Twinsfest 2019

Last Friday I made my annual trek down to Target Field for Twinsfest 2019. My father came with me and we spent all our time trying to get autographs. I ended up getting signed cards from 36 players/prospects and 8 coaches including new manager Rocco Baldelli. I picked 9 players I did not have yet for my collection which means I now have signed cards from 651 current and former Twins.

I sold a Zach Littell card to a guy in need and used the money to buy a Martin Perez thinking I would send it to him in the mail. Guess what – Martin Perez showed up as an unannounced guest allowing me to get his autograph in person.

One complaint about this year was the number of players missing. Eddie Rosario, Miguel Sano, Jose Berrios, Addison Reed, Jake Odorizzi, Willians Astudillo, Tyler Austin, and Ronald Torreyes all skipped Twinsfest this year while Kyle Gibson was sick. Missing several top current players put a damper on things, but I tried to make the best of it and came away happy with my successes.

Here are my successes (All were on cards unless noted – players listed twice mean I got 2 cards of theirs signed):

Trevor Hildenberger

Taylor Rogers

Zach Littell

Ehire Adrianza

Jorge Polanco

Rocco Baldelli - mananger

Tony Diaz - coach

Wes Johnson – new pitching coach

Bill Evers - coach

Martin Perez

Chase DeJong

Andrew Vasquez

Stephen Gonsalves

Mitch Garver

Max Kepler

Jason Castro

LaMonte Wade

James Rowson

Alex Kirilloff

Alex Kirilloff – He whiffed on signing my 2018 heritage. I saw he whiffed on another guy’s 18 heritage too. Maybe he does not like the card or he had a bad sharpie?

Brent Rooker

Brent Rooker

Travis Blankenhorn

Travis Blankenhorn

Jeremy Hefner - coach

Derek Shelton - coach

Fernando Romero

Michael Pineda

Gaberiel Moya – great looking auto

Michal Reed

Ryan Jeffers

Royce Lewis

Royce Lewis – Do not get his 2018 heritage signed in silver – it does not look good. Blue, gold; or black are not the best answer either. It is a nice looking card, but not much of a place for him to sign well.

Nick Gordon

Nick Gordon

Jonathan Schoop – I told him my name is Jonathan too. He loved that we spell it the same way.

Jonathan Schoop

C. J. Cron

C. J. Cron

Jake Cave

Kohl Stewart

Lewis Thorpe

Adalberto Mejia

Trevor Larnach

Trevor May

Tyler Duffey

Blake Parker

Matt Magill

Akil Baddoo

Minnesota Twins TTM Autograph Update for the First Half of 2018

I have had decent success so far this year getting TTM (thru the mail returns) autographs from current, former, and future Minnesota Twins. To date I have signed cards from 626 different current or former Twins. I have signed cards from 34 minor leaguers including 24 of the top 30 prospects (I have requests in to the other 6).

One thing I have found is that when sending to Class A and Rookie League minor leaguers players some of them tend to sign in ink pen. Since most of them don’t have real baseball cards yet, I create one of them on photo paper and another on thick regular paper or cardboard. That way if the ink pen does not work on the photo paper (which sometimes it has not or is hard to read) it will work on the other card.   

Current & former Twins I have gotten back so far in 2018:

Fernando Rodney

Brandon Kintzler

Adam Wilk

Tim Meliville

Bobby Wilson

Bombo Rivera

Tyler Kinley

Ryan LaMarre

Josh Rabe

Logan Morrison

David Hale

George Tsamis

Tim Corcoran

Benj Sampson

Matt Magill

Twins minor leaguers I have gotten back so far in 2018:

David Banuelos

Zack Littell

Hector Lujan

Luis Arraez

Brusadar Graterol

Derek Molina

Royce Lewis

Charlie Barnes

Williams Ramirez

Jean Carlos Arias

Jose Miranda

Jordan Balazovic

Ricardo de la Torre – did not return my cards, but sent his own signed cards

DaShawn Keirsey

Ryan Jeffers

Lewin Diaz

Tyler Jay – actually sent to him in 2017, he returned them signed this year

Hopefully the rest of 2018 goes as well.

Minnesota Twins TTM Update for the Second Half of 2017

The second half of 2017 went well, and I now have signed cards from 608 different current and former Minnesota Twins. Hopefully more successes will arrive in November and December but things tend to get slower around the holidays.

Below are my successes via TTM (through the mail) the last four months or so:

Sam Fuld

Buddy Boshers

Mike Maksudian

Neal Cotts

Eduardo Escobar

Trevor Hildenberger – signed his name this time instead of HDog 

Pat Bourque

Dillon Gee

Chris Heston

Tom Edens

Tommy Watkins – sent a signed card of his own

Ryan Pressly

Nick Tepesch

Gary Rath 

Steve Carlton – $35 

Benj Sampson – In a pretty cool first I got a thank you note from his child (I keep all the notes I get). Benj also included an extra signed card of his own.

LaTroy Hawkins – sent back a different card than I had sent

Twins minor leaguers I've gotten the last four months or so:

Mitch Garver – signed before his promotion to the Twins

Aaron Slegers – signed before his promotion to the Twins

Zack Granite – signed before his promotion to the Twins

Ben Rortvedt

Jose Miranda

Brent Rooker

Wander Javier

Royce Lewis

Jake Reed

Andrew Bechtold

Brusadar Graterol

Zack Littell

Dietrich Enns

Tyler Watson – included an extra card of his own

Blayne Enlow

Fernando Romero – choose to return to my card unsigned

A list of in-person signing I went to:

Chris Gimenez at Three Stooges Bar & Grill 

Miguel Sano at T-Mobile 

Eddie Rosario at Cub Foods

Byron Buxton at Tria Orthopedics