Twinsfest 2025

I had the joy of attending Twinsfest 2025 on January 25, 2025 marking the 19^th time I have attended Twinsfest. I secured 15 player autographs including 4 players I did not have giving me signed cards from 775 different current and former Twins.

The day’s highlights including getting Carlos Correa’s autograph and making it through 3 different lines during the 12-1 pm signing sessions. The key to making it through multiple lines, in case anyone is wondering, is picking the less popular players stations.

One of the bigger draws this year was a person who has never played in the big leagues – prospect Walker Jenkins. Everyone thinks he is going to be next Hall of Famer to play for the Twins. Of course, lots of people, including myself, thought Miguel Sano, Bryon Buxton, and Royce Lewis were going to be the next big deal and though they each had moments, none looks headed for the Hall of Fame. However, hope springs eternal and Walker Jenkins line was so long, it had to be cut off.

For the most part I could not complain about the lines being too long and it was a fairly low key day which worked out well for me.

I enjoyed myself this year and hope I can make it to Twinsfest 2026.

Here is the list of players I got autographs from:

Carlos Correa

Pablo Lopez

Joe Ryan

Zebby Matthews

Luke Keaschall

David Festa

Brent Hendrick

Michael Helman

Simeon Woods Richardson

Willi Castro

DaShawn Keirsey Jr

Trevor Larnach

Emmanuel Rodriquez

LaTroy Hawkins

Glen Perkins

Twinsfest 2024

Back in early February I was going to write about going to Twinsfest 2024. Now it is mid-May and I have written nothing about it. This is how it goes when you are a caregiver to elderly parents with health issues.

I did attend Twinsfest 2024 and secured autographs from:

Byron Buxton

Edouard Julien

Max Kepler

Willi Castro

Trevor Larnach

Alex Kiriloff

Jose Miranda

Josh Winder

LaTroy Hawkins

Bailey Ober

Cole Sands

Justin Morneau

Dan Gladden

Michael Restovich

Darren Mastroianni

Austin Martin,

Simeon Woods-Richardson

Matt Canterino

Royce Lewis

This made me happy as I now signed baseball cards of 767 current or former Twins players. I hope at Twinsfest 2025 they have the autographed stations more accessible. This year there were three stations in the basement of Target Field and three at the club level. They only had two elevators to get people from one level to another and the lines were long to use them. I was forced to choose a level and basically stay there.

Otherwise I had a great time and hope to be to attend Twinsfest 2025 while getting a chance to write about it right after attending it instead of waiting three months.

Twinsfest 2023

After a two year absence the Minnesota Twins decided to hold Twinsfest 2023 on Saturday, January 28^th. In the past the event has been a 3 day affair, but this year it was only held for one day. My parents have had multiple health issues the last couple of years which has consumed much of my time. However, things worked out that I could go to Twinsfest for a few hours get some player autographs.

It felt good to hang out with some of my fellow Twins fans at the sold out event. As for getting autographs, I learned long ago that if the players new to the team are not big stars (ex. Jim Thome, Josh Donaldson), they don’t draw huge lines. With that in mind I went and got newcomers Kyle Farmer & Joey Gallo’s autograph (they were signing with Ryan Jeffers & Bailey Ober) instead of Carlos Correa. The line with short and quick which allowed me to check out the Jose Miranda & Royce Lewis line – it was too long. It also allowed me to check out the Carlos Correa line which I decided to chance even though it looked long. Turns out Carlos if a fast autograph signer and the Twins scheduled him to sign for15 minutes than the other player groups (which were each an hour long) allowing me to get his autographed with about 7-8 minutes left in his session.

I pleased to get Correa’s autograph, but that meant I was not getting anything in the second group of signing sessions. The lines were just too long. That said I found out they were handing out number cards for star reliever Jhoan Duran who was signing with Griffin Jax & Trevor Megill. I got a low number which put me about 28^th in line. I got thru fast and was able to get into the Rocco Baldelli, Kenta Maeda, & Chris Paddack line which was highlighted by the huge cowboy hat Paddack was wearing and all the fans seemed to love.

I stayed for the next group of signing sessions which got me autographs from Gilberto Celestio and Pablo Lopez. After that my feet, back, and neck were tired and I needed to get back check on how my parents were doing. In all I got 12 player autographs, the manager (Baldelli), and 3 coaches. Not be bad for the time I spent down there. I now have signed baseball cards from 752 current for former Minnesota Twins players.

Below is the list of everyone I got:

Kyle Farmer

Joey Gallo

Bailey Ober

Ryan Jeffers

Jayce Tingler – bench coach

Carlos Correa

Jhoan Duran

Griffin Jax

Trevor Megill

Pete Maki – pitching coach

Rocco Baldelli

Kenta Maeda

Chris Paddack

Colby Suggs – bullpen coach

Gilberto Celestino

Pablo Lopez

Hopefully I will be able to make Twinsfest 2024.

 

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.

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 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.

A Lesson in Autograph Collecting

After winning the 2004 Cy Young Award as the best pitcher in the American League, Johan Santana was viewed by Twins fans as a lock to get into the National Baseball Hall of Fame. When he won again in 2006 people thought him destined to be an all-time great like Tom Seaver or Steve Carlton.

When Justin Morneau won the 2006 A.L. MVP he was viewed as the left handed hitting Harmon Killebrew. Morneau like Santana was on the path to the Hall of Fame. So too was Torii Hunter and maybe Joe Nathan. Joe Mauer meanwhile was going to challenge Johnny Bench as the greatest catcher in baseball history.

Those players also were the obsession of many an autograph collector. To get Santana, Morneau, Hunter, or Mauer’s autograph at Twinsfest you lined up outside the Metrodome a minimum of six hours before the doors opened (many camp out overnight to be first in line). Once inside you had to run for your life to get to player’s line where you sometimes had to wait another 2-3 more hours for the player to start signing, and even then you were not guaranteed his autograph. Of course everyone thought it would be worth it.

Santana, Morneau, Hunter, and Nathan have seen their careers come to an end. When National Hall of Fame voters casted their ballots in regards to Johan Santana candidacy, he got 10 votes (roughly 330 votes were needed). He will not make the Baseball Hall of Fame. Neither will Morneau, Hunter, or Nathan while Joe Mauer has a decent shot at baseball’s highest honor, but Johnny Bench is still viewed as the greatest catcher of all-time.

Yes, Santana, Morneau, Hunter, Nathan, Eddie Guardado, Michael Cuddyer, Brad Radke, and maybe a couple other members of the those 2000’s Twins teams will rightly elected to the Twins Hall of Fame, but they were not great long enough to be one of best in baseball history.

Maybe if Johan Santana never gets traded to the Mets and then injured his shoulder things might have been different. Same with Justin Morneau – if he does not get that concussion in 2010, he goes on to legendary status. Those things happened and the careers of two great players where impacted for the worse.

So what about all those autographs’ people worked so hard for, are they worth anything? Not as much as people thought they would be. It is one reason why I focus on getting an autograph from every player on the Twins not just certain ones. I do not value any of my autograph collection for its dollar worth. I valued it for the memories it provides. This allows me to enjoy my collection and rest my back and neck as I do not have to stand in line 6 hours before a signing event even starts.

Twinsfest 2017

I made the decision to take it a bit easier at this year’s Twinsfest which turned out to be a good thing for me. Below are the players and coaches who signed baseball cards for me:

Buddy Boshers

Jason Castro

Taylor Rogers

Jeff Pickler

Paul Molitor

Tom Kelly

Miguel Sano – 2 cards

Neil Allen

Gene Glynn 

Not as long as a list as in past years, but still productive. I needed Boshers and Castro for my collection giving me signed cards from 575 different Twins players. It was also good to get signed cards from Molitor and Sano. We will see what next year brings, but this year’s Twinfest turned out good. I even got a free Twins stocking hat for attending!

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. 

Twinfest 2015

I attended Twinsfest 2015 which marked my 11^th year straight year of attending Twinsfest. With crowds down from previous years, I was able to hit 10 of the 16 autograph stations on Friday night which produced 48 signed baseball cards. I took it a bit easier on Sunday and secured 8 signed baseball cards (got 3 guys for a second time).

I almost always get a cold after Twinsfest and this year was no exception. Now that I am feeling better, below is a list my successes with some commentary.

Current Players (including manager):

Paul Molitor (manager), Danny Santana, Phil Hughes, Trevor Plouffe, Oswaldo Arcia, Ervin Santana, Glen Perkins, Tommy Milone, Kurt Suzuki, Eduardo Escobar, Jordan Schafer, Kyle Gibson, Mike Pelfrey, Brian Duensing, Tim Stauffer, Caleb Thielbar, Carey Fien, Aaron Hicks, and Kennys Vargas 

Nice to add Ervin Santana, Tim Staufer, Tommy Milone, and Jordan Schafer to my collection of signed Twins cards. I now have signed cards from 518 different current and former Twins players. Great to add more signed cards from Phil Hughes, Danny Santana, and Kennys Vargas. Glen Perkins commandeered an Eric Fryer card from a fan to add to his own collection, the fan received an extra autograph for free from Perkins in exchange (you get only 1 autograph from each player each time you pay to go through the line). The Torii Hunter autograph lines were the longest of the weekend which did not surprise me as he was and still is one of the popular Twins of all-time.

Propsects:

Byron Buxton, Miguel Sano, Kohl Stewart, Alex Meyer, Nick Gordon, Jorge Polanco, Eddie Rosario, Trevor May, A. J. Achter, Logan Darnell, Max Murphy, Treysen Vara, Tanner Vara, B. J. Hermsen, Tyler Duffey, Mark Hamburger, Nate Hanson, Taylor Rogers, Stephen Pryor, Blake Schmit, Jason Wheeler, J. R. Graham, Brandon Peterson, Eric Fryer, Mike Kvasnicka

The Twins have a lot of good prospects. Buxton, Sano, Stewart, Meyer, Gordon, Polanco, and Rosario all have star potential. Stewart signed his full name which he has not done on the certified autograph cards he signed for the card companies. Rosario’s autograph is a mess, and has certainly gone down hill from when he started in the minors. I needed Achter for my Twins collection as he spent a brief stint up with the big club.

I expected the Buxton and Sano lines to be real long and people did line up 2-3 hours ahead of time. However, once that group moved through the line, there was no more line. Few if any people joined the line when the signing started. I was able to show up at the Paul Molitor and Byron Buxton signing with 15 minutes left in their signing time, and did not have to wait in any line. I even got to stand around and chat with them because there was no one behind me. I had a similar experience in the Sano line. I understand the prices for the Buxton and Sano were higher this year, but both were signing with big names (Sano with Twins legend Tony Oliva, Buxton with Paul Molitor). I suspect once both men get up to the Twins and start showing what they can do, the super long lines will be back again.

Alumni & Coaches

Tony Oliva, Tom Quinlan, Gene Larkin, Dan Gladden, J. T. Bruett, Joe Vara, Neil Allen, Gene Glynn, Butch Davis

Pretty spares list of alumni players this year. Corey Koskie & Roy Smalley were supposed to be there on Friday, but they cancelled out. I wanted to get Koskie so I was disappointed to learn he had cancelled. Gladden showed me his 87 World Series Championship ring which looks good. I had a nice chat with new Twins pitching coach Neil Allen who seems like a nice guy.

I also got a chance to talk with Twins TV play-by-play man Dick Bremer in the hallway. He seemed like a nice guy. He even asked my name and where I was from.

Overall it was another good time, and I look forward to the upcoming Twins baseball season.  

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.