On July 3, 2006, my wife Kelli and I were sitting in Kauffman Stadium in Kansas City, MO watching the Twins wrap up batting practice. Joe Nathan, the Twins career saves leader (although not at the time), one of my all time favorite Twins, made his way toward the fans lined up along the third baseline and began signing autographs. We had splurged on good tickets so this was unfolding right in front of us yet I was frozen to my seat. My wife grabbed a baseball, ran down in line, and before I knew it was back up sitting next to me with Joe's name written on the ball. Luckily, I had another so I got up the courage to go down and get one for myself.
I remember him signing forever that day. And I remember thinking how cool it would be to have a man cave with autographed Twins memorabilia displayed. Well, that day is now. While planning a small basement remodel, I decided to turn to the mail to begin my collection of Twins autographs. Occasionally, when possible, I'm going to try and seek out player appearances, and occasionally I will branch out from just obtaining Twins players. But the Twins are the team I love the most, the Twins are the team I know the most, and so they are the team I will focus the majority of my efforts on.
I had a baseball card collection when I was younger, but it's nothing terribly impressive. Besides, even if I did have tons of cards to send out, I want items of a little more substance autographed. I want pieces I can display proudly. I'm willing to pay a little more in postage to make it happen. Baseballs and 8x10s are where I'll begin.
I plan on using this blog to document my process, my mailings, and my successes, as well as some off the cuff Minnesota Twins rants.
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