Euphoria Squared: The Great Metrodome Victory Celebration, Oct. 12, 1987 VIDEOS

The Twins 9-5 victory over the Detroit Tigers to win the 1987 ALCS was unprecedented not only for ending the team's 17 year absence from post-season play, but just as much for that game's aftermath. The outpouring of fan joy that greeted the team as it set foot on the springy Metrodome surface that evening was truly an occasion never before seen in Minnesota.

It was a hastily organized "Welcome Home" at the H.H.H. Metrodome for team players, coaches, trainers, and execs fresh off landing at Minneapolis-St. Paul Airport. It was a Monday night, a school night, and event organizers weren't expecting much better than a polite turnout - Minnesotans aren't like New Yorkers, news flash. They're famous for keeping the kiddies home, early to bed, feed the cats, put on the nightcap...you get the idea.

 For Minnesota fans so long accustomed to ignominious defeat in four Superbowls, and being the butt of flyover land jokes, or of ill-fated closers (let's not mention the name "Ron Davis,") the return of the AL Champs from Detroit was an excuse to let loose the emotional floodgates and "Party Like It's 1999."

I well remember waking up every morning after a Twins win late in the season, my head a-swirl with giddiness about what seemed to be happening, breathing it all in, and yet not wanting to let go of my disbelief...yes, giddiness, euphoria...it was like being at a month-long Grateful Dead or Pink Floyd concert.

With that as context, you can hold back on your urge to have Viking Alan Page materialize and blindside the whistle-blowing Twins players' wives, or muzzle over-eager television sports reporters. God knows I had to.

Can someone tell me where Juan Berenguer got the idea for this get-up?

Listen closely at the 4:00 minute mark of the second vid. John Rooney correctly reminds fans that Bert Blyleven predicted an '87 pennant. He's 100 percent spot-on; I heard him say it live at the Dome, after the '86 season-ending game; it was a fan appreciation ceremony, with player speeches. My brother Kevin and I turned to each other - and laughed out loud. Sure, Bert, whatever!

What this evocative group of videos helps me remember is the fun of a completely unexpected pennant race. It was seeing grizzled veterans* like Steve Carlton, Joe Niekro, Don Baylor, Bert Blyleven and Roy Smalley mesh seamlessly with the Class of '82 players like Kent Hrbek, Tom Brunansky, Gary Gaetti, Tim Laudner, Randy Bush (and later) Greg Gagne, Kirby Puckett, Frank Viola, Dan Gladden, Jeff Reardon, et. al., to create an improbable, crazy-quilt patchwork of a playoff contender. This was all 1-2 years ahead of the timetable, in the estimation of youthful Vice President Of Player Personnel, Andy McPhail. Blueprints? Who needs blueprints?

*Could have included Rod Carew, discussion in '86 The Sporting News article

If you actually made it to the second and third videos, consider yourselves "real" men and women, in the stout-hearted Norseman sense. By all means, you now should be able to weather AND enjoy this vintage '87 newspaper account about that great evening in downtown Minneapolis.

I enjoy how the giant baseball behind Kent Hrbek's head make's it look as if he's wearing a sombrero. Which only would have been fitting, as it WAS a huge fiesta for 55,000 people. That alone should make you want to go to the link...so, check out the Google docs version of this report, and click on "+" for a larger view.

Hope you enjoyed Herb Carneal in the above videos! May as well let him have the last word:

"So long, everybody!"

1987 Twins Clinch Vs Detroit Video

There is so much that is remarkable about this piece of video...it posts very well after the previous Gaetti Error Game in '84 piece on how the Twins were knocked out of the pennant chase. Yes, redemption is very, very good thing!

That's Bob Costas and Tony Kubek doing the broadcast for NBC

*As much as I liked Darryl Evans, I enjoy that he looks ready to throw up after making the first out.  Jeff Reardon looks so amped up, it's hard to believe anyone could hit him...


*You can read the astonishment on the Twins players faces (or can imagine), & how great it was to get the monkey off their back, after so many losses, like those 102 back in '82 (team page, BBRef) when they were all rookies. That includes all the pastings they took at the hands of these very SAME Tigers in the early years. Payback time. How sweet it is...


*It's so cool that 1965 heroes Harmon Killebrew and Tony Oliva  were in the dugout, or near it, when the final out was recorded to send this new edition of Twins into the 1987 Series. I don't remember Harmon hugging Tom Kelly after the game (above are links to Vimeo vids, their stories)...

Brawny. Bad. Sometimes bellicose.
That was Don Baylor.

*Lastly - this proves once again - big, bad Don Baylor really WAS a Twin, once upon a time...

Avoiding 100 losses is a worthwhile goal after all else has failed. Nevertheless, I have to admit to some embarassment over the celebrating. It's very hard to see any of these guys having the same pedigree as the 1987 or 1991 Twins. You never know...



That's how ( and when) you're supposed to do it, guys.


As our old friend at the mic, Herb Carneal, used to say: "...And the count rides along." - TT