Your first Twins game?

[David HK]

Glad to have found this forum- great chats, great folks with intelligence, wit, and occasional pathos-  it is the Twinkies, after all...

 

Just wondering, on the eve of the home opener-- when was your first Twins game?

 

What happened, what do you remember about that day?

Mine was Aug. 9, 1970, a double-header, where the Twins got greased twice by the A's, with former Twin Don Mincher jacking a couple of taters off Kaat, and 19-year-old Bert Blyleven taking the loss in the opener.  Gorgeous sunny day, with the family making the trip all the way from Bismarck, yah sure, you betcha.  It was such a treat to see the HUGE Met Stadium, and the players who'd until then, only been cyphers on the scratchy AM radio, or the flickering black and white TV. 

 

Living in the Cities for most of the 80's, I spent lots of time at the Dome, for better or worse.

 

When was your first trip to the old ball yard?  The Met, Dome, or the new Targette palace (which I hope to visit one day soon!)

 

[FattCrapps]

I don't remember the date, nor am I for certain this was my 1st game (but there's a good chance, I was maybe 7 years old?).  They were playing the Mariners during Griffey's first few years in the big leagues (my sister was a big fan) and we were in the upper deck outfield.

 

I told my pops I didn't feel well...He said, "Ok, but we gotta see Griffey bat.  He's due up soon."  After awhile I couldn't wait any longer, and he had to rush me to the bathroom.  As he was carrying me down the aisle, I projectile vomited into the stands.  I nailed some freckle-faced kid...he didn't seem too happy.

 

That was my 1st Twins game (maybe).  Thank you. 

[Ben B]

I went to my first game when I was five. It was 1991 - good year to start a fandom! 

 

It was bat day, and back then they actually gave out real, full size bats. There's a picture of me standing in the dome bleachers posing with this bat that was as big as I was. I used it for years playing ball in my yard. 

 

I remembered it was in June against the White Sox and Jack Morris pitched. That was enough to figure out the date: June 30, 1991. Morris had a complete game shutout. 

[Reider]

I believe the first Twins game I went to was Aug 21st, 1992 vs the Toronto Blue Jays (5-1 Twins win). I was 9 years old and it was awesome being in the Metrodome for the first time. The stadium was huge, the energy in the building was fun (e.g. when the announcers introduced Kirby Puckett), and considering I was a huge Jays fan at the time and slowly becoming a Twins fan, it was awesome to watch all of the great players on the field from both teams (Alomar, Carter, White, Winfield, Olerud, Morris, Puckett, Knoblauch, Hrbek, Gagne, Erickson etc).

 

My family watched the entire Jays series and part of or most of the series against Detroit. I remember during warm ups vs. Detroit we were sitting near field level down the 3rd base line, out near the warning track and one of the Tigers players tossed a baseball to my younger brother (age 6 at the time). It was just a really cool experience and quite unlike watching the game on TV.

 

My first time watching the Twins @ Target Field was in August of 2010. It is a fantastic stadium and a great place to watch baseball.

[HitInAPinch]

August 25, 1970.  Twins vs. Red Sox.  4th inning this fat guy in an UGLY orange and white checked suit runs/waddles towards the pitching mound.  A few minutes later, the PA announces that the Met Stadium had received a bomb threat.  We were told to evacuate the stadium.

 

Worst part about the whole thing:  we were on the 2nd level.  Everyone on the 1st level got to go onto the field with all the players from both team.  AND security blocked all stairways to get down there.  We ended up in the damn parking lot.

 

The fat guy in the ugly suit coat was Calvin Griffith.

[USAFChief]

Summer, 1963, with my mom and dad. The only things I remember are the parking lot, how perfect the field looked as we emerged from the tunnel into the upper deck, and frosty malts, with a wooden spoon.

[IowaTwin346]

My first Twins game I do not really remember other than I have my Wheaties, Kirby Puckett bat.  I was only a year or 2 old.  

 

My parents said that everyone around us had a bat and I cried.  Kid in front of us gave me the bat because they were season ticket holders and had other souvenirs. My parents said I held the bat in my car seat and slept the whole way home.

 

I am guessing that is how I became a Kirby Puckett fan.  That and watching the 1987 and 1991 ALCS and World Series tapes' on VHS in the middle of winter when no other baseball was on.   

 

My son was only a few months old when we went to his first Twins game at US Cellular last year. I cannot wait until he is old enough to enjoy it. Hopefully the team is worth remembering at that point.

[LimestoneBaggy]

Went with my Babe Ruth baseball team. Remember the drive from central North Dakota, because I had to pee the last two hours and the coach wouldn't stop. First time seeing professional anything. I save money for months to buy a baseball, small bat, and a set of Twins cards. 

 

Twins were losing, I went into the bathroom to pee in the trough for the fourth time, and Kirby hit a home run...when the game is on the line, I head to the bathroom....it works.

[Mike Berg]

I must have been 5 or 6, because it was Reggie Bar Night at the Met. must have been 78 or 79?. The only thing I remember was getting a candy bar when my dad and I left the game.

 

After that, I remember tons of games through the 80s at the Metrodome. My mom would buy $4 general admission tickets, and turn my friend and I loose to run to the first row in the corner of right field.

 

Sadly, my son wants nothing to do with baseball.

[woolywoolhouse]

I apparently went to one of the final (as in within the last two months) games at the Ol' Met in 1981. I was born in 1980... so I don't remember.

 

The first game I remember was in 1986. All I remember is Kirby hitting a homerun, and thinking it was really cool to be able to climb the stairs in the Metrodome all the way to the top!

[Otto von Ballpark]

My first Twins game, Paul Molitor hit for the cycle!  For the Brewers...

 

http://www.baseball-reference.com/boxes/MIN/MIN199105150.shtml

[Kirby_waved_at_me]

I can't remember, but I know it was at the Dome. It was either that game or one shortly afterwards that inspired my username. I was sitting probably 15-20 rows back in the upper deck with my parents and Kirby made a great catch in CF. He turned to the crowd and tipped his cap and waved his glove. I very exicitedly told my mom "Kirby waved at ME!" I was pretty young at the time...

 

My first Target Field game was the ballpark's first night game - I remember because I was freezing! I ended up going to the pro shop and buying a jacket.... Yikes was that expensive.

 

My first game this year will be on Monday. I'll probably be wearing that jacket again. Hoping for a win!

[ashbury]

I don't remember anything about my first game, except one indelible recollection: Mosquitos! Why yes, this WAS old Metropolitan Stadium, either late 1978 or else in 1979.

[Willihammer]

I wish I had your all's memory powers. All I know is it was a bat giveaway game and we brought back 3 of them and burned through em quickly.

[bird]

 

Summer, 1963, with my mom and dad. The only things I remember are the parking lot, how perfect the field looked as we emerged from the tunnel into the upper deck, and frosty malts, with a wooden spoon.

 

 

I remember that game.

[TwinsCD]

1st Twins game -- 1990 in Baltimore.  Kirby hit 2 dingers and had 5 RBI and somehow, Allan Anderson, a pitcher who I maligned every time he took the mound, got a win.

 

1st Twins game in Dome -- Game 3 of 2002 ALDS vs. A's.  Sat 2 rows from the roof behind home plate, just avoiding a constant leak (the good ole Dome).  Watched the leadoff batter for the A's hit in inside-the-park HR past a diving Hunter in center.  Thought we were screwed for the series after the game was over.  Went to Game 4 the next day and felt much better.

 

1st Twins game at Target -- July of 2010, right after the All-Star break against the Indians.  Went to two games, lost them both.  Went to a Twins game in Tampa two weeks later, they lost that one too.  In between seeing them at Target and seeing them in Tampa, they went 10-1.  

[kydoty]

Here was my first game.

 

http://www.baseball-reference.com/boxes/MIN/MIN199308310.shtml

 

The infamous 22 inning game on 8/31/93 (Look who was playing 3B for Cleveland).  I was 10 years old.  I grew up in South Dakota, and this was my first time ever being inside a major city.  When we were close enough to see the Minneapolis skyline, I remember being in complete shock and awe of what I was seeing, as I've never seen anything like it before with my own eyes. 

 

Anyways, the game.  I got Willie Banks' (our starting pitcher that evening) autograph, and my heart almost dropped out of my chest the moment I saw Kirby Puckett leave the dugout.  I was only about 10 feet away from him.  Dave Winfield was about a dozen hits away from 3,000, and he was 0 for 8, and when he came up for his 9th plate appearance he was roundly booed.  He responded by hitting a double off the baggy, but didn't score.  By the time Pedro Munoz hit the walkoff homer, it was 1:27 AM.  My parents took me and my three brothers out for Perkins right afterward. (the concession stands were closed four hours ago and my parents had four hungry boys to feed).

 

And then...we did it all again 16 hours later!    

[Winston Smith]

April 23, 1961. Third home game they played, Sunday afternoon. All I remember is the field looked so big and so green. We had gone to a Millers game the year before to see Yaz play  that was a night game so the field didn't look so big. Really don't remember much else, its now a very long time ago. That happens when you get old! Getting old is better than the alternative, I guess.

[Minniman]

 

I must have been 5 or 6, because it was Reggie Bar Night at the Met. must have been 78 or 79?. The only thing I remember was getting a candy bar when my dad and I left the game.

 

After that, I remember tons of games through the 80s at the Metrodome. My mom would buy $4 general admission tickets, and turn my friend and I loose to run to the first row in the corner of right field.

 

That was YOU !?!

 

http://i37.photobucket.com/albums/e73/haze32/cementshoes1.gif

 

[Longdistancetwins]

As I’ve said endlessly here, I’ve always been a long distance fan, growing up in northern New Jersey, but, as it happened, my very first live baseball game was at the old Met:   My uncle lived in Minneapolis, so when we went on a family visit (my first plane trip, and, in those days you wore your best clothes for air travel) in late August of 1969, we begged for a chance to see the Twins.

 

We were playing the Yankees, of all teams.   Dave Boswell was working on a shutout, but he was hit in the head with a pitch.   My favorite player, Tony-O, hit a homerun, and if that wasn’t sweet enough, he hit another for good measure.   I have a blurry photo of the Twins-O-Gram giving the distance.   I ended up with Ted Uhlaender’s and Jerry Crider’s autographs. We won, 6-0:   Little did I know how rare those victories over the Yankees would become.  I’ve witnessed many, many losses at Yankee Stadium since then.

 

Twenty years later, I visited again and went to the Metrodome but have yet to see Target Field.

[Hrbowski]

I didn't get to a game until 2012, it was at Target Field and the Twins won 5-4, Scott Diamond started and Trevor Plouffe homered.

[notoriousgod71]

 

Here was my first game.

 

http://www.baseball-reference.com/boxes/MIN/MIN199308310.shtml

 

The infamous 22 inning game on 8/31/93 (Look who was playing 3B for Cleveland).  I was 10 years old.  I grew up in South Dakota, and this was my first time ever being inside a major city.  When we were close enough to see the Minneapolis skyline, I remember being in complete shock and awe of what I was seeing, as I've never seen anything like it before with my own eyes. 

 

Anyways, the game.  I got Willie Banks' (our starting pitcher that evening) autograph, and my heart almost dropped out of my chest the moment I saw Kirby Puckett leave the dugout.  I was only about 10 feet away from him.  Dave Winfield was about a dozen hits away from 3,000, and he was 0 for 8, and when he came up for his 9th plate appearance he was roundly booed.  He responded by hitting a double off the baggy, but didn't score.  By the time Pedro Munoz hit the walkoff homer, it was 1:27 AM.  My parents took me and my three brothers out for Perkins right afterward. (the concession stands were closed four hours ago and my parents had four hungry boys to feed).

 

And then...we did it all again 16 hours later!    

 

I like that Cleveland damn near had two pitchers go over 100 pitches. I wonder what it would take in today's game to have a relief pitcher throw 100 pitches.

[notoriousgod71]

My first game: 07/30/91 vs Detroit

 

Junior Ortiz tripled. I thought Rob Deer did too, but apparently not after looking the game up. I remember how excited I was that four guys in the game had my first name- Erickson, Leius, Aldred, and Livingstone.

[Richie the Rally Goat]

Here was my first game.

 

http://www.baseball-reference.com/boxes/MIN/MIN199308310.shtml

 

The infamous 22 inning game on 8/31/93 (Look who was playing 3B for Cleveland). I was 10 years old. I grew up in South Dakota, and this was my first time ever being inside a major city. When we were close enough to see the Minneapolis skyline, I remember being in complete shock and awe of what I was seeing, as I've never seen anything like it before with my own eyes.

 

Anyways, the game. I got Willie Banks' (our starting pitcher that evening) autograph, and my heart almost dropped out of my chest the moment I saw Kirby Puckett leave the dugout. I was only about 10 feet away from him. Dave Winfield was about a dozen hits away from 3,000, and he was 0 for 8, and when he came up for his 9th plate appearance he was roundly booed. He responded by hitting a double off the baggy, but didn't score. By the time Pedro Munoz hit the walkoff homer, it was 1:27 AM. My parents took me and my three brothers out for Perkins right afterward. (the concession stands were closed four hours ago and my parents had four hungry boys to feed).

 

And then...we did it all again 16 hours later!

 

i was at that game too, but it wasn't my first. I was there with a school group. For some reason we stayed the whole game. When my parents picked me up at the school, they were pissed off. Even if I had thought of calling home, I had spent all of my money on junk food and a hat in the 4th inning.

 

My first was in 1986, but I was 6 years old and don't remember many details, just reveling in proximity to Kirby Pucket and Kent Hrbek from the nosebleed seats in Right Field Metrodome and being sad that the hometown 9 got spanked by Cleveland.

[pierre75275]

My first Twins game was in 1988. It was against Seattle. I still have the ticket stub in a scrap book which I could look up for the exact date...wait a minute. I will do that. Found it!! June 17 1988. I remember being crushed because instead of watching Kirby Puckett I got to watch John Moses and Tommy Herr. I don't remember who started for the Twins (pitching) but I remember Tim Laudner ( I think in the 7th Inning) hitting a drive to dead center with the bases loaded that hit off the base of wall directly under the 408 sign. Twins won 4-1. After the game we went to a hotel and watched a John Wayne movie. Dont remember the name of the movie but it was important that it was a John Wayne movie to the people i was with. Good Times.