Each of us has some disposable income if we are fortunate.\u00a0 You can look through your checkbook and see where that went: vacations, hobby and entertainment costs go here.\u00a0 We also have disposable time.\u00a0 Here fits TV, reading, listening to music, and such.<\/p>\n
Time and money are limited; who we are is partly defined by how we spend these. \u00a0I try to be more selective about my dollars and minutes as I get older.<\/p>\n
Sports have taken lots of both in my life.\u00a0 I played some baseball\/softball.\u00a0 Throw in a little pickup basketball, a bit of golf, some volleyball at parties.\u00a0 No regrets there.\u00a0 More hours were spent being a fan.\u00a0 Some have been at ballparks and arenas around here, watching friends play, watching my kids play and kids of friends play.\u00a0 No regrets there.<\/p>\n
What about hours watching pro sports?\u00a0 Here might be a smidgeon of regret.\u00a0 I could have made a bunch more money or done a bunch more volunteering with time I spent watching and debating pro sports.\u00a0 The fact that I can name the offense and defense for the 1970 Vikings isn\u2019t going to impress St. Peter at the Pearly Gates.<\/p>\n
I\u2019ve drifted away from sports a bit.\u00a0 I never used to miss a Vikings game; that\u2019s no longer a priority.\u00a0 But my affection for baseball remains, illogical as it may be.\u00a0 Most of 162 Twins games are on the tractor, car, or house radio.<\/p>\n
Why does this diversion remain vivid? I think it has something to do with being 12 years old.\u00a0 When I am going to a game at Target Field, I feel the same giddy, anticipatory sensations I did when older brothers Dale and Marvin took me to Metropolitan Stadium.\u00a0\u00a0 Probably most of us spend some of our disposable time and money on things that sparked us as a kid.\u00a0 That might be fishing you did with Dad or baking cookies you did with Mom.<\/p>\n
Several hundred players have put on a Twins uniform.\u00a0 From Fernando Abad to Bill Zepp, I remember most of them.\u00a0 In the fifty-seven years since moving from Washington, four players stand out and stand for different eras in Twins history: Harmon Killebrew, Rod Carew, Kirby Puckett, and Joe Mauer.<\/p>\n
I was on the tractor last week ripping corn stalks when I heard that Joe was retiring.\u00a0 We more or less knew that was coming.\u00a0 But to see if finally and certainly caused the 12-year old in me to frown.\u00a0 \u201cSay it ain\u2019t so, Joe,\u201d I said to myself, stealing a line from 1919 baseball history.<\/p>\n
None of the four players on the Mount Rushmore of Twins would have scripted the end of their career the way it played out.\u00a0 Ends-of-careers are like that.\u00a0 No one stays young and healthy.<\/p>\n
For Harmon, there was a final year as a 39-year old designated hitter in Kansas City, after several years of declining health and statistics with the Twins.\u00a0 That September 1975, I went to a game against the Royals at the Met.\u00a0 I was a freshman in college, and we snuck into seats behind the Kansas City dugout.\u00a0 When a graying and frumpy Harmon came out on deck in that pastel-blue uniform, my heart sank.\u00a0 It was as if I knew my youth was over.<\/p>\n
Rod Carew left after things turned sour with owner Calvin Griffith.\u00a0 Most fans had turned against Calvin.\u00a0 After an infamous speech to the Waseca Lion\u2019s Club by Griffith (you can look it up), we all knew Rodney needed to leave.\u00a0 We were saddened but understood.\u00a0 It wasn\u2019t as traumatic to see Carew in an Angel\u2019s uniform; we couldn\u2019t help but root for Sir Rodney.<\/p>\n
For Kirby, the ending came joltingly.\u00a0 On March 28th<\/sup>, 1996, news came that Puckett\u2019s vision was clouded by a spot in his right eye.\u00a0 He was having a wonderful spring.\u00a0 Twins fans were assuming another wonderful season.\u00a0 There followed several months of eye procedures and conflicting reports, a roller coaster of emotions.<\/p>\n The ride ended with a thud on July 12 when doctors reached the conclusion that damage to the retina was irreversible.\u00a0 An impromptu press conference was held that was touching for its positivity and perspective.\u00a0 Teammates were fighting back tears.\u00a0 \u201cI want to tell the little kids who prayed for me that just because I can\u2019t see doesn\u2019t mean that God doesn\u2019t answer prayers,\u201d Puckett said. \u201cI still can see with my left eye. I\u2019m still alive.\u201d\u00a0 Now I was in tears.<\/p>\n Puckett\u2019s life after baseball didn\u2019t go well.\u00a0 There were allegations of sexual misbehavior that tore away at the myth of Kirby.\u00a0 His marriage to Tonya ended.\u00a0 Then came early death by stroke at age 45.<\/p>\n None of us stays twelve years old.\u00a0 Part of growing up is learning that all of us are imperfect.\u00a0 It was a reminder that we admire these players for what they do on the field, and sometimes that is as far as it should go.<\/p>\n Joe is a mere 35, with lots of life to go.\u00a0 Godspeed to him as he leaves the playing field.\u00a0 He\u2019ll be around and about for many years, but our relationship with him as a fan ends.<\/p>\n In that pantheon of Twins stars, Joe is unique.\u00a0 Minnesotans have known about him since his teen years. \u00a0He was All-State at Cretin-Derham Hall in football, basketball, and baseball.\u00a0 Joe was gifted athletically such that he could have pursued any of those sports at a higher level.<\/p>\n He chose baseball, and the Twins chose him with the first pick of the 2001 draft.\u00a0 There would be several years he was be the best player in the game when the team was regularly in the playoffs.\u00a0 That is when I told friends that this story of the hometown-kid-makes-good had to end with Joe lifting the World Series trophy.\u00a0 I could see it clearly in my mind.<\/p>\n Then came the Contract and the Concussion and Bilateral Leg Weakness.\u00a0 Lots of grumbling ensued.\u00a0 It coincided with the opening of Target Field, a delightful ballpark that has hosted mostly dreadful teams.\u00a0 Hoisting a World Series trophy became a distant possibility.\u00a0 It\u2019s a good thing I\u2019ve never gone into the prediction business.<\/p>\n I took my kids out of school to see Joe\u2019s Twins debut in 2004.\u00a0 I was scheduled to go to his last game on September 30 but had to combine corn.\u00a0 That was the game that turned into a beautiful tribute to Joe.\u00a0 In between I suppose I saw Joe play maybe 100 times.\u00a0 It was fun.\u00a0 All fun things come to an end.\u00a0 There was no trophy to hoist, but lots of memories of a St. Paul kid who loved the game.<\/p>\n <\/p>\n <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" Each of us has some disposable income if we are fortunate.\u00a0 You can look through your checkbook and see where that went: vacations, hobby and entertainment costs go here.\u00a0 We also have disposable time.\u00a0 Here fits TV, reading, listening to music, and such. Time and money are limited; who we are is partly defined by …<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_bbp_topic_count":0,"_bbp_reply_count":0,"_bbp_total_topic_count":0,"_bbp_total_reply_count":0,"_bbp_voice_count":0,"_bbp_anonymous_reply_count":0,"_bbp_topic_count_hidden":0,"_bbp_reply_count_hidden":0,"_bbp_forum_subforum_count":0,"om_disable_all_campaigns":false,"_monsterinsights_skip_tracking":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_active":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_note":"","_monsterinsights_sitenote_category":0,"footnotes":""},"categories":[162],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-110251","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-weeds-by-randy-krzmarzick"],"aioseo_notices":[],"publishpress_future_action":{"enabled":false,"date":"2026-05-22 16:14:06","action":"change-status","newStatus":"trash","terms":[],"taxonomy":"category","extraData":[]},"publishpress_future_workflow_manual_trigger":{"enabledWorkflows":[]},"amp_enabled":true,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.sleepyeyeonline.com\/goodnews\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/110251","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.sleepyeyeonline.com\/goodnews\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.sleepyeyeonline.com\/goodnews\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.sleepyeyeonline.com\/goodnews\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.sleepyeyeonline.com\/goodnews\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=110251"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/www.sleepyeyeonline.com\/goodnews\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/110251\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":110252,"href":"https:\/\/www.sleepyeyeonline.com\/goodnews\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/110251\/revisions\/110252"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.sleepyeyeonline.com\/goodnews\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=110251"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.sleepyeyeonline.com\/goodnews\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=110251"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.sleepyeyeonline.com\/goodnews\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=110251"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}