When we left for Arizona for a six day vacation in the desert I had one want for an autograph. Yeah, it would have been cool to get Mike Trout or Albert Pujols or Manny Machado but the one I REALLY wanted was Paul Sorrento. Paul played on the 1991 World Champion Twins team and was one of the last three post season roster players I need on my baseball. I tried to get him during batting practice when the Angels were in town last summer but the Saturday game had a rain delay and they did not take batting practice and Sunday is typically a non-batting practice day so I missed out. We got to the ballpark as the gates opened and I thought I saw him behind the cage while the players took batting practice. After they were done, I hoped he would go to the dugout but that was not the case. He walked to a tunnel like area to get to the clubhouse. As he walked I shouted “Mr Sorrento!” but he did not look over. I thought maybe I had the wrong guy. I walked parallel to him in hopes of catching up to him. He ducked into the tunnel as just as I got there he was almost out of sight so I said “PAUL!” I noticed he stopped and backed up a couple steps and I leaned over the railing and asked him if he would mind signing my baseball. He said sure and I dropped it down to him. I told him I had been working on this baseball since Twinsfest in 1992 and he said “Wow! That’s a long time!” He spun it around and found a place to sign it and tossed it to me. I thanked him and he continued to the clubhouse and I went to my seat. I was successful in my one true goal. As it turned out, it was the only autograph I got on the entire trip but It was all I needed.
Category: Baseballs
A Great Chicken!
Wow! What an awesome mail day! I rarely get a reply now days with exactly what I am looking for or hoping for but today I received two! The first was from the San Diego Chicken. In the letter I spoke of my son meeting him when he was 5 and afraid of mascots. The note Ted Giannoulas included said “Here’s hoping this will finally put me on your son’s good side!” It is pretty funny. Plus, the baseball he signed was a story ball and he outlined his “Grand Hatching”… the first time he came to the Padres. It is pretty neat and his penmanship is amazing!
The other package I received was a Roster Ball on the 1967 Impossible Dream team signed by Jim Lonborg. He listed the entire roster on the sides of the ball. This goes real well with my 1968 Tigers Roster Ball!
What a fun mail day!
Kiss Me!
Today I received a baseball signed on the sweetspot by Morganna. As some of you older readers will remember, Morganna was known as the Kissing Bandit and she would run on the field during a game to kiss baseball players. I sent her a baseball and she signed it with “The Kissing Bandit”. The cool thing of her signature is that she puts little circles on the top of the humps in her “M” to make it look like a pair of breasts. On photos she signs her name with “Breast Wishes”. She seems to have fun with her notoriety after all these years. Thanks Morganna!
2019 Twinsfest- Day 3
Today started the final day of Twinfest. Cami was not able to go because she had a volleyball tournament and since Caden stayed overnight at a hotel with his buddies, I could get there whenever I wanted to. I took my time getting there and ended up arriving around 9:30. I did not need anything from the first set of stations so I went to drop off a Mauer final game ticket and some photos for Tony S and headed to the Royce Lewis line. Everyone there was in line for Royce whereas my main goals were the other guys at his station. I got Jason Castro, Fernando Romero, Gabriel Moya, and Royce Lewis all on cards. Royce finished off a cool Bowman Chrome card that I had gotten signed by Brent Rooker last Twinsfest. Royce commented that it is pretty cool that I finished the card. I then skipped over to the other line and got Rooker, Kohl Stewart, LaMonte Wade, Akil Baddoo, and Stephen Gonsalves. Gonsalves signed a Major League debut ticket and I asked him to inscribe it. He asked if I wanted 1.1 as well. He caught me off guard and I did not know how to react. After he signed it he smiled at me and I laughed back at him and smiled. It was pretty funny. He ended up lasting only 1.1 innings in his debut game. It was a hilarious moment. After that I sent to the Byron Buxton line. I got Buxton, Nick Gordon, and Jim Kaat. I then got back in line at the same station for the final group which was Michael Pineda, Max Kepler, CJ Cron, and Nelson Cruz. I asked Tony’s son Spencer if he wanted to get in line for me and get Kepler on a couple cards and he could have the other guys. He was excited to do that and waited in line with me. He is such a good kid. He got me a couple cards of Kepler and I Kepler on cards, Buxton on a 3 HR ticket (he said he could not inscribe), Pineda on a couple cards, and Cron on his first home run ticket. I asked him if he remembered who he hit it off of and he said “J. A. Happ”. Pretty cool. After that Spencer and I walked back to Tony’s table and Tony had gotten the artist who painted the painting of the Joe Mauer print they handed out to sign three copies of it for me. I said my goodbyes to Tony and Spencer and met up with Caden and headed home. Twinsfest 2019 was a ton of fun and spending it with Shane yesterday and experiencing different parts of it made it even more fun. I was able to knock off a bunch of items I needed ink for the collection with great help from the kids and other people. My tally of items for my collection from today include:
Jason Castro 9/12/17 Topps Now
Fernando Romero 2018 Topps Heritage, 2018 Topps
Gabriel Moya generic Twins signature card
Royce Lewis Bowman Chrome Recommended Viewing card
Max Kepler 2018 Topps team card, 2018 Opening Day Topps Now, 2018 Topps, 4/11/18 Topps Now
Michael Pineda 2018 Topps Heritage
Nick Gordon 2018 Topps Debut, 2018 Topps Heritage Minors
Brent Rooker 2018 Topps Debut
Alex Kiriloff 2017 Topps Heritage Minors
Kohl Stewart Ticket w/”First MLB Win”, Ticket w/”MLB Debut”, 2017 Topps Heritage Minors, 2017 Bowman
Stephen Gonsalves Ticket w/”MLB Debut”, 2018 Topps Debut, 2017 Bowman
Ryan Jeffers 2018 Bowman
Akil Baddoo OMLB, 2017 Topps Pro Debut, 2017 Topps Heritage Minors
Nelson Cruz OMLB
Mitch Garver 2018 Topps Heritage, 2018 Topps
Zach Littell 2018 Topps Debut, 2018 Topps
Byron Buxton 3 HR ticket
CJ Cron Ticket w/”1st ML HR”
Aldaberto Mejia Ticket from his debut game