Wow! What a day! Where do I start? I had a plan I came up with over the last few days looking at the schedule for Day 1 and thought I would do ok with it if I could execute it properly. Well, it did not go as planned. It went better! I was hoping to get a few cards for my sets I am working on as well as a number of items for my friends who have helped me over the years. I went with semi-high expectations because of the record for the team the last few years and expecting the crowds to be smaller for the weekend. I planned that right.
I left work at 2:15pm and got to the Dome and parked and was in line by 3pm. The first think I did was get a Mauer and Morneau wristband. I was in a great spot in line as I was probably one of the first 50 people. It was cold but when the wind was not blowing, it was not too bad. They opened the doors a little after 4pm and I decided to head to the Josh Willingham line and ended up being about the tenth person in line. I got Josh to sign his 2012 Topps card. I then headed down to the floor to see how the lines were down there. The line for the rookies was long (as it was all night) but that left Station 1 & 2 with short lines. I jumped in line at Station 2 and got Scott Diamond to sign his 1st win ticket with “1st ML Win”, Jared Burton on his 2012 Topps card and Darin Mastroianni on his first ML home run ticket. There was nobody in line so I went back through (paying another $15) and got Diamond on his 2012 Topps card, another Burton 2012 Topps card and Mastroianni on a ball I started for Cami. After that I noticed that Brian Dozier was just getting done in the photo line. My buddy Jon S from Rochester, NY sent some cards and a card his son made for Brian that included Tyler’s first baseball card. Tyler is Jon’s son and Dozier and Tyler have taken to each other. They have great stories of times they shared together. Brian knew I had a card for him so I walked up to him as his turn was done in the photo line and mentioned I had the card and if he would like, I could hold on to it for him for later as he had a few other commitments before I would see him again. That worked out well for Brian. Since nobody was in line at Station 1, I went through it. I got up to Tom Quinlan in line and asked him if he was doing a Baseball Clinic again this spring and that my son was in it last year and enjoyed it. Tom said it is coming up in a few weeks and to give him my email address and he will get me the info. He asked who my son was and I told him Caden and he said “I remember Caden”. I thought that was cool. Tom seemed really nice. I had him sign Cami’s baseball. Next was Brian Raabe and he too signed Cami’s ball. Then up was Anthony Swarzak. Swarzak signed a Red Wings card that Jon had sent me. Next was Ron Coomer. Ron was talking to someone but he signed a couple baseball cards for me and I moved on.
The next station I headed to was Rod Carew’s. I brought along a blue brick from Met Stadium and he signed it in silver paint pen. It looks awesome. While waiting in line, I heard my Joe Mauer wristband color was picked so I was able to go through Mauer’s line. I was excited. I finished Carew’s line and went to the station next to it and got in line. I had about 10 people after me and really hoped that I would get through the line before Joe’s time was up. I got up there with about 15 minutes to spare. When I got to Joe I handed him my sheet of paper with two baseball cards on it. It works out really well for me to have a couple cards on a sheet because I can tear out the sheet of paper and hand it to the person without worrying about dropping them or whatever compared to digging them out of a card holder or box. I handed him the sheet with the two cards on it and congratulated him on his recent wedding. He sounded sincere when he thanked me and I told him to pick his favorite to sign. He ended up signing them both for me. I was pumped! So, I got the 2004 Topps card signed as well as a 2011 Topps Heritage “Mauer Sended One Into Orbit” card. Knowing I had 15 minutes left before the current groups were done, I bolted down to Station 2 where there was no line. I was able to get Mike Pelfrey on a card for my buddy Greg N (justgreg on SCN) and Jamey Carroll signed his 2012 Topps card and his 2012 Topps Heritage card for my buddy Mark C (clubnuts on SCN). I noticed I had four minutes left in this shift and swung around to the other side and got to Station 1 with seconds to spare. This was the station that had Brian Dozier signing so I handed him Tyler’s card and he loved it. I asked to take a photo of him with the card and he was very cool about it. He said he was going to tweet about it later. I asked him if he wanted the rigid magazine holder I had it in to keep it nice and he said sure if I did not mind. He got it! He then signed a couple cards for me, the 2012 Topps Heritage High Number and his 2012 Topps card. Next was Joe Benson who signed a 2012 Topps Heritage Rookie Stars card for Mark C and a 2012 Allen & Ginter card for me. Last in that group was Alex Burnett who went out of his way to pick a silver Sharpie to sign his Red Wings card for Jon S and a different marker for his 2012 Topps card for me.
I then got back in the same station’s line for the next group. Again, this line was really short. I was able to get Tim Wood on Cami’s baseball, Tyler Robertson on his debut ticket with “ML Debut” and Cole DeVries on his debut ticket with “MLB Debut”. Lastly in this station I got Bobby Cuellar on Cami’s baseball.
I went back around to the other side and got in line for Vance Worley. Vance signed my baseball with “Vanimal”. He is going to be fun to watch this season! I then got Ryan Doumit on his 2012 Topps Heritage card and his 2012 Topps card. I finished up with Kevin Correia on Cami’s baseball.
I was really excited on how well things were going. I walked over and checked out a couple dealers’ tables and said hi to my buddy Joel B. I ran into Caden’s coach Dan from last years’ baseball team and his family as well as my buddy Fred B. I decided to head up to see how Gardy & Perkins’ line was and to my surprise, it was empty! I went in and handed Gardy a pair of cards and asked him to sign the one (2004 Topps team card which completed my 2004 Twins team!) and he said “I’ll sign both. It’s not like people are beating down the door for our line!” so he ended up signing his 2012 Topps Heritage card for Mark C. He thanked me for coming out to Twinfest and then I went to Glen Perkins. He signed his 2012 Topps card. I noticed that the line was non-existent at Station 2 so I got in that line. I was able to get Trevor Plouffe on his Red Wings card for Jon S. While there, he looked at his 2012 Topps card and said “They put Drew Butera on my card.” I had not ever noticed that. It was pretty funny. I told him I would get Drew to sign it later. Next was Chris Parmelee who signed his 2012 Topps Heritage Rookie Stars and 2012 Topps Heritage, both for Mark C. Last was Brian Duensing who signed his 2012 Topps card. I walked around a little bit and grabbed some schedules and realized there was nobody in the rookies’ line so I jumped in that line with about 5 minutes to spare. I got Alex Meyer and Trevor May each on a baseball and Nate Hanson and Austin Malinowski on Cami’s baseball. I then talked to Joel B a few minutes and headed home. I could not fall asleep as I relived the evening with how well I did for me and my friends and looked forward to Day 2!