I got up this morning knowing I was going to meet my buddies Russ and Shane at the National Sports Center and we were going to do what has become a tradition of hanging out all day on the Saturday of Twinsfest together. I got there and decided to skip the long Mauer line after the debacle of yesterday and headed right to the line to get in the other building. I got in and went right to the Paul Molitor line. Since I picked up a couple Molitor cards yesterday, I decided to get a HOF postcard signed. I got a great spot in the first few places in line and texted Russ and Shane to let them know where I was. I got a reply from Shane that he was in the parking lot and realized he forgot his ticket to get in. He ended up driving 45 minutes home to get it and another 45 minutes back. Russ replied that he had forgot his ticket too but realized it when he was only three houses away from his home. Shane got back and inside the building before Russ because Russ decided to park in Duluth and walk. He for sure got his work out in!
I got Molitor’s autograph and headed to station one and got Ben Revere and Anthony Slama each on a ticket with both putting MLB Debut on it. I then headed back to the Molitor line and waited for Rod Carew. Shane showed up and got Molitor’s autograph so he lost nothing but a half tank of gas! He then got in line with me for Carew. Shane is working on a really cool baseball print and added Molitor, Carew, Niekro, Fingers and Yount on it today. Russ then showed up but did not need a Rod Carew autograph so he walked around. I got a 1970 All Star card signed by him.
I then went back to the dealer selling the cards that I bought from yesterday hoping to go through my list again and pull out some more I needed as well as some cards I knew were harder to get signed. I did really well again and got the following for $4 each or as marked:
78 Glenn Adams
87 Juan Agosto
91 Rick Aguilera
90 Allan Anderson
80 Mike Bacsik
84 Darrell Brown
85 John Butcher
68 Dean Chance
69 Dean Chance
08 Michael Cuddyer
85 Andre David
90 Mike Dyer
80 Dave Edwards
83 Dave Engle
68 Cal Ermer
86 Pete Filson
06 Matt Garza
94 Eddie Guardado
83 Brad Havens
84 Brad Havens
95 LaTroy Hawkins
08 (Team Set) Philip Humber
06 Torii Hunter
01 Adam Johnson
98 Matt Lawton
97 Matt Lawton
95 Shane Mack
92 Pat Mahomes
94 Pat Mahomes
93T David McCarty
01 Travis Miller
00 Eric Milton
01 Eric Milton
01 David Ortiz
79 Perlozzo/Sofield/Stanfield
96 Brad Radke
98 Brad Radke
00 Brad Radke
02 Brad Radke
93 Darren Reed
82 Rick Sofield
87T Les Straker
89 Fred Toliver
84 Len Whitehouse
80 Rob Wilfong
81 Rob Wilfong
** $10 each **
76 Joe Decker
77 Craig Kusick
63 Jerry Zimmerman
64 Jerry Zimmerman
68 Jerry Zimmerman
** $15 each **
69 Rod Carew
73 Rod Carew
74 Rod Carew
76 Rod Carew
77 Rod Carew
** $20 each **
64 Earl Battey
66 Earl Battey
72 Rod Carew
61 Zorro Versalles
I had to give the ATM another workout!
Russ got in line for Delmon Young so I joined him. I got Anthony Swarzak on a card and Delmon Young on a card.
After spending as much as I did so far, I knew I better get some of the free guys so the three of us headed to the rookie area and stood in line. This was a mess because people wrapped the line going both ways so each line moved at half the pace. We ended up getting who we wanted with me getting 2 Joe Benson cards, 1 Kyle Waldrop card and with Russ and Shane’s help, 4 Kyle Gibson cards. After that we took a moment to relax and then was thinking about going out for dinner. I decided that I needed Ron Gardenhire on my Target Field Firsts ball and a card so Shane got in line with me and Russ watched our stuff. I got Gardy on the ball and Shane got a card signed with Manager of the Year 2010. We each got Jerry White to sign the Jim Thome Sports Illustrated too. While waiting in the Gardenhire/White line, we ran into Ken Walsh. Ken is a fraternity brother so it was cool to catch up. We all left together while Ken headed to get Nathan, we headed out to eat.
It was a great time and I L O V E all the cards I got either signed in person or that I bought from the dealer. We will see what tomorrow holds but it will be all about the kids. They are both saying they want to get some autographs but we will see!