Why can’t I quit the Minnesota Twins?

[Ben Reimler]

With snow falling precipitously, and the hangover of the holiday season settling in, it’s impossible not to wishfully envision the return of Major League Baseball this spring. But it will be 52 days until the Minnesota Twins take the field against the Tampa Bay Rays for their first spring training match-up of the year. In the meantime, I’m left to reflect on a disappointing season for our ball club and pose to myself the annual question: “why can’t I quit the Minnesota Twins?” Typically, this question is rhetorical. Yet, with the few offseason moves having already either been celebrated or panned, I thought I’d spend time in the doldrums of winter answering this question.  

In 2005, the Minnesota Twins and third-year skipper, Ron Gardenhire, entered the season off a first-place finish in the AL Central the year before. While the club would finish above .500, they wouldn’t repeat as AL Central champions, falling to third in the division. This disappointing finish mattered less to me than a weeknight game in late August.  

On Tuesday, August 23, 2005, the Minnesota Twins entered play against the division-leading Chicago White Sox 9.5 games back. Though dim, hope remained of a playoff push, and with Johan Santana patrolling the mound, 33,572 ventured to the Metrodome to cheer on the Minnesota Twins. Just as Santana went to battle against the White Sox sluggers, my family and I undertook our own battle: a fraught relationship with time management. My family and I had tickets to this game, but with a two-and-a-half-hour drive from Wisconsin, a delayed start from our home, and Twin Cities traffic, we wouldn’t arrive until the game’s pivotal moment.  

I sulked in the car, knowing we would miss most of the game. Undeterred, however, my Mom and Dad hustled me through the billowing winds of the Metrodome’s entrance. We darted through the concourse, until the field came into view. The bottom of the eighth inning was just underway – did I mention we have a tenuous relationship with time management? – and the “thwack” of the bat snapped me out of my disappointment.  

Jacque Jones’ home run soared over the center field wall and ended Freddy Garcia’s no-hit bid. Joe Nathan would then enter in the ninth inning to clinch the Twins’ 1-0 victory. I don’t remember whether I had time to enjoy a Kramarczuk's brat that night– I suspect not – but I do know I wouldn’t trade this early Twins memory for anything (well, maybe for Zac Gallen).  

Baseball is unpredictable. A team can lose 88 games, finish in last place, and the following season, parade a World Series trophy down I-35.  Similarly, without a clock to dictate the game’s finish, a family can arrive long after the first pitch is thrown, but still witness the game’s decisive swing. All that’s promised is that in 89 days, each team will begin with the same record; the unpredictable unfolding 162 times over. That’s why I can’t quit the Minnesota Twins.

[tarheeltwinsfan]

Nice article. It can be frustrating to be a baseball fan of any ML team. Hang in there. Wait til next year. 

[Parfigliano]

28 minutes ago, tarheeltwinsfan said:

Nice article. It can be frustrating to be a baseball fan of any ML team. Hang in there. Wait til next 

I assume you are not already giving up on 2023.

[jctwins]

In a way I enjoy being a fan of a terrible team more than a successful team. I always used to say I appreciated the people at Royals Day games on a Wednesday afternoon in 100 degree heat. That's analogous to this current train wreck of a team. It's far more fun than jumping on a bandwagon when a team makes the playoffs.

[tony&rodney]

In late September of 1984 a very young Twins team closed their home schedule with a win that brought them into a tie for first place. The crowd was on its feet all night rocking The Dome and didn't quit until the Twins came out from the clubhouse well after the game had ended to a thunderous ovation for their season. The Twins didn't win in 1984 or in 1977 or in 1963, but the sheer joy of some teams keeps an addict coming back for more even through the abyss of seasons like 2022.

The Twins are coming on the radio and tv and live real soon and it takes a few months of optimism to get pumped up. 

It's baseball.

[Vanimal46]

We just haven’t hit the point of no return with the team yet ?

I love baseball, but I must say I am growing more apathetic about the Twins. Winning will help, but I think it’s a bit deeper than that. The constant turnover on roster and style of baseball the Twins have played the last couple of years isn’t entertaining. I don’t know what they’re trying to do right now. They’re not building a great offense, nor a great pitching staff. 

[farmerguychris]

I'll never quit the team because a bad day at the ballpark is better than a good day most anyplace else.

The sounds, the smells, the atmosphere all is something I look forward to even as a 50 year old regardless of if we are in first, or last place.

[Dave The Dastardly]

We're all masochists. Nothing like a little anguish and a lot of carryover disappointment to heat up cold winters. It's like burning tongue and mouth with peppers so hot you could brand a cow with 'em. You just bend over, pucker up and take it in the..., uh, hip.

Anybody seen my Twins cap?

 

 

[CRF]

I'll never quit the Twins, but I'd SURE love to quit snow blowing the driveway!

[Squirrel]

Nice piece of writing, @Ben Reimler ... thank you!

[Nine of twelve]

In my case it's a congenital condition. I was born with the susceptibility to be a Twins fan and once my parents exposed me it became a lifelong affliction. Two of my three sisters inherited the same thing. However, my other sister... frankly, we don't like to talk about it much but she is now a Red Sox fan. We tried an intervention but it was not successful.

[Bigfork Twins Guy]

I got hooked back in 1967 when our family was camping in Northern Minnesota.  It was late at night and all were asleep except me and my Mom as we were listening to the Twins in extra innings on her little transistor radio on low volume.  Then it happened, Harmon (Killer) Killebrew hit a walkoff home run and both my Mom and myself screeched with joy.  I think we may have awoken my brother and Dad but we didn't care.

There have been lots of games where they just petered out and lost and I'd quietly go to sleep.  But it's those games where they excite us that keeps all of us hooked.

[theBOMisthebomb]

2 hours ago, farmerguychris said:

I'll never quit the team because a bad day at the ballpark is better than a good day most anyplace else.

The sounds, the smells, the atmosphere all is something I look forward to even as a 50 year old regardless of if we are in first, or last place.

Yes, that's it. In the moment at Target Field and the game starts it doesn't matter that they haven't really competed for a title except for maybe once in the last 30 years. It's the Twins, outdoor baseball, let's go. God has blessed us to enjoy watching the greatest players in the world at the game we love. What more can we ask?  

[Squirrel]

36 minutes ago, Nine of twelve said:

In my case it's a congenital condition. I was born with the susceptibility to be a Twins fan and once my parents exposed me it became a lifelong affliction. Two of my three sisters inherited the same thing. However, my other sister... frankly, we don't like to talk about it much but she is now a Red Sox fan. We tried an intervention but it was not successful.

Hmm ... was it nature or nurture, or both?

[USAFChief]

9 minutes ago, Squirrel said:

Hmm ... was it nature or nurture, or both?

Yes?

[m-i-e-n-t-k-i-e-w-i-c-z]

The Twins on the radio with Herb Carneal pulled me in as a child. Now I compusively listen to broadcasts, regardless of the Twins' success, even when I'm at the best ballpark in the world.

[tarheeltwinsfan]

17 hours ago, Parfigliano said:

I assume you are not already giving up on 2023.

You are correct in your assumption that I am not already giving up on 2023 for the Twins. In fact, I'll be the first here at TD to predict that the 2023 World Series Champions will be the Minnesota Twins, led by the Twins starting pitchers, 3 of whom amass over 180 innings pitched and over 190 SO's each,  and led by a record setting relief corps with an ERA under 2.50 and more than 1.5 SO's per inning, and Luis Arraez hits .350 and wins his second batting title, however Byron Buxton is voted MVP when he finally stays healthy and Sports Illustrated puts Aaron Judge on the cover, thus jinxing Judge and the entire Yankee team, who are swept by the Twins in the AL Championship series (bring out the brooms), thus resulting one week later, in only the third World Series 9 inning complete perfect game thrown by a pitcher - Sonny Gray in Minneapolis against the suddenly cold Padres hitters. Are you questioning my reference to the "third" WS perfect game? Well you are wrong, because Joe Ryan  had pitched the "second" WS perfect game the night before. Gooooooo Twins. (Who says I'm not optimistic?)

[Dman]

I think with boards like this and being able to follow the farm there is always hope for another Twins World Series team at some point.  Pretty sure I will always follow the Twins maybe not as close as I do right now but I will be listening\Watching.  

With the money disparity it is getting harder to watch the top revenue teams scoop up all the talent while the lower level teams essentially have to sit out free agency.  Still hope is hard to kill and I will hope this team can find a way to beat the odds.

[Fred]

1 minute ago, Dman said:

I think with boards like this and being able to follow the farm there is always hope for another Twins World Series team at some point.  Pretty sure I will always follow the Twins maybe not as close as I do right now but I will be listening\Watching.  

With the money disparity it is getting harder to watch the top revenue teams scoop up all the talent while the lower level teams essentially have to sit out free agency.  Still hope is hard to kill and I will hope this team can find a way to beat the odds.

You know disparity is a problem when a team owner shrugs and goes to the 4th level of luxury tax without even blinking.

[Riverbrian]

I've been and will here through the bad times and I have been and will be here for the good times.

Being a Twins fan is no harder than it is to be a fan of the other 29 teams... our challenges are not unique. 

 

[NotAboutWinning]

I have tried quitting. Looked to the Brewers (only other team in the 5-state area... and, well, beer!), the Rays (interesting results from a minimal payroll and they have a stadium worse than the Metrodome!), the Rockies (I like mountains). But none ever tugged at my heartstrings the way the Twins have (good, bad or ugly). So when my non-baseball friends inevitably ask how the Twins are doing I always tell them being a Twins fan is 'Not about winning' ? ?

[Original_JB]

As a kid growing up and with Cal Griffith owning the team, I always knew that the team would never have much of a payroll, or the best players, and not be as competitive as I would like, but would take solace that we always had young "hungry" players giving 110% to, I hate to say it but, to make it to the next level (play for another team). The number of guys they let go over the years seemed staggering. But, at the time, I also stated that I'd much rather have the team we did, than a bunch of overpaid divas resting on their laurels (while still being a lousy team) like the Orioles of that era. So that, and my best friend and I both played (through H.S.) and loved the game, and until he passed away suddenly 10 years ago, we would sit on the phone arguing the live game we were watching on the tube (each at home) on strategy, and either how excessively long, or frustratingly short Gardie would leave his relievers in.  For better or worse, I still have those arguments with him from time to time. So maybe it's the game moreso than the Twins, but I've lived here pretty much my whole life so that's where I'm at. If I moved to another major league town, I'm sure I'd end up following them (but would always still "check in" with my Twins).

[ChermesZ]

2 hours ago, Fred said:

You know disparity is a problem when a team owner shrugs and goes to the 4th level of luxury tax without even blinking.

With the ticket prices we pay, Mets fans should have to pay $1000 per ticket.  

[USAFChief]

4 hours ago, m-i-e-n-t-k-i-e-w-i-c-z said:

The Twins on the radio with Herb Carneal pulled me in as a child. Now I compusively listen to broadcasts, regardless of the Twins' success, even when I'm at the best ballpark in the world.

"Hi, everybody!"

 

There is nothing like a ball game on the radio.

 

Years ago, when I was stationed overseas and there wasn't a thing called the internet,  and AFRTS was quite different, my mother-in-law--bless her heart-- used to record a couple three radio Twins games on cassettes and mail them to me. That was the only option. I'd listen to that game 2 or 3 times a week until the next one came, then save the old one with the others, to be pulled from hibernation and put back in the rotation when I needed a change. The voice of Herb put me back somewhere in Minnesota every time.

 

Herb Carneal. 

 

The best

 

[Bigfork Twins Guy]

1 hour ago, Original_JB said:

So that, and my best friend and I both played (through H.S.) and loved the game, and until he passed away suddenly 10 years ago, we would sit on the phone arguing the live game we were watching on the tube (each at home) on strategy, and either how excessively long, or frustratingly short Gardie would leave his relievers in.  For better or worse, I still have those arguments with him from time to time.

This one tugged at my heart strings JB.  Good to have those conversations with those who have gone before us.  I'm absolutely sure he is listening.

[The_Phantom]

23 hours ago, Parfigliano said:

I assume you are not already giving up on 2023.

Why not, the FO has lol

[wsnydes]

Michael Corleone summed up my thoughts on this pretty succinctly; "Just when I thought I was out, they pull me back in!"

[Dave The Dastardly]

I'm a child of the Sixties. I can remember attending Twins games in Metropolitan Stadium with my brother, my dad and my dad's Army buddy. They were both WW II vets. I'm the only one of the four still alive. I follow the Twins for them. Just in case they're going to ask me to catch them up when I join them in that Big Grandstand In The Sky. Box seats.

[Longdistancetwins]

9 hours ago, Nine of twelve said:

In my case it's a congenital condition. I was born with the susceptibility to be a Twins fan and once my parents exposed me it became a lifelong affliction. Two of my three sisters inherited the same thing. However, my other sister... frankly, we don't like to talk about it much but she is now a Red Sox fan. We tried an intervention but it was not successful.

Happened to me, too.  I became a long-distance Twins fan in New Jersey at age 10 because of my brother.  As an adult, he moved to New England and became a Red Sox fan.  But because he wears only a David Ortiz jersey, I’m left without too much to say.   

[Longdistancetwins]

2 hours ago, USAFChief said:

"Hi, everybody!"

 

There is nothing like a ball game on the radio.

 

Years ago, when I was stationed overseas and there wasn't a thing called the internet,  and AFRTS was quite different, my mother-in-law--bless her heart-- used to record a couple three radio Twins games on cassettes and mail them to me. That was the only option. I'd listen to that game 2 or 3 times a week until the next one came, then save the old one with the others, to be pulled from hibernation and put back in the rotation when I needed a change. The voice of Herb put me back somewhere in Minnesota every time.

 

Herb Carneal. 

 

The best

 

This is awesome, Chief!