TwinsFest - Rod Carew

My older son Johnny and my wife stood in Rod Carew's line on Saturday during TwinsFest. My wife had him sign his 2008 Goudey for me.












Johnny had him sign a mini helmet, which he signed nicely in gold on the side. Johnny was a little disappointed at first that it was gold instead of the regular silver, but after looking at it some more, he really likes it. I do too.


Unfortunately, Rod Carew doesn't sign bats or jerseys at TwinsFest, so the options are somewhat limited as to what you can have him sign. Last year Johnny had him sign a baseball and I had him sign a Sports Illustrated. I have been contemplating buying Carew's rookie card, a 1967 Topps, and having him sign that, but it's quite expensive and he shares the card with Hank Allen, so his picture is rather small on it. I have a 1968 Topps, which is his first "solo" card, so I'll probably have him sign that next year. Or, possibly a 2000 Fleer Greats of the Game, like Johnny is working on.

I'm falling a bit behind in scanning in all the items we got signed. But I think I'm done with all of David's, all of John's except his full sized bat and cap, and I've done all the cards I got signed (26 of them) . I still have to do all the 8x10's, magazines, bobbleheads, balls and bats that I got.

Card Show Finds

My older son and I went to the Twin Cities Sports Collectors Club card show at the Valley West Mall in Bloomington yesterday.

We did pretty well. Johnny bought a few newer Harmon Killebrew cards (his favorite player). We also got some Denard Span cards for all of us, including my younger son David. Johnny also picked up a nice World Series program from 1987 for $5.

I also got a great deal on three old Sports Illustrated Magazines. The first is a 1977 with Rod Carew and Ted Williams on the cover. Maybe I'll get this signed at TwinsFest. Although it has a label, it's in good condition and was just $4.

I also bought one from 1961 with Cookie Lavagetto on the cover, the Twin's first manager. It has a label also, but for $3, I couldn't pass it up.


The last is from 1969, with Billy Manager, the Twin's manager at the time, on the cover. Another one in great condition with a label, and only $3.
Obviously I can't get the two older ones signed, but for those prices, they are fun to read and will display nicely with the rest of my Twins collection.

Despite being the weekend after Thanksgiving, the show had plenty of dealers. I bought about 40 cards from a single dealer who I usually see at this show and the one periodically held at Har Mar. He has a lot of low to mid grade cards and commons from the 50's and 60's at very reasonable prices. I picked up a dozen or so cards from 1960 for $1 each and a couple from 1954 for $2.

After the show, Johnny and I ate too much at Famous Dave's, then went home to join the rest of the family in our search for this year's Christmas tree.