Today I went to the Iowa Cubs game with the kids and Caden’s baseball team. We were all in Des Moines for a baseball tournament and it worked out that the Cubs were in town so we got forty tickets and everyone went. It was a blast. Cami, Caden’s friend Cayden, and I got to the ballpark just as the gates opened. It had rained up to that point so the tarp was on the field and the players were not out taking batting practice. The three of us waited where the players take the field and most walked past us. Cayden and Cami saw that Corey Seager (the number five prospect in baseball) was going to the Dodgers’ dugout and decided to head there. I had a ML debut ticket of Javier Baez that I was hoping to get signed so I waited halfway down the third base line watching him warm up. Once he was done, we went to a couple kids and signed for them and posed for a photo and then signed my ticket. I was really excited. On the other side of the field Cayden and Cami were able to get Corey Seager. They also got another player after the game. Cami conned me into buying her a game used signed bat but Chris Valaika.
We all had a blast and the kids got on the scoreboard video screen twice! Unfortunately for the Cottage Grove Wolfpack, they only won one game and lost three on the weekend. It was fun though!
Category: IP
Florida Baseball Autographs
While in Florida, we, as a family, went to three baseball games. I drove to watch a fourth game when Amy and the kids and my nephew decided to go kayaking. Over those four games we did not actively pursue autographs but if the opportunity came up, we did go for it. I have purchased a pack of 25 baseball autograph cards that worked well for players I had no idea of or had nothing for. I did bring along some Sports Illustrated magazines but they did not get out of my backpack even once. I did manage to get a baseball signed by one player for me though and a pair of autographed cards for Cami while she got a pair of the cards signed herself. Most of the time we showed up to the game just as first pitch was about to happen so there was not much of an opportunity for autographs.
We ended up getting the following autograph cards:
Aaron Barrett- 03.11.2015- Nationals
Tyler Moore- 03.11.2015- Nationals
Chris Stewart- 03.13.2015- Pirates
Steve Clevenger- 03.14.2015- Orioles
I got Dylan Bundy on a baseball at the Orioles game.
While we did not get many autographs, we had a great time seeing all the ballparks and watching a lot of baseball in the sun!
“Astronautically” Awesome!
Today we went to Kennedy Space Center in Florida. While checking out the day’s events I noticed a former astronaut would be signing autographs in the gift shop in the afternoon. I did not tell Cami in case it did not work out time-wise. We did our bus tour and checked out a lot of things and I asked if she wanted to get an autograph of an astronaut and she was really excited and said yes. So, the two of us headed to the gift shop and went right up to John Blaha and got four photos signed. On Cami’s he wrote “Cami, Shoot for the stars!”. We went to the check out line and paid for the photos and we back with Amy and Caden before they knew it! It was awesome to finally add an astronaut to the collection!
Twinsfest 2015 – Day 3
My expectations were exceeded in the first two days of Twinsfest so anything I got today would be icing on the cake. Traditionally Sunday is the day I take the kids so they can have fun and get excited for the upcoming Twins season and this year was no different. I picked up Caden’s friend Cayden at 7:05am and the four of us headed to Target Field. It was a little colder this morning than the previous two but we waited and at 9am entered Target Field. We were about 40th or so in line so we were in good shape. I thought maybe I could get through Joe Mauer’s line twice. While waiting in line, Caden’s friend Noah showed up and I offered him $10 if he would get a card signed by Joe Mauer with me. He was all over that so Noah and I went to the Mauer line and Caden and Cami went to Ervin Santana’s line. Ervin puts #smellbaseball on a number of his Twitter posts and Cami thought it would be cool to ask for the incription on her baseball. He did not let her down! He signed it on the ball and she was STOKED! Caden got a card and they both got the others in the line. When they were done, Cami came over to the Mauer line with me and Caden and Cayden walked around for a really short time. While the kids were getting Ervin, Noah and I got Joe. We then got back in line and Cami joined us and the three of us got Joe. Then Noah left to get someone else and Caden joined us and Caden, Cami and I got Joe. I could not believe it! I needed about 40 or so Mauers and finished the weekend with 17 signed cards. The third time I went through the line I told Joe he was on too many cards that I needed signed and he said “You are coming up with some good ones!” I handed him a card with him and Roy Halladay in the Topps Heritage set and he said he had never seen that card. That was pretty cool. Joe was very friendly and talkative which was really neat. After that, Caden and Cami headed to the Brian Dozier, Michael Tonkin and Tyler Duffey line and I headed to the Jordan Schafer and Nick Gordon line. I stayed in the same area and got the following players in the next group; Ricky Nolasco, Eddie Rosario and Trevor May. The kids went through the Kurt Suzuki, Ryan Pressly, Kohl Stewart and Blake Schmit line. Caden got Pressly on a ML Debut ticket for me. I joined Cami for the next group with Phil Hughes, Tommy Milone, Max Murphy and Tom Quinlan. Caden hung out with his friends and ended up getting in the line later on on his own and got a REALLY cool card signed by Hughes for his collection. The kids went to the Pop a Shot area to shoot hoops with some Twins players. While there, Cami joined them and Oswaldo Arcia was standing behind her. She was draining shot after shot and I saw Oswaldo look over at the other player and mouthed “WOW!” It was pretty cool. Once they were done, Caden and Cami each got a card signed by him and Cami got a picture. Cami then did the Speed Pitch and hit 32 mph! At this point I figured I was done and I would let the kids do what they wanted to. Turns out Caden and Noah and Cayden went in the Tony Oliva and Miguel Sano line while Cami and I went ot the Oswaldo Arcia, Eduardo Escobar, Jorge Polanco and Mark Hamburger line. On the way there, we headed to the Twins Wives table again and Cami got Danny Santana on a couple cards. Cami went through the line and got an autograph from each. We then headed down to the vendors and I talked to a couple of my favorite guys and Cami wanted to go to the Metropolitan Club and check it out. She saw that Paul Molitor was in the Selfie Station and got a photo with the Hall of Famer and new Twins manager. Once we spent a few minutes in that area we decided to walk to the boys and on the way there took a tour of the Twins clubhouse and then Cami took a few swings in the player’s batting cages. She did pretty good! We found the boys and I took one final photo of Cami in the lower level of Target Field. We headed home tired but really excited.
The tally for the day includes:
Ervin Santana: (Cami) OMLB w/”#smellbaseball”, (Caden) 2014 Topps
Butch Davis: (Cami) Index card
Frank Quilici: (Cami) 1972 Topps Twins Team, (Caden) 1971 Topps
Mike Kvasnicka: (Cami) Index card
Cole DeVries: (Cami) Index card, (Caden) 2013 Topps
Joe Mauer: (Me) 2010 Allen & Ginter, 2012 Allen & Ginter, 2006 Topps Heritage, 2007 Topps Heritage, 2008 Topps Heritage, 2009 Topps Heritage, 2009 Topps Heritage All Star, 2011 Topps Heritage All Star, 2010 Topps Heritage High Powered Battery, 2010 Topps Heritage All Star, 2014 Topps Heritage, 2014 Topps Heritage Batting Leaders (WOW! What a day!)
Brian Dozier: (Cami) 2014 Topps Heritage, (Caden) 2011 Topps Heritage High Number
Michael Tonkin: (Cami) Index card
Tyler Duffey: (Cami) Index card
Jordan Schafer: (Me) 2009 Allen & Ginter, 2014 Topps
Nick Gordon: (Me) 2014 Bowman Chrome, 2014 Topps Insert (with Kyle Schwarber)
Taylor Rogers: (Cami) Index card
Kurt Suzuki: (Cami) 2014 Topps Update All Star, (Caden) 2014 Topps Update
Ryan Pressly: (Me) MLB Debut ticket w/”MLB Debut”
Kohl Stewart: (Cami) 2014 Topps Heritage Minors, 2014 Topps Pro Debut, (Caden) 2014 Topps Heritage Minors, 2014 Topps Pro Debut
Blake Schmit: (Cami) Index card
Ricky Nolasco: (Me) 2014 Allen & Ginter, 2014 Topps
Eddie Rosario: (Me) 2014 Topps Heritage Minors, 2014 Topps Pro Debut
Trevor May: (Me) ML Debut ticket w/”ML Debut”
Phil Hughes: (Me) 2 @ 2014 Topps, (Cami) 2014 Topps, (Caden) 2014 Topps Heritage, 2011 Allen & Ginter Future Stars
Tommy Milone: (Me) 2014 Topps Heritage, (Cami) 2014 Gypsy Queen, (Caden) 2014 Topps Heritage
Max Murphy: (Cami) Index card
Tom Quinlan: (Cami) Index card
Tony Oliva: (Caden) 1969 Topps All Star
Miguel Sano: (Caden) 2011 Topps Heritage Minors
Oswaldo Arcia: (Cami) 2013 Topps, (Caden) 2014 Allen & Ginter
Eduardo Escobar: (Cami) 2014 Topps
Jorge Polanco: (Me) ML Debut ticket w/”ML Debut”
Mark Hamburger: (Cami) 2011 Bowman Chrome
Danny Santana: (Me) 2 @ 2014 Topps
It was an amazing weekend that exceeded my results by a whole day. It was fun to see the players all excited to see the fans. I saw Torii Hunter walking the halls a few times and he was smiling from ear to ear and giving hugs with everyone. It truly is great he is back with the Twins.
We cannot wait for Opening Day!