The Minnesota Twins opened their 27th and last season in the Metrodome Monday night. I have attended hundreds of Twins games at the dome and have many great memories. I hope to make at least one more trip down to the dome to see a Twins game. It will be bitter sweat to say goodbye to an old friend like the dome. Still I prefer to watch baseball outdoors. Yes, it will be near impossible to get a ticket to see the Twins at Target Field next year, but I figure once those trendy fair weather fans get a taste of the weather for April games, I will have my choice of seats come April 2011.
Last Saturday I attended the TCSCC sports card show. There was a good crowd and lots of dealers. The main attraction was an autograph signing by former Vikings Clint Jones, Sammy White, and John Gilliam. I was not into Clint Jones, and it appeared very few other people were as well. Sammy White and John Gilliam drew a bigger crowd. I paid for both White and Gilliam autographs. Both of them looked in good shape. Gilliam told me he was 64. Wow, it seems only like a few years ago I was watching play for the Vikings. In reality it has been over 30 years since he last played for the Vikings.
White made the mistake of wearing a Grambling shirt. Sammy went to Grambling, so that is why he wore the shirt. What he did not realize was everyone would see that big gold “G” on his shirt and assume it was for the Green Bay Packers. Well, he caught a lot of grief. Luckily it was all in jest. They both seemed like nice guys. Of course they were being paid to be there, but I have meet guys in the same situation act like jerks. Both seemed please not only to make some bucks, but chat with fans who remembered their glory days.
Bad news regarding my collecting autographs through the mail hobby (TTM). I saw several returns from A. J. Pierzinski coming from the White Sox spring training home of Phoenix/Glendale, AZ. This pleased me because I had sent to A.J. too. Well, I got one of those mail recovery envelops Tuesday. These are the envelops the Postal Service put damaged mail in. Well in it was one of my SASEs - one with a Phoenix, AZ post mark on it. I knew it was my A.J. card. Only there was no card. The SASE had been ripped in half. No card, only a key in the envelop. A key for what I have no idea. Evidently the Postal Service thought the key was in my SASE. So no card and a key I don’t need. I was not happy, but there is not much I can do except send to A.J. again and hope he signs again for me.
Thursday provide better news. I received a return from Will Clark. When Clark broke in with the Giants in 1986 it looked like he was a sure bet Hall of Famer. In fact his career with the Giants was very good. Unfortunately he went to Texas as free agent in 1994. Injuries followed and Clark never put up the big career numbers needed for the HOF. Still he was a 6 time All-Star and was MVP of the 1989 NLCS. I had sent to Will two other times and gotten no response, but the third time was the charm.
Will Clark’s nickname was “The Thrill”. Well it was a thrill got get Will to sign my baseball card. Thank you Will Clark!
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I created this blog in response to an assignment given to me for one of my graduate school classes. I named my blog the Minnesota Twins, Country Music, and Random Thoughts, because I have a passion for Twins baseball and Country Music. The Random Thoughts part comes in, because I know there will be others things I will want to write about that do not involve Twins baseball or Country Music.
