Another Mussina Return and TwinsFest Prep

My son got a return today from Mike Mussina. After I got my cards back in early December, Johnny decided to send some out too. He sent a 1992 Donruss and a 2005 Donruss Diamond Kings. He really likes the Diamond Kings set, which we gave him for his birthday. He has a few signed, and plans on getting a couple more signed at TwinsFest.

Speaking of TwinsFest, the schedule is out. We have been planning on which sessions to go to and making sure we have all the items to get signed organized. This involves a three-ring binder for each of us which contains the schedule on which we write what we plan to get signed. The binder also contains plastic pages full of cards, magazines and pictures. We'll carry these binders in a backpack or bookbag, along with mini helmets, mini bats and bobbleheads. For full-size bats, we bought plastic bat tubes with straps that can be carried over your shoulder.

My wife has decided to go with my older son this year. My older son is going for quality over quantity. His first target is Joe Mauer and Justin Morneau. This will involved Johnny and my wife getting in line at the Metrodome at about 3:30 on Friday. The high temperature on Friday is expected to be 6. Ouch. David and I will go later, after the doors are open. David is going to get the more common players, for which we aren't expecting long lines. The part that was appealing to my wife was that these lines are typically for only one or two players, so getting the item(s) signed is relatively simple. On the other hand, David and I will be in lines for four or players, so it can be challenging to juggle the cards, pictures and bobbleheads needed to get signed at a single station. Last year my wife ended up getting a team ball signed mutliple times by a couple of players, after which she swore never to attend the event again. But, here we go...

The great part is my wife will get items signed for me, and I won't have to stand in those ling lines in the cold. Unfortunately, this is very close to my wife's birthday, so we'll have to make it up to her somehow.

5 Successes - 1 Failure

Today I got back 6 returns. 5 of them successes, and 1 failure. I'm not sure why, but I sent Matt Batts a 1954 Topps and it was returned in my sase unsigned. No note or explanation. Hopefully he is healthy and doing well. I'll watch the returns on SCN and if I see more successes, I'll resend. Maybe it was a mistake.

I received 11 signed cards in the 5 successes.

Billy Gardner signed a '55 and '59 Topps. Mr. Gardner is a former manager of the Twins.

Ned Garver signed a '58 and '59 Topps.



















Bill Renna signed a '56 and '59 Topps.














Eddie Yost signed a '56 and '59 Topps.


















And finally, Jerry Lumpe signed a '61 Topps, '61 Topps "A's Big Armor" and '64 Topps.














I also received my new laptop today. It's pretty big, which is fine because I don't carry it around much. The 17" screen is great, as is the full size keyboard with number pad. I haven't used it much but booted it up, registered it and got the wireless connection working. I'll play with it more tomorrow. Hopefully, I'll have a few more successes tomorrow as well.

I'm especially looking forward to getting back the bobblehead from Frank Viola and I have a couple of longshots I sent recently. I sent a card to Grady Sizemore last Friday. I have seen many successes on SCN lately, so hopefully I wasn't too late and he's still signing. I also saw that Mike Mussina is signing. He just announced his retirement and is in the news a lot. Hopefully he isn't so flooded with requests that he stops signing.