REFLECTIONS

You could say it is their mission statement. It’s very brief: “Win Twins!”

That proclamation came back for the Minnesota Twins Major League Baseball club when it won some playoff games last week.

A former ECM Publishers colleague, Howie Burke, and I last Tuesday went to a baseball playoff game where the Twins won, for the first time in a long while. Howie and I have both been loyal fans since they came to the Twin Cities from Washington, D.C. in 1961.

Howie has been a devoted friend to me for some time. He helped me purchase an Apple computer 12 years ago. That computer has now been placed to rest, and I have a new Apple Mac computer.

Howie and I actually had Minnesota Twins season tickets. Howie even had season tickets to Minnesota St. Paul Saints games. The Saints have since become the Twins’ farm team.

Howie has been a tremendous teacher to me, and he has always been there for me to answer all questions. So, how do you pay somebody for that?

My response was: Why not take him to a playoff baseball game? He went for that, and we had a day of our lives.

Howie and I agreed that Rick Bussler’s son, Caleb, would be able to snare two tickets for the Oct. 3 game against the Toronto Blue Jays.

We got to the game rather early, 12:30 p.m. The gates opened at 1:30. All major events require tickets on cell phones. Rick transferred the tickets from his phone to Howie’s phone.

We moseyed over to padded seats reserved for handicapped fans. We asked the Twins usher if we could borrow two chairs to consume our meal.

“No problem,” he said.

Players on both teams were introduced. Loudest applause was echoed for Twins rookie Royce Lewis (23). Coming in second was Carlos Corea (4).

Tom Kelly, former Twins manager who led two of his teams to World Championships in 1987 and 1991, threw out the first pitch to his first baseman Kent Hrbek. A weak throw bounced the ball to Hrbek.

The U.S. National Anthem and Canadian National Anthem were beautifully sung.

The game was underway, and the Twins’ opening day pitcher Pablo Lopez quickly put two men on base. He got out of a jam and helped lead the Twins to a 3-1 victory.

The chatter after the game was about Carlos Corea’s dramatic throw to nail a runner at home plate under the tag by Ryan Jeffers. Centerfielder Michael Taylor made three unbelievable catches.

For a while, I thought the clock had been turned back to 1987 and 1991. These were the two years the Twins won the World Series.

We were part of a very active cheering section. Every time a Twins player would make an outstanding play, the man and woman in front of us would turn around and high-five us. They also shared some ball game peanuts with us.

This team is a very determined team, and even if they don’t move closer to a World Series title this year, it may be garnered in the near future.

Howie and I left the Target Field stadium very fulfilled.

Thanks, Howie, for letting me take you to a playoff baseball game.