Droidtrader's Sports Memorabilia

Monday, January 30, 2017

TTM Return - Pumpsie Green

Today I added a 1961 Topps to my set. Pumpsie Green signed his card for a $5 fee.

This is the first of 10 that I set for my goal this year for 1961 Topps.

I ended up catching a cold Saturday so even if I had wanted to, I probably wouldn't have gone back on Sunday.

I won't repost the items I posted during the event, but I'll post the rest of the items.

Friday night, we started off by getting Brian Dozier, who signed my 2016 Allen & Ginter.

After that, we went to Torii Hunter's line where he signed my 2003 Topps Heritage and 2015 Allen & Ginter.

Finally, we went through the line with a group of 1987 Twins players (and a coach).

I had Kent Hrbek sign his 2001 season ticket holder bobblehead.

Tom Kelly signed his 2002 stadium giveaway bobblehead.

Bert Blyleven signed his 2000 Fleer Greats of the Game card.

I had the rest of them sign a Metrodome commemorative ball.

Tim Laudner

Dan Gladden

Gene Larkin

Al Newman

Tony Oliva

Roy Smalley

That was it for Friday night. Saturday morning we started out in the Mauer/Cuddyer line. Mauer signed his 2009 Allen & Ginter, which completed that Twins set for me. Cuddyer signed his 2005 Topps Heritage.

Then we went to the Torii Hunter and Jacque Jones line. Torii signed a mini helmet, and Jacque Jones signed a Twins magazine for me. I had expected Matt Lawton to be there as well, and was going to have all three sign it but Lawton was dropped from the schedule about a week before the event.

Next, we saw Miguel Sano and Neil Allen. Sano signed his 2016 Allen & Ginter and Neil Allen signed a Target Field picture.

Finally, we saw Max Kepler, Corey Koskie, Aaron Slegers and Alex Wimmers.

Kepler signed his 2016 Allen & Ginter.

Koskie signed his 2004 Topps Heritage.

And Sleger and Wimmers signed my Target Field picture.

That was it. I got a decent start on the 2016 Allen & Ginter set, but still have a long way to go.

I was happy to add a Torii Hunter mini helmet to my collection, and the two bobbleheads I got signed helped me meet my goal for the year.

I saw the guys I normally see each year at TwinsFest: Steve, Zane and Randy, and also met Zach while standing in line, who is also an SCN member and whose thread I had posted on a week or two earlier!

I had fun with my nephew. We had each other to talk to and played a little Trivia Crack while we waited. We tied 1-1, and quit because our phone batteries were draining. Luckily we wanted to get all the same players so we never had to split up.

Logistically, everything went well. We got all the lines we wanted, but didn't risk trying to get to multiple lines per session. With the sessions being only an hour now, it's pretty tough to get to more than one, especially if you want to get in line for someone you really want in the next session.

Each year it seems harder and harder to get the autographs you want, and this year was the least I've spent in all the years I've gone. That's too bad both for me, and for the Twins Community Fund that receives the proceeds from the event.