Rained Out

On Saturday I made my way to Staten Island to see a double header between the Yankees and the Connecticut Tigers (a Detroit Tigers affiliate). The game the night before on August 3rd had been postponed due to the field being declared unplayable.

Due to unplayable field conditions, both games of tonight's doubleheader (Saturday, August 4) have been postponed.

For more information, visit our website at https://t.co/9Pgt8nJ4fi. pic.twitter.com/Q3KUTV9QJl

— StatenIslandYankees (@SIYanks) August 4, 2018

Unfortunately a minute before the gates were set to open the games were postponed again due to wet grounds. On Saturday it was very sunny, hot and overall nice baseball weather but I guess the rain from the night before still left the field in poor condition.

It wasn't a total loss though. When life gives you lemons, you run to the employee entrance/exit to wait for players to come out to get autographs.

Ken Joyce is the current hitting coach for the Baby Bombers and he was one of the first to come out (which is odd since the coaching staff usually stays at the ballpark the longest). Mr. Joyce kindly signed both the card I wanted him to sign and the one I wanted to give him. Apparently he got a big stack of them for himself. I'm guessing that means the team/company started giving the card subjects some samples then? I hope so.

Thanks to Mr. Joyce I only need two more autographs to complete the 2018 SIY team set (minus the eight players who were already elsewhere when the set came out).

That was very cool and made making the trip out to SI worth it. But what really pushed the worthiness of the trip over the top was this.

BOOM!

This is a Recommended Viewing insert from 2017 Bowman Draft and the first ever dual autograph card I ever finished. Best of all it features Clarke Schmidt and Matt Sauer, who were the Yankees' first and second rounders in the 2017 draft respectively. I bought this card early last week on eBay (yes, I actually bought an insert card on eBay on it's own, don't judge me - the shipping was free!), it arrived on Friday and it was signed by both of the players on Saturday.

The card is a bit on the darker side in terms of lighting (the parallels don't appear to make it that much brighter FWIW) so the signatures are a bit tough to see. I'm aware that the 5x7 versions of this card a bit more lighter, but 5x7's suck.

Still though, it's not like the signatures are impossible to see and I love this card. Two top Yankees draft picks on one card (SIGNED!) is a quick way to my collecting heart. The best part is that no certified autograph version of this insert set exists. I have myself an exclusive here!

So yeah, the games not being played sucked. Especially since it was the very last Saturday game for the Yankees Pizza Rats this summer (according to the schedule there are only weekday games and one Sunday game left). Bummer. But on the bright side I can watch another game by trading in the ticket I scanned up top, and since I already got these sweet autographs today, whatever I get on that day will just be gravy (actually I still need two autographs of the SIY team set guys so maybe not just gravy).

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

2018 IP Auto Count: 53

Camp Day

We're in August now folks. Can you believe it?

I took the day off from other obligations yesterday to go see a rare noon game in Staten Island. Of course when the SI Yankees host a noon game that can only mean one thing, Camp Day. The fun filled day where local camps and groups come to the ballpark and enjoy themselves some minor league baseball by guys they've never heard of.

A lot of "graphers" tend to stay away from camp day since the stadiums get a lot more crowded and there are a lot more kids around. Personally anything that keeps away the autograph hounds is good in my book. Plus it's nice to see the stadium actually be packed and full of energy for once. The youths man, they're our futures. If the iGen (post-millennials, Gen-Z if you will) have shown us anything, it's that they don't fuck around.

Plus a lot of the groups and camps don't really arrive to the stadium until a good 5-10 minutes before the game. Allowing me to get a few signatures.

Starting us off is a custom of Brandon Lockridge. Unfortunately Lockridge arrived in Staten Island too late to get his own card but he is a highly capable outfielder and it'll be fun to see how he progresses. Plus he's just a cool dude. So much so that I made this for him.

This autograph got smudged to hell and back, but it's still a MIGUEL FLAMES autograph. Flames was one of the bigger names in the 2014 International Amateur Free Agent haul, unfortunately his value came from his being a high caliber catcher but he's outgrown the position now.

I managed to get two autographs of Matt Sauer. Recently I was asked about the 19:26 inscription and it's a Bible verse. Matthew 19:26 to be more precise (getting more mileage out of his own name there, smart).

Drew Finley has been able to stay healthy since moving to the bullpen, but his performance is a big mixed. It's a big bummer that it hasn't worked out quite as well as many had hoped, but I'm still putting for Mr. Finley.

Obviously this isn't for me. It's for a certain West Virginia University alum/collector named Matt. Unfortunately that "Matt" character doesn't have a blog anymore so I have to do it for them.

Finished off the day with not one, but TWO Clarke Schmidts. Schmidt was the Yankees' first round pick in 2017 and he's finally returned to the mound after rehabbing from the Tommy John surgery he got when he was still in college. I am pumped to see what he can do now that he's healthy.

And those were my autographs.

As for the game itself, it was really good. The camp day kids got a really nice game.

From a prospector's point of view (ie my point of view), the Yankees side had no shortage of good names. For starters the starting pitcher and catcher for the Yankees were Juan De Paula and Josh Breaux respectively. Both are top 30 prospects in the org and were definite "to watch" guys in the game. On top of that you had fringe guys like Canaan Smith and Kyle Gray in the lineup to provide some key moments (more on that in a bit). The Ironbirds (O's affiliate) had some notable guys in Milton Ramos, Austin Hays and Gray Fenter (who was also their starting pitcher).

De Paula was solid overall but this start wasn't exactly smooth. From the get go he had some issues with command and allowed some hard contact in addition to a few walks. But overall he had a solid outing where he went 5.2 IP with five K's and allowed three runs (all earned). His fastball sat in the 89-91 range and it even hit 97 mph at one point. Woof!

Canaan Smith and Kyle Gray brought some pop to the game by socking dingers to give De Paula some support. Smith hit a key three run home run and provided four of the Yankees' eight total runs that day. Gray socked a two run home run to really pad out the Yankees' lead when it almost looked like the Birds were catching up.

The Yankees managed to win by a final score of 8-3. The campers all got to go home happy (some with awesome souvenirs) and I got the autographs I was after. We all won!

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

2018 IP Auto Count: 49