Forgive Me, I've Sinned

Yesterday was my first Staten Island Yankees game in a week. When I said I was cutting back on games, apparently that meant going to one like once a week.

Yesterday's game was between the Staten Island Yankees and the Lowell Spinners. This is my second such encounter with the Spinners and the second time this season where it was a double header (the first time was in Brooklyn earlier last month).

Autographs

The reason I went to the game was mainly to nab Josh Smith (no not the former NBA player).
Smith was drafted by the New York Yankees in the second round of the 2019 MLB Player Draft. The shortstop drafted out of LSU is a solid all around player who at least is someone said to have "no real holes" according to MLB Pipeline. Basically he's a got a good hitting abilities, good power, a good glove, good speed and good arm. Everything's good, not great. And honestly, that's perfect for a second rounder. The Yankees have taken a lot of highly capable middle infielders in the draft and through international free agency over the years, hopefully Smith can etch his name in stone as the newest member of that scene.

Now, about the title. Like last time it alludes to this autograph.
No, not anything Josh did. But what I did.

1). I got multiple copies signed at once!
2). I cannibalized a piece of cardboard to turn into a signing board!

I've long held off on converting notebooks into these card holders or any of that type of stuff. Mainly because players (and other bystanders) see that and go "RESELLER ALERT!".
That isn't always the case obviously (not every binder user is a reseller) but the stereotype persists for a reason.

I decided to go against my rules (two of them) this time because of morbid curiosity and to quench my thirst for power and knowledge.

Needing to know if I could do such a thing is what I wanted to prove to myself. Could I convert a piece of cardboard into this type of monstrosity. At some point I didn't think about if I should anymore.

I also wanted to do three at once. Those binder hounds have like eight signed at a time. I have a limit of three. So why not juuuuust go up to the limit?

So I did. But what did that achieve? And at what cost?

Well it got me three Josh Smith autographs. It also marked one of the first times I've given the players a solid (as in hard) writing surface right off the bat to sign these cards with. To pieces of a cardboard box can form quite a surface.

And the cost was maybe 40-mins of handywork. I just cut the corners off of penny sleeves I don't use and taped them onto the boards.

Now that I know that I can. I think I should stop. I already have three Smith autographs. I'm golden! Also, I gave some of my extras to the other autograph collectors (who I know to be cool based on past interactions with them). Hope that counts for something.

Anyway, enough monologuing about scribbled ink. Onto...

The Games

Yes, games (plural). This was a double-header.

I missed most of the first game. It was a 4-5 loss (BOX SCORE). Sucks.

I watched most of the second game. It was a 2-3 loss (BOX SCORE). Sucks.

Look, the Staten Island team FINALLY got some reinforcements in the form of Josh Smith and Pat DeMarco, but it came at the cost of Oswald Peraza being promoted to Charleston and Everson Pereira getting hurt and being out for an indefinite period of time. The lineup went from Duran-Peraza-Pereira-Sanford to Duran-Smith-Sanford and whatever else the team can string together. It doesn't look like help from Pulaski's coming (don't see an Antonio Cabello or Anthony Volpe promotion) but hey, maybe this team can still fight to the end now that DeMarco and Smith are here. We'll see. The way its best players keep getting promoted to Charleston (good for them tho) is troubling.

And that was my latest MiLB game and moral quandary where I betrayed myself and lost sight of who I was in the process.

As always thanks for stopping by and take care :).

2019 IP Auto Count: 28