1/29 - TwinsFest Day 3


Well, today was the last day of the TwinsFest. To be honest, it wasn’t as exciting as the last two days because there actually wasn’t that many people that showed up. I didn’t have any interviews planned today, so most of the day I just walked around the Metrodome, checking out the booths that I haven’t gotten a chance to check out.

I saw some pretty cool stuff, such as baseball cards, photo of players, signed bats, jerseys, and the whole nine yards. It took me back to my elementary school days, where I would collect baseball cards almost every week. Back in the basement of my Des Moines home, I have a huge stack of baseball card books where I kept all of my collection. I don’t do that anymore today for various reasons.

After that, I walked up into the stands and just sat directly behind the “home plate” of the Metrodome and watched the kids play in their wiffle ball home run derby competition. It was a lot of fun watching them play. Those kids are the future Twins, I promise you.

After a while, I returned to the Red Wings booth and met up with Bill Smith, the assistant General Manager of the Minnesota Twins. He remembered me from last year, when we met each other at the previous TwinsFest. I showed him my portfolio of my best baseball photography and some of my graphic design work. He was really impressed with my work.

 Gene Glynn, the new manager of the Red Wings, made an appearance on the radio talk show. He said that the manager itself really doesn’t make the difference in the game, but the players themselves do. He also mentioned that if players want to get the call to the show, they would have to earn every inch of it.

Nick and Rob, part of the Red Wings’ crew, had to pack up a bit earlier than the closing time of 4:00 because they have to catch an early flight back to Rochester, so they took off at around 3:00 pm. I stuck around for a little bit longer to listen to Kyle Waldrop at the kids’ questions and answers session.

“What is your middle name?” a kid randomly asked Waldrop.

“Actually, my middle name is Kyle,” Waldrop replied. His real name is Steve Kyle Waldrop. His father’s name was Steve; Kyle hates being called Steve Jr. so he wanted to be called Kyle to avoid the difference from his father. Pretty good question that kid asked. I didn’t know that myself. I did know that his father’s name was Steve, as I met him last year on Father’s Day.

To close this thing out, I have to say that it was an amazing experience to work with the Red Wings at the TwinsFest for the second year in row. I have to thank the Rochester Red Wings for giving this amazing opportunity to work the festival again because I gained so much from just being there. I learned so much about the Twins’ history. I met new people. I caught up with few old friends. Just an incredible, astounding weekend for me.

Now tomorrow, I return to Rochester to close out the final FOUR weeks of RIT, before I become RIT alumni. It’s starting to hit me that I will be a college graduate in just a month…

Wish me luck!!

Thank you!

Dylan Heuer

Joe Mauer at the Kids' Q&As 
Rene Tosoni

The starting pitcher and closing pitcher of the Red Wings' 2011 no-hitter; Jeff Manship and Jim Hoey

Kids' home run derby

The future Twins' signing booth

Gene Glynn

A trio of Red Wings pitchers: (L to R) Scott Diamond, Jeff Manship and Kyle Waldrop

'Steve' Kyle Waldrop