What an awesome weekend! My buddy Shane was unable to come this year so my brother decided to come with me and he had so much fun he is already looking forward to next year. It was his first Twinsfest.
Today started around 5:45 am for me when my alarm went off. Surprisingly my excitement overruled my tiredness for the day. I arrived at Target Field around 7 am give or take a couple minutes and got in the skyway line. I was right where the skyway meets the parking ramp so I figured I was in a good position to start the day. I could not have been more right! Most people in line were going to go to the Joe Mauer line. Since Joe was just announced as a newly elected Hall of Famer, there was great demand for his signature. I give him a ton of credit for being in NYC the day before and still making the morning signature session the next day. He is a classy human let along his accomplishments on the field.
My brother arrived shortly after I did. He had a longer drive than I did so I figured he would be a little later than me. Once we entered we headed to the Champions Club area and got in line for Byron Buxton and Edouard Julien. We were around 100th in line. When we got to them they signed a card for each of us. Since we were in the line early, we had a shot to get to another session. So, I got in the line that was already forming for the Max Kepler session and my brother went through the Jordan Balazovic, Kody Funderburk, Brent Hendrick and Hank Conger line. Once he was done, he took my spot in the Kepler line and I went through the Balazovic line. While my brother was getting the Balazovic group, I saw that my pal Shaun T sent me a Facebook message that he was in the Kepler line. I recognized him from his Facebook avatar and sent him a picture of himself in line. Once he got it he looked up and looked around like “hey! That’s me!” look trying to see where I was. I waved and he came over. It was really cool to shake his hand and meet him face to face. I met him via Facebook in the ticket collecting group. He has done a lot for me acquiring tickets the last couple years. Great guy!
We waited for the first sessions to end and then prepared for the Kepler line. We were around 50th in line and that was a good thing. That line turned out to be REALLY long (not as long as Royce Lewis’ but I will get to that in a moment). We got Max on a couple cards, Willi Castro on a card and baseball and Trevor Larnach on a couple cards. I was hoping Max would sign a few because I need a bunch of his. He is a tough signer.
After that, my brother and I headed to get in line for Pablo Lopez and Joe Ryan. On the way I saw my buddy Rob who works for the Twins. It was a quick re-introduction to my brother and a quick hug and we were back on our way. it is an annual highlight to see Rob at Twinsfest (and the home opener and other times throughout the season as well). I stopped to get something for us to eat while my brother went to get in line. On my way to get food, I stopped by and said hello to my pal Tony S (the guy collecting Carlton Fisk tickets). Tony had a ticket for me from the game Mauer caught the ball behind the netting behind the plate. Tony is awesome and it was cool to catch up with him later today. My brother had a cool Topps Now card for Ryan to sign and he hit that one and another for him and a pair of mine. Pablo hit both of each of ours as well. That line was pretty chaotic as they were trying to get a bunch of people through as fast as possible.
As my brother called getting Royce Lewis “The Main Event Of The Day”, he went and got in line for Royce and I hit the Christian Vazquez, Colby Suggs, and Tommy Watkins line. People were pretty much watching and limiting a number of people to only one autograph. I usually put down a pair hoping for both but content with one. I usually point to the one I want signed. For Vazquez I wanted my Topps base card and he started with the Heritage. Just before he was about to sign the Heritage I went “Oh, I wanted…” and pointed to the Topps card. He then signed both and looked at me and shrugged while I thanked him. The look in his eyes were “No problem man. I got ya!” It was pretty cool.
At this point I was beat. I mean, my body ached and every time I stood up from sitting I felt lightheaded. I did not each much which was probably the reason but I did not feel like going all the way down just to come back up for my final session. My brother said he was about twentieth in line so I went down to the Royce Lewis line. I am so glad I did. By the time the line entered the third base lounge, we were probably a hundredth in line because everyone was saving spots for people. They did not hand out numbers until you were already in the lounge so it did not prevent people from getting in line. It was ok though. It started something awesome. While in the line waiting for Royce to show up, I chatted with my friend Vijay and his wife Shelley was the person sitting next to Royce helping him with the autographs. When we got to Royce I gave Shelley a hug and told her it was nice to see her. Then Royce signed my card. He was so personal and engaging. He looked me in the eye and said hi and asked if I was enjoying my day. Then he started signing the second card and mumbled “shoot” and finished it. I took it as he wanted to sign both and made it look like he messed up and signed the second one. It was awesome. Even cooler was the interaction with my brother. Royce signed my brother’s card and put his hand out to shake my brother’s hand. I could tell it was a huge highlight for my brother. Royce is his favorite player. I had my phone out taking pictures like crazy… or so I thought. I do not know what happened but nothing saved when I hit the camera button. That is my only regret of the day. It was a true and sincere interaction between my brother and his favorite Twin. He got a cool Topps Now card signed from a game my brother attended so it was an even cooler memory of it.
After that we headed to the final station we were going to which was Glen Perkins, Cole De Vries, Matt Wallner, Louie Varland, and Caleb Thielbar. This signing session was made up of all players born in Minnesota which I thought was cool. The session was to end at 4:15 pm and at 4:00 there were still about 100 or more people in front of me. It did not look good but I was hoping the line would move quick. It turns out that they all decided to stick around except for Thielbar who had a commitment that he had to leave at 4:15 for. That was a bummer because I had a card for a friend of mine to get signed by Caleb. The other guys signed cards and Perkins signed a couple tickets for us. My brother got him to sign “1st MLB Save” on his ticket. When I got to him I handed him a ticket and he looked at the date and said “I know what this is from!” I asked him to inscribe “Last Game” and he did. I asked him if he knew going into it that that was going to be it for his career and he said he did. I told him that I was sad with him as I watched him on the big screen at the ballpark. He was genuinely appreciative of that.
Afterwards my brother and I walked down to talk with Tony S (the ticket guy). I chatted longer as my brother took off to head home. I left Tony shortly after and went to the Team Store to get a Mauer jersey for my daughter. They did not have any so I guess I am going to have to order one for her for Cooperstown.
I got home and went to bed. About 10 minutes into trying to sleep, I got a Charlie Horse in my left calf. It hurt BAD for about 15 minutes it was nothing but paid. Yes, I would do it all again even with the Charlie Horse.
Twinsfest weekend is my most favorite weekend of the year (but this year the favorite weekend will be in Cooperstown in July). While my tradition with going with my buddy Shane did not work out, he will be back with me next year. And my brother? He had so much fun he said he was going to come next year for sure but he was going to be prepared with more of his cards to get signed. It was a fun memory for both of us. My daughter would have loved to have been with us today but she is in Phoenix for school. Can’t wait until next year!
The items I added to my collection today are:
Glen Perkins- “1st MLB Save” ticket
Glen Perkins- “Last Game” ticket
Kody Funderburk- “MLB Debut” tickets x2
Royce Lewis- 2023 Topps 451, Living Legends card
Matt Wallner- 2023 Topps Heritage 156, Topps Now 08.06.2023 #664
Louie Varland- 2023 Topps 441
Cole DeVries- Signature Card
Max Kepler- 2020 Topps 117 sliding variation, 2023 Topps 253
Willi Castro- 2023 Topps 411, OMLB
Trevor Larnach- 2023 Topps 201, 2023 Topps Heritage 554 x 2, Topps Now 05.20.2021 #240
Joe Ryan- 2022 Topps 390, 2023 Topps 467
Pablo Lopez- 2023 Topps US117, 2023 Topps US302, 2023 Topps Heritage 617, Topps Now ODB-22
Edouard Julien- 2023 Topps US222, 2023 Topps #US46
Byron Buxton- 2020 Topps 526, 2023 Topps 25
Hank Conger- Signature Card
Jordan Balazovic- Topps Now 05.19.2023 #461, Signature Card
Brent Headrick- 2023 Topps US54, 2023 Topps Heritage 572 X 2, Topps Now 04.19.23 #154
Christian Vazquez- 2023 Topps US83, 2023 Topps Heritage 673
Colby Suggs- Signature Card
Tommy Watkins- Signature Card
A great weekend!
Category: IP
Louie, Louie!
I saw a posting on Facebook that stated Louie Varland was signing at the Maplewood Mall here in the Twin Cities. It was a free event. I got up to go and Amy asked what I was doing and told her and she wanted to come along so we headed out. I got a baseball signed and Amy got a 2023 Topps and a 2023 Topps Heritage card signed for me. Louie was awesome. He was so friendly and personable. He said he is already excited for next season! It was a very pleasurable experience for us!
Nice Organ!
I finally did something today I meant to do for a while. I got Sue Nelson’s autograph on a baseball. Sue is the Twins organist. I visited her many times over the years but never got her autograph on a ball. Before the Twins game today I went up to the area her organ is located at and saw my buddy Ron getting her autograph as well. I brought her some Target Field cards so she could hand them out to kids since the Twins do not have a card of her own or anything like that. She seemed very pleased. She then signed my baseball with Twins Organist. It looks great. She is great. It was a fun time.
Twinsfest 2023
Wow! What a blast today! Twinsfest is back after a couple year hiatus. While the autograph day was only one day this year, with some help from friends, I was able to add some amazing items to my collection.
The weekend started Friday morning when I met up with my buddy Shane in Anoka. His wife drove him down to meet up with me for our annual trip to Twinsfest. This year Shane’s son Mark joined us. We went out for dinner and got ready for a full day of fun today.
My alarm went off at 6:03am and I wanted to roll over and sleep another couple hours but I knew if we had a shot to get the players in the first group we had to get going. Shane, Mark, and I got to Target Field around 7:20 and the line to enter at the skyway level was well into the parking ramp. It was cold. It was REALLY COLD. We were at least blocked from any wind in the ramp but standing there for an hour and a half before the doors opened was not fun. Eventually my season ticket partner Carol and her crew arrived as well as Caden and his buddy and we all joined the line together to wait. Once we entered the stadium, Shane and I headed to the service level as did Caden and Noah. Caden and Noah helped me this year and I could not have been more grateful for their assistance. The items they got signed for my collection really helped make Twinsfest successful for me and having Shane with me was just as helpful. I am eternally grateful for what they did for me.
Shane and I waited in line for Brooks Lee, Royce Lewis, Austin Martin and Jose Miranda while Caden and Noah waited for Carlos Correa. All four of us were successful and while Shane and I headed into the next line, Caden and Noah were able to get through the Kyle Farmer, Joey Gallo, Ryan Jeffers, Bailey Ober, and Jayce Tingler line.
The next time slot found Shane and I getting Nick Gorden, Alex Kirilloff, Trevor Larnach, and David Popkins. Caden and Noah got through the Joe Ryan, Josh Winder, and Simeon Woods Richardson line. This was an important line for me because I had tickets for two of the three guys in this grouping.
Caden and Noah went to get into the next line but it was so long and they discovered that the Joe Mauer line was already forming so they got into that line and waited… and waited… and waited. They waited in the Mauer line for three plus hours for me.
Shane and I were invited to a season ticket holder Meet and Greet so we headed there. On the way there we stopped to say hi to my pal Tony and his son Spencer. I met Tony probably 25 years ago at Twinsfest and his son probably 10 years ago. Tony and his son are two of the nicest, kindest, thoughtful people you will ever meet. Tony is trying to collect a ticket stub from every game that Carlton Fisk played in. It is an amazing collection and I am always on the lookout for tickets he needs. His son has grown A LOT since I last saw him pre-covid. He is taking after his dad as being a phenomenal person. Tony gave me a ticket to add to my collection too. I found one ticket for him years ago but have been shut out since. I would give anything to find another one (or two) for him for all he has done for me as well as others.
We moved on to the Meet and Greet but were a little late. We were able to find a spot and enjoy a half hour of Royce Lewis and Pablo Lopez. Let me tell you, this was THE highlight of the weekend! Both players were so personable it was so cool to see them in a relaxed environment and answer questions from a handful of fans. We got a photo with them after the talking and found out my buddy Rob was looking for us so Shane and I waited outside the suite for Rob to show up. It has been a long standing highlight for Rob and I to meet up and spend a few minutes chatting at Twinsfest. We chat throughout the year and see each other as well but ALWAYS at Twinfest. Shane’s buddy Pete and his son Daniel joined us and we had a nice half hour chat and catch up with everyone.
From here we headed to our final line. Shane and I were able to get Jorge Polanco, Tom Quinlan, Brian Raabe, and Christian Vazquez. This was a fun line because everyone in this group was very personable too. As we left the area after getting the autographs we were met by Caden and Noah. They dropped off their goodies for me and they headed back to their apartment on campus at the U of M and Shane and I started heading to the car. I was hoping to chat with Tony and Spencer a little bit but Shane received a call that his father was not doing well so we wanted to head out as soon as possible. But, we had one more tradition we had to complete. The annual “Pick Dave Goltz’s Nose” photo. On the suite level at Target Field they have oversized Twins baseball cards from various years on the wall. It turns out that Shane used to work or know Dave’s nephew so what started as a joke for Shane to put his finger near to nose on the 1974 Topps Goltz card image has continued just about every year since. As we got to the card, we hear “Shane?” and look up and there was Terry “Bo” Boevers sitting at a table. Terry was a founding member of the fraternity Shane and I were in in college. It was AWESOME meeting Terry (I think I met him once about 30 plus years ago (Shane kept in better tough with him over the years)). We got a photo of the three of us together and THEN we headed home. I met up with Shane’s wife and dropped him and Mark off and they headed home (a couple hours plus away) as did I.
Twinsfest autographs were only one day this year but with the help of three other awesome people I was able to get a number of items signed for my collection. The lines were longer and very congested but it worked. After not having Twinsfest the last couple years it was very refreshing to be at the ballpark in January and get fired up for the season. It was also amazing to see new friends and old friends (the usher of my season ticket section even stopped by to say hi to me!). My most favorite weekend of the year did not disappoint!
Here is everything I was able to add to my collection this weekend:
Carlos Correa: Ticket with “1st MLB HR”, 2022 Topps US39, 2022 Topps us230
Brooks Lee: 2 OMLB
Royce Lewis: 2022 Topps US105, 2022 Topps Heritage 515, 2022 Allen & Ginter 290
Jose Miranda: 2022 Topps US5, 2022 Topps US120, 2022 Topps Heritage 503, 2022 Allen & Ginter 214
Austin Martin: 2 OMLB
Kyle Farmer: 2 OMLB
Joey Gallo: 2 OMLB
Ryan Jeffers: 2021 Allen & Ginter 242, 2021 Topps 552, 2021 Topps Heritage 49, 2022 Topps Heritage 76
Bailey Ober: 2021 Topps US84 (streaked- I did not prepare it?), 2022 Topps 590 (streaked), 2022 Topps Heritage 632
Nick Gordon: 2022 Topps 598, 2022 Topps Heritage 599
Alex Kirilloff: 2021 Topps US41 (photo variation), 2021 Topps US41, 2021 Topps 413, 2022 Topps 197
Trevor Larnach: 2021 Topps US6, 2022 Topps 596
David Popkins: 2 Target Field card 2019 Topps 424
Josh Winder: 2022 Allen & Ginter 256, 2022 Topps US6, 2022 Topps Heritage 621, 06.01.2022 Topps Now 116
Joe Ryan: Ticket with “MLB Debut”, Ticket with “1st MLB Win”
Simeon Woods Richardson: 2 tickets with “MLB Debut”
Jorge Polanco: 2020 Topps 31, 2020 Topps 82, 2021 Topps 598, 2022 Topps 417, 2022 Topps Heritage 257, 2020 Gypsy Queen 95
Tom Quinlan: 1993 Score 309, 1991 Topps Debut 127
Brian Raabe: Custom card for my buddy Greg, Generic card
Christian Vazquez: 2 OMLB
Joe Mauer: OMLB under the Twins 60th Anniversary Logo, Joe Mauer Model Catchers mitt
What a fun day! Can’t wait for Twinsfest 2024!