Category: Tickets

Three’s A Crowd

Today I received three packages of signed baseball goodies.  I am pretty excited about all three!

The first was an envelope of signed tickets that Steve S (cosmo on SCN) got signed for me at the Boston Red Sox Winterfest event.  Steve did a fantastic job on a real tough signing team.  He got the following tickets signed:
Andrew Benintendi- Debut Ticket
Eduardo Rodriguez- Debut Ticket w/”MLB Debut”
Blake Swihart- Debut Ticket w/”MLB” (I guess he does not know how to spell debut???)
Sam Travis- 2 @ Debut Ticket both with “MLB Debut”
Steve even included a signed bonus card of Cosmo!

The next package I received was a magazine I had sent to Dave Parker via Past Pros.  Dave signed my June 1979 Sport magazine.  It turned out great.

The final box I opened was three baseballs that Chris L (ChrisL999 on SCN) sent me that I purchased from him.  Chris does a great job on hard to get prospects and these are nice baseballs to add to the collection especially after Baseball America released their Top 100 Prospects list last week.  These baseballs are:
Brendan Rodgers
Estevan Florial
Alec Hansen

It was a pretty good mail day for the old baseball collection!

Twinsfest 2018 – Day 3

Today is always a bittersweet day.  The final day of Twinsfest is exciting because it is Twinsfest but you know it is the last day.  Both kids headed down with me today.  Caden hung out with his friends for most of the day and Cami hung out with me for almost the entire day except when she went through a few lines for herself.  I used today to finish off some players and to talk with a few friends.  We arrived at Target Field around 7:30 this morning for the 9am opening.  We went to the Brian Dozier line right away and I was able to knock off a couple Dozier autographs I needed.  Then Caden took off with his friends while Cami and I walked to other lines.  The next stop for us was Byron Buxton in the Twins Wives line.  We each got a card signed.  Cami went off to another couple lines while I got in line for Joe Mauer at the Twins Wives line.  I had to wait a couple hours for that line to start but Cami was able to get through a pair of lines and got me a few items.  When she arrived back the first words out of her mouth were “Well that was embarrassing!”  I asked her what she meant.  When she gave Aaron Slegers his debut ticket and asked him to inscribe the ticket ML Debut dated August 16, 2017 he said his debut was on August 17, 2017 and did not inscribe it.  I told Cami that we were both right.  His debut WAS on the 17th but it was the make up from the night before that was rained out so the correct ticket was the 16th.  Oh well.  It is signed.  He probably thought she was crazy.  We got through the Mauer line at the Twins Wives line and headed to the service level where we each went through a couple different lines.  I headed to the Gonsalves/Mejia/Berrios line and Cami went to the Enns/Chargois/Rooker line.  Once I finished the line I was in I headed to the Enns/Chargois/Rooker line and ended up running into Caden who was in that line too.  After that I went and spent a fun time chatting with my friend Tony S and his son Spencer.  Caden and Cami ran around to a couple more lines and we called it a day.  The final day’s totals for me are (including items Caden and Cami got for me but not including things they got for themselves):
Brian Dozier: 06/01/2017 Topps Now
Joe Mauer: 06/01/2017 Topps Now, 2008 Topps 287
JT Chargois: 2 @ 2013 Bowman Chrome BCP137
Alalberto Mejia: 2017 Topps Now Wild Card, 2017 Topps Heritage 550
Byron Buxton: 11/10/2017 Topps Now, 2017 Wild Card Topps Now
Eddie Rosario: 09/13/2017 Topps Now
Jose Berrios: 2017 Wild Card Topps Now, 2017 Topps Heritage 566
Royce Lewis:  OMLB
John Curtiss: 2 @ 2015 Choice
Travis Blankenhorn: 2016Bowman Chrome BCP185
Stephen Gonsalves: 2017 Bowman BP44, 2017 Topps Minors 191, 2014 Bowman BDPP49
Gene Glynn: 2 @ Minor League team issues
Garvin Alston: 1997 Fleer 582
Brent Rooker:  OMLB, OMLB w/”2017 1st Round Pick”
Alex Kirilloff:  OMLB
Fernando Rodney: Debut ticket
Dietrich Enns: 3 @ Debut ticket with “MLB Debut”
Lewis Thorpe: 2 @ 2014 Bowman BP32 (1 smudged)
Max Kepler: OMLB

Twinsfest 2018 – Day 2

Today started around 7am when Caden and I arrived at Target Field.  We decided to start with the Dozier/Buxton/Kaat line which started at 10:45.  I ended up being number eighteen in line.  Caden went back around the thirties to be with his buddies who were also there.  I place a pair of cards down to Dozier and told him to pick one.  He signed them both and looked at me and said “I won’t tell if you don’t tell” as they are really supposed to sign just one.  From there I headed to the Gibson/Romero/Adrianza line.  After that, I went right back in line at the same autograph station and got Granite/Gonsalves/Wade.  From there I headed to Kyle Gibson in the Twins Wives line.  I went through that line twice to finish all my Gibson needs.  Caden and I headed to the Kepler/Rogers/Garver line and then back to get more Kepler autographs in the Twins Wives line.  I finished off the day with Kirilloff/Jay/Rooker line.  It was a fun day and Caden hung out with his old man for a lot of it.  We headed home to start getting ready for our final day tomorrow.  The items I got signed were (including items Caden got for me but not including things he got for himself):
Brian Dozier:  Wild Card Topps Now, 10/03/2017 Topps Now, 2017 Allen & Ginter 77
Byron Buxton:  10/03/2017 Topps Now, 09/14/2017 Topps Now
Max Kepler: 07/02/2016 Topps Now, 2017 Road To Opening Day Topps Now, 2017 Allen & Ginter 300, 2017 Topps Heritage 313, 2016 Topps Heritage 717
Ryan Pressly: 2017 Topps 568
Alan Busenitz: Topps Now Wild Card
Zack Granite: OMLB, debut ticket with “ML Debut”
Kyle Gibson: 2015 Gypsy Queen 127, 2016 Topps 561, 2017 Road To Opening Day Topps Now
Fernando Romero: 2017 Topps Heritage Minor 107, 2017 Topps Minors 149 (streaked), 2017 Bowman BD134
Ehire Adrianza: 2014 Topps US105, 2009 Bowman BP16 (smudged)
Stephen Gonzalves: 2017 Topps Minors 191, 2017 Bowman BP44, 2017 Topps Heritage Minors 2
Lamonte Wade: Generic card
Brent Rooker: 2018 Bowman BD122, 2017 Bowman RV-MIN
Tyler Jay: 2017 Topps Minors 43, 2017 Topps Heritage Minors 158, 2017 Bowman BP114
Zach Duke: 2015 Topps US178
Alex Kirilloff:  OMLB

Twinsfest 2018 – Day 1

Today kicked off my most favorite weekend of the year… Twinsfest!  The morning started at an orthopedic surgery center as Amy had surgery on her broken ankle.  She knew Cami and I were going to be heading to Twinsfest around 1:30 and made sure her mom and dad were with us to take her home in case she was not done in time.  As luck would have it, the surgeon came out five minutes after we left.  She got home ok and celebrated Caden’s 16th birthday that night.
Cami and I arrived at Target Field around 2pm and got in line to wait two hours until the gates opened.  When they opened we headed to the Joe Mauer/Royce Lewis line.  From there we headed to the Torii Hunter Twins Wives line and got his autograph.  After we were done with Torii, we headed to the Kepler/Garver/Grossman/Hildenberger/Rogers line.  One of the items I got Kepler to sign was his Players Weekend Topps Now card.  The nickname he had on his jersey that weekend was Rozyki.  I asked him if he would sign the card with that and he said “I have never signed anything like that but will give it a shot for you.”  From there we went back to the Twins Wives and got Eduardo Escobar.  Eduardo is awesome.  He took a nice photo with Cami because the line was so short.  After that we went back in line in the Twins Wives line for Ervin Santana.  After that we went to a private Meet & Greet that I was chosen for as being a season ticket holder.  Ervin Santana was the first player there and walked around and shook everyone’s hand and said hello.  Ervin was asked a few questions about ice fishing.  Had he ever been ice fishing or ever been on a frozen lake.  In both cases he laughed and said “No way.”  He said he does not like the cold weather at all.  Seeing him in the environment of not locked in a focused during a game was pretty neat.  He was really funny and personable.  Cami asked him if he was not a pitcher, what position would be play.  He replied with “Center field.  I am faster than Byron (Buxton)!  You get to see him run because he has a lot of room to run.  If I was out there you would see me run faster than him!”  It was pretty funny and he seemed pretty serious about it.  Ervin left and then Eddie Rosario came in to do a similar Meet & Greet.  After seeing that we did not have an opportunity for an autograph with Ervin, I got to Eddie while they were still taking photos with Ervin.  Eddie signed a couple cards for me.  One of them was his Players Weekend Topps Now card.  His nickname on the card was Banidou.  I asked him how he got the nickname and he said it was a nickname between him and his brothers.  Every Saturday of Twinsfest for the last number of years I would spend the day with my buddy Shane.  Shane had some very serious health issues and was unable to make it this year.  Cami felt so bad for Shane that she skipped getting Eddie to sign her photo and decided to get a baseball signed by Rosario for him.  She wanted him to write “To Shane.  Get well soon!” but he did not understand the name Shane so Cami wrote it on a sheet of paper and skipped the get well soon part.  Cami is pretty cool to think of someone like that.  During the Q & A part with Rosario, Eddie mentioned he is really looking forward to playing in Puerto Rico this summer as that is his homeland.  Cami’s question to Eddie was what is his favorite ballpark to play in and he replied “Here!  I LOVE playing here!”  Oh, one thing both players said that was interesting was when they were asked what their favorite city to play in was.  They both replied Chicago.  We again lined up and I got a photo of Eddie and Cami.  We headed out and went to the final line of the evening which was Rosario/Polanco/Duke/Romero.  On the way out I stopped by and chatted with my buddy Tony and his son Spencer.  We headed home tired but excited for the next couple days.  The final list of items for me are (including items Cami got for me but not including things she got for herself):
Joe Mauer:  2017 Topps 404, 2017 Topps Now Road to Opening Day
Royce Lewis:  2017 Bowman BD-1, OMLB
Torii Hunter:  September 30, 2002 ESPN Magazine, 2015 Topps 590, 2016 Gypsy Queen 347
Max Kepler:  2017 Topps 405, 06/12/2017 Topps Now, 2017 Wild Card Topps Now, 2017 Players Weekend Topps Now
Mitch Garver:  8/19/2017 debut ticket w/”MLB Debut” inscription
Trevor Hildenberger:  2017 Wild Card Topps Now
Taylor Rogers:  04/14/2016 debut ticket w/”MLB Debut” inscription
Eduardo Escobar:  2017 Wild Card Topps Now
Ervin Santana:  2017 Topps 678, 04/15/2017 Topps Now
Eddie Rosario:  2017 Wild Card Topps Now, 2017 Players Weekend Topps Now
Jorge Polanco:  2017 Topps 684, 2017 Wild Card Topps Now, 2017 Topps Now Road to Opening Day, 08/29/2017 ticket (when he hit a HR from both sides of the plate)
Zach Duke: 2015 Topps 293, 2015 Topps US178
Fernando Romero:  2017 Bowman BP134, 2017 Topps Heritage Minor 107, 2017 Topps Minors 149, OMLB