Twinsfest 2017 – Day 2

Today started out early as the alarm went off at 5:50am. Caden, Cami, and I headed out the door and was able to pick up Cayden and their friend Noah by 7:15. We got to Target Field around 8am. We stayed in the original line we were in this time and it worked out. As is our tradition, my buddy Shane showed up and we pretty much hung out all day. It is one day that we can both plan on meeting up and handing out and catching up on things from the last year. We all headed to the Joe Mauer line and got Joe and Michael Cuddyer on cards. We got back in the line but we were too far back to make it through a second time so we left. Caden and his friends and Cami went off and did their own thing while Shane and I hung out. Cami went to one of the other stations while I went to see how the Twins Players Wives booth was looking for Mauer. Shane and I stood in line and I texted Cami that she better get there soon because Joe just showed up. She was off getting Tony Oliva and his group. She showed up just in time so we had three tickets as well as three balls in a bag. A lady in line after me was waitin with her son and only he was getting a Mauer autograph. I told her I would buy the ball in a bag for her if she got me a card signed. She was excited to give her son the ball and said yes. Shane and I then headed up to start waiting in the Miguel Sano line. While waiting, Cami ran down to Jose Berrios in the Players Wives booth and said noone was in line. I gave her some cards and she ran down and got a ball in a bag as well as a couple cards signed by Jose and came back. She asked if I had any more for Jose and I told her two more and she said there was nobody there so she ran down again for those. We then opened the bags to see who we go. I ended up with Miguel Sano, Tyler Duffey, and Danny Santana. Cami and I each got Eduardo Escobar in the other two. Also while waiting, my buddy Russ showed up and I got to see his kids. Man they are growing up fast! We got Sano on some cards along with Corey Koskie and Neil Allen. I told Neil that he was the highlight of last years’ Twinsfest as far as interactions went and he looked at me like “Me? What in the world are you talking about?” I then told him about the Sports Illustrated discussion and he laughed out loud about that. It was pretty neat. Shane, Cami, and I then headed to Max Kepler’s group. Earlier in the day Cami went to the vendors and bought a photo of Max Kepler’s first home run which was a walkoff. She loves Brian Dozier and Max Kepler so it was neat she got the photo and was able to get it signed. Right after that she got picked up by Amy as they went to a volleyball tournament in Mankato. I found the rest of the guys and we all headed to Old Spaghetti Factory for our annual Saturday night dinner.
Today I ended up with:
Joe Mauer: 2005 Topps, 2009 Topps, 2009 Topps Home Run Derby, 2014 Topps, 2016 Topps, 2016 Topps Heritage, 2016 Gypsy Queen, 9/10/2016 Topps Now. He said he had never seen the Topps Now card. He thought it was cool.
Miguel Sano: 2016 Topps Heritage, 2016 Topps, 2016 Gypsy Queen, baseball
Jose Berrios: 2016 Topps, 2016 Topps Future Star, 2016 Allen & Ginter, 2016 Topps Heritage
Max Kepler: 2016 Topps, 2016 Allen & Ginter
Alex Wimmers: Ticket with “1st Win!”, 2011 Topps Heritage Minor League, 2011 Topps Heritage Minor League All Star, 2011 Bowman
Tyler Duffey: Baseball
Eduardo Escobar: Baseball
Danny Santana: Baseball
Michael Cuddyer: 2010 Topps Heritage, 2006 Topps, 2011 Topps, Signature card
Neil Allen: 1983 Topps Traded
Corey Koskie: Signature card
Aaron Sledgers: Signature card
Thanks to Shane for being my “mule” and keeping me company. The stories we tell each other and the autographs we get are awesome memories.