An historical film which profiles the first Twin team I ever rooted for passionately. They were an immensely colorful and fun team to watch - I will be adding comments below as they follow the narrative of the video.
Needless to say, the spotlights on Bill Rigney, Jim Kaat, Harmon Killebrew, Rod Carew, Tony Oliva, Leo Cardenas, Brant Alyea, Bob Allison, Rich Reese, Jim Perry, Dave Boswell, Cesar Tovar, Bert Blyleven, Luis Tiant, Ron Perranoski, Tom Hall, Stan Williams, Danny Thompson, Bill Zepp, and George Mitterwald are fascinating snapshots. You get an idea how the players loved the game from the era just after the beginning of divisional play in MLB.
The You Tube channel, Classic Twins really does some wonderful posts with these vintage Twins bits, including Top 100 Metrodome Moments, in addition to some really cool documentaries produced by the Twins over the years.
I was just a little kid that liked to read comic books, and watch The Flip Wilson Show with my parents and brothers. My brother Denny was in Vietnam, half-way through his year in the jungle with other 19 and 20-year old guys. The joy I was experiencing following Twins baseball stood in stark contrast with the anxiety my family and I otherwise felt about his precarious situation.
There is so much for which I can go into frothing, star-struck detail. It would be too easy to poke fun at coach Frank Crosetti, given some hilarious face time in the first few minutes. But I'd rather wax nostagic, if you don't mind. See, these were my guys. My homies. My heroes. Any of a number of sappy tags I can hang on the first, favorite Twins of my kidhood. I will leave it at this: this is the ONLY game footage, anywhere, that captures shots of Herman Hill in action, just before the 19:30 mark.
You might recall that Hill, a 24 year-old from Tuskegee, AL, was a promising Twins prospect who lost his life in a swimming accident the following December, while playing in the Venezuelan winter league. He is recounted at this blog in my post "All The Young Dudes - The 1968 St. Petersburg [Florida Insructional League] Twins," from March 1, 2010. That one has a bit of scholarship, historical backwater material, and a big helping of heart-tugging drama.
As the ol' broadcaster put it,
"So long, everybody!" - Herb Carneal
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