Twins Daily had its first ever Date Night on Thursday Night at the Ordway. 30 people enjoyed the event, which included:

 

Gathering

Generous samples of four varieties of Summit beer. It was so nice (and so accessible) that we made a critical tactical error. We had reserved a gorgeous room that overlooked the beer tasting with a cash bar – but nobody used it. We kept seeing couples go up there and then see the rest of us at the beer tasting and come and join us. I literally never stepped foot in that room once the event started. The bartender we had there must have been bored stiff.Clyde

A really cool walk through of old Washington Senators memorabilia by Clyde Doepner, the Twins archivist. The display included several items from the time that the Damn Yankees was on Broadway (the mid-50s) including several letters from Presidents to Calvin Griffith, since it was tradition that the President threw out the first pitch on Opening Day.

 

But the biggest treasure was Clyde. What a cool, passionate guy. Everything that was in that case was stuff that was saved by him when Calvin Griffith tried to throw out all his Senators stuff when he moved to the more cramped Metrodome.

 

Did you know that the Twins are the only team that has a full-time historical archivist?

 

Goodies

Several clever touches, like baseball trivia before the show, a chance to get your selfie on a baseball card, and $2 hot dogs at concessions.

 

The Show

Finally, we watched a sold out Damn Yankees musical. I’m sure you can read better reviews than I can give. Me? It's baseball and a musical, so I’m a pretty easy sell. The show's goofy but delightful material was well done with performances ranging from solid to fantastic.

 

The Ordway is clearly excited about this event, partly because I know they have a lot of big baseball fans on staff. That excitement shows through in the production and in all the stuff that surrounds it.

 

Here are a few (pretty poor) pictures I snapped to give you a sense of the event. We’ll need to do something like this again.

 

Here's the lobby overlooking the Summit Beer tasting that we didn't use.

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And here's the Summit Beer Guy....

Download attachment: Summit.JPG

 

...who we obviously did use.

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It was a great time! I enjoyed chatting with you, John, about Buxton. (I have a hunch that doesn't narrow it down any as to who I am among the Twins Daily attendees...)

 

The performers were very good singers and I'm glad to finally be able to say I've seen Damn Yankees.