Category: Cami

A Two Time World Series Champion

Today Kent Hrbek was signing autographs at the Twin Cities Sports Collectors Show in Bloomington.  They were expecting a big turnout so Cami and I headed down to make sure we were there at 9am when tickets went on sale.  We met up with Joel B (brad0112 on SCN) as he was planning on being there too.  I had brought down a few items plus had a fellow SCN member send me some cards to get signed so I was hoping to get through the line twice and was able to.  The items I got signed today were:
1995 Twins Schedule Poster- This is now signed by all players on it with their uniform numbers including (Puckett, Oliva, Killebrew, Carew and now Hrbek)
11.01.1991 Sports Illustrated
#14 Metrodome Seatback (I had paid for 14 inscriptions to be written on it.  When I got to him he said he was there “to sign autographs and not write a novel” and that I “could write them on there”.  I was a little bummed but he did write “World Champs 87/91” on it.
1982 Topps rookie already signed by Tim Laudner
2 baseball cards for Cami
5 baseball cards for Robert T (lutherlafy on SCN).

After we were done getting autographs, Joel and I went to a dealer that was set up selling off a collection of really nice signed baseballs.  Unfortunately the owner ran into some health problems and had to liquidate his collection.  There were some really nice baseballs for sale.  I purchased the following gorgeous baseballs:
Brooks Robinson – “1964 MVP  16 Gold Gloves  1983 HOF”
Curt Gowdy
Hal Newhouser – “AL MVP 44-45 – HOF ’92”
Willie Stargell – “HOF 1988  475 HR  1540 RBI  .282 AVE”
Yogi Berra – “MVP 51-54-55   HOF 72”
AB Chandler
These baseballs are near mint snow white OAL/ONL baseballs that were stored in tubs and did not see the light of day in years.  The quality was unsurpassed by many.  I am really pleased.  My only regret was that I did not buy more!  Maybe next time.

A Hot Day at the Twins Territory South

We left Venice, FL this morning and headed to the Twins game. I wanted to get there early to see if I could get any cards signed for my sets. It was really hot when we got there and Amy and Caden went inside to our seats. Cami wanted to stay out with me and try to get autographs. She had her book out with her cards and her marker ready and was flipping through it as we watched pitchers work on their bunting on the field next to the main stadium. She looked at me and said “Dad. This is SO cool!” even before she even got one autograph. We waited and once the drill was over, the players dispersed to different locations. Scott Diamond walked by and tossed a ball to Cami. She was so excited she did not ask for his autograph. A little while later, Alex Meyer (#3 rated prospect for the Twins) walked by and stopped to sign. We did not have cards for him so I gave Cami the program I bought earlier and he signed that for her and a baseball for me. That was the extent of the autographs but no the end of fun. Cami and I walked in to the ballpark and found Amy and Caden and we decided to walk around the new boardwalk area that goes all the way around the field. Amy already did it earlier but said she would love to do it again so we all went. While she was walking around earlier, an usher got an Eduardo Escobar home run ball and gave it to her. She gave it to Caden and now both kids had baseballs. We got to the new left field grassy berm seating area and watched the Blue Jays take batting practice. Cami was sitting next to me and we were talking about how cool it was to be sitting there like we were and she saw a ball hit into the corner. I told her to run down there and ask for it politely. She ran down there but did not ask. The Jays player did not see her and tossed it to second base. When Cami got back to me I told her she needs to kindly and politely ask for the ball and just then another one we there and she ran down and this time she asked and got results. She ran back to me smiling with her ball. About ten minutes later she says “Dad! Look at that cute little boy over there!” About 20 feet away was a boy who looked around two years old wearing a Twins cap, Twins t-shirt and an oversized glove (obviously dad’s) running up and down the hill with his older brothers whenever a ball was hit in the corner. When Cami and I got up to leave, I asked Cami what she thought of giving the ball to the little boy because she already had one. She thought the idea was great and walked over to the boy, bent down so she was at his level and asked if he wanted the ball. He took it and ran up to his mom and dad smiling from ear to ear clutching the ball tightly with his two little hands. The parents were smiling just as wide seeing the little boy so happy and thanked Cami a half dozen times. As we walked away I told Cami how cool that was and how it probably made that kid’s day. She is awesome.

I read where the Twins spring training area is one of the easiest to get a ton of autographs. From my limited experience there, I could totally see that. I was there more to enjoy baseball and the Twins than to hit the autographs hard. Besides, I was on vacation!

Mr Perfect!

Today was a fun day in Florida for spring training.  Cami decided she wanted a baseball cap from each of the ballparks we went to so she got a white Blue Jays cap.  We decided to ditch Amy and Caden and see who we could get autographs of while waiting with all the other autograph seekers.  Turns out she got Kevin Pillar on her cap.  Shortly after that former player and current coach Richie Hebner swung by and also signed her cap.  She was all excited by that.  We did not work the autographs too hard but there was one guy I really wanted… Mark Buehrle.  I brought my perfect game Sports Illustrated to Florida hoping I could get him to sign it because it is a cool cover and he personalized through the mail.  It turned out Mark was the starter at the game we were at.  After the middle of the second inning I told Amy and the kids that Mark will be done pitching and I was going to try to get him on the magazine and left our seats to stand where I figured he would have to pass.  After pitching his second inning I watched and waited.  While there, a person next to me asked if Mark went by yet.  I told him no and that he was the only guy I was after and that they already brought a reliever in so his day was done.  All of a sudden Mark takes off from the dugout and runs by as myself and a few other guys asked him to stop and sign.  He did not stop but all of a sudden the guy who asked me if Mark ran by yet whipped out some sort of MLB badge, threw it around his neck, opened the gate to get to the players and said “give me your magazine” and I did.  I have no idea if this person was a trainer, former player, agent, drug tester or what but he went up to Mark and chatted a few minutes with him and got my magazine signed.  While I was waiting, about 50 other collectors came up and were behind me hoping Mark would come over to sign.  He never did.  The person with my magazine walked to me, handed it to me and I thanked him and shook his hand and he walked out to the players’ parking lot.  I was stoked!  So, to the gentleman I have no idea who you were, THANK YOU!  You made my day!

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!