Twins Fans, Cheer Up!

All you Twins fans who are feeling sorry for yourselves, cheer up! Just think, you could live in Chicago and have the White Sox and Cubs as your home teams.
by Charlie Leck

The Twins seem almost hopeless, though no real baseball fan ever completely gives up hope. I remember, while growing up near the New York City metropolitan area, how the Brooklyn Dodgers (we called ‘em the Bums) always left their fans disappointed and glum. The expression around Brooklyn was always: “Wait ‘til next year!” I also remember the 1951 New York Giants who were trailing Brooklyn by 13 games in August of that season. On the last day of the season they pulled into a tie with them and then won the third game of a three game playoff (remember the incredible 9th inning homer by Bobby Thompson?).

How I remember the ecstatic joy we had up here in Twinsland in ’86. The Twins won their first World Series, beating the St. Louis Cardinals in seven games. They did the same thing to the Atlanta Braves in ’91. Boy, “those were the days my friend. We thought they’d never end.”

Now, at Major League Baseball’s all-star break, the Twins are hopelessly mired near the bottom of the standings, 12 games out of first-place. Even Kansas City is ahead of us in the standings. I think we’ve got another stinkin’ year to finish up here, but “wait ‘til next year!”

Here’s a bright spot!
Just think, we could be Chicago baseball fans. They’ve got two Major League teams – one in each of the leagues. The Chicago White Sox are trailing the Twins and are 14 games out of first place. Over in the National League, the Cubs (perennially terrible) are already 15 games back (but 4 games ahead of the lowly Milwaukee Brewers).

Mind you, how would it be to be pulling for one of those Chicago teams or Milwaukee?

Here’s how to make the year interesting!
Tell you what, Twins fans, just make the remainder of this year a race against the Chicago White Sox. That’s all that counts. Beat those stickin, no-good, miserable White Sox. That’s the whole deal – the entire goal! Keep winning more than the White Sox. Do that and it will make going to our beautiful ball park, Target Field, worthwhile. Watch the newspapers each day to see how the Sox did! Check the standings! Place some bets with your Chicago friends.

And this is the fun part!
Take a look at the schedule. We’ve a boat load of games (10) left with the White Sox. With my attitude in mind, those could really be fun and exciting games – especially if you have friends or family in Chicago. You can establish a kind of hate match with them and promise to do their fall-yard clean up if your team loses the final ten game series (or vice versa).

Friday                August 9         Twins at White Sox
Saturday           August 10        Twins at White Sox
Sunday              August 11         Twins at White Sox

Thursday          August 15         White Sox at Twins
Friday                August 16         White Sox at Twins
Saturday           August 17          White Sox at Twins
Sunday              August 18          White Sox at Twins

Monday             Sept 16              Twins at White Sox
Tuesday            Sept 17               Twins at White Sox
Wed                   Sept 18               Twins at White Sox

Plan an out of town trip to Chicago for one of the two series. The Sox stink so bad that tickets will be easy to come by. And, in that September series in Chicago you just might get a chance to see the Twins’ pheeenom and future hope, Byron Buxton, play; for I think the Twins are just going to be forced to call this guy up from the minors by fan demand.

The question is whether I’ll be able to get a room with family or friends down there after the nasty things I’ve written about their ball team.

Let me tell you, if you love baseball, you’ve got to do something to make the season a little bit interesting – even if it’s scorching family!

I can’t wait for the All Star game to get out of the way so the real Twins’ season can get started.

“Go Twins! Beat dem Sox!”

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