After last night’s excitement, I hard a hard time falling asleep. I think the last time I saw the clock it was around 1:30am. I got up at 6am and got ready and headed to Target Field to meet up with my buddy Shane. Shane and I have our tradition where we meet up on the Saturday of Twinsfest and hang out. I got to Target Field around 7:30am and was probably 50th in line. Not bad. The weather was so much nicer than in years past so the wait was fine. Once the doors opened I headed to Joe Mauer’s line and Shane went for Ervin Santana and Jordan Schafer. Shane then headed to Mauer’s line and we went through again with and I went for another card while Shane got a ball done. We then headed to the Danny Santana, Brian Duensing and Eduardo Escobar line. After that we decided to get something to eat. While eating, I saw Kurt Suzuki was signing for a minimum $20 donation to the Twins Wifes Group so I saw that as an opportunity to knock off the three card I needed for the $60 donation. We then split up and I headed to the Kyle Gibson, Alex Meyer and Neil Allen line. Shane and I then met up in the Oswaldo Arcia, Caleb Thielbar and JO Berrios line. We went to the Ricky Nolasco, Tommy Milone and BJ Hermsen line after the previous line was finished. We were in that line real early so we split up for the next group because Shane really wanted Phil Hughes and I need Tony Oliva. While waiting in the Oliva and Byron Buxton line, just behind me was Mike E (mudpuddlehuddle on Pat Neshek’s website) was standing behind me. We chatted a little and he asked me if I had anything I needed done for Tony Oliva as he was just getting Buxton. I actually had a pair of older magazines and jumped at the chance. A few years ago I sent Mike a couple dollars as he was going through an adoption. Mike remembered that this long later and told me he never will forget it. That was one of my highlights of Twinsfest… that he remembered it and STILL appreciate it. He was real excited to help me out. Shane got me a Sports Illustrated magazine signed by by Dan Gladden in the line where he went. After that is was off to the Trevor May, Jorge Polanco and Mark Hamburger line. Shane helped me out in this line with some items I had to get signed. After we were done, we headed to Old Spaghetti Factory for dinner and a little more reminicing. It was an awesome day from start to finish (minus the phone call from Amy that the dog got into some mouse poison while visiting another home– he is ok after a trip to the Pet Hospital ER). It was great spending the day with Shane and catching up on things. I miss not seeing my buddy Russ. He is another buddy who would hang out at Twinsfest with us. Hopefully next year we can get back to the old Gang of Three.
What I added to the collection today included:
Joe Mauer: 2014 Allen & Ginter, 2014 Gypsy Queen
Jordan Schafer: 2009 Allen & Ginter, 2014 Topps
Danny Santana: 2014 Topps, 2014 Topps Heritage
Eduardo Escobar: 2 @ 2014 Topps
Kurt Suzuki: 2014 Topps Update, 2014 Topps Update All Star, (For my buddy Greg) 2010 Bowman
Kyle Gibson: 2014 Gypsy Queen
Alex Meyer: 2 @ 2014 Topps Heritage Minors
Neil Allen: 1981 Coca Cola, 1989 Topps
Oswaldo Arcia: 2013 Topps Heritage High, 2014 Topps Heritage
Caleb Theilbar: 1st ML Win ticket w/”1st ML Win”
JO Berrios: 2 @ 2014 Topps Heritage Minors, 2014 Topps Pro Debut
Ricky Nolasco: 2014 Topps Heritage, 2014 Topps
Tommy Milone: 2014 Gypsy Queen
BJ Hermsen: 2009 Obak, 2010 Topps Pro Debut
Tony Oliva: 1966 Dell Sports Magazine, September 1970 All Star Sports Magazine
Byron Buxton: 2013 Topps Heritage Minors
Dan Gladden: 10.26.1987 Sports Illustrated
Trevor May: ML Debut ticket w/”ML Debut”
Jorge Polanco: ML Debut ticket w/”ML Debut”, 2 @ 2014 Topps Update
Mark Hamburger: 4 @ 2011 Bowman Chrome
I have already gotten more autographs (and spent more money!) than I ever would have guessed at this point. Special thanks go out to Shane and Mike for their help. I can’t wait for the icing on the cake day with the kids tomorrow!