First Time Comes Just Once
It is the twentieth anniverary of the 1987 Minnesota Twins championship season. The fans are celebrating at the Hubert Humphrey Metrodome and throughout the environs of the vast Twins Territory.
The recollections of that season are precious and enduring. The atmospere was electric. This was a team fans had watched mature. We struggled with the failings of the bullpen and the defense and the offense’s unrealized potential in prior seasons. But fans knew. The Twins could do it and we hoped they would and they did! This team won and won at home, and pretty much sucked on the road. They had a great offense for sure. Brunansky, Gaetti, Puckett, and Hrbek. The closer was Jeff Reardon. A defense that was second to none. And they never gave up.
There was a lot of analysis and discussion following this team throughout their campaign. There still is. My hypothesis for their success can be summed up in one word UNITY. This team was close. They partied and pranked and played their asses off. The fans did the same. We were there every moment of the season. Whether it was watching on pay per view, listening on the radio, or at the dome.
I was fortunate to have among my friends some rabid Twins fans. Art, Ruben, Francis and myself used to attend every game our schedule would allow. Often I would bring my children aged five and six to games. We used to sit mainly in the cheap seats, and I could often get knothole gang tickets that allowed me to bring 4 kids with a paid adult admission. So for 3 dollars I could see a ball game with my two kids. We would arrive just as they opened the gates and rush to the right field upper deck seats that were the closest to the action. The routine for me and the kids was a bag of peanuts we got at the SuperAmerica station ( the sponser of the knothole tickets) a Pepsi and in the sixth inning a malt cup. All ways a good time. The Twins usually won. Over time I cannot recall a loss. My daughter who was five at the time had a special gimmick that seemed to be foolproof for a Twins victory. When the team was behind in the later innings as was the case in most games as I recall, she would declare that we should “cross everything” , what this meant was we should cross fingers, arms legs and toes if possible. This always resulted in a victory for the Twins.
These days the the same technique is only 65% effective.
1987 was unique. The team had grown up together and their fans had been witness and part of the process.
Subsequent years have produced better teams in terms of talent. In 1991 there was another World Championship.
1987 was different. It was like a first love. And like a first love it endures.
Here are the 1987 Twins stats. Tell me why you think they were champions.
