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.

farewell to the metrodome (almost)

so it turns out that yesterday's game wasn't the last to be played inside hubert h humphrey metrodome. go figure.

while after tomorrow (or the alds) it may have a future for the viqueens, tractor pulls, monster truck rallies and the occasional final four regionals (and - just announced, twinsfest 2010!), the metrodome will not be a purveyor of major league baseball. and i think that's a good thing.

the first time i walked into the metrodome was may of 1998 to see a game against the yankees. i remember walking in the concourse and heading towards the field. it was sunny outside, but the interior of the roof was a dirty gray color. i remember laughing, and had a hard time reconciling the image of derek jeter on the field of this abomination to what is good and right about the game. keep in mind that i was no stranger to the multi-purpose stadium, having been to numerous baseball games at the big a (before the disney renovations) and jack murphy stadium.

i am sad to say that you kind of get used to it after a while, and it is a nice place to have twinsfest in january.

as far as cards go, the metrodome has been featured on a few, but not too many cards, including that 1986 donruss all stars card up top. the interior is not a popular backdrop for cards, but we have seen some recently including the 2009 ud o-pee-chee team checklist and this 2009 topps twins team set bonus card.those drapes up in the upper deck in right-center are the retired number and championship banners. they took them down during the series last weekend as well as during the playoff runs. you can see the full upper deck on the back of this 2004 upper deck legends jack morris card.there used to be a huge milk jug in the right field corner that would light up when a twins batter hit a homerun. not quite the shea stadium apple, but...

on this 2007 topps opening day card you can see the 'baggy' - the right field 'fence' that hangs in front of the rolled-up football seats. it's really a big hefty bag billboard.seeing the metrodome on player cards is a treat. some, like this 2009 ud o-pee-chee scott baker, are discernable largely because of the home whites and the lighting. you can see the visiting team's bullpen behind baker, and those seats off of his left elbow are endzone corner seats. it's impossible to see anything in the right field corner from them.

former twin cristian guzman returned to the dome, as seen on his 2008 upper deck card.here you have the twins ballboy and a part of the cub foods ad.

similarly, here's carlos gomez and his 2009 upper deck card. we have the ball boy (partially obscured) as well as the tunnel entrance to the twins teeny-tiny clubhouse.

every once in a while, you get a card featuring a larger view of the dome, like this 2004 topps doug mientkiewicz. doug is a little ways down the third base sign, while the convenience stores of superamerica get some free advertising.

that sa logo shows up again, on this 1994 topps stadium club dave winfield card.dave is one of at least two (cal ripken) players to get their 3000th hit at the metrodome. incidentally, this card makes me think of the indian chief from superfriends.

the last two cards are my two favorite metrodome cards. i had found a nice scott leius card with a domed roof, but i think it was the kingdome, which may be even more rare than the metrodome. anyway, here's a 2006 upper deck ryan garko.here you get a good view of the drapes and the baggy. dodge was a big sponsor the last few years and would advertise on the baggy as you see here. during the games, they would drive a dodge truck on the field and people would get to try to throw some balls into the bed of the truck to win a prize. good times.

finally, here's twins hall of famer rick aguilera and his 1993 topps card

this card is pretty cool. you can see all the little holes in the interior roof sheeting. dave kingman once hit a ball into one of those holes for a ground rule double. would have been nice if the ball had come down during a viking game.

next year, the twins will move into target field. it looks pretty nice, even if it is shoehorned in behind the target center with little parking and an inadequate transit station. so what if it sits over a heavy rail line and next to the county's trash burner? it's outdoors.

the twins autograph party results - or - dave goltz is keyser soze

i spent last saturday with my son at the twins autograph party. unlike previous years, the twins didn't publish a list of which players would be at which stations ahead of time, so we went in blind. they did post a list of alumni that were going to be signing, and i was disappointed not to see dave goltz on the list. goltz won 20 games for the twinkies in 1977 and later joined the dodgers for a few years. he was at the autograph party last year, when i got him to sign this 1978 o-pee-chee beauty. i had brought a stack of cards this year, including a couple more goltz cards just in case, but had resigned myself (as far as ex-dodgers are concerned) to trying to get ron coomer to sign my 2003 topps traded card showing him with the blue.

for most of the autographs, however, my son has a couple of twins yearbooks (2006 and 2008) that we have been getting signed whenever we can, along with a helmet. we also have a 2007 yearbook that no one had signed to date. both joe mauer and justin morneau have signed the 2006 yearbook, but not (yet) the 2008 one. even so, we chose to sleep in and not bother with the mauer or morneau lines. we still got there a little early, though.

the active players/coaches were first, and we took up residence in the francisco liriano/scott ullger/matt guerrier line. an hour and a half later, not too many people had joined us. two years ago, this line would have been blocks long, but now that liriano is struggling, it was pretty short. we had never got liriano's autograph, but we got ullger last year, and guerrier a few times. this year, liriano signed both main yearbooks, guerrier signed the third yearbook and a 2009 topps, and ullger signed the third yearbook and a 2009 topps twins team hhh metrodome card.
this is actually a pretty nice card for people to sign. i wish i could buy it in bulk rather than one per team set at target.

next, it was off to the jason kubel/brian buscher/steve liddle station. we had never got any of these guys to sign before, so it was a good station. short line, too. kubel signed both main yearbooks as did liddle, and buscher signed the 2008 book (he wasn't in the others) and the helmet.

then, matt tolbert/glen perkins/brendan harris. we had harris sign the only yearbook he was in (2008) at an event last year, so he signed the helmet and a 2009 topps. perkins signed the two main yearbooks, and tolbert signed the 2008 yearbook and a 2008 upper deck card.
these guys had a good laugh at harris' 2009 upper deck card which shows him lying on his back.

finally, michael cuddyer/rick stelmaszek. cuddyer is awesome. he signs a lot, and signs well. he signed the 2006 yearbook and the helmet (he had signed the 2008 yearbook last year). i had a 1975 topps stelmaszek, but we had him sign the two main yearbooks instead.

for the retired guys, we got in the rod carew/tom kelly line. as we snaked towards the tent, i noticed a third guy at the table - good lord, it's dave goltz! i was really excited. i got my 1978 topps and blurry 1982 fleer cards out in anticipation. now, it took us about 30 minutes to switchback in line back to the tent. that's when i noticed that goltz had left. i asked the security guy what happened and he simply said that goltz was gone. i wonder if he concocted a story based in skokie, illinois concerning a mr. kobiyashi. i was bummed, primarily because i knew that the line was moving too slowly to have a chance at coomer, so goltz was my only dodger hope. maybe i'll try ttm with him instead.

still, carew and kelly isn't bad. i got carew to sign the 2006 yearbook (on his twins hall of fame page) at twinsfest earlier this year, so we went with the helmet and a 1978 topps league leader card. kelly also had already signed the 2006 yearbook on his twins hall of fame page, so we asked him to sign the helmet and a 1987 topps card. both carew and kelly were really nice and personable, so it was a good way to end the party.

we went to the game (it was twins cowboy hat night), too. good, exciting game. the twins bullpen stinks. brendan harris was a triple short of the cycle; harris, mauer, young, and kubel each homered; berkman and bourn homered for houston - in fact, bourn hit his homerun so hard, two balls fell out of the folded up vikings seats in right.

after the game, the metrodome staff opened the emergency exits due to the large crowd. usually you have to use the revolving doors when leaving the metrodome due to the air pressure. with the normal doors, you essentially get sucked out of the building. i failed to keep a firm grasp on my twins cowboy hats, and they went flying into the plaza. my son was able to retrieve one, but the other was scooped up by someone else. dave goltz, perhaps?