I Got My Balls Signed

Greetings, bloggers! I apologize that I have been away from the blog for a few days, but it is good to be back and to see all of your smiling faces.

For most of the time I have been away, I have been watching baseball. From Monday to Wednesday, I was hitting up all three games of the Twins-Mariners series at Safeco Field. And -- for the first time in August -- the Twins actually won a series! Not only that, but they scored 20 total runs in the series! Funny how you actually win some games when you score runs.

I always enjoy getting to the ballpark early and watching batting practice and just hanging out and watching the players. Occasionally I will seek out an autograph, but I don't tend to be very aggressive about it. I figure that if some kid gets an autograph instead of me, I'm OK with that. It should be for the kids anyway, not for old farts like me who just feel like a kid when they're at the ballpark.

Anyway, whenever I'm at Twins games, I always see Bert Blyleven wandering around the field before the game, but I've never seen him come over to the dugout before. For those readers who are not baseball buffs, Bert is one of the all-time greats and he currently does the TV broadcasts for the Twins. He pitched from 1970 to 1992, racking up 287 career wins and is sixth on the all-time strikeout list. He really should be in the Hall of Fame, but ends up a little bit short every year in the voting. I really hope he makes it.

Anyway, Bert was hanging out in the dugout for a bit before the game, and I yelled out "Bert!" and got him to sign a baseball for me. Score for me! On Wednesday, Dan Gladden was hanging out in the dugout before the game. Dan does the radio broadcasting for the Twins now, and for those of you who aren't familiar with the greatest World Series ever played, he scored the winning run in the bottom of the 10th inning in game 7 of the '91 series. I recognized his baldspot before he was completely visible in the dugout. "Dan! Sign one ball?" Sure enough -- "Dan Gladden, 87*91, #32." Score for me. Gladden and Blyleven are significant parts of my childhood. I was pretty excited.

I also got current pitchers Boof Bonser and Matt Guerrier to sign for me. All in all, a great 3 days.

Last night I hit up Thirsty Thursday at PGE Park and drank some delicious (*cough*) Miller Lite while watching the Beavers. They pulled it out 3-0.

What a great week. I'll try and throw up a few pictures from my rad trip in the next few days.