Get on TV at the Twins Game

Monday the 18^th I had the privilege of attending the Twins – Royals game complements of my employer. We had a gathering up on the Budweiser Roof Deck which is a unique place to watch a game.

Highlights included getting rained on during the game, watching Twins GM Terry Ryan dump a bucket of ice water on Twins owner Jim Pohlad (it was for an ALS charity), and seeing one of my favorite Twins – Oswaldo Arcia – hit a massive home run off the flag pole in right field.

The best highlight though was when I got to be on TV. How? I had moved down from the Roof Deck as game went on. I was in center field in the ninth when Trevor Plouffe hit a deep fly ball. I realized it was coming close to me and sure enough went for a home run. In the above picture I am under the word “Porch” on the sign that says “usbank Home Run Porch”. I am giving the old fist pump in celebration. The home run made it 6-4 unfortunately the Twins still ended up losing.

Still I had a good time, and I came to learn that the Home Run Porch is not a bad place to watch a game. The view is good, and the seats are cheaper. Now that the Twins are getting some of the young guys like Danny Santana, Kenny Vargas, and Oswaldo Arcia some playing time, the last few games this year should be interesting.

Oswaldo Arcia Autograph Signing

Arcia actually has worn #31 not #78 for the last two years

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There has been a dearth of Twins player autograph appearances this season with only 3 so far. However, the most recent was Oswaldo Arcia signing at a Sports Authority this last Saturday.

I had only one signed Arcia baseball card, as he is not always one to sign through the mail. Of course on the day before his signing I got two signed cards back from him that I had sent to him during spring training. If he thought that would stop me from coming to his signing he was wrong.

I was surprised to see there was a nice turnout. Lately these signing have not drawn big crowds because interest in the team itself is down. When the Twins win, fans want player autographs. When the Twins lose, fans are not as interested in player autographs.

Despite the larger than expected crowd, I was able to get four signed Arcia cards which along with the two I got in the mail the day before brought my total from one to seven.

Arcia’s signature can get a little sloppy, but the one he signed the best was his 2014 Allen & Ginter which is good because I am into collecting signed Ginters. One interesting note about Arcia’s Ginter is that it has a picture of him wearing #78 when in fact he has worn #31 for the last two years. The picture on the Ginter is actually a cropped version of the photo on his 2013 Bowman Platinum. The Ricky Nolasco 2014 Allen & Ginter meanwhile has the exact same photo that is on his 2014 Topps Heritage. I would have hope Topps could have a little more diversity in the photos they used on their different cards, but it seems not.

Whatever picture is on the card, it is still nice to get some signed Arcia baseball cards.