Episode 15: Get to Know the 1960s Twins (with Dave Mona)

[Seth Stohs]

This week, I have shared my choices for a Minnesota Twins All Decade Team, starting with the Hitters and then the Pitchers. To continue the discussion of the 1960s Twins, I was fortunate to spend about a little over an hour chatting with WCCOs Dave Mona about the players from the 1960s team. He was a Twins beat writer in 1968 and 1969.The Twins came to Minnesota before the 1961 season and had a really good first decade. The team won 89 or more games in six of the nine seasons. They took the Dodgers to Game 7 of the 1965 World Series. They had some batting championship, Pitchers of the Year, lots of home runs and gave Twins baseball fans some great excitement.

 

 

You may know Dave Mona from his great work at WCCO, hosting The Sports Huddle with Sid and Dave. But as you'll hear in this episode, he remains busy, working throughout the community. He has long been a huge supporter of all Minnesota sports. He worked at Met Stadium in the 1950s, when the Minneapolis Millers played there. He ended up at the Minneapolis Tribune and he was the Twins beat writer during the 1968 and 1969 seasons.

 

In this episode, we discussed the top Twins hitters and pitchers of the 1960s. Mr. Mona has so many great stories from covering the team and from remaining in the sports media since then. He's got great stories of Harmon Killebrew, Rod Carew, Tony Oliva, Ron Perranoski and most of the All-Decade team. And there are great stories regarding Billy Martin, and Reggie Jackson, and others.

 

This was one of the most enjoyable conversations I have had,and I really believe you will enjoy the conversation. There were so many great Twins players in the 1960s, and Dave Mona tells some great stories! Please listen and discuss and comment below.

 

 

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And did you know that you can listen to the Get To Know 'Em podcast by asking Alexa to "Listen to the Get To Know 'Em Podcast."

 

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Episode 13: Get to know: Dick Bremer (Twins broadcaster, author)

Episode 14: Get to know: Anthony Slama (former Twins pitcher, entrepreneur)

 

 

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What a great program.  You gave me a wonderful evening of memories and stories.  Thank you.