MINNEAPOLIS — Walking past the press box in the middle innings on Monday afternoon, a fan turned his head toward the field and shouted something very Minnesota.
“Go public money!” he yelled, on his way to a seat in the club level.
It was an allusion to the bitter fight that marked the Twins’ slow-moving campaign for Target Field, the $528 million stadium that they opened with a well-played 5-2 victory over the Boston Red Sox. There were few visible reminders of those bygone days in evidence, but the memories weren’t far from the surface for those who lived through them.
After the original stadium effort fell through in 1997, owner Carl Pohlad negotiated to sell the financially troubled team to Don Beaver, who hoped to move it to the Triad area of North Carolina. Then came the idea of contraction — Commissioner Bud Selig’s idea to eliminate two of the 30 major league teams to make life a little sweeter for the other 28. Pohlad, who died in early 2009, is believed to have volunteered to take the buyout.
Who then could have seen a day like Monday?
Selig always felt that moving from the Metrodome would give the Twins a new lease on life. But while standing on the field at the new ballpark, enjoying some sunshine and 65-degree temperatures while surveying the prominent use of Minnesota limestone and outfield decks he compared to the long-extinct Ebbets Field in Brooklyn, he admitted the Twins’ resurgence was beyond his biggest dreams.
“You almost have to pinch yourself,” Selig said. “It’s hard to believe. You think about everything that went into it … it’s a combination of a lot of things — a lot of heartache, a lot of travail and a lot of satisfaction in the end.”
Twins catcher Joe Mauer, the St. Paul native who is the reigning American League Most Valuable Player, floated on air after a three-hit day that included two doubles.
“We’ve been waiting a long time (for this),” he said. “It was a lot of fun. … It’s tough to describe to my teammates what this means. People here have been waiting a long time. I’m definitely glad it’s here.”
Selig and MLB kept the stadium issue in front of the Minnesota legislature until it flinched — agreeing to fund a stadium that many felt should be underwritten by the Pohlad family. But the Twins, described by Selig as “a model major league franchise,” did their part by winning AL Central titles consistently with homegrown teams that operated on payrolls that would barely fund starting rotations in places like New York and Boston.
Now that the future has arrived, the Twins are positioned to not only make the playoffs but pose a serious challenge to the superpowers. They announced their intentions by keeping Mauer off the free-agent market, signing him to an eight-year, $184 million extension a month ago.
When Selig owned the Brewers, he kept Robin Yount in a Milwaukee uniform for 20 years. It thrills him that the Twins are following that path with Mauer, a two-time batting champion at 26.
“If this was five years ago and the Joe Mauer situation came up, they couldn’t even think about signing him,” Selig said.
The White Sox and Tigers might come to curse revenue sharing if Mauer remains healthy to help the Twins achieve their potential, not just this season but in the years ahead. Jim Thome, a new arrival funded by the 50 percent increase in payroll, compares Minnesota’s talent to the nucleus he joined in Cleveland — a group that went 100-44 in the strike-ended 1994 season and got to Game 7 of the 1997 World Series.
A season-ending injury to closer Joe Nathan was the story of the spring for the Twins, but he was only one part of a very good, very deep team.
Since being swept by the Yankees in the 2009 playoffs, the Twins have upgraded in the middle infield (shortstop J.J. Hardy and second baseman Orlando Hudson) and re-signed Carl Pavano, who helped them overtake Detroit a year ago. Pavano held the Red Sox to one run in six innings Monday. He has gone 2-0 during a 6-2 start for Minnesota.
Afterward, he was asked how good his team is.
“We’re great,” he said.
Mauer doesn’t go quite that far, but he exudes confidence.
“We feel pretty good about ourselves,” he said. “We have a good ballclub. We know the feeling is great right now, but we’ve only played eight games.”
The one Monday served as one for the ages.
“I don’t think you can get a better setting than this for a ballpark,” Twins manager Ron Gardenhire said. “It’s just fantastic. … This is what it’s all about — for generations down the road, people can bring their kids, their grandkids. This place is going to last a long time.”
So might the first-place team that plays in it.
