Today Brian Harper was in town to sign autographs at the HarMar Mall. I have been waiting a while to get something signed that I would have been unable to send to someone or a show via the mail so this was my perfect opportunity.
A number of years ago the Twins held a “Garage Sale” of sorts at the Metrodome. It was before the move to Target Field and they basically offered for sale anything extra from the Dome as well as a ton of leftover stadium give away items. I went there and picked up a couple really cool things. One was a banner than hung on the street poles around the Dome with the 40th Anniversary team logo signed by Kirby Puckett. I have since traded that banner but another cool thing I bought was one of those pictures that were printed on plexiglass that hung in the concourse with a light behind it. The one I bought featured Brian Harper and Rick Aguilera shaking hands after either Game 1 or Game 2 of the 1991 World Series. I got Aggie to sign it at one of the Friday Night Alumni Nights the Twins had at the Dome. He thought it was pretty neat back then so I was excited to see what Harper thought of it. Brian spotted it while signing the person’s items in line in front of me and kept looking at it. When it was my turn and put it on the table, he looked and said “That was after Game 6!” and I told him Game 6 was a walkoff and he said “Oh you’re right. Aggie got the win in 6. It must have been Game 1 or 2. All those games were close so he was in ’em all!” He signed it with “World Champs ’91′”. It turned out AWESOME! I am really pleased with it! I then handed him my 1991 Sports Illustrated and said he must have signed a million of those in his life and he said he has one of those framed in his home.
I then walked over and bought a 2013 Topps Update card set and some singles to finish my set and headed home. What a great feeling to have finished something I bought around a decade ago!
Kevin, I must of just missed you. What a great story, will you post photos?
Brian will be coaching in Iowa this year as a hitting coach for the Cubs. Great guy.
Sure Mike! I just updated the post with the links to a pic of each. I think I was there around 12:45 or so. When I left the house I remembered about the 1991 SI so I turned around to get it and shows up a little later than I was shooting for. It worked out well for me as there was only a couple in line in front of me at that time. I do not know how the line was before I got there but I was pleased with how short of a time I had to wait. I do hope that he did well for the promoter though so he can bring in more players like that. I need Steve Bedrosian, Mark Guthrie, and Paul Sorrento to show up some time!!!!