By Larry Fitzgerald
Originally posted 4/7/2010
It’s been a long time since a professional sports team in this town won a championship. In the last year, things have been looking up as the Twins, Vikings, and men’s Gophers basketball teams all reached the playoffs.
Guess what the last team to do it (win it all) was: the Twins in 1991.
It’s ironic how that team was led by a superstar who had just signed a multi-year contract.
Kirby Puckett was his name, and winning championships was his game. The historic re-signing of Joe Mauer to an eight-year, $184 million deal and the electricity generated by the opening of the wonderful outdoor ball park, Target Field, has really lit a fuse in this town.
I asked Mauer if he felt any pressure to get his deal done. “I don’t think so,” he said. “You know, obviously I wanted to get it done.
I wanted to get it done before the season started. But I think it went about as smooth as it could go. I think both sides wanted to get it done, and I’m glad we were able to do it.”
Now that it’s done, Twins fans are giddy; in fact, the combination of the signing, the team, and the ball park has given many Minnesotans something extra to hang their hats on. Many of them are swelling with a sense of pride over the championship expectations for the Twins this year and the reality of baseball being outside again.
I asked Mauer about the combination of the team expectations rising, his new contract, and the new ball park. “It’s a lot of excitement,” he said. “I know a lot of people out there are excited about the roster we have, and we equally are as excited right now knowing what guys we have in here.
“We can do some damage,” Mauer continued, “but we still have to get after it every day, work hard, and jell as a team. The ball park is a first-class facility. It still doesn’t feel like it’s ours just yet, but this is a pretty cool place.”
Can the Twins do what the 2006 St. Louis Cardinals and the 2009 New York Yankees did? Both teams recently built great new ball parks and left historic old parks with multiple championships and memories behind, but won World Series Championships in the very first year of the opening of their new parks.
“That’s a good analogy. I never thought of that,” said Denard Span, “but why not? It’s been way long overdue since Minnesota’s had a championship. I think we’re the right team to bring it.”
Fitz Notes & Quotes
Target Field is spectacular — I love it. The Twins have monuments for Rod Carew and Harmon Killebrew, and Opening Day, April 12, versus Boston, the Kirby Puckett monument will be unveiled. All three are Hall of Famers.
Puckett, of course, led the Twins to two World Series Championships.
Next year, 2011, the Twins will honor Tony Oliva and Kent Hrbek with monuments.
Twins left fielder Denard Span also signed a big contract extension. He was the first Twins player to get a hit at Target Field, and he also was the first to hit a home run. Span had the misfortune recently of hitting a foul ball that struck his mother in the stands.
I asked Span to compare the two life-changing events — signing a new contract and hitting a foul ball that struck his mom. “Two totally different situations,” he pointed out. “One’s high, one’s low. As a ball player, as a young kid, you always dream of signing a contract like that and financially being able to take care of your family for life. The opportunity came to me. I’m very thankful. I thank God for them giving me a chance to stay here longer.
“Hitting my mother was just a bad situation whether it was my mom or somebody else’s mom. Baseball, the way they have the stands now, it’s just too close. I think it’s dangerous. It took for somebody to die in hockey to change the way they do it in hockey. I just hope that something bad like that doesn’t happen in baseball before they decide they have to do that.
“My mom, she’s doing okay, thank God. It could have been a lot worse.”
Larry Fitzgerald can be heard weekday mornings on KMOJ Radio 89.9 FM at 8:20 am, and on WDGY-AM 740 Monday & Saturday mornings at 7:50 am and Fridays at 3:50 pm; he also commentates on sports 7-8 pm on Almanac (TPT channel 2). Larry welcomes reader responses to lfitzgerald@spokesman-recorder.com, or visit www.Larry-Fitzger ald.com.
