Author: Kevin

After Twinsfest 2009, I decided to change my approach to this event.  Instead of playing catch up after not obtaining a “big” autograph, I decided to go after a lot of other autographs in hopes of knocking off as many of the Topps Twins cards I needed.
I left work Friday afternoon at 1pm to get there and wait for the 4pm opening.  I knew I was not going to attempt the Mauer line or even wait in the long Morneau line that would have already been forming over an hour and a half before he was going to start signing.  I really wanted to try to get my 1982 Topps Twins Rookies card signed by Hrbek and Laudner this weekend to go along with it being already signed by Lenny Faedo.  I got in the Hrbek/Oliva line right as I walked in.  I ended up getting the Twins Rookies card signed by Hrbek who asked how I got Faedo and then a 1965 card signed by Oliva.  I was so early in that line that I decided to head down to field level and got in line for Guerrier/Crain/Baker.  I only needed a Baker card and photo signed and when I got to him, he was nice enough to sign both.  I got Guerrier and Crain on cards that I will offer in trade.  I then headed to the other side of the field level stations and got in the Anderson/Duensing/Ullger line.  I needed Andy on two photos and he signed them.  I got Duensing on a baseball and a card and skipped Ullger.  That pretty much finished the first groups of signers.  For the next period, I decided to get in the Newman/Manship/White line.  I was able to get Jeff Manship on a ticket from his ML Debut game and he signed it with that.  It looks cool.  I got Newmie on two cards I needed for my Topps Twins project.  I skipped Jerry White.  I took the opportunity to look for a 1962 Topps card of Mudcat Grant.  I knew he was going to be there and a friend from SCN needed him for his 1962 set.  After looking and asking at about 4 dealers, I found one.  I then headed to Fergie Jenkin’s booth where Mudcat was signing.  He signed the card and was as nice as could be.  What a great guy.  I then headed to the Harris/Koskie/Liriano line.  Liriano was a no show but I still was able to get a card signed by Koskie and another by Harris.  For the final time slot, I went through the Neshek/Perkins/Kubel/Young line.  I got a card signed by Pat and asked him if he was enjoying Twinsfest knowing he does.  He smiled and affirmed by thoughts.  He is one of the best signers and friend of autograph collectors.  I got Kubel to sign his 2009 Topps Heritage card and he looked at it like he had not seen it before.  Then I got Perkins on a card and finally got to Delmon Young.  Delmon is one of the hardest non-M & M Boy to get on the team.  He was in a great mood as I showed him two cards and asked him which was his favorite and was going to have him sign that one.  He said they both were and signed both for me.  That was an awesome end to Twinsfest 2010 Day One!

Gene Larkin was appearing this morning at a local sportscard shop.  It was limited to two autographs per person.  Cami and I were going to the Twins game and decided to swing over there on our way to the Dome.  I had the 1991 Sports Illustrated team celebration and three cards I needed for my Twins signed card project.  It was our turn and he looked at Cami and said “Hello!  What is your name?”  Cami was real shy and did not say anything.  I told him “Camden” and he replied “That is a pretty name.”  He told her he was not going to sign her card until she said something.  When she didn’t he said that she called his bluff and he signed it.  As I was putting everything away, Cami said “put these with your things dad” and Gene said “Ah ha!  She can speak!”  We all had a nice laugh.  It was pretty cool.
We headed to the game and Cami got her backpack and it was another fun day at the ballpark for Cami and I.

Today the Twins had a number of signing events going on.  Since I have had a ticket from the game Carlos Gomez hit for the cycle, I decided to attempt to get that signed.  I headed to Linwood Pizza in Blaine for the 11am signing.  I got there around 9:20 and was around 70th in line.  By the time he showed up to sign, the line was about five times that long.  I am sure there were a lot of people who did not get his autograph.
It was finally my turn and I got up there and handed him my ticket from his cycle game. Luckily I had CYCLE written on a piece of paper because I asked him to write it on it. He said he did not know how to spell it and I showed him the paper and he wrote it on there. I was very pleased with how the ticket turned out.

Today I headed to the Dome with the one goal of getting my 2007 Allen & Ginter card signed by Torii Hunter.  I was at the Dome early and got a spot right above the Angels’ dugout.  I waited until after batting practice was over and he started signing at the end of the dugout.  I did not think he was going to keep coming down to where I was more in the middle but he did.  I handed him my A&G card and told him how my son will not let me throw out his Hunter jersey.  He looked at me and said “He won’t LET YOU?” in a way to say why do you want to?  I told him it was faded and too small but he says Torii is his man.  Torii laughed and said “You are raising that boy right!”  I asked him if he would sign my 07 Topps Heritage card of his and he said he would.  I ended up getting two Torii cards signed.  That was fun!