In a recent email from the Twins, I noticed that Brooks Lee and Bailey Ober were going to be at the Team Store at Target Field today. You could get an autograph of each if you bought something and everything but jerseys were half off. Work was really slow so I decided at the last minute to take an early and longer lunch break and head down. I got there just as the event was starting but sat in my car to let the crowd thin out. I went in and found a hat and bought that and got in the very short line for the players. I had purchased Brooks Lee’s first MLB putout baseball last season and thought maybe he would inscribe it at an event like this. I had an index card written out how I would like it inscribed. He completely ignored that request and signed it on the sweetspot with his name. I figured that might happen since he is a Fanatics athlete and they tend to only do extra things when getting paid. I moved on to Bailey. He is really cool and really tall. I told him that this coming season will be my 25th as a season ticket holder and he said that was really cool. I said “I bet you didn’t expect it to be this cold when you signed up for this!” He laughed and said he knew it would be colder but it was not much colder than Charlotte where he came from. He signed my ball on the sweetspot and thanked me for coming. While chatting with Bailey, Brooks commented that he remembered that play… “Matt Vierling. A step and put my glove up.” He was exactly correct. Pretty cool. It was a fun little quick kill and I won’t have to worry about these at Twinsfest.
Category: Game Used
Kitty
I have posted a few items I received from Jim Kaat since his Hall of Fame induction including the purchase of a signed baseball with the #36 retired logo. While I was unable to get a ticket to that game, I was able to get a game used baseball from it which, of course, had the #36 logo. I sent it in to a signing Kaat was doing and had him sign it under the logo with “#36 Retired 7/16/22” and received it back signed beautifully today! A special thanks to Donnie D (macey225 on SCN) for getting it done!
TK, Joe, and Eck
I have had some pretty good mail days but I think todays mail day is the best ever! I received items from three people and all are people I admire in baseball.
The first package was from Tom Kelly. My friend Mark B is the Tigers Ticket God. If he does not have a specific Detroit Tigers ticket he will track it down and that is exactly what he did for me. On May 26, 1975 TK hit his only MLB home run and Mark found me a pair of tickets to that game. TK signed one of them with “Only MLB HR”. I will donate the other ticket to the Twins as they have the home run baseball on display. I think a ticket would go great with it. The other item TK signed for me was a ticket for the 09.08.2012 Twins game when his #10 was retired. He inscribed that ticket with “#10 Retired”
The next package I opened was from Dennis Eckersley. I had mailed him a ticket from the 2004 Hall of Fame Induction which was postmarked from Cooperstown. He signed it beautifully. Now I need to send it to Paul Molitor to complete it.
I saved the best for last and I was blown away with how perfect everything was signed. Doug Keating (4192HITS on SCN) had a signing with Joe and I sent in a few items I had that I needed signed. The items I received are:
2015 Topps #700 SP Variation
2022 Allen & Ginter #163
2018 Topps Now Players Weekend Bonus PWB-66
2021 Topps Project 70 #629
10.06.2009 Ticket with “2009 AL MVP” and “Batting Champ .365”
09.29.2018 Ticket with “Last Run 1,018” and “Last RBI 923”
06.15.2019 Ticket with “#7 Retired”
Game used baseball from the game Joe’s #7 was retired with “#7 Retired 6/15/19”
Retail baseball from the game Joe’s #7 was retired with “#7 Retired 6/15/19”
The 2009 ticket is from Game #163 and has Joe pictured on it. It is signed in ultra fine silver deco and looks amazing. Actually, all of them look amazing. I am really excited to add these to my collection!
Mauer Pauer
A couple months ago I started seeing player lists showing up on who was going to sign in Cooperstown, NY during Hall of Fame Induction Weekend. One of these players was Joe Mauer. Over the years I have gotten Joe a ton of times but rarely with inscriptions so I had saved a number of items to send in once I saw he was doing a signing with inscriptions. This was an opportunity I jumped at! Jack Berke had Joe and Justin Morneau and a few other guys present for the signing but Joe was the guy I was really after. While the fees were not cheap, they were cheap relative to what it will be the next time he signs. To prepare for this signing, I sold a couple Mauer tickets (a debut and a final game) to help offset the cost. Earlier this week Jack called me and told me there was a problem with the silver paint pen used on one of my tickets and he would get a new ticket done once he saw Joe next time. I was a little nervous after hearing that but outside of that ticket, I was blown away. These items were signed exactly as I requested and look phenomenal. I am unbelievably excited to add these to my collection! The items I added today are:
*Game used baseball from 6/15/2019 when the Twins retired Joe’s #7 signed under the special logo on balls used during the game. Joe included “#7 Retired 6/15/2019” under his name.
*The actual baseball from 9/12/17 when Joe got hit 1,966 and RBI 862 & 863 inscribed with those stats.
*Ticket from his Major League debut with “MLB Debut”
*Ticket from his 2000th hit game with Joe featured on it with “3,000th Hit”
*Ticket from his final game with “Final Game”
*Ticket from the 6/15/2019 game signed and inscribed with “#7 Retired” but the paint pen blew up on it. This is the ticket that will get redone in the future. I have a second ticket from this game so I will not have to find and purchase it.
This was a group of items years in the making for me waiting for a signing where I could get inscriptions. I was not let down! Outside of the silver paint pen malfunction, these items are perfect and I am so excited to add these to my collection!