It was Saturday, September 24, 1987.
The Twins, against all odds, had gone from the AL cellar in ’86, through an improbable rally to carry them to the AL Pennant.
When it comes to sports, I’m like one of those Jewish people who never goes to Synogogue, drinks, eats non-kosher food if he feels like it, dates goyim, but hangs on to the “Jewish” heritage. I enjoy certain sports (baseball) and teams (the Bears, the Cubs, the Twinks) just on principle, because I like saying it, and because it brings me occasional insight or the occasional stray shaving of pleasure.
And like anyone who’d ever been anywhere near Minnesota sports, I’d learned to rely on the insights, since the pleasure was pretty sparse. With the Bergmanian pessimism that lies behind most Scandinavian life, I figured the ’87 Twins would, eventually, flop.
So with the Twins down 3-2 going into Game Six, I figured it was basically all over – that we were set up for a classic Minnesota “close but no cigar” at the final wire. I figured I’d forstall the disappointment and take in a movie.
I drove to the Roseville – then as now, a “dollar” theatre. As I parked in the lot by the Rainbow Foods, I flipped on WCCO…
…as Carneal (or John Gordon or whomever the F) set up the call – Ken Dayley or some other pitcher from the “who the hell was he” list pitching to Herbie. It was, of course, the grand slam that became one of the big highlights of Kent Hrbek’s career. I sat in the car and listened, grinning like a hummel, totally missing my show.
As the game ended with a big, surprising Twins win, I figured they’d choke tomorrow – but it’d be fun while it lasted.
UPDATE: Yeah, I got your emails/comments. In response, feel free to check the post for evidence of how little I care about sports trivia.
I mean, that was fairly clear, no?
When is this blog going to get some gatekeepers? For the record:
1) The Twins were not in the cellar in ’86. They finished second to last in the AL West that year. The “worst to first” Twins team was 1991.
2) Ken Dayley threw the pitch that Hrbek hit for the grand slam, not Bob Forsch.
3) As I recall, John Gordon was handling play by play on WCCO for that call, not Herb Carneal.
I’m still trying to get a second source to confirm that you were not parked in the Rainbow lot, you were actually in front of the NAPA Auto Parts.
Other than that, a remarkably accurate account.
3) As I recall, John Gordon was handling play by play on WCCO for that call, not Herb Carneal.
No, it was indeed Herb Carneal on the call for Hrbek’s Grand Slam!!
I’ll leave this to the trivia experts.
Suffice to say SOMEONE made the call as SOMEONE pitched to (checks memory) Hrbie.