Count Down to the 2014 All-Star Game – Info Included (and Requested)

Yesterday I got the tweet that I had been waiting for… My buddy Jared got the tickets in the mail!!

It’s official!  I am now holding onto an All-Star Game ticket strip.  The first one in my life and hopefully not the last.  Here is what the strip itself looks like:

Now, how about a breakdown of of the events?

 

FanFest (July 11-15):

Following the link in the title and clicking on the FAQ section, I found that each day of the FanFest opens at 9 am.  It looks like this will be one way to get a bunch of former players’ autographs, play ASG-themed games, and try to get special giveaways.

I don’t know that I will spend a lot of time at this event, but depending on the timing of it all, I wouldn’t mind checking it out – if not only for the air conditioning.

 

All-Star Concert (July 12):

Not included in our ASG strip (WHY THE HELL NOT?!), this FREE concert has turned into a rather expensive ticket.  Blame it on Imagine Dragons if you will, but Atmosphere – a local hip-hop group – is probably the real reason why this ticket is in such high demand in the Twin Cities area.  At least Atmosphere have apologized, told people to not reward the scalpers, and offered up another set at a later date.  I’d still LOVE to go, but it’ll take a friendly person with an extra ticket to get me in.

 

All Star Sunday – Futures Game and Celebrity Softball (July 13):

The first of the events with a commemorative baseball – the details of which are unknown, though it wouldn’t be a shock if it resembled the logo on the ticket below.

Two Twins prospects will be appearing for the World Team: J.O. Berrios and Kennys Vargas.  The rest of the lineup can be found here.  I think the World Team will be in the visitors dugout (makes sense, right?), so I will be making my sign accordingly, as I am seated in that area.

***UPDATE: The US team now contains 100% of your daily values of Twins prospect Trevor May.***

Hall of Famer Bert Blyleven and two-time World Series winning coach (and Twins team Hall of Fame member) Tom Kelly will be coaching the clubs.  How cool is that?!

 

Warm-Ups and Home Run Derby (July 14):

With a new format for the HR Derby, the rate of play should more than likely be sped up.  I hope this means more HRs and more actual swinging for the fences and not just a shorter time on the stands.  The good news about being live at the contest?  Not having to hear Chris Berman announce the thing.

Again, the logo for the balls has not yet been confirmed or released to the public, but it might just look like the logo on the ticket below:

Gotta get those sponsors on everything, right?!  I know that it is a long tradition of not only having a sponsor, but putting them on the balls, but I find it funny that it is Gillette that is the sponsor this year.  (If you know me or can tell by the photos on this blog, my shaving happens maybe once a month.  I have somewhat of a disdain for it and think that there are some societal pressures put on folks by Gillette and other corporations who put false values on looks/sex in order to make money… but let’s not open that can of worms.)

PS:  If the rounds are only 7 outs, when will the golden ball be used?  They will have a golden ball, right?!  Oh, how I’d be livid if this were the time when they eliminated that beauty.  If they still use it, I just have to be nice to some folks and hope someone gets a golden ball and decides to make my year.

 

All-Star Game (July 15):

The main event.  The game I have waited 30 years to see.  Hey, I was one when the last ASG was in MN, and I was living 3.5 hours from Minneapolis.  The only thing better than this would be a World Series, but this will be a nice stepping stone for that.

The balls have already been released and are available for purchase at the Twins pro-shops.  the ball looks like the ones used in 1996, 1997, 1999, and 2000 – red print with red and blue stitches.  I’ve warmed up and will not scoff once I have one in my possession, but I can’t help but think “what could have been” if given free reign of designing.

If you want a better look at it, click this link.

The alternate version though, looked something like this:

This photo came from a mailing that was sent from the Twins to the STHers months before the ASG actually went on sale.  The program contained limited ASG info, selling points, and key dates for purchasing.  The ball pictured is clearly a computer-generated mock-up and not an actual ball (they replaced the MLB logo – clearly visible on the balls behind it – with their ASG logo and it is not exactly centered perfectly).

 

So there it is.  The entire ASG as I know it.  I gather that you could have easily searched and found the same info, but hopefully this one-stop shop combined with additional photos of the tickets themselves made it worth the view.

For those of you who have been lucky enough to attend an ASG, do you have any tips?  Any ideas when gates open and how security is normally?  I will be down at Target Field EARLY – not just 1-2 hours before the gates open like normal, but more like “as soon as I wake up and it seems like others are waiting around” early.

ROLL CALL:  Who else will be there?