Today was a game we anticipated since the beginning of the season. I bought
four tickets so all of us could go to the pregame mascot softball game.
Usually it is just me and one of the kids but they both wanted to go and Amy
decided she would like to go so I bought the tickets as part of the season
ticket holder presale. Since it was team bat day, the kids wanted a bat so
that meant we would have to get there around the time the gates opened to
make sure they got one. We got to the ballpark just as gates were opening so
the kids got their bats. Then we headed to see who was signing the
autographs for the kids and found out it was Drew Butera and Luke Hughes. I
had a card for Hughes and asked Cami if she would get it signed for me. Of
course she said she would (she is awesome when it comes to autograph stuff).
She wanted to get her ticket signed by Butera so she and I waited in the
concourse area. Caden and Amy headed to our seats. As we got to the table,
she gave Drew her ticket and he signed it and thanked him. I told her to say
“Hi mate!” to Hughes since he is from Australia. As I told her that, Butera
stopped signing for the kid behind us and said “I gotta hear this!” and
leaned in to hear Cami say hi. She said no to me and Luke signed the card
and handed it back to her. I told her to say “Thanks mate!” and again she
said no and just said thank you. Luke said “Thanks mate!” to Cami. It was
funny. We ended up heading to our seats then. Of course they were in the
sun (the overlook section) and it was H O T! We watched the mascot game.
After the National Anthem, Amy and Cami went to get some stuff for us to
eat. When they came back, Cami said she felt like puking because she was so
hot. We ended up leaving in the middle of the first inning. That was a
bummer but we were at least able to enjoy a mascot game! We got home and
laid around watching the game and after an hour or so in the air conditioned
house, all was fine.
Just Hangin’ with the Majors…
Caden and I got to go to Hang with the Majors. We got there right when it was supposed to start. We signed in and was directed to our table. Turns out that there were three places still open. In looking at the name tags, it was Caden, Reserved and me. We ended up on each side of the Twins player! Apparently there were a couple players that confirmed they were going to be there but did not show up. That was one of our players. I do not know if it was Liriano or someone else as they would not tell us but Liriano was mentioned as a no show. In the table next to us, there were two players. Matt Capps and Rene Rivera. The woman sitting next to me asked if I had a preference on who was with us. I told her I did not care as long as the person was engaging. The person in charge of the event had Rene Rivera move from the table next to ours to our table. Let me say that I doubt more people enjoyed their time with the player than we did. Rene was AWESOME. We talked about so many things and had a few laughs too. After he introduced himself to everyone he sat down and started chatting with Caden and I and the two women across the table from him. I felt bad for the people at the other end of the table but it was pretty loud in there and I am sure they could not hear well enough to hold a conversation.
Some of the discussion we had with Rene yielded the following:
Rene does not eat chicken still on the bone. When he received his plate of chicken (a half chicken), he asked Caden if he wanted to trade with him as Caden had chicken fingers. Caden said no so Rene asked the waitress to get the kids chicken fingers and she did.
Rene loves watching baseball highlights on tv. While we were eating, there were two tv’s on with the FSN replay of the day game played earlier that day and the other tv had ESPN on it. Turns out Rene was the catcher for the day game and was on tv a lot. He said “I have to lift some more weights” and motioned he was pumping iron. I asked what he meant and he said watch. He came up and after about the fifth pitch, he drove a fly ball to the warning track and we laughed.
I asked him he if remembers all his at bats and he said he does but he has access to an unbelievable amount of video. He used to write them down but not any more with all the video access.
His two most favorite ballparks are Safeco Park and Target Field. His likes going to Chicago and dislikes New York (it smells all the time).
He used to collect baseball memorabilia and has A Rod and Griffey from when he came up with the Mariners but ran out of room for storing it so he stopped. He regrets not getting a Harmon Killebrew autograph in spring training.
He rode horses when he was a kid. In fact, the women we sat with worked at Canterbury Downs and asked him what kind of horse. He pulled out his cell phone and did a search and showed her. He said he knew the name in Spanish but not in English. I thought that was really cool.
I asked him about when he was drafted. He said he was thinking he would go sometime in the 4th round. Turns out he was taken by the Mariners in the 2nd round and was pretty excited.
He said he had been hit in the shoulder, knees, forearm, and knuckles but never broke a bone. Using the hockey style catchers mask, he does not feel a foul ball off his mask.
He started playing t-ball when he was 4 years old. He was afraid of the baseball for the first couple years of playing it.
The only time he got nervous at the plate was his first Major League at bat.
When he first saw Nishioka flash the leather in spring training, he said he knows he is going to win a gold glove someday. “He is that good!”
After dinner, it was time to walk around to get autogaphs. They gave us each two free autograph tickets and a photo. I got the following cards signed:
Span 11 Topps
11 Gypsy Queen
Young 10 Topps
11 Topps
11 Gypsy Queen
11 Heritage
Valencia 10 Topps
11 Topps
11 Topps
11 Gypsy Queen
Kubel 11 Gypsy Queen
Nishioka really only signed for a very short amount of time but you had to have a white wristband to get him. Apparently the white wristband meant you were military. I am totally cool with that but I wish I would have known that before I bought Caden a photo of him.
When we were getting Demon Young’s autograph, I was watching him as his eyes followed a female and he said “How you doin’?” towards the female. She did not hear him but Caden did. Caden said “Good”. Delmon looked at me and said “Good to hear” and looked at me and busted out a “cat who ate the canary” grin. That was pretty funny.
It ended with me being escorted out because I brought in baseball cards to get signed. Never mind that I had paid $225 for the dinner, $25 for a photo to get signed (that never did) and another $280 ($10 per) for autograph tickets (being able to use only 8 of them). The woman who got in my face about me bringing in my own baseball cards, Lynette Gittins, was the rudest person I had ever met. There was no reason for her to act the way she did. She was nearly yelling at me and was hysterical. Even the bouncer who talked to me about it said he thought it was crazy but he was working for the woman. She was insane and really put a downer ending to the night. I was actually calm and really could have cared less as it was too packed to get anyone else. It was funny though. I saw a person who worked for the Twins as what I believe to be a part time usher role going around with his own photos and getting them signed. The bouncer was really cool though. He told me that if I kept the cards in my pocket he would let me stay. Caden wanted to leave about a half hour before that as he was tired so we left. Not that I would ever get one (“I work for the president of the team!”) but at the very least she owes me a verbal apology. Even with that, it was still an awesome time and I have a new favorite Twin in Rene Rivera!
We’re Not In Kansas Anymore!
Today the Twins had players show up to sign autographs for an hour to raise money for the recent tornado victims here in MN. I had heard that Brian Duensing, Drew Butera and Matt Capps were going to be there. I needed a Capps baseball and a Duensing card signed so I decided to head down there. With Amy and the kids and Amy’s mom out of town for a baby shower, I thought I would ask my father-in-law if he wanted to go with me. That way he could check out Target Field (from the outside) and the area. Of course he said he would come along (he is awesome) so we headed down there. We were told at about half way through that we were the first people after the estimated line cut off. I was not too peeved because I thought the players that were there would continue signing until everyone there got one since it was raising money. We had no problem getting autographs. Turns out that Michael Cuddyer showed up as well as Rene Rivera and Phil Dumatrait!
I paid the $20 for each of us and I got a Capps baseball and the following cards signed: 2010 Topps Cuddyer, 2010 Topps Butera, 2011 Topps Capps, Two 2011 Gypsy Queen Duensing and a 2011 Topps Heritage Twins Team card with Cuddyer, Rivera and Dumatrait. I also had a Gypsy Queen Cuddyer card but I forgot about it when we got up to the table. That happens I guess.
Nice additions to the collection and a fun excursion with my father-in-law!
Mission Accomplished!
It started in 1987. I was 17 years old and happened to get a baseball signed by Joe Niekro above the Twins dugout before a game. I added Al Newman later that season. After the Twins won the 1987 I decided this baseball was to be a team baseball and I would try to get as many people on the ball from the post season roster as possible. Today, 23 years later, I can say it is finished.
Dan Schatzader was in town signing autographs at a local sports show. I was saving my frequent flier miles up to fly to where ever he would be signing so I could fly there, get the ball done and come home. Little did I know that he would come to the Twin Cities. I took the kids up to where the show was. My buddy Russ was there with his son so we spent a little bit of time with them. After they left, we headed to the autograph area and they were already on the numbers way above our ticket numbers so we got in line. When we got there, I told him that he was the last player I needed on the ball and he looked it over and thought it was really cool. He signed it in the last small area left on the ball. I was shaking I was so excited. He then signed a 1987 Game 6 World Series ticket with his name and “Winning Pitcher”. As we started to walk away, he said “Good luck with your collection.” Oh yeah Dan. You put the icing on the cake today.