Category: Topps Twins Project

A Couple Great Packages!

Today’s mail brought a couple great packages of autographed items.

The first I opened was a great package from my pal Kyle S (esiason14 on SCN).  In it was a card I traded for (SGC slabbed 1962 Topps Jack Kralik), and a couple cards I bought (PSA slabbed 1962 Topps Earl Battey and 1962 Topps Billy Martin).  Kyle decided to change his focus of his collection and instead of working towards the 1962 signed set work on other things.  Knowing I collect Twins cards he contacted me first to see if he had anything I needed.  As always, thanks Kyle!

The other package was the items I sent to Kevin W (kdubs on SCN) that he got signed at the Cardinals Winter Warm Up (like Twinsfest) event.  In it was a 05.27.2013 Sports Illustrated signed by Shelby Miller and Lance Lynn.  Also was two baseballs signed by Trevor Rosenthal and Matt Carpenter.  I had sent a Michael Wacha debut ticket but they sold out before Kevin could by a ticket for him.  I also sent a ticket stub from Game 3 of the 2013 World Series to get signed by Allen Craig but it fell out of Kevin’s notebook thankfully while he was at home (he thought he lost it at the event) but as a result did not get signed. Thanks for the great autographs and your efforts at the Winter Warm Up Kevin!

Twinsfest 2014 – Day 3

Today was the final day of Twinsfest.  Over the last few years Sunday’s turned into kid’s day as I bring the kids and do not focus on autographs.  This year we invited Caden’s friend from his baseball team to come along.  This was going to be Cayden’s second time at Twinsfest and he was pretty excited for it.

We left the house and got to Cayden’s house just after 7am.  We headed to Target Field and got in line in the skyway as we were hoping it would block the wind better than being out in the open of Gate 29.  We waited for the hour in the cold.  I kept telling the kids that waiting in the cold would insure they got the player they wanted; Byron Buxton.  Caden and Cayden headed to Buxton’s line which was still over an hour away from starting to get in line.  It was a good thing they did.  They ended up being around number 60 in line still over an hour before he was scheduled to sign.  I told them they could decide who they wanted but they were not going to be able to get both Joe Mauer and Byron Buxton because of the length of the lines and they wanted Buxton so they headed there.  Cami and I went to Joe Mauer’s line and were were around the 150 or so number.  We got through and Joe signed his 2007 and 2008 Allen & Ginter cards.  All four cards I got signed by Joe this weekend were the last cards I needed to complete my Twins team sets for those sets.  There are about 35 more cards I need signed by Joe for my sets so I will be at it for a long time with him!  After that Cami and I headed to meet up with Caden and Cayden.  I noticed there was not much of a line for the group that was signing at that time so Cami and I went through and Cami got Tom Kelly on the TV Guide issue he was on the cover of while I got a ticket with the inscription 1,000th Win.  Frank Quilici signed Cami’s ball for her while I got him on a 1973 manager card already signed by Bob Rodgers and Al Worthington.  Then Cami got Ron Gardenhire to sign her baseball while I got him on the 2011 team issue Topps card already signed by Tsuyoshi Nishioka as well as his 2013 Topps Heritage card for Mark.  I asked Gardy if he ever talks with Nishi and he said he does communicate with him via a translator.  I told him it was too bad the things ended up and he said “he was an all star this year!  He was just too overwhelmed here”.  I could tell Gardy liked Nishi and was happy things are going better for him back in Japan.  Cami and I let Caden and Cayden walk around and sat in their spots as they were stuck there for a while.  While sitting there, they found out a classmate from their school was there and he met up with the boys and hung out for most of the day.  It was then time for Buxton to start signing.  At that time the line must have been over 400 people.  All weekend long the Buxton line was incredible.  We went through the line and I did not have anything for the other people in line so I got Buxton on a card I had.  I did not expect to get Buxton at all over the weekend as I tried to avoid his line.  The kids all got a baseball signed by him and when we walked out, all four kids (Caden, Cami, Cayden and their friend from school) had smiles from ear to ear.  I even took a photo of the four kids holding up their Buxton autographs they were so proud of.  I asked each if it was worth standing out in the cold an hour before just for that moment and each one said “Well duh.  Of course!”  This past season I caught a foul ball at a game I was at with Cami.  She was all excited when I did and told me she wanted to get Brian Dozier to autograph it some day.  Today was the day.  We got in his line and Cami added Darin Mastroianni to her baseball and I got a 2013 Topps signed.  Next up was Brian Dozier.  He remembered me from yesterday when he called Tyler and asked how I was doing today.  Cami gave him the foul ball he hit and proudly said “My dad caught this!”  I told him it was the first one I ever caught.  He signed a 2013 Topps card for me and we moved on to Mudcat Grant.  Cami told him that he had already signed her baseball and he gave her a smile and a high five.  Mudcat is a kind, kind man.  All of us then headed down to the dealer area and got in line for the next group that was signing there.  Cami got her baseball signed by all the players and Caden got a team ball started.  I got Kevin Correia to sign a 2013 Topps card.  Scott Diamond signed his 2013 Allen & Ginter card for me and his 2013 Topps Heritage for Mark.  Vance Worley then signed his 2013 Allen & Ginter and his 2013 Topps update for me.  Cami got Brian Raabe on her baseball and we walked to the Champions Club to sit down and listen to the events going on there.  We decided to get in line for the final group of the day.  For this group, Cami wanted Glen Perkins on a baseball card instead of her baseball and Caden wanted a sweetspot baseball signed.  Cami added Pedro Florimon, Jason Bartlett and Michael Tonkin to her baseball while I got Perkins on his 2013 Topps for me and his 2013 Topps Heritage for Mark.  I also got Pedro Florimon on his 2013 Topps Heritage for Mark.

I headed to say goodbye and safe travels to Tony Swann and talked with my buddy Joel and we all headed home.  We talked about all the fun we had and autographs we got on the way home.  Twinsfest 2014 was a crazy good time and great times had by all!  We cannot wait until Twinsfest 2015!

Twinsfest 2014 – Day 2

Today’s morning started with me meeting my buddy Shane outside Gate 29 at 8am.  After not knowing what was going to happen in the skyway entrance from the previous night, I did not want to take any chances so I went to Gate 29.  We were probably 50th in line or so.  The weather was nicer than it was Friday afternoon which was nice.  They opened the gates and Shane and I headed to Joe Mauer’s line.  We ended up being in the 110 or so range for numbers.  I thought “heck I was around 250 yesterday so today will be a piece of cake!”  Shane got a Sports Illustrated signed and I got Joe’s 2007 Topps card signed.  We then headed to the next station we were hoping to get.  There was no line for the current group so I went through and got Chris Colabello and and asked him to write 1st MLB Home Run on the ticket and he replied “I love to write that!” and did.  I got Nate Hanson on Cami’s baseball and get to Jason Kubel.  I handed him a pair of cards for my friend Greg N (justgreg on SCN).  He signed them both and showed Nate the one and said “Look at this” with a smirk.  Nate looks at it and says “Is that even you?  It does not look like you!”  Jason smirked again and said “I guess so!”  The card was a 2003 Donruss Diamond King card.  It does not look like him at all and the whole interaction between Jason and Nate was pretty funny.  I got back in the line with Shane and we waited for the next group to start. I got Josh Willingham on his 2013 Allen & Ginter card and Sean Gilmartin, Austin Malinowski and Mudcat Grant on Cami’s baseball.  After this Shane and I split up.  Shane headed to get me a couple autographs while I waited in another line.  Shane and I have been going to Twinsfest for a long, long time.  We joke that he is “my mule” helping me get autographs.  He is awesome.  It is just about the only time we get to hang out together every year but we have so much fun doing it.  Shane headed to another station and got me Scott Erickson on my 1991 Sports Illustrated magazine and Kevin Correia on a 2013 Topps update card.  In my line I was able to get Trevor Plouffe on his 2013 Topps card.  Next up was Andrew Albers.  I respect Albers a lot.  It was announced that he signed (or was about to sign) with a baseball team from Korea.  He still honored his commitment to the Twins to show up to Twinsfest.  That was a classy move by Andrew.  He was really friendly and was thanking everyone.  I got to him and put down a ticket from his ML debut game and asked him to signed it with ML Debut and 1st Win and he did.  I asked him if he had a ticket to that game and he said he did not so I gave him one.  He was very thankful for it.  After seeing how much fun he was having there I was glad I gave him it.  Shane went in another line and got me a couple Jose Berrios cards signed.  After that I got in line for Call a Friend.  Call a Friend is a new feature at Twinsfest where a player will call a friend of yours or leave your outgoing voicemail message.  I got to the line about a half hour before it was to start and waited for Brian Dozier to show up.  A friend of mine in Rochester, NY got me a ton of autographed cards for my Twins collection over the past few seasons and while there, his young son got to know Brian Dozier.  I thought it would be awesome for Brian to call and talk to Tyler and was not at all let down!  Dozier was PHENOMENAL.  He talked to Tyler for a minute or so and had a smile the entire time.  I could only imagine Tyler on the other side of the call doing the same.  It made me really happy to facilitate that moment between Tyler and his hero Brian.  After that, Shane and I bummed around the dealer area and walked through the Champions Club area and waited for the final group time of the day.  Shane and I headed to the final group of the day which was one I knew I had to get through.  All day I lugged around a photo/artwork case that held my 1995 Twins poster schedule already signed by Kirby Puckett, Harmon Killebrew and Tony Oliva as well as my 1978 Twins poster schedule already signed by Dave Goltz.  Both were just waiting for Rod Carew’s autograph to be added.  Shane got my 1978 poster signed (finishing that poster) and I got the 1995 signed and asked Rod to add his #29 to match the others on the poster.  He added it and it looks awesome.  The other person in the group was Tony Oliva.  Shane got me a 1975 SSPC signed and I got Tony O’s rookie card signed beautifully for my friend Robert T (lutherlafy on SCN).

I headed down to say hi to Joel and Tony and Tony gave me a couple Puckett tickets.  One was the game he announced his retirement and the other when the Twins retired his #34. Tony is the man!  He is so, so thoughtful and his gestures are greatly appreciated. Thanks again Tony!

That wrapped up Day 2 of Twinsfest.  Shane and I headed to Huberts by the Metrodome for dinner telling stories and laughing.  We headed home and I looked forward to the final day of Twinsfest 2014 with the kids tomorrow!

Twinsfest 2014 – Day 1

Twinsfest 2014 was held at Target Field for the first time ever and I went in to the weekend not knowing how it would work out and certainly set low expectations.  I was pleasantly surprised!

I left work Friday afternoon around 2:30 and arrived in the skyway line at 3:00.  I was probably 60th in line.  I waited an hour in the cold but it was not as cold in the skyway leading to the Legends Club entrance.  They opened the doors and there was only one person there to scan tickets.  I was quickly getting frustrated that our line was barely moving but I could see the line at Gate 29 moving so fast people were practically running.  I figured there was no shot for Joe Mauer for me.  The line finally started moving after a second ticket scanner arrived and I went right to the Mauer line.  Luckily for me I was number 248 and fully expected to get through the line.  The people running the Mauer line were awesome getting people through the line.  I was able to get Joe to autograph his 2006 Allen & Ginter card.  I then went from the Suite Level to the Service Level for the next signing station.  There I got Phil Hughes on two Topps Heritage cards for clubnuts (Mark C on SCN).  I then got Brian Duensing to sign his 2014 Topps card.  Next up was Kyle Gibson.  I told him he made his ML debut on my birthday on my birthday and my daughter was at the game with me.  He commented “That was a great day!”.  I asked him to sign my ticket with ML Debut and 1st Win and he did.  Caleb Theilbar was next and signed his debut ticket with ML Debut.  Last was Mike Kvasnicka who started Cami’s Twinsfest baseball by signing on the sweetspot.  I then scurried to the next station and got Ricky Nolasco on a baseball.  Next up was Casey Fien and Kyle Knudson who added their autographs to Cami’s baseball.  Last was Jason Bartlett.  I handed him an eTopps card and a Topps Heritage card (for Mark C) with a picture from the 2008 World Series on it.  He commented “These are a couple cool cards!” and signed them.  Then it was off to the next station.  There I got Josh Willingham on his 2013 Topps “Over the Wall” short print card.  He commented that this card showed his “non-existent vertical” as he was jumping over the wall but could not get to the ball in the picture which went for a home run.  That was pretty funny.  Alex Meyer, Jose Berrios and BJ Hermsen each signed a pair of cards for me and Logan Darnell signed Cami’s ball.  I then walked to the other side of the suite level and got Mike Pelfrey on his 2013 Topps Heritage high numbered card as well as his 2013 Topps update card.  Jared Burton signed his 2013 Topps Heritage card for Mark C as did Chris Parmelee (sporting a cast on his right wrist/hand) and Chris Herrmann.  Joe Vavra signed Cami’s baseball and asked who signed the sweetspot.  I told him it was Mike Kvasnicka and he kinda looked at me with a “who in the hell is Mike Kvasnicka and why is he signing the sweetspot” look.  I shrugged my shoulders, took the baseball and got back in the same line for the next group. We waited for Samuel Deduno to show up.  Everyone was there but Sam and when he showed up about 10 minutes late, everyone clapped.  It was funny.  I got Sam on his 2013 Topps Update card and moved to Glen Perkins.  Glen signed his 2013 Topps update all star card and his 2013 Topps Heritage card for me. Next up was Kurt Suzuki who signed a baseball for me and Chris Colabello who signed his 2013 Topps update card.  Last was Alex Presley who signed a couple Topps Heritage cards.  I headed to the next station I hope to get and they cut off the line with only four people in front of me.  The poor woman who volunteered felt so bad about doing it.  She was genuinely sad.  It was cool though.  Can’t be upset at her for doing her job and doing it without pay!

I headed down to the dealers’ sections and saw my friend Tony Swann.  As I mentioned last year, Tony is trying to get a ticket from every game Carlton Fisk played in.  Tony is awesome.  He knows I collect Kirby Puckett tickets and gave me a ticket from the game he got his 1,000th hit.  Tony is the man!  Thanks Tony!  I then cruised over to my buddy Joel and talked with him for a bit and headed home.

Day 1 turned out to be a great day and I was pumped for Day 2!