it's his party and he'll sign what he wants to...

despite the rain and the line jumpers, the twins' annual autograph party was a decent time.  there were fewer distractions (no card show or games for the kids) than the previous years when it was held on the metrodome plaza, and a little more spread out, too.  about a half hour before the current players began signing, the rain came.  that slowed things down a bit because everyone waited until they were under the tents to get their stuff out.

let it be known that i don't have an issue with the folks in wheelchairs going straight to the front of the line, but if you are in a motorized chair just due to sloth, i am opposed.  if you have more than one other person shuttling around with you in your motorized vehicle and they also get to cut in at the front, i am opposed.  if you happen to know someone who is walking by the line, and you invite them in to stand with you, i am opposed.  if you allow your entire family to cut in line with you after they arrived having gone through a different autograph station, i am opposed.  unfortunately, i don't have a good alternative system to prevent these types of things from happening, but it was so brazen this year that i would suspect something has to be done in the future.

enough of that, i'll show you the cards i got signed.  there were a few players that we had sign other stuff, so not all are represented here.

first up, 2004 topps ron gardenhire

gardy is a good guy - really personable with the fans.  he said he was a bit disappointed about texas moving to the pac-10. 

2009 topps update & highlights matt tolbert

tolbert didn't have much to say while signing from what i could tell, but that's ok.  with both hardy and hudson on the dl, and brendan harris  and nick punto struggling, tolbert has a huge opportunity to make his mark on a position with the twins.  time to put up.

2009 topps twins metrodome (signed by clay condrey)

i didn't have any cards of condrey with me so i pulled out this 2009 topps twins card.  not sure if he ever pitched in the metrodome, but if he did, it wasn't as a twin as this is his first year with the team.  he's currently on the dl, but heads to florida on a rehab trip this week.  speaking of the dl...

2010 topps heritage joe nathan 

since his injury, nathan has been all over the place making appearances and signing autographs.  he said he will start throwing next month and can't wait.

2010 topps twins jj hardy

hardy, on the other hand, has no idea as to the timetable on his return.  this card is from the 2010 topps twins team set, and is a bad airbrush job.  the twins don't have any uniforms that look like that.  their away grays say 'minnesota', not 'twins', on the front.

1975 topps rick stelmaszek

stelmaszek is the bullpen coach, i believe.  i think i have autographs from all of the coaches except pitching coach rick anderson.  he is usually paired with joe mauer at this event, so no dice there.  the mauer lines at twinsfest seem to be easier for me to handle than the ones here.

in the afternoon, the retired players came out, although juan berenguer and dan gladden were no-shows.  not sure why, since gladden had to be at the game anyway to do the radio broadcast.  anyway, i did come away with some cards that i have tried to get signed a few times.  like this 1978 topps bert blyleven

maybe next year he'll be able to add 'hof 2011' to his signature.

1978 topps roy smalley

i think smalley has a couple of these cards that i have sent to him in previous ttm attempts.  his dad is a good ttm signer, but that is irrelevant to the discussion.  smalley had two stints with the twins, including the 1987 world championship team.

1989 topps tim laudner

laudner was around in 87, too.  he didn't seem to be too engaged while he was signing, but that's his prerogative, i suppose.

1998 fleer sports illustrated world series fever jack morris

i wanted to get morris to sign a blue jays card since i already had him sign his 1978 topps rookie card and 2004 ud legends card.  i think this turned out really well.

believe it or not, this was one of the two guys i really wanted to get - 2003 topps traded ron coomer

coomer went to the twins in the kevin tapani deal, but returned to the dodgers later in his career.  he does some television analysis and post game wrap up stuff for the twins.  he was pretty funny - joking around with the fans and the other players he was stationed with.

2009 topps update & highlights orlando hudson

here's the second guy i really wanted (thome was another, but his line was ridiculously long).  notice there is no signature.  the o-dog informed me that he doesn't sign dodgers stuff.  thanks ned.  hudson was really nice about it, and i certainly understand.  he offered to sign something else, but i was unorganized and a bit flustered so i just passed. 

that's it for this year.  next year i am sure i will attend again since the money raised goes to the twins community fund, but i really hope something is done to limit the line jumping.