As I mentioned in the past, Sunday mornings the Twins have a special autograph signing event for kids and Cami HAS to go to every Sunday game I have tickets for specifically for that reason. Today I was able to get a couple tickets to bring Caden and his friend down to the game with Cami and I. We got there early enough and found out that Kyle Gibson and Logan Darnell were the two players signing today. Cami got her baseball from last year signed by both players while Caden did not care about the autographs and got me a 2013 Topps Heritage high number card signed. Caden’s friend Gabe got a ball he had signed. He was pretty excited to try that for the first time. We all had a blast watching the Twins beat the Orioles too!
Category: Caden
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!
Like A Rock!
Today was one of the more interesting in person autograph events in a while. We are on a family vacation to Rapid City, SD and while at Mt Rushmore today, we noticed Nick Clifford was there signing and selling his book about when he worked on Mt Rushmore at the gift shop. Earlier today the kids purchased a Passport to National Parks and will try to get to as many of the parks as they can over their lifetime. I thought it would be cool to have Mr Clifford sign the area where it was stamped with the date and logo. Both kids decided to do that and we bought a book from him. One of the more interesting autographs that is for sure!
Twinsfest 2012: Day 3
After the last two day of Twinsfest, I had already decided I had accomplished way more than I ever thought and it was all about the kids and what they wanted to do. I did have one request though. I had to get Paul Molitor for a friend of mine who happened to get a Jesus Montero debut ticket signed for me at the Mariners Fanfest.
The three of us got to the Metrodome and got our wristbands. I asked the kids if they wanted to all win together or hedge our bets on the wristbands. I told them that if they won either Mauer or Morneau, they could keep them but if I won, I was going to get a card signed I needed for my sets. They decided to hedge our bets and each of the three of us got a different color for each player. As we were walking down to get in line, I heard my name and looked up and there was Mike (mudpuddlehuddle from Neshek’s website who I met the day before). Mike introduced me to nellanad (from Neshek’s website– funny how everyone refers to the person as their login names!) and he was kind enough to let us stand with them so we could get inside and out of the cold sooner.
We got inside the Metrodome and headed to Carew’s line. Caden wanted Rod Carew, Justin Morneau and Ben Revere on baseballs. Cami wanted Joe Mauer and as many as she could get on her Twinsfest 2012 baseball. I tried to talk Cami out of Carew on her ball and to get me a card but she wanted him on her baseball so that is what she got! I got a really cool 1972 Topps In Action card signed and Caden got his baseball and Cami got her ball signed. Carew side paneled Caden’s ball which was kind of a downer but oh well. Caden was ok with it. We then got Brad Radke on a couple cards and Cami’s baseball. While signing, I told Caden that Brad likes to fish and lives in Florida with a “You still live in Florida right?” and he said yes and asked if Caden liked to fish. We told him Caden’s cousin Will lives in Venice, FL and we visited him this last spring training and we had fun. Brad was really cool.
While in line for Carew and Radke, it turns out that the wristband Cami had on was chosen in the Morneau lottery! Caden’s face had a frown when he heard that because he was hoping his would win. Caden and Cami worked out a deal that Cami would get Justin’s autograph for Caden if he would give her Mauer if he got his color called. They decided that was a good plan so we got in line for Morneau. Justin asked the kids if they were having fun and signed the ball for her.
We wished him luck this season and headed to Corner #1.
At Corner #1, I paid for just two of us to get autographs as I was starting to see the bottom of my wallet. I had spent over $550 after 2 1/2 days and still had a few more stations to go! So at Corner #1 I had Caden get my autographs on cards and Cami got each guy on her baseball. Brian Raabe asked if they were having fun and signed two cards. Rick Stelmaszek signed a 1975 Topps card. When Gene Glynn saw his cards I had he said “Utica! I have not seen one of these in a while!” and took his time looking for just the right marker to sign them for me. We got to Al Newman and he signed three cards for us. I mentioned to him that Cami had seen him back in 2008 and he signed cards for her then. I think he thought that was cool.
Again, Corner #2 was short so we headed over there. I had just a card for Rene Tosoni and Cami was going to get the other two on her ball. When we got to Tosoni, Caden gave him my card and he signed it. Cami handed him her ball and he signed it for her and then she got Josh Willingham and Nick Blackburn on it. I told Josh that I read a really nice article online about his charity efforts at his home state of Alabama. He seemed pleased to hear that and said he would have to look for it and check it out.
We then heard that the wristband color for Joe Mauer was the color Cami had so with Caden getting Justin Morneau on a ball, Cami could get Mauer and both would be really happy. We headed up for Joe and when we got in there, I told Caden to tell Joe what he got for Christmas. He told him MLB 2011 The Show (the “Well Played Mauer” commercials) and Joe said “Very nice!” I then told Joe that Caden really beats me up when we play and he replied that he would probably beat him too! Caden just smiled.
We then knew we had to get in line for Paul Molitor so we headed there. Once we were up there, I handed Paul Greg’s card (1987 Topps Brewers Team Card already signed by two) and Paul signed it and said “Oh yeah. You can see a sliver of my face in there.” I asked him if he signed many of those and he said not too many and that he does not see that card that often. I thought that was cool. It turned out really nice and I was pleased that I was able to help out Greg. Terry Steinbach then signed a photo for Cami.
Caden really wanted Ben Revere on a ball so we headed over to that line. It was Jamey Carroll and Ben Revere together. I was down to hardly any cash and one last new baseball. Cami had gotten cookies before we got to Ben and Jamey so I decided I would handle the baseballs for the kids so they did not grease and chocolate them up. I got to Ben and gave him a ball and asked him to put “Gibby Award” on it and he did. Ben won a Gibby Award for his phenomenal catch in center field. For Caden, it was mission accomplished on the day! Jamey signed Cami’s ball and asked her what kind of cookies she was eating. She offered him one and he said no thank you. He looked at me and said “She look’s happy. A happy kid is a happy dad!” That was pretty funny.
Now I was down to about $8 in my wallet so we walked down to the field and the kids tried a couple of the games and Cami got a balloon figure thing and we headed home.
This years’ Twinsfest was awesome. I have not had a Twinsfest this good since the early 2000s. I am already looking forward to Twinsfest 2013!