Minnesota Twins TTM Autograph Update for Most of 2020

2020 started out great for the Minnesota Twins and for my collecting of Minnesota Twins autographed baseball cards. Sadly 2020 did not progress well for either. The pandemic cut the Twins season short and when they did play they looked underwhelming. They managed to make the playoffs, but lost yet again.

Roster changes will be needed are already underway with the rival of Alex Kirilloff and Brent Rooker. I luckily got both of them to sign for me when they were back in the minors. I had hoped to send out a bunch of cards to Twins minor leaguers this season, but the minor league season was cancelled. We will have to see what the baseball season (both Major and Minor) looks like in 2021.

Alex Kirilloff, Brent Rooker, Edwar Colina, and Aaron Whitefield were all guys who I got as minor league and made their debut with the Twins this year. It pays to send to minor league guys. I now have signed baseball cards from 685 current and/or former Twins. Below is a list of my successes:

Sean Poppen

Randy Dobnak

Ryan Jeffers

Tom Norton

Larry Pashnick

Jose Berrios

Jake Cave

Zack Granite

Luis Gomez

Jason Tyner

Mike Trombley

Wayne Granger

Dan Graham

Chuck Nieson

Mike Milchin

Jack O’Connor – responded after 8 years 3/1/2 months (3035 days). This is my second longest wait for a card to be return. R.A. Dickey returned a card to me after 3065 days.

Dave Engle – responded after 8 years 2 months and 29 days (3008 days)

John Ryan Murphy – responded after1001 days

Hopefully, I will get a few more by year’s end.

Twinsfest 2020

Twinsfest 2020 was another successful outing for me and my growing collection of autographed Minnesota Twins baseball cards. This year the Twins reduced Twinsfest from 3 days (Fri-Sun) to 2 (Fri-Sat). I hear this will be way it is going forward with the 2 days being Saturday and Sunday. I like the 3 day event, but to quote a Rolling Stones song “you cannot always get what you want but if you try sometime you get what you need.” I tried to get several autographs when I went on Friday night and it mostly worked out.

What did not work out was my health after the event as I promptly caught a cold. This not the first post-Twinsfest cold I have caught and I eventually get over them.

I secured cards signed by 27 different players/prospects/coaches. The highlight was getting new Twin Josh Donaldson. I arrived early to his line only to find I was the 200^th person in line. If he was signing alone I would not have worried, but he was signing with new Twins Rich Hill, Alex Avila, Tyler Clippard, and Matt Wisler (all of whom I needed), so I became concerned about how the line would move. Luckily the Twinsfest people handled things great and I made it through the line with 10 minutes to spare. Josh seems like an enjoyable guy.

It was also great to add Jake Odorizzi (making his 1^st Twinsfest appearance after skipping last year), Devin Smeltzer, and the enjoyable and friendly Sergio Romo. I hear Romo wander through the event both days greeting fans at random. People in Minnesota love the guy and he says he loves it here.

I think one of keys to succeeding at Twinsfest is picking a couple autograph groups you definitely want and let the rest develop as you go. Other people have other strategies, but this one has worked out for me.

Here is the list of autographs I got (all were on cards):

Jake Odorizzi
Trevor May
Sergio Romo
Lewis Thorpe
Jorge Alcala
Dakota Chalmers
Luke Raley
Brusdar Graterol
LaMonte Wade Jr.
Cody Stashak
Devin Smeltzer

Alex Avila
Tyler Clippard
Rich Hill
Matt Wisler
Josh Donaldson

Torii Hunter
Corey Koskie
Eddie Guardado
Tommy Watkins
Travis Blankenhorn
Ryan Jeffers

Rocco Baldelli – the manager
Ehire Adrianza
Jorge Polanco
Fernando Romero
Mike Bell – new bench coach

I am now up to signed cards by 674 current and former Minnesota Twins. Hopefully Twinsfest 2021 goes as well.

P.S. – Since my last TTM update in December 2019 I have gotten current Twin Sean Poppen who not only signed my cards, but included a note of thanks, and former Twin Tom Norton.