The first Minnesota Twins teams I watched were in the early 1990s, but ah, not early enough. I started watching in 1993 and by 1994 I was fully hooked on the grand old game.
So not only did I miss the World Series-winning 1991 team, but even the 90-win 1992 team was a faded memory the first time I asked my grandma why Pat Meares never got to hit in the first inning when watching a game in her kitchen as a seven-year-old scamp in 1993.
I mean, in school everybody got to ‘hit’ every inning in kickball; why was baseball different?
Eventually I found out why — maybe a year or two ago — but ever since then my love for the game burned with the first of a thousand suns.
The 1994 season was kind of wild for a lot of reasons. The Twins were semi-decent after losing 91 games the year before, and early on in the season, Scott Erickson threw a no-hitter against the Milwaukee Brewers in a game that saw Brian Harper play right field (!) for the other team (!).
The game we’re showing here comes from June 1 at the Metrodome, and it’s clearly a getaway day situation. It’s a 12:16 p.m. first pitch on a Wednesday afternoon, and the announce team isn’t fronted by Dick Bremer as we’ve come to know and appreciate for all these years.
Wait, what? That Chad Hartman? Yes, Sid’s son was on the call for some select Twins games back then, a fact I didn’t recall except for seeing his photo on a collage in the Target Field press box showing everyone who had a stint calling games in club history.
But I don’t recall it from back then, so watching it now was kind of a fun experience.
Here are the lineups for that game:
Some of the fun things you get to see in this one:
- A game played in just over two hours, and shorter less commercials as it’s edited for here.
- Kent Hrbek and Kirby Puckett in the twilight of their careers.
- Alex Cole’s bodacious shades.
- Shane Mack’s eyebrows.
- A prime Ken Griffey Jr.
- Other great Mariners like Edgar Martinez, Jay Buhner and Tino Martinez.
- An exclusive pregame interview with Lou Piniella, one of the game’s all-time great characters.
So sit back, grab a Crystal Pepsi and watch Kevin Tapani battle Chris Bosio on MSC — the precursor to Victory Sports.
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