April 14, 2021: Twinkies’ Turn

OK, I have a confession to make. Look, I really do love Twinkies, but… I think Zingers are better. I like the cream better, and the consistency of the treat, as well as, the icing on top. I’ve got a hook-up downstairs where I work in one of those little convenient stores: instant tickets and zingers; yeah! But this isn’t about that… By Twinkie I mean Twins, and when I watched the Baseball Seasons 1987 episode, I recalled that it was Minnesota’s turn to win a World Series; the first World Series title for the Twins.

The franchise had won one previously, back in 1924 when they were the Washington Senators, but 1987… that was the first one since the franchise took a turn to Minnesota and became the Twins; I’ll be back to talk more about the Twins in 1991. I remember this 1987 Twins team; actually, I remember a lot about that 1987 season; it was still right in my sweet spot for soaking up anything and everything baseball, like when the Brewers started that season 13-0. They were still in the AL at the time, so they didn’t really bother me, although they were rivals with the White Sox back then. They would eventually falter and miss the playoffs. Or how about Mike Schmidt’s 500th home run? The first position that I played on the baseball field was 3B, so of course I liked him, except when he was killing the Cubs; he did that a lot. Eric Davis came on the scene in a big way that year; he probably had my favorite batting stance to imitate in our backyard wiffle ball games. All the stolen bases by Vince Coleman, all the grand slams by Don Mattingly, and the 39 game hitting streak by Paul Molitor; baseball was booming. And oh yeah, we had a guy in Chicago doing great things that year.

Andrew Dawson, the Hawk, made his first Cubs season a special one, winning the MVP for a last place team… the first guy to do that… after hitting 49 home runs and driving in 137. Of course, he came here via the “blank check” method, only making $500,000 that year… only… shit, I’d take that. But yeah, he was severely underpaid; not sure why nobody wanted him coming out of Montreal, but I ain’t complaining. He looked mean at bat, and swung hard, hitting the ball far; he’d hustle his butt off too, and oh yeah, his fielding was not too shabby, especially the rifle of an arm he had. I loved watching him play. I believe the Louisville Slugger bat that I got as a giveaway at Wrigley that year had his name on there; I used the hell out of that bat in Little League, doing some serious damage.

But back to the Twins and the World Series Champs that year, beating the Cardinals to do it; thank you! The Twins that year were unstoppable at home in the dome that year going 56-26 at home; wow! And their road record… 29-52… that’s just nuts, but it was enough to win their division, and enough to beat the Tigers 4-1 in the ALCS, winning both games at home. And in the World Series… of course, it went 7 games, with the Twins winning the first and last two at home to take the title. The “Homer Hanky”… I remember that too. Hrbek, Brunansky, Gaetti, and of course, Chicago boy, Kirby Puckett, who was born and raised in the famous or infamous Robert Taylor homes/projects on the south side; they were finally completely gone in 2007. And Kirby… RIP man… sucked that he died so young at 45 back in 2006; of course before that, he lost sight in his one eye in 1996, which caused him to retire way too early as well.

But 1987… it was a good year for baseball; man I love these Baseball Seasons episodes. Now that I’m into the years that I can remember, it has become a walk down memory lane more than the history lesson that the first bunch of episodes provided. Still more to go…