Our Spring Training vacation started with me being sick. I ended up at Urgent Care and found out I had the flu and a 102 degree temp. After one Tamiflu pill, I was feeling much better. We were able to get to the Twins game today showing up for the practice field action by 10am. It was so relaxing to watch something so mundane as Pitchers Fielding Practice in the warm Florida sun. Cami, Caden, and I picked a spot near the fence where the players walk by and hoped some players would stop to sign.
We were rewarded pretty quick when Jose Berrios stopped by and signed a card for each of the three of us. I got a 2017 Topps card signed. About the same time we got Berrios, we saw Ryan O’Rourke signing at the other end of the fence so Cami and I went there and got our 2016 Topps Heritage cards signed. We waited around a little longer and most players were inside the locker room or the main stadium getting ready for the game. Before running in, someone asked Byron Buxton if he would sign and he said he would later. Typically players say that but don’t follow up. Caden was ready to go inside and try for some Pittsburgh Pirate players and I asked Cami if she wanted to go inside or wait. She said that Buxton said he would sign so we are going to wait. About ten minutes later, Buxton came through the batting cage area and told someone to hand him the bat over the fence in the batting cage area. The fence is about eight feet all on top of a couple fee of cement. Byron and the other person stood up on the concrete and the bat was passed to Byron and he signed it and gave it back to the person. He then jumped up, as did I with my book of two cards, but I could not get it over the fence because my foot kept slipping off the thin concrete part. Just then I heard “Young man. What are you doing?” It was Torii Hunter telling Byron that he never wants to see him do that again because he could strain an oblique muscle and be out for a while. I told Byron that I appreciated his efforts but did not want to get him in trouble with Torii. He said “Nah. It’s all good. Let’s go down a few feet and there is an opening and you can pass it to me there.” So we went to where there was an opening in the fence and I slid my book through. He signed both cards for me and then he took Cami’s book and signed all three cards for her. We thanked him and watched him get busy in the cage with Torii. I thought about how Kirby worked with Torii when Torii was a rookie and thought that Puck’s legacy continued through Torii. It was really cool that Buxton went out of his way to sign for Cami and I. We watched the Twins game and had a blast. They ended up losing to the Pirates but we could not complain. The weather was fantastic and it was great seeing Twins baseball in person again.