Hi guys, As promised, here is a recap of my first ever Twinsfest with my wife and kids. We went Saturday. The place was very busy, but mostly orderly. We wanted Mauer's autograph, and he was first thing in the morning, so the kids and I hustled up and got in line. Mauer was very personable and especially nice to my 7 year old. We then had to get ready for the Molitor/Sano line, and that was a very long wait. Fortunately, the usher was entertaining the line with trivia questions. Sano doesnt speak very good english, so he seemed generally shy. Paul Molitor was extremely nice and signed a card for me. As far as I know, he was the only person signing that offered authentication for an additional $10, which I thought was worth the money. My next stop was the Buxton/Oliva table. Buxton seemed very shy, but he wasnt a jerk by any means. Tony Oliva signs has a great autograph, but in general, he wasnt the most personable. My last stop was Rod Carew. I found him to be a little bit rigid, but he did acknowledge when I thanked him. My wife and kids also ran off and got a lot of other signatures from some of the minor leaguers and Trevor Plouffe for the front of the program, and they had good experiences. The boardwalk games were fairly amusing, but mostly pointless other than for the kids to let off some steam. There were some players playing along, but many seemed somewhat disinterested with a few exceptions. The radio interviews were a lot of fun. Especially when they talked with Dan Gladden. He is very fun to listen to, and just seems like a fun loving guy. The $15 grab bags were a great promotion. They loaded the bags up with tons of good stuff. They were a steal in my opinion. The things that annoyed me most where some of the fans who flagrantly disregarded the rules concerning the taking of photos in the autograph rooms. All kinds of smart phones being taken out and practically put in the players faces. I felt like maybe I misread the rules or something and I wanted to take some pics too, but really didnt want to risk getting caught. It just seemed like a crappy thing to do...especially right in their faces. No wonder the players much prefer signing for kids as opposed to adults. Overall, Id rate my experience as a 4 out of 5. The next time I go, I'll try and get Blyleven's autograph and definitely take the White Glove tour.
