Category: Topps Twins Project

Twinsfest 2013 – Day 3

Today was the final day of Twinsfest this year and I was real happy how I did Day 1 and Day 2 that I decided to cool down a little today.  I went for quality over quantity and did not leave disappointed!

I was greeted this morning to Caden telling me he did not want to go today.  I told him I was going anyway and headed out alone.  I got to the Dome at 8:27am.  Why do I know it specifically?  Well, I put a $10 bill into the parking machine and it must have been out of paper because I did not get a receipt.  I wrote it on a napkin when I paid and put that on my dash and walked to get a wristband.  I was greeted at the wristband area with the news that they were only giving out one color for Justin Morneau and everyone was a winner!  So, I got Morneau’s wristband and went to a volunteer who always recognizes me from events like this and asked him to pick me a winner for Mauer.  He said he honestly has no idea which color was the winner but for me to pick one.  I told him to reach into the bag and grab a lucky one.  I then went to get in line.

While in line I ended up standing next to a dealer who sets up regularly at the Twin Cities Sports Collectors Club so I was able to chat with him.  I then noticed a couple guys from Wisconsin who was standing next to Russ and I yesterday walking up so I invited them to join me.  I could not believe they were both wearing just t-shirts because they did not want to carry their coats in their bag.  They were going to get Morneau too and the one guy asked if I had anything for him and he would get it for me.  That was pretty nice.  We entered the gate and walked to get in the Morneau line.  It was a lot of fun talking to the guys from Wisconsin (I never got their names).  They were funny and offered great tips for the All Star Fanfest coming in a year and a half.  the one WI guy got me the 2010 Allen & Ginter card signed and I got the 2012 Topps Heritage “Twin Terrors” card which has Justin and Joe Mauer on it.  This card would make another appearance later in the day!  The guys from Wisconsin wished me luck as I did them and we parted.  I got back in line because I figured if they only had one color for Morneau wristbands, they might run out and I could get in line to get a couple more autographs of him.  As luck would have it, my hunch paid off.  I bought two more autographs for Justin and got the 2005 Topps and 2007 Topps cards signed.  I then traipsed down to the field to see what was going on there.

On my way to my destination, I saw Mudcat Grant at the table without a line so I walked up to him and told him how Cami talked about how Mudcat got his nickname and how it really left an impression on here and I thanked him for the great memory.  He was as kind and gracious as he was last night.  I got in line for Josh Willingham and Brian Duensing.  When I got to Josh, I told him that “yesterday my 8 year old daughter was asked by Tim Laudner who her favorite Twins player was and without hesitation she said ‘Josh Willingham!'”  Josh smiled and laughed and commented “Ha! Ha! Ha!  I’ll keep it this year!”  That was really cool.  He signed my 2012 Topps Heritage card and I moved to Duensing.  Brian signed a 2012 Topps card and I went to Station 1.

At Station 1 I got Scott Diamond to sign a baseball.  He was really cool and thanked me for coming out.  Trevor Plouffe then commented that I got “Drew to sign the cards!” (see Twinsfest Day 2 post) and signed both the 2011 Topps for me and the 2011 Topps Diamond card for Jon S.  Then I got to the guy that if there was anyone more happy to be at Twinsfest I did not meet him.  Cole DeVries is a local kid who was having a blast.  He seemed to be enjoying himself and engaging everyone when they approached him.  He signed a couple of the 2008 TriStar cards for me.  Al Newman was the last person at the table and signed a couple cards for me.  At this point I decided to get the final non-rookie card for Rod Carew signed (see yesterday’s post) and headed to get in his line.

When I got to Station 5, Tom Kelly and Ron Gardenhire were still working their shift so I get in line for Carew and waited.  While in line for Carew, I got an email from Tony Swann letting me know where he was located and to stop by.  Rod showed up and I was able to get the 1979 Topps Batting Leader card signed and was pretty excited about that.  While in line, I heard my color wristband for Joe Mauer was called so I headed over to Joe’s line.

When I got to Joe, I handed him the card that Justin signed earlier in the day and he finished it.  That card looks sweet!  He also signed a 2007 Topps card for me.  Mauer is a class act.  After I was done with Joe, I headed down to see Tony Swann.

I met Tony in person at Twinsfest last year.  He is a great guy who has sent me more than a few tickets for my ticket collection.  I always keep an eye out for a White Sox ticket or any other ticket he needs for his Carlton Fisk collection.  If you are a fan of Fisk, or baseball in general, check out his website here.  Tony is awesome and had a couple tickets for my Twins collection.  Thanks Tony!

I then decided to check out some 1961 Peters Meats wiener packages with cards on them that I have always wanted for my collection.  Earlier in the weekend I noticed a dealer had some that were complete and in phenomenal condition.  I ended up purchasing eight of them and starting my collection of them.  I have eyeballed these cards going back to when I was in high school but never thought I could afford them.  The dealer worked with me and was more than fair and that, along with my Christmas gift money from my parents and my in-laws went towards them.  Once I was done with that, I realized I blew through all my money and decided to go wait in line for Miguel Sano’s autograph in the free line.  While walking there I ran into Todd B.  I met Todd years ago while standing in line for bobblehead games at the Dome.  Todd is a great guy and it was cool to see him and catch up.  We walked to a couple places to pick up schedules and then got in line for Sano’s autograph.  Sano’s line was by far the longest consistently all weekend long.  This was his first appearance in the Twin Cities and fans wanted to add him to their collections.  I waited in line about an hour before he started signing but that time flew by talking to Todd.  We got up to Sano and he signed a baseball for each of us and Todd got Chris Herrman to sign a pair of cards for me while I got a ticket from his debut game with “ML Debut” and a ticket for his first hit with “1st ML Hit”.  We then walked over and Todd introduced me to a guy he knows and we each headed to our cars.  The weather got real ugly while we were inside the Dome and the roads were slick with ice.  I headed home and did not get above 30mph the entire time passing one accident and six cars in the ditch.

With the Twins doing so poorly the last couple seasons, there were not nearly as many people showing up to this Twinsfest.  While the record is not much fun, Twinsfest was a blast because of the lesser number of fans attending.  I did really well helping a few guys who I owed as well as getting help from Russ, Todd and “the guy from Wisconsin”.  Oh, how could I forget the help from the little baseball girl of mine!

Twinsfest 2013 – Day 2

Today was Dad and Cami’s day at Twinsfest.  Caden had basketball, bowling and had to get fit for his baseball uniform so he ran his errands with Amy which left Cami to go with me.  I was a little apprehensive to bring Cami because when she had gone with me in the past, it was only on Sundays which was a shorter day.  I asked her multiple times if she was up to it and was willing to spend all day there and her reply was “Dad, you know I am a party animal.  I cannot wait!”  So, a little later than normal we headed to the Dome.  She was so excited.  We got there and headed over to get Mauer and Morneau wristbands but they had already distributed all of them so we went to the floor and said hi to my buddy Rob who works for the Twins.  We walked around a little and then decided to get in line for the “Second Shift” of the day and picked Tony Oliva and Dan Gladden’s line. We got up there while the previous line was still going so we waited along the wall with everyone else.

While waiting in line, my buddy Russ K called me that he was at the ballpark.  He was going to wait in the line for Miguel Sano.  He waited for a while and realized he did not have a chance before the line ended so he came up and said he would help me with whatever I needed.  I have known Russ since college and he is always willing to help me out at Twinfest.  Shane V is another one but he was unable to make it this year.  These guys are AWESOME and help me a TON!  Cami and I went through the Oliva/Gladden line.  Cami got Gladden to autograph a card for Mark C and an Oliva card for Greg N.  I got a photo signed by Gladden from the 1987 World Series with he and Greg Gagne and Kirby Puckett.  He commented how he had not seen that photo in a long while.  Last year Gladden was sitting with Kent Hrbek when I gave Hrbie an extra ticket I had from his Major League Debut game.  I told Gladden that I did not have anything for him last year so I made sure to bring something this year and gave him an extra copy of the photo.  He liked it.  I brought along a yellow brick from Met Stadium and had Tony Oliva sign it.  It turned out great!

We then went to the back of the line for Paul Molitor.  Russ did not want Molitor on another baseball or anything so he helped me.  I brought a brick from County Stadium to get signed.  Cami asked if she could give it to him to sign and I told her she should get a card signed but she insisted on the brick.  So, we got up there and Russ got me a baseball on the sweetspot and I got an upgrade to my 1997 Topps Highlight card and Cami handed him the brick.  Paul asked her if she knew where it was from and she said “The Dome?”.  He said “Nope!  County Stadium!”  He asked if I was going to get multiples on it and I said just him so he gave me a real nice large signature on it.  It turned out great too!  After carrying one brick last night and two today, my back and shoulder are killing me!

We then went to the back of the line to get ready for Rod Carew.  While Russ, Cami and I were waiting for the Carew line to form, I knew I had to run down and help Joel B with getting Maury Wills’ autographs from the Bob Feller Museum booth.  Russ offered to hold our spot in line while Cami and I went to help Joel.  Joel and Cami and I headed over to the Feller area and I got in position to gather the items after Maury signed them so it was something Joel would not have to worry about.  What happened during those five minutes or so was truly magical.  Maury started talking to Cami and I like we were long lost friends. He asked her name and how old she was and what month she was born.  When Cami said October, he said “I was an October baby too!” and gave a fistbump to her as they were both “Libras”.  He said Libras meant they were really nice people and I interjected “and fast too!” which made him smile (he stole a TON of bases in his career).  We talked about the 1965 World Series when he played against the Twins as well as him still living in the Los Angeles area.  He even mentioned about the taxes and the comments that Phil Mickelson made recently about them.  I told him that a lot of the players now days make their homes in Florida for just that reason.  He shook his head in agreement.  He then meticulously took his time signing three baseballs for me all with “LA Dodgers MVP NL ’62” (one for me, Russ and Jon S).  I helped Joel with a few more baseballs as well as cards and magazines.  When we were done, Maury said “Bye Cami!” and shook my hand.  It was an awesome memory for both Cami and I.  I got back up in line with Russ with about 15 minutes before Rod showed up.  Rod must have been in a great mood as he sweetspotted my baseball without me asking.  Russ and Cami each got a baseball card signed for me (1973 and 1975 Batting Leader cards).  That leaves me with just ONE more Carew Topps card in a Twins uniform that I need signed!  Of course it is his rookie card and that is a pretty spendy card.  I do not have the card yet but hopefully someday soon so I can get it signed.

We all headed down to the floor again and this time decided to get something to eat.  After eating hotdogs and brats, we decided to get in line at Station 2.  Tyler Robertson signed a pair of cards for me and Cami’s baseball.  Vance Worley signed a 2012 Topps Heritage for Jon S and a 2012 Allen & Ginter for Jon.  He also signed Cami’s baseball.

Cami and I went to the other side of the tables to Station 1 while Russ watched the heavy bag I was carrying all weekend.  Cami got Jared Burton, Alex Burnett and Drew Butera on her baseball.  I got Burton on another 2012 Topps card.  Burnett signed another 2012 Topps card and Butera signed a pair for me.  He signed the Trevor Plouffe Topps cards that had him on it instead of Plouffe.  I told him that last night Plouffe pointed it out to me that it was Butera and that he was glad because Butera is better looking than he was and Butera laughed and said “He’s too modest.  He’s a good looking guy!”  It was pretty funny.  He liked the Topps Diamond insert card that I got signed for Jon S.  I will see if I can get Plouffe to sign them both tomorrow and then have both guys on it!

We then hopped in line at Station 1.  Joe Vavra signed Cami’s baseball and we mentioned to Bobby Cuellar that he signed it last night.  We got to Tim Laudner and he said “Hi little princess!” to Cami and then asked if she was having fun.  She said yes and he asked who her favorite Twin player was to which she replied “Josh Willingham” and he said “Ok!” and signed her baseball and told her to have fun.  He signed my ticket stub from Game 2 of the 1987 World Series (he had a heck of a game!).

We then decided to head up to Station 5 and then head home but Cami noticed there was nobody in line at Station 2 so she bolted through it with her baseball and got Anthony Swarzak and Casey Fien on it.  Casey asked what her balloon was (we had stopped earlier and got a monkey balloon made by the balloon guys) and she told him.  Cami said he was really nice.

The three of us then headed up to our final stop of the day.  This turned out to be another magical moment for Cami.  This line featured Jim Mudcat Grant, Roy Smalley and Terry Steinbach.  Russ kept the bag (that now felt like it had a couple boulders in it) off to the side and Cami and went up to the table.  While we were waiting, Cami asked who the players were and I told her.  She asked me how did Mudcat get his nickname and I told her I did not know and that she should ask him.  When we got to the table, Cami handed him the baseball and he said “Well hello little lady!” to her.  I whispered to Cami “Ask him!” so she said “How did you get the nickname Mudcat?”.  Grant’s eyes lit up and said “Well, when I was a rookie my teammates thought I was from Mississippi and in Mississippi they have a lot of mudcats.  Do you know what a mudcat is?”  Cami said “No” and Grant said “A mudcat is a lot like a cat fish only bigger.  The funny thing was that I was from Florida!” and I said “They could have called you Gator or something like that!” and Roy Smalley, who by this time was listening with us, said “Or Terrapin!” to which we all laughed.  Grant then signed Cami’s ball and told her to have a great night.  It was so awesome to see the interaction and the genuine care that both Mudcat and earlier Maury Wills showed to Cami.  She may not remember these moments in a year from now but man, they were sure special tonight!  I got Grant to sign a card for me and Cami proceeded to get her ball signed by Smalley and Steinbach while I got a pair of cards signed by each for Mark C.  As we were leaving the table area, I over heard Roy Smalley mentioning how after Grant’s generation of ballplayers, the nicknames were not as cool because they were “Smalls” or “Steiny” (for Steinbach).

The three of us then all headed home and Cami calling her Twinsfest day a success.  On the way home I asked her “Who was the coolest guy you met tonight?”  I was thinking she would say Maury Wills or Mudcat.  Nope.  She replied “Rusty!” (my nickname for Russ).  How cool is that?