Pre: 2013 Twins Winter Caravan
Originally, I was going to write about the Minnesota Twins’ Winter Caravan AND Twins Fest in this entry, but I have decided to wait to write about Twins Fest for 2 weeks, until the event gets a little closer on the calendar.
All of the information in Italics came from the Minnesota Twins website.
The Minnesota Twins’ 53rd annual Winter Caravan features stops in nearly 50 communities throughout Twins Territory between Monday, Jan. 14 and Thursday, Jan. 24. The Twins Winter Caravan is one of the longest running and most extensive offseason team caravans in professional sports. It features teams of current and former players visiting schools, hospitals, corporations and service clubs during the day with a traditional “hot stove” program each evening.
Twins Winter Caravan tours will be led by members of the Treasure Island Baseball Network and Fox Sports North broadcast teams, including Bert Blyleven, Dan Gladden, Cory Provus and Dick Bremer.
Preliminary 2013 Twins Winter Caravan routes and personalities are below (schedule and players are subject to change). Specific times and locations will be announced right here in the coming weeks.
That was all the information on the Twins’ website. The information above doesn’t explain what happens at the Caravan, so I will explain what you might see if you were to attend one of these events.
The players/coaches/broadcasters usually start by each giving a short speech. After that, the players speak with fans, sign autographs and show a video about the previous season and what types of changes they’ve made over the off-season. You also get a little time to chat with the players while they sign autographs.
Here are a few photos from when I attended in 2011:
This year, I will be going to the Caravan on Wednesday January 16th. I’m expecting to see Glen Perkins, Brian Duensing, Joe Vavra, and Dave St. Peter there.
Paul K
Aw man; I’m missing parts of the caravan while I’m here in New York. Oh well; I still get more groups than you do :p
-Mateo
http://mateofischer.mlblogs.com
So, what days will you be at the Caravan? By the way, how long is your Winter Break? Yes, you still get more groups than me… Rub it in
All *I* really *want* is Tony Oliva and Rod Carew’s autographs and I will be *happy* 
The A’s used to a caravan. Then they stopped and decided to only do a little thing at the Oakland Zoo where kids can take field trips. It is always a Thursday at like noon. They also used to do a FanFest at the Coliseum… it was awesome! BP, tours, everything! Then, it became a “Fan Appreciation Tailgate” AKA- ” Stay in the parking lot before a game and interact with each other to show our appreciation.” FanFest was back in 2012… in the Oracle Arena. The place was fricking packed!!! It was awful. It’s back this year. I’m excited!
-Nick
http://nickbadderstheteenbaseballexpert.mlblogs.com
I think that the A’s should’ve always done a Fan Fest. It sounds like they were just messing around with bad ideas at first! I’m actually writing an entry that will include every MLB fanfest in it, and the A’s Fan Fest will be mentioned. Correct me if i’m wrong, but didnt you write an entry about 2012 A’s Fan Fest? Would you mind leaving a link in the comments so I can link to that entry?
-Paul K
Yes, I did write an entry about 2012 FanFest. http://nickbadderstheteenbaseballexpert.mlblogs.com/2012/08/06/12912-at-as-fanfest/ would be the entry to it. It wasn’t very good, but I did talk about everything.
-Nick
I remember reading it a month or two ago, it was good! Im the kind of person that usually likes detail, so I enjoyed that. Thanks for the link, i’ll add it in the post when i mention you.
-Paul K
Ok, awesome, thanks! I’m glad you enjoyed it!
The caravan is a very cool thing that the Twins do, though I must say, I’ve never attended one of the gatherings. I sent my grandparents to one last year in Windom, MN, because they wanted to know about this Trevor Plouffe fellow. Enjoy it again this year! Take some pix and I look forward to seeing you at TwinsFest!!
Are you going to go to the Caravan this year? Which day are you going to be at Twins Fest? I’m practically going crazy because it is getting so close!!
-Paul K
Not planning on the caravan. Probably going to the Friday session of TwinsFest and then depending on the lineup we’ll see if any other days.
I think that you should also go on Saturday. That is the only day that I will beable to attend. Looking for anything special at TwinsFest? I have been wanting to get a Rod Carew / Tony Oliva card signed by both of them.
-Paul K