Take me (back) out to the ball game

In a number of ways, the 2021 Minnesota Twins season was one of the most challenging ones for me in terms of Target Field attendance:

• For the first month or so, the realities and frustrations (i.e. masks, limited seating, etc.) of the outside world intruded upon my hallowed ballpark experience.
• With public transit limited, I drove into Minneapolis—not my preference—for every game.
• I sent multiple emails to Twins Customer Service. It’s annoying when I know the ballpark rules better than the arbiters of them, so I get a little salty when a security guard forces me to dump out a sealed water bottle (that I know is within the posted size limits) or a vendor refuses my Sweet Spot discount on $1 hot dogs.
• After settling into my seat for one game, I got rained out in the midst of a MN drought. Oh yeah—and it barely rained.

Yet, there’s one thing—a number—that I keep reflecting on: 575. Days, that is. From September 14, 2019 until April 10, 2021—the period of time in which I did not attend a single live baseball game. Barring injury, old age, or that final journey to the great ballpark in the sky, I never envisioned so long a stadium-less stretch in my life.

With that in mind, it is tough to complain too much about the annoyances in favor of thankfulness for the return.

Grid View

• First game back in quite some time!
• Watching the Twins blow a late lead—a staple of the 2021 Experience (TM)
• Missing the cigar and Zubaz
• With Mom
• Mom reconnecting with her childhood hero—Harmon Killebrew
• Ready for that elusive foul ball. “Wait ‘til next year”, as the Brooklyn Dodgers often opined.

Let’s start with some stats (this is the analytics era, after all):

• 10 wins, 10 losses. That .500 winning percentage actually pegged me as lucky, considering the Twins’ overall .469% at Target Field
• 36 Bombas witnessed (paced by Nelson Cruz, Jorge Polanco, Josh Donaldson, & Max Kepler with five each). That’s 1.8/game, again above the team average of 1.4 dongs per game.
• Winner of the Kyle Lohse Memorial Award (so named for all the times I saw him pitch at the Metrodome when I wanted Johan Santana or Brad Radke): Michael Pineda (7 starts).

Now, on to the highlights:

-Seeing J.A. Happ inexplicably no-hit the Pirates into the 8th inning.

• An Astros game in which an inflatable trash can was thrown on the OF warning track.
• That utterly improbable Twins comeback against the Yankees (I was literally speechless in my seat, as it all happened so fast):

• Witnessing the man, the myth, the legend—Shohei Ohtani—in the flesh.
• Soaking in the 1991 Championship Reunion with my Dad.
• Definitely, absolutely not tearing up during Justin Morneau’s Twins Hall of Fame acceptance speech and this moment.

But as Twinkie Town Constant Readers—to steal a Stephen King term—will know, baseball is very much a family affair for me. So my top two ‘21 ballpark memories?

1. Introducing my 4-year old niece to live baseball. She likely won’t remember seeing Taylor Rogers give up a back-breaking ninth inning grand slam, or even Polanco’s dramatic walk-off an inning later (unless it is the image of “Uncle Zach” jumping up and down like a maniac). But after worrying about how she’d react to running the bases after the game, she took off like Byron Buxton. I bet she’ll remember that.
2. While not technically at the ballpark—though that would have made for a better story—I welcomed a newborn nephew into the Twins Territory fold. It is a bit mind-boggling to contemplate what the sport might look like when he’s of age to appreciate it (I’m sure I’ll be the old geezer pining for the days of starting pitchers & closers, as well as still waiting for a darn foul ball!).

Grid View

• Thumbs up for the first trip to Target Field!
• Explaining the finer points of the infield shift ;)
• Shaking hands after the victory like Minnie & Paul
• Uncle Zach may have been more excited to be on the playing surface than she was :)
• The new nephew in Twins Territory (napping through a game like so many of us this past year)

All told, my 2021 baseball outings taught me to never take for granted the “out” in baseball’s anthem: out to the ballgame—out with the crowd. After 575 days of staying in, I was finally able to experience the sights, sounds, and smells of the ballpark again.