MINNEAPOLIS - One of the problems with the Metrodome - one of its many, many problems - is that when the place was empty, it was like a tomb. The dull blue seats that stretch away from the field seemingly for miles, the PA system that echoes for minutes, the way every single heckle or taunt can be heard from across the diamond - it was a pretty depressing place those days, and those days came far too often.
But when that place was packed, boy was it loud. And when the Twins were playing well, or were playing in the playoffs at all, it was rocket-engine loud. And it was fun to go to games there.
And when Twins fans wanted to send a message, like, say, a collective middle finger to a certain commissioner, the place took on a personality of its own.
Twins history is filled with some peaks and many valleys, and there were numerous times when the future looked bleak. Things looked so bleak that Bud Selig proposed in 2001 that the Twins be one of two teams contracted out of baseball, saying there was no chance the sport could survive in Minnesota.
Twins fans had something to say about that.
On opening day, 2002, more than 48,000 fans packed into the Metrodome, the largest crowd in six years. When the Twins took the field, there was a long, extended cheering, the loudest it had been in the Dome for baseball in ages. When the Twins scored four runs in the bottom of the second, the roof almost came off.
The Twins won that game 4-2. And though they wouldn't get crowds of 48,000 the rest of the season, the Twins had more local support from Day 1 than they had ever had before. They rode that support to a remarkably easy Central Division title and a shocking first-round upset of the A's.
That Twins team remains improbably popular, even today. Torii Hunter, Doug Mientkiewicz, Corey Koskie, Brad Radke, Cristian Guzman, Jacque Jones, David Ortiz - they all get cheered, even those who have moved on to other teams, And sure, Twins fans boo A.J. Pierzynski, but that's because he's a bit of a douche and is fun to boo. That core of players are more popular than any group of Twins who didn't play in a World Series, probably because the fans remember that it was that group that helped make the Twins relevant again.
And that's how it all started. Since 2002, the Twins have been at least competitive every season. Today, eight years later, they'll open up in their brand-new, open-air, baseball-only stadium, a concept that seemed unthinkable just nine years ago. Selig's threat was all the Twins fans needed; that might have been his plan all along, though that's probably giving him too much credit. The Twins become the model major league franchise, proving that with smart scouting and patient player development, teams in the smaller markets can compete.
Those 48,000 fans in the Metrodome that day did not intend to give a jump-start to a franchise. They were only there to show how much they would have missed their Twins. But it's possible, or even probable, that the Twins' decade of success would not have happened without that turnout, without 48,000 fans giving a collective finger to the commissioner.
HONORABLE MENTION:
APRIL 12, 1984: CHARLESTON, S.C. - My wife was born in Charleston Naval Hospital. Happy birthday, sweetie!
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