Today was a Sunday and that meant it was Cami’s turn to go to the Twins game with me. Cami decided not to do the kids autograph line like she usually does and instead wanted to go down to the right field foul territory and see who was signing. She ended up getting Casey Fien and Ryan O’Rourke on a baseball that will be the start of her 2016 Twinsfest baseball.
If that isn’t cool, get this story. I could not make this up if I tried! Back on August 1, Cami was a Grounds Crew Buddy and was assigned to second base. That meant that at the end of the 5th inning, she ran out with a member of the grounds crew to change bases. Her job was to carry the new base to second, pull out the old one, put the new one in place and jump on it. As she was running off she said hi to Eduardo Escobar and he waved back to her. Fast forward to today’s game and, what has become our tradition, we look at all the cool things at the game used kiosk. The person working there today asked if he could help me with anything. I said “I have a long shot” and he said try me. I told him I was looking for the base from August 1st. Not just any base either but SECOND base. He said “I have a base from August 1st” and flipped it over to see it was second base. Wow. Fate. I checked the hologram and found out it was the base that was used at second base from innings 6-9 on August 1st. What are the odds. I went to our seats to think about it (it was $300 because it has the special tags on it for the 50th anniversary of the 1965 team on it). Later on I told Cami was going to go to the restroom and would be back soon. I ran down to the kiosk and bought it. She was so excited when I came back with it. She said it is her birthday present for the next two years! I figured I could not pass up the opportunity that was so amazingly put in front of me. What are the odds?
A Pair of Twins
Today I got a couple baseball cards signed by Twins players for my Topps Twins project. The cards were signed while the Twins were in Kansas City a couple weeks ago. Dustin N (Royals_Chiefs on SCN) got Trevor Plouffe and Brian Duensing to sign their 2015 Topps cards. I was afraid if I waited, they might not be on the team next year and thus would not be at Twinsfest. They turned out great and are real nice cards.
Getting Miggy Wit It
Today I received a baseball that I bought that was signed by Miguel Cabrera. I already had one but at $100 for a beautiful one, I could not pass it up. Matt C (campy on SCN) has a connection with Miggy and offered ten baseballs for sale so I jumped on one. He sold out right away. Matt packaged it up perfectly and I could not be happier!
Odds & Ends
Today I received a package of a few items I bought from Jonathan M (dabulls on SCN) of things I did not have but thought they were cool. The first was a Jim Bunning HOF postcard. What I liked about this one was that it had HOF 96 on it and it was signed boldly in blue Sharpie across the top. Another item I bought was a Bob Feller 8×10 photo. Yes, I have about a zillion Bob Feller photos but this one is a pose I did not have. It is a picture of him flipping a baseball in the air. He signed it and then inside the baseball he wrote “HOF ’62”. I always liked that pose and am surprised I never got one signed before. Heck, I don’t even collect photos but I bought it on a whim. The last thing in the envelope was a signed umpire card of Rick Reed from the 2004 Bowman Heritage set. Rick is from the same fraternity I was/am a member of and I know my friend Shane would love this card so when I saw it, I had to get it for him. He doesn’t read this so it won’t ruin anything but I plan on sending the card to him. He will get a kick out of it.