- This year the Twins were doing wrist band drawings to determine who got to receive a Joe Mauer or Justin Morneau autograph. I arrived Friday night to get a Mauer wristband and the lady asked if I wanted a Morneau wrist band too. I said yes, and she said “here is a green one which is the one we just drew to get an autograph.”
- I got to shake Twins GM Terry Ryan’s hand on Sunday. He was standing out in the middle of the event just talking to folks. Very impressive that he would take the time to mingle with the common fan.
- I got autographed cards from newcomers Josh Willingham, Jamey Carroll, Jason Marquis, and Ryan Doumit. None of their lines were very long, reminding me yet again that Twins fans take time to warm to newcomers not name Jim Thome.
- I was able to get signed cards from former Twins and personal favorite Jacque Jones. Jacque was supposed to be signing with former teammate Shannon Stewart. Well Jacque showed up on time, but Stewart was nowhere to be seen. They decided to let anyone who just wanted Jacque to come up to the front of the line, so I went. After he signed a card for me, I asked if I could go through the line again and get a ball signed. They said yes, and right after Jacque finished signing my ball guess who decided showed up? Since Shannon was now right in front of me, I had him sign a card. You get lucky once and a while.
- I had not slept well Saturday night, and my stomach was sore Sunday morning, but I still headed down to Twinsfest because I wanted to get a card signed by Brad Radke. I missed out on getting Radke Friday as his line with Kent Hrbek and Dan Gladden was cut off before I got through. I arrived Sunday in time to strike up a conversation with the gentlemen in front of me. I found out he just wanted to get a photo signed by Rod Carew who was signing with Radke. The fellow then said to me “if you want I will get Radke to sign something for you.” I thought that was a nice gesture by an obviously kind individual. So I ended up with two signed Brad Radke cards. Thanks much to the gentlemen who helped me out.
- While most dealers were selling baseball related stuff, some enterprising individuals were selling photos of the hottest new sports heroes in Minnesota – Ricky Rubio and Kevin Love.
I had a good time at Twinsfest, and would recommend it to anyone interested in the Twins. Below a list of players I got to sign for me:
- Justin Morneau
- Joe Benson
- Ben Revere
- Kyle Waldrop
- Nick Blackburn
- Scott Baker
- Alexi Casilla
- Matt Capps
- Chris Parmelee
- Jeff Gray
- Liam Hendriks
- Jacque Jones (2 items)
- Shannon Stewart
- Jerry White
- Joe Vavra
- Brian Duensing
- Ryan Doumit
- Trevor Plouffe
- Rene Tosoni
- Rod Carew (2 items)
- Ron Gardenhire
- Josh Willingham
- Jason Marquis
- Jamey Carroll
- Jeff Manship
- Glen Perkins
- Anthony Swarzak
- Brad Radke (2 items)
Minor leaguers who were signing for free:
- B. J. Hermsen
- Tyler Robertson
- Aaron Hicks
- Terry Doyle
- Nate Hanson
- Carlos Gutierrez
