With the start of 2014, it is time to review my attempt to
get current and former Minnesota Twins to autograph baseball cards TTM (through
the mail). I sent out to 125 players in 2013 and received signed cards 74 of
them (59% success rate). Also arriving in 2013 were cards from 13 players I had
sent to the previous years. The longest of those 13 was John Butcher who
returned a card I sent out in 2008.
My biggest successes of 2013 were top Twins prospects Byron
Buxton, Alex Meyer, and Oswaldo Arica. Arica
made it to the Twins later in the year and showed great promise. Buxton and
Meyer are supposed to even better. I have been doing more minor league
send-outs so that I can get future big name players before demand for them get
so much that they stop signing.
Dave Edwards and Greg Hansell were two former Twins who had
eluded me for years till I was able to get them in 2013. I decided to invest
some money in private signing for Steve Bedrosian, Bill Singer, John
Candelaria, Brett Boone, and Torii Hunter. I have been picking up more and more
players this way. The problem is some players insist on being paid for their
autographs, so there is no other way to get them. The one good thing about
private signings is the cards are usually beautifully signed because the player
feels obligated to make it look good as they are being paid.
I have signed cards from 486 current or former Twins players
and 19 current or former Twins managers, coaches, general managers, etc. I am 197
players short of my goal of getting a signed card from every living current and
former Twin. I should get 5 of them at Twinsfest in January. I have another one
(Lenny Webster) coming in via a private signing, and I expect 5-10 more to come
in.
Hopefully 2014 turns out well for me as 2013 did.
