Atoning for 1967

My Mom was the one who got me interested in baseball. I remember all those summer days when Mom was in another room whether it be the kitchen or the bedroom where her sewing machine was- with the radio tuned into the Twins.

Mom was the one who explained the rules of the game to me and passed on a lot of the historical knowledge than any baseball fan should have.

Being a baseball fan of course means having one's heart broken now and again. For Mom one of these seasons was 1967 when the Twins were in a three way race for first place and went to Boston on the final weekend of the season needing one win to get to the World Series. They didn't win any games and the Red Sox ended up as the American League champion.

Going into the final weekend this season the Twins were tied with the Tigers for first- but since Detroit held an 11-8 advantage in head to head matches- the Twins had to finish ahead because if they tied Detroit- Detroit would be the division champ and the Twins would have to settle for being a wild card entry into the playoffs. This seemed the most likely scenario given that the Twins were playing the defending champion Chicago White Sox and Detroit was playing Kansas City, the worst team in the league.

Both the Twins and Tigers lost the first two games of the series though. So come Sunday if the Twins didn't win it didn't matter what Detroit did. Likewise if Detroit won their game- it didn't matter what the Twins did.

The other big story was Joe Mauer leading the Yankees' Derek Jeter by one point in the batting average category. This could have been historical given that no American League catcher had ever led the league in hitting. Mauer ended up getting two hits on Sunday- sealing his place in history.

The Twins won their game and then watched as the Royals completed a stirring comeback to sweep the Tigers. It couldn't have finished any better for the Twins. The only time they were in first place was the last day of the season. And that's the day you want to be in that position. The post season should be a lot of fun. It's one of the many times in my life when I miss my Mom and wish she could share in all this. She would have loved this version of the Twins and I'm sure it would have more than made up for 1967.