The Best Day of Baseball....And the Field Always Calls
Currently I'm back in my old stomping grounds in Minnesota. Me and my significant other have come back for one of our attempts at a regular visit to family and friends. While home we were blessed with the opportunity to participate in number of activities, many of them surrounding baseball.
First I arranged a 3 day mini-camp for a group of young budding baseball stars at St. Anthony High School in the Twin Cities area. The Huskies are the reigning AA champions and are coached by my best friend. The mini-camp, scheduled for Friday to Sunday for 2 hours each day, was both a way for kids to learn some drills and methods of improving over the winter months and a chance for me to earn a little cash on the side.
Another gift we received or arranged was a trip to the Twins final home game of the season versus the Chicago White Sox. We planned this weeks in advance without knowing for sure if the game would mean anything in the seasons final outcome. Heading into Sunday's game the Twins were tied with Detroit for the Division lead, a quest the Twins had not been able to grasp the entire season. With Detroit having beaten the Twins more times than not throughout the season they were guaranteed the Division crown if both teams should finish the season with the same record. Simply put, in order for the Twins to win the division they had to beat the reigning World Champion White Sox and Detroit had to lose to baseball's worst team the Kansas City Royals.
We arrived only 20 minutes before game time and the near capacity crowd was already struggling to find joy in afternoon's events. The scoreboard in the outfield showed Kansas City was already trailing Detroit 3-0.
The White Sox struck first in Metrodome scoring in the first inning and the Twins mustered little in the 1st couple of frames all the while the outfield scoreboard showing Detroit had stretched its lead to 6-0. I had already discussed with my friends the possibility of leaving after a the 7th inning to beat traffic and to get me back to the park in time for mini-camp.
Midway through the game the Twins put together some runs to take the lead 4-1 while Kansas City showed some life and notched a few runs of their own. It took only a matter of minutes and the scoreboard showed Kansas City was threatening to tie up the game. With the Twins in command of Chicago hope still loomed for a division title.
In the 7th Kansas City tied it up and the the crowd was going crazy with everyone staring at this scoreboard waiting to see who would score next. Seemingly, nobody was really watching the game in front of them anymore but instead imagining the drama unfold in detroit.
Kansas City soon took the lead and Metrodome erupted. Only an inning later however Detroit notched another run to tie it up 8-8. So there we sat, the clock ticking as I had youngters planning to meet me at 4:30 to learn about the game, while the Twins were holding their lead, and the Royals fighting to give Minnesota it's first sole possession of 1st place in almost 6 months.
Well, duty called! As always I had to dash and race off to the field. I learned from the sound of honking horns and joyous park goers that the Royals had managed to fend off Detroit in 11 innings while the Twins held off Chicago.
I saw on the news later that night that nearly all of the fans, except me and my friends of course,stayed at metrodome and watched the action in detroit unfold on the giant television monitors. Even the players stayed on the field watching with their faithful followers. It was truly a great moment in Minnesota sports.
I wouldn't trade an afternoon on the field for everything, but that game in Detroit, well, that has to be the best game I never saw.
We arrived at
First I arranged a 3 day mini-camp for a group of young budding baseball stars at St. Anthony High School in the Twin Cities area. The Huskies are the reigning AA champions and are coached by my best friend. The mini-camp, scheduled for Friday to Sunday for 2 hours each day, was both a way for kids to learn some drills and methods of improving over the winter months and a chance for me to earn a little cash on the side.
Another gift we received or arranged was a trip to the Twins final home game of the season versus the Chicago White Sox. We planned this weeks in advance without knowing for sure if the game would mean anything in the seasons final outcome. Heading into Sunday's game the Twins were tied with Detroit for the Division lead, a quest the Twins had not been able to grasp the entire season. With Detroit having beaten the Twins more times than not throughout the season they were guaranteed the Division crown if both teams should finish the season with the same record. Simply put, in order for the Twins to win the division they had to beat the reigning World Champion White Sox and Detroit had to lose to baseball's worst team the Kansas City Royals.
We arrived only 20 minutes before game time and the near capacity crowd was already struggling to find joy in afternoon's events. The scoreboard in the outfield showed Kansas City was already trailing Detroit 3-0.
The White Sox struck first in Metrodome scoring in the first inning and the Twins mustered little in the 1st couple of frames all the while the outfield scoreboard showing Detroit had stretched its lead to 6-0. I had already discussed with my friends the possibility of leaving after a the 7th inning to beat traffic and to get me back to the park in time for mini-camp.
Midway through the game the Twins put together some runs to take the lead 4-1 while Kansas City showed some life and notched a few runs of their own. It took only a matter of minutes and the scoreboard showed Kansas City was threatening to tie up the game. With the Twins in command of Chicago hope still loomed for a division title.
In the 7th Kansas City tied it up and the the crowd was going crazy with everyone staring at this scoreboard waiting to see who would score next. Seemingly, nobody was really watching the game in front of them anymore but instead imagining the drama unfold in detroit.
Kansas City soon took the lead and Metrodome erupted. Only an inning later however Detroit notched another run to tie it up 8-8. So there we sat, the clock ticking as I had youngters planning to meet me at 4:30 to learn about the game, while the Twins were holding their lead, and the Royals fighting to give Minnesota it's first sole possession of 1st place in almost 6 months.
Well, duty called! As always I had to dash and race off to the field. I learned from the sound of honking horns and joyous park goers that the Royals had managed to fend off Detroit in 11 innings while the Twins held off Chicago.
I saw on the news later that night that nearly all of the fans, except me and my friends of course,stayed at metrodome and watched the action in detroit unfold on the giant television monitors. Even the players stayed on the field watching with their faithful followers. It was truly a great moment in Minnesota sports.
I wouldn't trade an afternoon on the field for everything, but that game in Detroit, well, that has to be the best game I never saw.
We arrived at
posted by Andy Johnson at 8:40 AM
0 Comments:
Post a Comment
<< Home