to sign, so it wasn't that he recognized me. After he signed for 3 people, he started walking towards the door. I then said, "Reallly?" He turned around, signed 1/3 and went in.

Anthony Ranaudo wouldn't sign for anyone.

The big target for Louisville was Billy Hamilton, who is the Reds #1 Prospect, and the #18 Overall Prospect in baseball. When he came off the bus, he completely ignored everyone, but luckily a little kid stopped him. He then signed for about half of the people. I got him on a card. I tried for a baseball inside, and he was just being really weird and messing with everyone. He would skip around a ton, then come back, etc. He pretended not to know what the sweet spot was for one kid. Then with me, he held his hand out for me to toss him my ball, then he let it hit the dirt on purpose. I would have been BEYOND pissed off if it was a brand new ball, but thankfully it was only an already rubbed down ball. He threw it  up without signing it.

I was able to get two other Louisville players.

Daniel Corcino:

As well as Greg Reynolds (One smudged badly):

Overall it was a VERY solid day. I was able to get a Red Sox, and 3 of the top prospects in baseball.

Total Autographs for 2013: 872

2013 New York-Penn League All Star Game 8/13/13

Tonight Norwich, Connecticut was the setting for the 2013 NYPL All Star Game, which meant that this would be the second minor league All Star Game in Connecticut this season. You may recall that I attended the Eastern League All Star Game.

This was also my first time 'graphing in almost two weeks, so it was nice to finally get back in action.

While this game wasn't packed full of star prospects, I got a few high draft picks on photos, as well as both full teams on baseballs.

As with most All Star Games, there was a signing on the concourse, and I thought the overall setup was very good. The American and National Leagues had different sessions, at different times, which made it super easy to focus on half of the players at once. The sessions were then divided by teams that the players were representing, which was a good idea because fans were able to target their favorite team(s). This didn't really help me in that sense, but it helped that I knew whose lines I was getting into.

With the exception of a few guys, I mainly had stuff for the American League.

The top players to get for them were definitely Yankees 2013 #1 Pick Eric Jagielo:

As well as Tigers 2013 #1 Pick, Jonathon Crawford:

I also was able to get B.J. Boyd on a photo:

As I stated earlier, I did a team ball for each side. On each ball, there are a few autographs I couldn't recognize, but I will research more in coming days.  Here is the American League one:

#38 Sergio Gomez

Boog Powell(Surprisingly no relation to the Orioles legend. His parents loved Boog as a player, and named their son after him.)

#23 B.J. Boyd 

#17 Brent Powers

#40 Ryan Huck

#28 Oscar Hernandez

#21 Jimmy Yacabonis

#18 Zac Reininger

#4 Ariel Soriano

#14 Darryl George

#28 Mike Yastrzemski (The grandson of Carl)

#52 Austin Wynns

#25 Nellie Rodriguez

#45 

#44 Matt Whitehouse

#28 Yeicok Calderon

#31 Jonathon Crawford

#57 Trey Mancini

#12 Claudio Bautista

Eric Jagielo

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#20 Bubba Jones

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#14 Ben Verlander

#35 Joe Gunkel

National League:

I got Erich Weiss on 2 Team USA cards:

Former Uconn standout, and son of Mets great, Lee Mazzill, L.J. Mazzilli was a part of the National League team. More on them later.

#13 Avery Romero

#38 Ryan Newell

#24

#7 L.J. Mazzilli

#44 Robert Gsellman

#34 Miller Diaz

#40 Gabriel Lino

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#11 Chris Cotton

#30 Tyler Buckley

#26 Cesar Valera

#5 Steven Ramos

#7  Chan Moon

#32 David Washington

#15 Jimmy Bosco

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#34

#26 Erich Weiss

#23 Harold Ramirez

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#35 ----

Zach Green

#6 Adam Frazier

#8 Michael Fransoso

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#2 Jeff Roy

#34

Besides the baseballs, my dad got a bunch of guys in the program, which I added to later:

Mike Yastrzemski (I also got him on my ticket which is not pictured):

Kevin Mager & Boog Powell:

Ariel Soriano & B.J. Boyd:

Trey Mancini:

Darryl George & Ryan Huck:

Jimmy Yacabonis & Oscar Hernandez:

Brent Powers:

Sergio Gomez:

Rookie Davis:

Mike Rabelo:

Joe Gunkel:

Trey Mancini:

Mike Yastrzemski:

Back to the Mazzilli family. I figured since L.J. made the team, and that they live somewhat locally, that former Mets great Lee Mazzilli would be in attendance. This was indeed the case, and I got them both on a photo:

Another former MLB player, Jay Johnstone was also there because he was the keynote speaker at the All Star Luncheon this morning(I did not attend). I actually did not know he was at the game, but my dad saw him, and surprised me with his book, and a photo which was really nice of him:

Total Autographs at this game: 88

Total Autographs for 2013: 847