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.

 

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.

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

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!

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. 

Twinsfest 2014

For the 11^th straight year I attended Twinsfest – the annual winter gather of all things Minnesota Twins. Twinsfest 2014’s big news was after years of being held at the Metrodome, it was moving to Target Field. Fans were promised access to the high $ Champions, Legends, and Metropolitan Clubs, free tours of the Twins clubhouse and press box, and for $5 you got to take 5 cuts in the Twins underground batting cage. Kids were promised a change to play interactive games with Twins players.

In fact all of the above was true. I took the clubhouse and press box tours, and enjoyed them. I watched some of players play various games with kids which I thought was nice. Also fans got to watch real families play the Family Feud game show with Twins players/coaches as team captains. It all seemed to go over well. I also found Target Field is closer to my home, parking was cheaper, the food more expensive, and the view of the lighted field when it snowed on Friday night was amazing.

I go to Twinsfest though mostly to get autographs. I went Friday and Sunday and scored a combined 43 autographs. That broke my previous record of 37 set in 2011. Here is my list. All were on baseball cards except where noted. Numbers next to the player means I got multiple autographs from that player.

Corey Koskie, Trevor Plouffe, Anthony Swarzak, Andrew Albers, Trevor May (2), Joe Mauer, Ricky Nolasco, Jason Bartlett, Casey Fien (2), Phil Hughes, Brian Duensing, Kyle Gibson, Caleb Theilbar (2), Mike Pelfrey, Jared Burton, Chris Parmelee (2),Chris Herrmann (2), Joe Vavra, Kevin Corriea, Tom Brunansky (ball), Max Kepler, Eric Fryer, Austin Malinowski, Glen Perkins, Kurt Suzuki, Alex Presley, Chris Colabello (2), Samuel Deduno, Scott Erickson, Aaron Hicks, Brian Dozier, Jim Mudcat Grant, Darren Mastroianni, Alex Meyer, Sean Gilmartin, Kyle Knudson, and Mike Kvasnicka

I was pumped to get Joe Mauer for the first time since 2008! I was also pleased to get new Twins Phil Hughes, Ricky Nolasco, Alex Presley, and Kurt Suzuki. The lines for mega-prospects Byron Buxton and Miguel Sano were often longer than the lines for Mauer, but top pitching prospect Alex Meyer had virtually no line.

 

My fellow autograph seekers told me they would have liked 5 instead of the 4 autograph stations available. Some of them were upset that the minor league player autographs are no longer free as minor leaguers are now mixed in with the regular players. I was disappointed that Oswaldo Arcia and Josmil Pinto were not in attendance.

Some of the memorabilia dealers there were not happy they were relegated to the basement were it was cold, cram, and the lighting if poor. A few of them told me they would not be back in 2015. I would not be surprised if the Twins phased out the memorabilia dealers all together. Twinsfest seems to be going in a different direction.

However, as long as the Twins continue to have their players sign autograph for a reasonable fee, I will be back for Twinsfest 2015 and beyond.