Minnesota Twins TTM Autograph Update for 2021

2021 was not been the best of years. I have had health problems and my father has had 2 strokes. I have still found time to send out a few cards to be signed. I have also purchased some autographs from a site called pastpro.com. You basically order what you want, they give you the address to send too and the player signs your item and sends it back you. I have also – for the first time - purchased some signed cards on Ebay. One needs to be cautious when buying on Ebay has it is a place where there are a lot fake autographs. I now have signed cards from 729 current and former Minnesota Twins. Hopefully I will have several more in 2022.

Current and Former Twins

Leo Cardensas $5 an auto

Eddie Bane

Tom Hall

Devin Smeltzer

Augie Ojeda

Nik Turley

Rich Garces thru PastPros.com $8

Alvis Woods thru PastPros $10

Bernardo Brito thru PastPros $10

Sergio Ferrer thru PastPros $10

Kyle Garlick

Brandon Waddell

Jeff Reboulet

Travis Miller

Alex Prieto

Corey Gearrin

Randy Dobnak

Cody Stashak

Mike Hartley

Paul Boris

Mauro Gozzo

Jeff Little

Mike Maksudian

Rich Rollins

Rick Yett – sent out in 2009 and returned signed 4332 days later (just under 12 years)

John Ryan Murphy – returned signed 5 years after being sent

Victor Rodguiez

Matt Belisle – returned signed over 4 years after being sent

Twins Minor Leaguers

Matt Canterino

Matt Wallner

Yunior Severino

Blayne Enlow – returned signed over 3 years after being sent

Purchases from Ebay

Earl Battey

Jay Canizaro

Erick Bullock

Matt Kinney

Sidney Ponson

Tim Drummond

Donnie Hill

Brian Fuentes

Ramon Ortiz

J.A. Happ

Matt Maloney

Ronald Torreyes

Kevin Frederick

Tyler Austin

Sean Bergman

Chad Moeller

Houston Jimenez

Alvaro Espinoza

Zoilo Versalles

Mark Redman

Johnny Klippstein

Justin Morneau, Francisco Liriano, Johan Santana, Cristian Guzman, Luis Rivas, Todd Walker, Luis Arraez, A.J. Pierzynski, Dustan Mohr, Joe Mays & Gary Gaetti – I already had these guys, but found some nice deals I did not want to pass up.

 

TTM Successes for the Last Part of 2020

I finished out 2020 with a few successes in November and December. I now have signed cards from 686 current and former Minnesota Twins.

A few of my successes were because I sent some $’s. Camilo Pascual and Jim Perry are 86 & 85 respectively so one cannot be sure that they will be signing much longer, and Pascual has always been a spotty signer. I have always worried Viola and Hrbek would raise their prices, so I thought I would get a few signed by them now.

I had a few returns that had been out a long time. I suspect some former players who have had to stay at home due to Covid-19 shutting everything down got bored and decided to answer their fan mail.

Hopefully 2021 goes well for us all.

Here is a list of my successes: 

Gary Rath

Kent Hrbek (charges $5 a card)

Frank Viola (charges $5 a card)

Matt Merullo

Rick Renick

George Mitterwald

Camilo Pascual (charges $5 a card)

Sam Perlozzo

Jim Perry (charges $5 a card)

Darren Reed (sent out in 2013 – was 22 days short of 8 years – 2898 days)

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.

Minnesota Twins TTM Autograph Update for the Second Half of 2019

It was a tough year for my TTM (through the mail) autograph collection. I have gotten only 23 returns out of 52 send outs. That 44% success rate is by far the worse I have ever had. I only received 3 returns from the current Twins this year and only 4 returns from Twins minor leaguers. Those are both yearly lows for me. However I am now up to signed cards from 664 current and former Twins.

Below are the players that came in after my last post on July 1^st.

Tony Fiore (signs only 1 card)

Dave LaRoche

Ehire Adrianza

Sam Dyson

Stan Perzanowski

Juan Centeno

Dwight Siebler

Sal Campisi

Brett Merriman

Brant Alyea

Cotton Nash

Mark Wiley

Wander Javier

Mitch Garver

Jason Maxwell

Chili Davis from 2012 & 2013 – (signed differently than I have seen him sign in the past)

In-person signings

Taylor Rogers – free (he also posed for a picture with me)

Marwin Gonzalez - $

Luis Arraez - $

The Davis returns were the 2^nd (2829 days) and 4^th (2479 days) longest waits I have had for a return. R. A. Dickey took over 8 years (3063 days) to return my card making it the longest wait. Bob Twesbury was 3^rd with 2655 days. My shortest return was Eric Fryer who amazingly signed and returned my card in 2 days.

I hope to get some more returns this year or early next year. If not, I hope 2020 will be a better year for doing TTM.

Minnesota Twins TTM Autograph Update for the First Half of 2019

The first half of 2019 has not been very productive in regards to getting TTM (thru the mail) autographs from current, former, and future Minnesota Twins. To date I have signed cards from 655 different Twins. Below is a list of my successes so far this year:

Current or Former Twins

Chase De Jong sent out in 2018

Matt Walbeck

Tom Johnson

Jim Kaat sent $10 and got 2 cards signed

Felix Jorge

Scott Leuis

Minor Leaguers

Brent Rooker sent out in 2018

Luke Raley

Edwar Colina

Michael Davis

Four minor leaguers – Luis Arraez, Ryan Eades, LaMonte Wade, and Lewis Thorpe were promoted to the Twins in the first of 2019. I had gotten all four back when they were minor leaguers. This is why you want to collect minor leaguers because some end up becoming major leaguers.

There have been two in-person signings so far this year:

Jonathan Schoop - free

Willians Astudillo – cost $$

I hope things pick up for the rest of the 2019, but at least the Twins are playing real well.

Minnesota Twins TTM Autograph Update for the Second Half of 2018

2018 ended with me having signed baseball cards from 642 different current or former Minnesota Twins.

One of the Twins I gained actually came to me in 2009 when I sent Nelson Cruz a card and he returned it signed. Cruz was not with the Twins then, but in December 2018 he agreed to sign with the Twins making him my 642 Twins player.

Current or former Twins who signed for me TTM (thru the mail) in the second half of 2018:

Kennys Vargas

Taylor Motter

Bartolo Colon – surprised but happy to get this one

Fernando Romero

Johnny Field

Mitch Garver

Ehire Adrianza

Taylor Rogers

Logan Forsythe

Neal Cotts

Jim Winn

Johnny Sutton

Pat Borders

Jack O’Connor

Twins prospects who signed for me via TTM in the second half of 2018:

Landon Leach

Jhoan Durn – included some signed cards of his own

Jorge Alcala

Ernie De La Trinidad

Cody Stashak

I also got a return from Hall of Famer Juan Marichal. I included $5 with my request.

Willians Austdillo of the Twins returned my card unsigned.

I got a signed card for Minnesota Timberwolves guard Tyus Jones. I don’t have many signed Wolves cards, but Tyus is from Minnesota so that added to his appeal. He sent an extra card along with the two I had sent him.

I was able to go to two in person signing at Cub Foods store (they are a Twins sponsor) in 2019 and was able to get signed cards from Max Kepler and Jorge Polanco. These free in person signing are become less and less frequent. I am not sure why that is, but it is kind of a bummer.

Hopefully 2019 will not be a bummer for me in my quest to get a signed card from every living current and former Minnesota Twin. I also hope to get more returns from Twins minor leaguers this year because some minor leaguers become major leaguers.

Happy New Year to everyone!

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.

Longest Wait for a Return Yet

R. A. Dickey just signed and returned a baseball card I sent to him through mail (TTM). I sent the card eight and half years ago. More precisely it was 3036 days ago. 

Why the long wait? Who knows, but I have heard stories of people getting cards back ten even fifteen years after sending them. My longest wait till now had been five years (Mark Salas). I have had multiple cards come back after four years. One cannot know the reason why it took so long. Maybe the card got lost and then found. Maybe the player just decided now he would sign a bunch of cards he had been saving up. No one besides the player can tell us for sure what happened. The lesson to be learn here is never give up on a card you sent because it just might come back when you least expect it.

I know I am appreciative of all my returns no matter how long they take. Thank you Mr. Dickey for taking the time to sign and return my card! 

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 

Minnesota Twins TTM Update for Mid-2017

Halfway through 2017 and I now have signed cards from 592 different Twins players. I am working more on the minor leaguers in hopes that it will pay dividends in the years to come.

There have been only two free in-person signings so far this year. Both were on the same day at Cub Foods stores that were luckily only 10 minutes apart. I got two signed cards from Robbie Grossman and two more signed cards from Hector Santiago.

Below are my successes via TTM (through the mail):   

Kelvin Torve

Mike Durant

Al Newman

Geoff Zahn

Adalberto Mejia

Justin Haley

Chris Gimenez

Hector Santiago

Pat Neshek

Drew Rucinski

ByungHo Park

Bob Tewsbuy (2655 days or over 7 years 3 months which is my longest wait for a return)

Bob Tewsbury (1590 days - I had thought the first one had not gotten through)

Logan Schaeffer

Andy MacPhail

Ehire Adrianza

Minor leaguers I have gotten so far this year:

Daniel Palka

Travis Blankenhorn

Engelb Vielma

Tyler Wells – added a card of his own

Aaron Whitefield

Jermaine Palacios

Jaylin Davis

Trevor Hilgenberger – he was promoted to the Twins after he signed my cards H Dog which does makes his autograph unique

Minnesota Twins TTM Sucesses for 2016

2016 turned out to be the year my health and the health of some immediate family members was not the best. I won’t bother you with the details other than I had to limited my recreational time in front of a computer hence only one blog post for 2016.

My autographed Minnesota Twins baseball card collection now includes signed cards from 572 different players (594 different people when you include managers and front office people).

I missed Twinsfest 2016 and made only 3 in-person signings this year, but did receive a few signed cards through the mail (TTM). Below are my successes for 2016 so far. I wish everyone happiness and good health.

Via TTM

Juan Centeno

Larry Milbourne $5

Rod Radlosky

Fernanado Abad

Brandon Kintzler

Darrell Brandon $5

Aaron Fultz

Hector Santiago

Brian Dozier

A. J. Achter

Trevor May

Kennys Vargas

Tommy Milone

Jose Berrios

Mason Melotakis

Kevin Tapani

Tom Kelly

Adam Everett

Terry Steinbach $3

Mike Adams

Dan Fife

Pete Cimino

George “Boomer” Wells

Bob Gebhard

Matt LeCroy

Marty Cordova

Pete MacKanin

Jeff Bittiger

In Person

Eduardo Nunez

Brian Dozier

Byron Buxton

Autograph Minnesota Twins Baseball Card TTM Update

I now have signed baseball cards from 545 current or former Minnesota Twins. Since my last update I have pickup amongst others Dave Stevens, Joe McCabe, Mo Sanford, Gary Dotter, George Tsamis, Larry Wolfe (over 3 years to get back to me), Bill Bethea, Aaron Thompson, Luis Perdomo, Kevin Maas, Shane Robinson, Mark Wiley, and Shairon Martis through the mail (TTM).

I also bought a few of the tough non-signers like Dennys Reyes, Kevin Mulvey, and Pat Mears from Dave at the Twin Cities Sports Collectables Show in Bloomington. You can check out their show schedule tcscc.org

I have also been reminded why I get signed cards from Twins minor leaguers as well. Eddie Rosario, Byron Buxton, Miguel Sano, Alex Meyer, and Tyler Duffey have been promoted to the Twins this season. Sano and Rosario are still with the Twins and Buxton should be back soon too. All three look to have star level talent.

My in-person successes were Torii Hunter who appeared at T-Mobile store in downtown Minneapolis, and Eddie Rosario who appeared at a Cub Foods in Crystal. There were good crowds at both events - a sign that the Twins winning record earlier this year had attracted fans’ attention.

Hopefully my successes will continue this year as I move towards my goal of getting a signed baseball card from every living current and former Minnesota Twin. 

Twins 2015 Prediction and TTM Update

It has been slow going in my pursuit of autographed Minnesota Twins cards since Twinsfest. I did add Paul Powell, Jim Meritt, and Yohan Pino thru the mail (TTM) to give me signed cards from 521 current or former Twins. I also received returns from Jim Thome, Michael Restovich, Ricky Nolasco, Tommy Milone, and Ryan Doumit.

I hope to have more success with the season starting. I will be buying some of the new 2015 cards and sending them to current players. As they seem to do every year the Twins put someone on the team I never expected would make it and those guys never have any real baseball cards. This year it is Blaine Boyer and Shane Robinson who made the team, and I cannot find any cards of them, so I created some on my computer. Hopefully they are good signers.

Predicting how the Twins will do this season is purely guess work. Unforeseen problems like Ervin Santana 80 game suspension for using steroids can quickly mess up any prediction. Still I hope that Danny Santana, Kenny Vargas, and Oswaldo Arcia take the next step in their growth as players and become young stars. I hope Brian Dozier moves his game to All-Star level, and that Joe Mauer returns to All-Star level.

I am rooting for Phil Hughes to continue to pitch like he did last year, and for Tommy Milone to pitch like he did 2012. I also hope Kyle Gibson has a good year, and that Ricky Nolasco bounces back. I really hope to see young prospects like Miguel Sano, Byron Buxton, Alex Meyer, Trevor May, and Michael Tonkin make it up to the big club to stay.

I hope a lot, but I know better. The Twins will have another tough season where they lose at least 85 games. Hopefully though the young players grow and become better, and we get some excitement watching the games this year. 

Autograph Twins Baseball Card TTM Update for 2014

I was mostly neutral on the Twins bringing back Torii Hunter. I think he can still hit a little, and might not be as bad a fielder some people think, but I believe the Twins would benefit more from a younger player like Eddie Rosario playing in the outfield on a regular basis.

Ervin Santana on the hand is a signing I like. Santana is a quality pitcher who for the next few seasons should be able to at least keep the Twins in games early on, something the Twins have not been getting the last few years from their starters.

The one good thing about the Hunter and Santana signings is I will likely be able to get their autographs at Twinsfest (January 23-25, 2015). Players I am looking to get this year are Josmil Pinto, Eduardo Nunez, Jordan Schafer, Tommy Milone, Aaron Thompson, and A.J. Achter. All of these players are relatively new Twins who I need for my collection of autographed Minnesota Twins baseball cards.

I sent to the above players through the mail (TTM) this year and got no response. In fact my 2014 success rate is only 49% which is by far the worse year I have ever had. I did pick up first-time successes from Dan Serafini, Bobby Keppel, Shane Bowers, Danny Goodwin, Dan Graham, Mike Stenhouse (sent 2012), Wally Backman (sent in 2012), and Lenny Webster (private paid signing) so my efforts were not a complete loss.

2014 also brought my longest return ever - Mark Salas 1891 days (over 5 years). In the time it took Mr. Salas to get back to me on this one card, I had sent to and received back from him 2 others cards. I am figuring his misplaced this first card, found it, signed it, and sent it back to me.

I also got 2 RTS (return to senders) that were strange. One was from former Twin Rob Bowen who the post office evidently could not deliver to 1436 days after I sent to him. I sent a card then current Twin Jason Marquis during his only spring training with the Twins back in 2012. 985 days after I sent the card, it came back RTS not deliverable as address (the address was fine). Who knows what happened there.

I have signed cards from 513 current and former Twins players. There are 184 players I don’t have of which 107 I have contacted and have yet to receive a return. I hope to pick a handful of these players in 2015. Sometimes the going is slow, but there are surprise successes that make doing this worthwhile. 

Oswaldo Arcia Autograph Signing

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

.

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.

Random Twins Thoughts and Autograph TTM Update

Some random Twins thoughts and my Minnesota Twins TTM Autograph Update:

Much has been made about Joe Mauer’s hitting slump, but no one brings up the obvious – he is still suffering from the lingering affects of his concussion from last year. This could be a serious problem as Twins fans remember all to well the lack of production from Justin Morneau even three years after he had “recovered” from his concussion. I worry Mauer could suffer a similar fate.

Another question with Mauer is what the Twins are going to do with him once top prospects Miguel Sano and Kennys Vargas get here sometime in 2015. Sano plays third base while Vargas plays first base. One would think the Twins will want both to play and develop, so Mauer could find himself switching positions again and playing left field.

I like many was caught be surprise when the Twins signed Kendrys Morales, but wonder how much he will really help and whether he would even consider staying here long term. He will probably produce okay numbers then leave as a free agent. The Twins have no one who is any better at DH, so Morales will have job for the rest of the season.

So far this year, my TTM autograph collection has not been I would have hoped. I was able to finally get successes from Dan Serafini and Bobby Keppel. I also finally got Bill Campbell to sign a Twins card for me. I miss the boat when I saw Ricky Nolasco and Jason Kubel signed during spring training and when Kevin Correia signed earlier this year. None of the three has ever been reliable signers, so it is hit and miss with them.

The Twins have had only one free autograph signing event this year, so picking there has been slim. 2014 All-Star Fan Fest will be in Minneapolis this year with a lot big name former Twins players appearing. However, I have heard autograph lines are long and it cost $35 to get in the door and that is not counting the parking and food expenses that will be probably another $40. Will I go? I think I will wait and see.

If you are looking to get an autographed baseball card from either Torii Hunter or Justin Morneau you can do so for only $30 for Hunter and $25 for Morneau. Hunter signs for the Detroit Tigers Foundation’s Autograph for a Cause program. Morneau signs for the Colorado Rockies Foundation. I sent to Hunter last year and it worked great. I also received a signed card from Miguel Cabrera through Autographs for a Cause in 2010. I used the Colorado Foundation program to get Troy Tulowitzki in 2011 so I know both programs are legitimate. You do sometimes have to wait a while for your card to come back signed, but you get a letter stating the foundation people watched the player signed the cards. Also private signing with these players would cost you more than double what the foundations are charging.

I sent to Hunter again this year, and we will see if I can scrap together enough money to send to Morneau. Hopefully my TTM successes will pick later this season, and hopefully the Twins will pick up some more wins this season.

Minnesota Twins and TTM (Autographs Through the Mail)

I went to the Twins game on Wed. April 17^th via my employer. We were up on the Budweiser Roof Deck. Free Twins baseball, free food, and interesting people. I thought it would be a good time. Instead it was cold, raining, and the game was postponed at 7 just minutes before it was supposed to start.

The Twins themselves are about where I thought they would be. Joe Mauer is a superstar, but the rest of the team is ordinary.

I am more intrigued with minor prospects Bryon Buxton, Miguel Sano, Oswaldo Arcia, Kyle Gibson, Alex Meyer, Eddie Rosario, Trevor May, Jorge Polanco, Max Kepler, and Jose Berrios. All have the look of stars with Buxton, Sano, Arcia, Rosario, and Meyer looking like potential superstars.

I now have signed baseball cards from 466 current and former Minnesota Twins. I also have signed cards from all the top prospects except for Buxton. I have signed cards from all 25 current Twins including Aaron Hicks, Pedro Hernandez, and Eduardo Escobar all of three which I got as minor leaguers.

Since my last post here is what I have gotten via TTM (names highlighted in bold are first-time successes).

Current Twins

Wilkin Ramirez

Ryan Pressly

Samuel Deduno

Liam Hendriks

Oswaldo Arcia – Please to get a response for the first time in 3 years from this future All-Star

Twins Minor Leaguers

Michael Tonkin

Caleb Theilbar

Kyle Gibson

Alex Meyer

Trevor May

Mason Melotakis

Daniel Santana

Former Twins

Al Worthington

Matt Guerrier

Ron Washington

George Mittewald

Eric Soderholm

Bob Gorinski

Orlando Merced

Damian Miller

Gary Serum

Paul Thormosgard

Jeff Cirillo

John Smiley

Tom Burgmeier

Kevin Campbell  

Riccardo Ingram

Steve Brye

Pat Neshek

Phil Nevin

John Butcher – It only 4 years, 1 month, and 12 days

Private Signings via Chris Potter Sports

Steve Bedrosian

Bill Singer

In – Person signing at the SportsNewsShow.com show

Willie Banks – Willie was really friendly, and talked with people for several minutes which made spending the money to get his autograph more worthwhile.

My thanks for all the players who responded via TTM!