Making the Hall of Fame has only begun to change Jack Morris' life

"I'll probably rewrite it 10 times," said the St. Paul native and Highland Park High School product.

This weekend, as the newly elected member of the National Baseball Hall of Fame made his way around TwinsFest, he received well wishes and congratulations with every few steps. There was a special photo session on Friday night, Jan. 19, with fellow hall of famers Paul Molitor, Bert Blyleven and Rod Carew, and a long Saturday, Jan. 20, ended with an hour-long solo autograph session that cost fans $25 per signature.

Demand for Morris, a 254-game winner and member of four World Series championship clubs, will only go up between now and Cooperstown induction weekend, July 27-29. Morris estimates his card-show bookings already have doubled beyond their usual level.

Along with the speech, which should be memorable in its own right, securing tickets for Morris' many friends and family will occupy much of his time over the next six months. He anticipates ticket requests from "at least 100 people that are not related" to him.

Event organizers separate those ticket allotments into three categories: immediate family, extended family and acquaintances.

"That's the hard part," Morris said.

With former Twins slugger Jim Thome, Morris' teammate in Cleveland during his final season in 1994, among those projected to make the cut when the Baseball Writers' Association of America voting is announced Wednesday, Morris and former Detroit Tigers teammate Alan Trammell could be part of the largest induction class ever.

With Thome, Chipper Jones, Vladimir Guerrero, Edgar Martinez and Trevor Hoffman all polling above the 75-percent cutoff for election — according to Ryan Thibodaux's Hall of Fame ballot tracker — this year's induction weekend crowd could challenge the record 82,000 that attended in 2007 for Cal Ripken Jr. and Tony Gwynn.

The Twins will be in Boston for a four-game series that weekend, so Molitor hopes to slip over for at least part of the festivities, if not Sunday's induction itself.

Former Tigers manager Sparky Anderson died in 2010 and Les Moss, who managed Morris at two levels in the minor leagues, died in 2012, but Morris is expecting former Tigers coach Dick Tracewski, who turns 83 next month, to attend. A strong Twins contingent, including club president Dave St. Peter, will attend as well.

Morris also will be surrounded on the stage by fellow hall of famers who were former teammates or bosses such as Pat Gillick, Eddie Murray, Dave Winfield, Roberto Alomar, Rickey Henderson, Blyleven and Carew. He fully expects the whole weekend to be surreal.

Why not Lynn?

New Twins reliever Zach Duke spent the past two seasons with the St. Louis Cardinals, where fellow Tommy John surgery survivor Lance Lynn was among his favorite teammates.

As the Twins continue to pursue an impact pitching upgrade atop their starting rotation, Lynn could wind up being the best value play of the remaining quartet of high-end free agents.

"I think he'd fit great here," Duke said. "He's a competitor. He knows how to win. He works hard. He'd be a great addition to any pitching staff, honestly."

Duke, who agreed to terms with the Twins a few days before Christmas, has stayed in touch with Lynn, a 30-year-old who grew up outside Indianapolis and attended Ole Miss.

"We've talked throughout the offseason just because of our friendship," Duke said. "I've been kind of checking in to see if there's any interest for him."

Would Duke switch into recruiting mode if the Twins asked him to?

"Sure," he said. "I enjoyed being his teammate. I'd like to be his teammate again, just because I know how hard he competes and how much he wants to win. He's really good. He does it with the fastball mainly. He's like 85-90 percent fastball, so it's not a big secret to what he does. He just has a fastball that's tough to hit. That plays."

Briefly

Twins outfield prospect LaMonte Wade (ninth round) and Vikings wide receiver Stefon Diggs (fifth round) were each drafted out of Maryland in 2015. Wade and Diggs have mutual friends and have stayed in touch over the years.

Kennys Vargas was a late scratch from TwinsFest so he could continue playing for Mayaguez in the Puerto Rican Winter League.

According to St. Peter, the three-day TwinsFest drew an estimated 13,000 fans to Target Field, right in line with last year's total. Season-ticket equivalencies for 2018 are said to be tracking to 13,000 or 14,000 after bottoming out last season.

Former Twins closer Joe Nathan said he has a commemorative baseball from each of his 377 saves in the majors but has yet to put them in a display case. "I don't know what I'm going to do with them," he said. "They're just sitting in boxes."