Twins Territory

I may have mentioned a time or two that I am a Minnesota Twins fan. Always have been. But did you know that there used to be a Twins team in Wisconsin Rapids? There was an A-level team back in the '80s that 2 guys I know played with -- Kent Hrbek and Gary Gaetti. You've heard of them.

Tonight, the G-Man, as we close friends called him at the Dome, made a return trip home to Rapids to kick off the 2011 season for the Wisconsin Rapids Rafters. I knew about this months ago but figured I'd opt out since Carter had a baseball game at the same time. Could I really put my Twins before my son? Hmmm. Turns out a creative mom can do both!

I decided at 6:25 I was going to go. That meant I had 30 minutes basically to get into town, find a parking spot, stand in line for a last-minute ticket and not miss Gary Gaetti toss the ceremonial first pitch at 7:05! Could I do it? Let me just change into Twins gear, grab my old World Series pennant off the wall and see!

By the time I did all that and got into the park and found his table, Gary was just standing up and finishing his session. I said, "Awwww, no way!" And I think he saw my adorable Twins hat and thought, "OK, one more," because he sat right down.
And signed my dusty old pennant I did not have time to clean up. Hey, it's not in bad shape for getting packed and unpacked in something like 8 moves!

They distributed photos at the gate so I got an autographed picture, too! Then I shook his hand (no hugs, darn) and said thanks for all the excitement. "Now go pitch a strike!"

I sort of stalked him after that because I could legally stand within 5 feet of him, take photos and not get arrested. That's a small town for ya! Here I was pretending to take a picture of him meeting the lucky young Rafters catcher. But really I was thinking, "Look at those pipes! He's still got it!"

This is when he stood on the pitcher's mound and pointed my way and said, "See that girl over there in the Twins hat and Twins shirt? She's the best fan ever! She saw me play a half-dozen times at the Dome in 1987!" I'm pretty sure reading lips, that is what he said about me. How could he not?

They were reading off his accomplishments -- playoff MVP, Twins Hall of Fame, etc -- and he humbly motioned to wrap it up.

I sort of missed the ceremonial first pitch. G-Man, you gotta wind up or something. I was unprepared!

Here he is smiling because he's back in Rapids and he knows NOW that this is Twins Territory!

I could have told him that.

And yes, I did make it out to Carter's game (the correct field) for the first pitch. Super fans can do anything!