Author: David Shama

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.

Gopher football coach Tim Brewster told Sports Headliners he’s concerned about the team’s punting and placekicking.  Recent Gopher seasons have at times been characterized by both short distances or accuracy of punts, kickoffs, extra points and field goals.  As sophomores last season punter Justin Kucek averaged 40.3 yards per punt,  ranking eighth in the Big Ten Conference, while place kicker Jason Giannini missed three extra points and eight in 2005.  Giannini was 7-12 on field goals and ranked 10^th in the conference in field goal percentage.  Joel Monroe, another sophomore last season, handled all kickoffs in 2006 (27 of 69 went for touchbacks) and some field goal/extra point work, going 2-3 on field goals and making all four extra points. He’s on the team again as a complement to Giannini. 

The Gophers will be far from the most talented team in the Big Ten Conference this fall and Brewster is determined to use special teams, including punting and kicking, to gain an edge against opponents.  Whether it’s covering punts and kickoffs, or consistently making field goals, Brewster hopes superior special teams can help the Gophers to wins they might otherwise not earn. 

“We’ve put tremendous emphasis on the kicking game (in pre-season workouts),” Brewster said.  “We’ve allocated more meeting time, more field time.  Now I am going to be honest with you.  I have a concern with our kickers and punters. They have not been consistent since this camp has opened.   

“I am very pleased with what we’re doing with coverage.  Our attention to detail, our attitude in the kicking game has been outstanding.  But we need…Kucek to step up.  He needs to be a more consistent punter.  We need…Joel Monroe to do a great job.  We need Giannini to be more consistent. He’s got to make every P.A.T.  That part of it has been a work in progress but we’ve made up a lot of ground.” 

Improvement will need to happen soon because the Gophers open their season in about two weeks, on September 1 against Bowling Green at home.   

In recruiting news, the Gophers have a verbal commitment for next season from an outstanding high school punter.  Rivals.com reports Bradley Nortman of Brookfield, Wisconsin has recently committed.

Steve LaCroix, vice president of sales and marketing, reported via e-mail that like a year ago at this time the Vikings have tickets remaining for their season opener.  He wrote that the top five of 10 price levels for season tickets are sold out, and that 98 percent of the new $196 season ticket inventory is sold.  “These have been a big hit with our fans,” according to LaCroix.

Friday night’s 7 p.m. pre-season game at New York against the Jets is nationally televised with Joe Buck and Troy Aikman providing commentary on Fox.  Brooks Bollinger is familiar with the Jets defense having been with the team for three seasons before coming here last year.  The game could be his only pre-season start.   

Viking trivia:  Tony Richardson is the oldest player at 35.  Sidney Rice is the youngest at 20.  Richardson has played the most seasons in the NFL, 13.  Matt Birk has played the most with the Vikings, 10.  Bryant McKinnie is the biggest Viking, 6-foot-8, 335-pounds, while Antoine Winfield is the smallest, 5-foot-9, 180-pounds. 

Mike Morris, former long snapper for the Minnesota Vikings and now a KFAN talk show host, told Sports Headliners that an NFL player today with eight to 10 years in the league could expect to draw a pension at age 55 of $10,000 or more per month.  Age 55 is full retirement age, although players can draw partial pensions starting at 45.  

Jonas Gray, an outstanding running back from Detroit who the Gophers were pursuing, has committed to Nebraska, according to rivals.com. 

Don’t be surprised if the Timberwolves make more player acquisitions.  The team needs improvement at center and a healthy Joel Przybilla, the former Gopher stuck in Portland behind No. 1 pick Greg Oden, could help here.  The “welcome mat” is probably out, too, for a good point guard. 

Last week’s Sporting News includes a small photo of Twins reliever Pat Neshek on the cover, referring to him as a “weird and wired pitcher.”  A flattering feature story describes Neshek’s unusual sidearm delivery, high socks, low cap and passion for his Internet site.  

Canterbury Park’s annual Minnesota Festival of Champions is Sunday, with 11 races and a purse of $425,000.  The festival is for Minnesota bred horses and showcases the state horse racing industry.