Recently, my parents dropped a large box of old stuff they had been saving. This ranged from congratulations cards from when I was born, to athletic accomplishments to nearly every report card I've ever gotten (I've sorted the report cards, but I'm a little scared to go through them in detail). Two of my favorite items are ticket stubs from some of my favorite Twins games that I've had the privilege to attend.

Game 6, 1987 World Series

The 1987 World Series was the first time the Twins had made the playoffs in my lifetime. To say it was a big deal would an injustice to understatements. The entire state was all-in. Led by a 27 year-old Kirby Puckett, this was one of the most likable teams I've ever cheered for (another is the 2005 OSU football team). I remember watching Gary Gaetti hit two HR's in his first two at bats in the Division Series. I remember going to what seemed like a lot of games that year and always being amazed at Tim Laudner's throws to second. I'm convinced you could put a can of pepsi on the first bag side of second and Laudner would have knocked it over 100% of the time. That's the beauty of memories.

Other memories are watching Kent Hrbek hit a double during the year and my dad joking that they should put him in a wheelbarrow to run because it couldn't be any slower. As a 8 year old, that was the funniest thing I'd ever heard out of my old man's mouth. I also remember how Greg Gagne would crouch down like a frog before every pitch as his way to prepare for the ball. I remember mimicking this in the yard with my brother. I remember Juan Berenguer and how hard he threw. I still love playing RBI baseball from the original Nintendo and putting him in just to watch him throw 100 mph.

Anyway, I found the ticket stub. I still can't get over how amazing my parents were that they could score World Series tickets... and then to bring their 8 year old who was crazy about baseball. Just incredible.

What I remember about the game was that I was sitting next to some St. Louis Cardinals fans, which annoyed me and I remember the game being in doubt until Don Baylor hit a HR and then Kent Hrbek hit a grand slam (note: no wheelbarrow required when you park it). I remember how amazing it was to have 55,000+ people waiving their Homer Hanky. Could you imagine a World Series ticket for $30 today. Crazy.

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1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 R H E - - - - - - - - - - - -

Cardinals 1 1 0 2 1 0 0 0 0 5 11 2

Twins 2 0 0 0 4 4 0 1 X 11 15 0

Saturday, October 24, 1987 1:00

Hubert H. Humphrey Metrodome

Attendance: 55,293, Time of Game: 3:04

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Random Game in Baltimore, 1988

Every year my mom went to Washington D.C. for some meeting or convention. I remember a few years prior to 1988 my brother got to go with her. 1988 was my turn. I'm sure she took me to some of the sights and monuments, but the only thing I remember about that trip was a trip to Baltimore to watch the Orioles, who were ironically playing the Twins. Now my mom is an absolute saint. She is absolutely brilliant in everything she does with the notable exceptions of sports and technology. For instance, last Christmas we bought her a Garmin GPS unit because she was always having to print directions and whatnot. A full year later, the Garmin is still unused in the packaging. My brother got her a smart phone and somehow she set the language to Italian so she can't text. I wish I was making this up.

Regardless, her other shortcoming is with sports. She has always been amazing and attended countless baseball and hockey games. Most of the time, she would bring a book and then pay attention when I was up to bat, but it was always awesome having her there. So this takes us to Baltimore. I remember getting to the stadium and my mom was going to buy tickets, but she had no idea what tickets were good so she walked up to one of the ushers outside the stadium and said "What would be good tickets to buy for today's game?" And I remember this next part clear as day, he looked at my mom and I, reached in his shirt pocket, pulled out two tickets and said "These tickets are excellent" and gave them to my mom. Sometimes People are amazing. I know I'll always have a soft spot in my heart for Baltimore because of that one individual.

The tickets were right behind home. I remember Kent Hrbek (he's everywhere in this blog post) hitting what I thought were two hr's (after looking up the box score, it was only one). We left before the game was decided, but I still remember it like it was yesterday.

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Ironically, Les Straker was the starting pitcher at both games.

1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 R H E - - - - - - - - - - - - - -

Twins 0 0 0 1 0 0 0 0 2 0 0 3 11 1

Orioles 0 0 0 1 0 1 0 0 1 0 1 4 6 0

Wednesday, May 4, 1988, 7:35

Memorial Stadium

Attendance: 12,325, Time of Game: 3:28

This blog originally posted at http://takesallkinds.wordpress.com

My dad wrote a fiction book centered around the Twins - Check it out on Amazon, only .99 cents -http://www.amazon.com/Mr-Base-Man-eb...7960681&sr=8-1