One of the toughest living person’s autographs to get for a Twins collector is Rich Chiles. I have sent my 1978 and 1979 cards with a cash donation to him a couple times and never got a response. When Brian F (abcunlimited.net) posted he had one for sale from a collection he purchased, I jumped on it. Today I received that along with a 1974 Frank Quilici managers card signed by Frank as well as Ralph Rowe and Vern Morgan. Both of these cards were the last ones I needed to complete each respective year’s signed sets! What a great mail day!
Category: Topps Twins Project
Fred and Some Twins Spring Cards!
Today I received a pair of packages. The first was my November, 1975 Baseball Digest issue signed beautifully by Fred Lynn. Darrell H (thehalk on SCN) had a signing with Fred and I sent in the magazine. You can see it in this photo of Fred signing items. It is in a magazine bag with a sheet of folded paper on top but that’s it!
The other package was a fun one from Matt H (MattyIce on SCN). Matt lives in Fort Myers and hits up the Twins spring training facilities multiple times each spring. I have been getting cards signed via Matt for a few years now and he does not let me down! I received the following cards from Matt today:
Ehire Adrianza 2020 Topps #690
Ehire Adrianza 2020 Topps Heritage #595
Byron Buxton 2021 Topps #74
Byron Buxton 2024 Topps Heritage #126
Carlos Correa 2024 Topps Heritage #234
Jhoan Duran 2024 Topps Heritage #100
Jhoan Duran 2022 Topps Now #140
Ryan Jeffers 2023 Topps Heritage #659
Brooks Lee 2024 Topps Now #372
Brooks Lee 2024 Topps Now #390
Royce Lewis/Carlos Correa 2024 Topps #653 signed by Royce
Jose Miranda 2024 Topps #507
Chris Paddack 2024 Topps #US14
Joe Ryan 2024 Topps Heritage #246
Joe Ryan 2022 Topps Now #896
Cole Sands 2022 Topps #US208
Zebby Matthews 2024 Topps Now #551
Matt Wallner 2024 Allen & Ginter #345
Simeon Woods Richardson 2024 Topps #US295
I am so excited to knock these off the list that I cannot wait for next spring! I have another package of a few cards coming from one more guy in the next week. That will be fun again marking those off my need list when they arrive!
Tony O!
A friend of mine reached out to see if I saw a post on SCN regarding a free Tony Oliva appearance at a local business. I had not so I looked into it. I saw it was coming up and asked my brother if he and his wife wanted to join my wife and I and afterwards we could go visit our parents and take them out to dinner and he was all in. We arrived at The Ballpark around 1pm and there was a very short line. The four of us got through the line within 15 minutes. My wife got a pair of Allen & Ginter cards signed and I got his Hall of Fame induction ticket. My sister-in-law got my Spanish Hall of Fame postcard signed for me and my brother got a ball for himself. Then my wife and sister-in-law sat down and my brother and I went through the line again. This time I got a ticket stub from the game he had his #6 retired and my brother got a card for himself. The staff at The Ballpark was amazingly friendly welcoming us and hoping we enjoyed our time there when we left. It is a place my brother and I spoke of having to get to sometime and take some cuts in the batting cages for fun. Tony is now 86 and it slowing down so it was real nice to get some autographs for the collection. A round up of what I added to my collection today was:
2022 Allen & Ginter #165
2024 Allen & Ginter #322
2022 Hall of Fame Induction Ticket
Spanish Hall of Fame postcard
07.14.1991 Twins ticket stub with #6 inscribed
Twins Cards!
A couple months ago I purchased a Louie Varland card from Mike E who I connected with via a Facebook sale post. Mike just got back from a trip to Twins spring training and was able to get a bunch of cards, including some 2025 Topps, signed by the Twins. I was able to acquire the following from Mike:
2022 Topps Jorge Alcala #US201
2024 Topps Simeon Woods Richardson (Full name!) #US295
2024 Topps Jair Camargo #US314
2024 Topps Twin Pillars Byron Buxton #US289
2025 Topps Jorge Alcala #336
2025 Topps Willie Castro #155
2025 Topps Joe Ryan #40
2025 Topps Brooks Lee #317
2025 Topps Jose Miranda #310
2025 Topps Royce Lewis #59
I am excited to knock off some 2025 Topps already and look forward to working with Mike again soon when the AAA season kicks off. Mike is in Iowa and sees the Iowa Cubs, and visitors like the St Paul Saints.