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Twins Alums Returning in Big Numbers
Twenty-one players from the 1987 Minnesota Twins will be in Minneapolis
this weekend for the World Championship Reunion. There were 24 players
on the 1987 World Series roster and two of those players, outfielder
Kirby Puckett and pitcher Joe Niekro, are
deceased. The Twins front office hasn’t been able to contact pitcher
Dan Schatzeder and he isn’t expected to attend the reunion.
Patrick Klinger, Twins vice president of marketing, is impressed
with the commitments made by those 21 players, plus five coaches and
manager Tom Kelly. “I think it
really speaks to the camaraderie of that team,” Klinger said. “It was a
team not known as the most talented but they had tremendous camaraderie
and chemistry. It was also a team that had a lot of fun together.”
The
1987 Twins won 85 games and lost 77. Their regular season winning
percentage of .525 is among the lowest ever for a team that won a World
Series.
The
team became world champions in Kelly’s second season as manager and
ended a series of mostly miserable seasons in the 1980s as the Twins
played seven consecutive years without winning more than half of their
games.
The
world championship was largely the result of talented scouting and
patience by the Twins farm system. The organization developed
outstanding players for the 1987 team like Puckett, first baseman
Kent Hrbek, third baseman Gary Gaetti, catcher Tim
Laudner and pitcher Frank Viola.
They
were a surprising group of players who enjoyed a stunning season. That
storyline fueled the emotions of local baseball fans that hadn’t seen
the Twins ever win a World Series and had been without a world title in
any pro sport since the 1954 Minneapolis Lakers won the NBA
championship.
On
Saturday night in a re-creation of the world championship parade, each
of the 1987 alums will ride on to the Metrodome field in the back of a
pickup truck. Later all the alumni will collectively throw out the
first pitch, tossing balls to current Twins.
Before the game on Saturday, from 4:15 to 5:15 p.m., 1987 alumni will be
available to fans in the stadium concourse for photographs. On Friday,
from 5:30 to 6:30 p.m., about half of the alums will sign autographs on
the Metrodome plaza. Sunday the remainder of them will sign autographs
on the plaza from 11:30 a.m. to 12:30 p.m.
The
first 10,000 fans on Friday, Saturday and Sunday receive giveaways.
Friday’s giveaway is baseball cards of every player, plus Kelly and
coaches. Saturday is a mini-Metrodome giveaway and Sunday is a
Gaetti bobblehead (he will be inducted into the
Twins Hall of Fame that day). The always popular Homer Hanky will be
given to the first 40,000 fans on Saturday.
Tickets are still available for all three games. Klinger said the Twins
are expecting about 30,000 on Friday, 35,000 Saturday and 30,000
Sunday.
Alumni arrive today and will attend a private affair tonight. They are
being flown into town and hosted at the ball club’s expense, Klinger
said. Each alum will receive a DVD set of the 1987 World Series.
Bobbleheads? You bet. Each person receives a team set of bobbleheads
(all players, Kelly and coaches in bobblehead form). Other gifts
include two boxes of their own bobbleheads and Twins jackets created for
them, Klinger said.
“Guys
are excited to a man to comeback to Minnesota and spend time with their
teammates, and relive the ‘87 world championship,” Klinger said. |
