Twins Organization deserves supreme credit. I think I have also posted this fact a couple of years...

Twins Organization deserves supreme credit.

I think I have also posted this fact a couple of years ago, BUT it bears repeating.

I think it was 2 years ago, although it may be 3, I got this idea that it would be cool to get the Twins to write my father a letter recognizing his long time fandom.

I had no clue who to contact, so I sent an e-mail to Seth and LaVelle. A day or so later, Seth e-mailed me a response he had gotten from Mr. St. Peter requesting details, a day later I got an e-mail from a Ms. Glo Westerdal, which I think came from the LaVelle connection.

I sent the particulars, feeling pretty good about myself, and suspecting my 81/82 year-old father would really appreciate his "letter". A couple of weeks later, a Fex-EX/UPS truck stops with a package, we weren’t expecting any deliveries. The package was from the Twins, for my father. It included a caligraphed note card thanking him for his lifelong support, included a Walter Johnson Bobble-head, a Harmon Killabrew autographed picture, a Twins hat and a Mauer doll, plus 4/5 yearbooks and sundry other info. Remember, I was just looking for a letter.

When I gave it to my father, he was over the moon. His gratitude to the Twins still comes up often when we discuss the Twins, which is usually every phone call.

Thanks again Twins,
the Dragon

This comment is from Twinkie Town user the Dragon, in wayback's FanPost I'm So Old. This is seriously cool.

almost 2 years ago Jesse 31 comments 4 recs |

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Comments

teared up a bit reading this

Love the twins.

by TVtwins on Mar 23, 2010 5:09 PM EDT reply actions

That's a great story

thanks for sharing

by Gunnarthor on Mar 23, 2010 5:17 PM EDT reply actions

I recently began working in the ticket sales area of the Twins and have been overwhelmingly impressed with how the Twins brass, all the way down to us “peons” in phone room sales act just the way the fans would expect them to, and have such appreciation and genuine care about the fans. Its been an amazing experience thus far, and I can’t say enough about everyone I’ve met in the organization.

by bbeeck on Mar 23, 2010 5:18 PM EDT reply actions

bbeeck...

IF you could do me a favor, If you happen to get a chance to speak to Mr. St Peter or Ms. Westerdal, could relay my Thanks again?

Regards,

I don't suffer from insanity...I relish every moment of it!

by the Dragon on Mar 23, 2010 6:26 PM EDT up reply actions

Of course

I’ve only seen each of them once in my first couple of months here, but if I ever speak with them for any length of time I will certainly relay your thanks.

by bbeeck on Mar 23, 2010 6:37 PM EDT up reply actions

I’ve got Ms. Westerdal’s e-mail if you’d like to thank her that way. It’s awesome to hear some of the different stories. You always hear that the Twins organization is “different” from others, and this really shows how they really do try to make a difference with more than just baseball.

You can send me an e-mail through the profile address if you’d like her contact information.

by Twins Territory on Mar 23, 2010 7:08 PM EDT up reply actions

Contact info

The Twins actually publish the email addresses of most of their front office staff on the team website. Just click on a name.

http://minnesota.twins.mlb.com/team/front_office.jsp?c_id=min

by Pedro Munoz is fast on Mar 23, 2010 7:25 PM EDT up reply actions

Goosebumps.

What a great story.

by jtsanderson on Mar 23, 2010 5:35 PM EDT reply actions

I too have a similar story

I have three brothers, all older. My parents have had season tickets with the Twins for over a decade. Our time to order tickets for Target Field this summer was June 15th. For these season tickets my dad decided to let two of my brother in on his season tickets so they could all split up the games. I didn’t get in on it because I am still a poor college student.

My other brother is special needs. His favorite past time is keeping score of Twins games, pitch by pitch, in his score book. He even has one of the clickers that umpires use to keep track of the count. We have to get him new score books and a new clicker every year as he goes through them that fast. His closet is filled with score books from when he first started keeping score. The names Puckett and Hrbek fill the middle of the lineup. He’s a very quiet guy, but on nights when Gardy would let a pitcher go a little too long and it would cost the Twins the game, we’d hear it. My brother would fire Gardy and send that pitcher to minors. He would make a very cut throat GM.

So this summer, June 15th came along and my other two brothers were coming to town in order to pick out the perfect seat. I didn’t have to work that morning so I slept in. I woke up to my mother coming down the stairs and knocking on my door around 9. I got up and opened the door and saw my mother with tears in her eyes telling me my older brother had passed away that morning at the age of 28. He had always had an enlarged heart and he had a pacemaker put in about 5 years ago. The doctors told us that he would make it to at least 40, but they didn’t know after that. Needless to say, we were all in shock.

He passed away on a Tuesday and the funeral was that Friday. One of my uncles got the idea that he would call the Twins, seeing as it had meant so much to my brother. He called them after he had heard and they took some information from him.

On the day of the funeral as my family and I are welcoming people into the church, we see a large FedEx truck pull up to the front doors. The driver walks in and hands me an envelope addressed to our family. When we opened it we received a letter thanking us for our support and thanking my brother for his loyalty, They also expressed their sympathy and gave us an autographed Gardenhire card. At this point it didn’t matter how many times by brother had wished him jobless.

I cannot express enough how much the Twins organization means to my family. The class the organization has is outstanding. For them to take the time out and next day ship a card and autograph to some random family in southern Minnesota speaks volumes about them.

by DarkWalker25 on Mar 23, 2010 5:44 PM EDT reply actions 3 recs

Wow. That was truly touching.

Thanks for sharing this.

by Twins4Life on Mar 23, 2010 6:04 PM EDT up reply actions

+1

Seriously. Thanks.

by matty_b on Mar 25, 2010 11:01 PM EDT up reply actions

We have the best baseball team ever.

http://www.realityfish.com

by Robin G on Mar 23, 2010 6:06 PM EDT reply actions 1 recs

After reading these stories

I hate White Sox announcer Hawk Harelson a little more for calling the White Sox the “good guys”

but I’m looking at this the wrong way. Instead of hating a little more, let me just say I love the Twins more now than when I woke up this morning.

Thank you for sharing these stories with us.

Win Twins!

by caluofmn on Mar 23, 2010 6:12 PM EDT reply actions

Class

"hi everybody" Herb Carneal Hall of fame baseball announcer.

by firstatbat61 on Mar 23, 2010 6:15 PM EDT reply actions

Amazing

I’m reminded again why the Twins are far and away the saintliest franchise in all of sports. This is how every team should treat its fans. Just goes to show you how special this team truly is and why being a Twins fan really is being with the good guys.

by MarshalltheIrish on Mar 23, 2010 6:23 PM EDT reply actions

Best donors to our PTA school carnival

They always come through with one of the best items. The T-wolves are pretty good too. The Vikings don’t contribute anything, ever.

by DJL44 on Mar 23, 2010 6:43 PM EDT reply actions

The Vikes

I’ve actually had pretty good luck with them. I think the Twins just have a very broad reach to their community involvement. Bryan Donaldson does a FANTASTIC job for the Twinkies in that role.

by TheBlackFreighter on Mar 23, 2010 8:28 PM EDT up reply actions

"The Vikes dont conrtibute anything, ever?"

Are you kidding right now? Every year multiple times a year a good portion of the team goes out and builds a new playground for kids that need it. Sidney Rice (and a few others) took a bunch of underpriveleged kids clothes shopping and bought them whatever they wanted. Wow, maybe we dont hear the touching stories like these because this is TwinkieTown or maybe nobodys ever taken the time out to email or call the Vikes to ask them to do something like this. But to say that they dont do anything is ludacris.

I love Twins Baseball and Minnesota Vikings Football.

by Percy Harvin My Fav! on Mar 23, 2010 9:50 PM EDT up reply actions

In defense...

I think DJL44 meant that the Vikings don’t donate for that particular PTA school carnival, not in general. All teams do SOMETHING for the community. Some teams/players are sincere, and some aren’t. It isn’t really our place to judge that.

That being said, I’m not a Vikings fan. So in my mind the Twins are superior in every way :)

by bbeeck on Mar 23, 2010 10:05 PM EDT up reply actions

Exactly right

They don’t contribute to the school carnival.

by DJL44 on Mar 23, 2010 11:21 PM EDT up reply actions

Oh my bad DLJ44

I thought you were saying they did nothing. Im sorry

I love Twins Baseball and Minnesota Vikings Football.

by Percy Harvin My Fav! on Mar 24, 2010 12:08 AM EDT up reply actions

.

RonGarde: Target Field is going to be exactly like Progressive Field, except you'll have a chance to die of frostbite in the middle of July

by fischean on Mar 23, 2010 10:11 PM EDT up reply actions 3 recs

rec'd

by what_would_gil_thorp_do on Mar 23, 2010 10:12 PM EDT up reply actions

Why did I know you

would post a picture? :)

I love Twins Baseball and Minnesota Vikings Football.

by Percy Harvin My Fav! on Mar 24, 2010 12:08 AM EDT up reply actions

Bahaha.

Beautiful.

Not him. Just the post. :P

by Twins4Life on Mar 24, 2010 4:20 PM EDT up reply actions

His expression

makes the pic that much funnier in this context.

by matty_b on Mar 25, 2010 11:01 PM EDT up reply actions

Minnesota sports

I used to work for the local Ronald McDonald House and all the teams were quite good in visiting the sick children staying with us. We received visits from several players from each team during my tenure.

The Twins, however, consistently go above and beyond. We had a couple brothers (about 4 and 6) stay with us last summer when the oldest brother received a bone marrow transplant from his little brother and best friend. Kids are so precious… the little guy actually thought he would have to die to save his brother and he was willing to do it. Anyway, the Twins brought them both in to throw out ceremonial first pitches one night and would email me every couple weeks to check in on them and make sure they were both progressing well after the transplant.

Stories like these are why it is so easy to root for the Twins.

by TheBlackFreighter on Mar 23, 2010 8:25 PM EDT reply actions