When Justin Morneau played for the Twins, he had a coat drive to acquire coats for the people of the Twin Cities who could not afford one. If you donated x coats you would get a ticket for an autograph. Even when he was traded to other teams, he kept his family in MN and continued the coat drive. Now that he is retired he STILL has the coat drive each year. What an amazing, giving person! This year Louie Varland, fresh off of a World Series appearance, joined Justin at the signing event. I was able to acquire a pair of tickets to the signing so Amy and I headed to Fan HQ for the autographs. Justin and Louie were awesome. Very friendly and it made it a wonderful event. I was able to get a 2023 Allen & Ginter #327 and a Topps Now 04.13.2025 #68 signed by Justin and Amy bought a couple 8×10 photos of Louie, one with a Twins uniform and one from the World Series with the Blue Jays, and we got those signed. Afterwards we enjoyed lunch at Big Bowl right next to where the signing was. What a fun day!
Category: Photos
Cookie Monster!
I really enjoy completing multi-player items. Today’s mail brought in a return from Cookie Rojas. Cookie signed my wire photo that I had Tony Oliva sign recently. It completes the item!
Tony O
I was going through a pile of items I had sitting near my desk area and came across a couple wire photos of Tony Oliva I picked up at some point over the years. What was great was it just so happened that Fan HQ was having a signing with him so I sent them in! Today’s mail showed up with both old wire photos signed perfectly along with a Hall of Fame induction Topps Now card I had wanted to get signed for a while. Fan HQ does a fantastic job with any autograph request, either in person or via mail, and take pride in their service. One of these wire photos has Cookie Rojas on it so I may send it to him to complete it.
Bert “Be Home” Blyleven
Some of you may remember Chris Bermann on ESPN giving nicknames to athletes. His Bert “Be Home” Blyleven was one of my favorites.
While organizing a box of items, I came across a couple old wirephotos I had bought somewhere along the line to get signed. I found two Tony Oliva and a Bert Blyleven wirephoto. I sent the two Oliva ones off to an upcoming signing and sent the Blyleven to Bert along with his requested donation. I received it back today signed along with a funny note. The photo shows Bert in mid-delivery with his knee above his elbow. He included a note that said “If I tried that high leg delivery now I would fall over!” Pretty funny stuff!