Twins Announce Rebirth of Homer Hanky

Yahoo! Sports ^ | 5 September 2002 | Associated Press1

[BluesDuke]

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Twins announce rebirth of Homer Hanky

September 5, 2002

MINNEAPOLIS (AP) -- The streaking Oakland Athletics will meet two formidable foes Friday night: the Minnesota Twins and the Homer Hanky.

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The A's, on an AL-record 20-game winning streak, begin a road trip at the Metrodome where the Homer Hanky will make its return for the first time in 11 years.

The waving towels were a staple during Minnesota's world championship runs in 1987 and 1991. The Twins went 8-0 in World Series games in the deafening dome, beating the St. Louis Cardinals and the Atlanta Braves.

Minnesota is in a September pennant race for the first time since the 1991 season.

The first 20,000 fans in the white-roofed dome for the game against the A's, going for their 21st win in a row, will receive the white hankies for free.

The towels will also be sold for $1, beginning Saturday, with a portion of the proceeds benefitting the Minnesota Twins Community Fund and the Children's Hospitals and Clinics of the Twin Cities.

``The Twins organization is thrilled to bring back one of the most popular collectibles in Minnesota sports history,'' chief operating officer Kevin Catoor said. ``We look forward to watching a sea of hanky-waving fans at the Metrodome while helping raising funds for local charities.''

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updated at Thu Sep 5 12:59:02 2002 PT

[BluesDuke]

Oh, dear. Just what the world doesn't need - looking into the Metrodome (already one of sport's most abominable excuses for a ballpark - thank you, Minnesota Vikings not!) and seeing the world's biggest indoor blizzard again...I can't wait to see what happens if it works out that the Twins and the St. Louis Cardinals meet again in the World Series...

[badfreeper]

Man, when I read that title I thought this was going to be all about a weird Simpsons-South Park crossover episode...

"Howdy D'oh!"

[Spruce]

The Metrodome is an absolutely HORRIBLE place to watch baseball. I cannot stand going to games in that place. The old Metropolitan stadium was actually a pretty decent baseball stadium.

Homer Hankys are just lame. If I recall the ones given to me ended up as shop rags.

[BluesDuke]

Metropolitan Stadium was a park that died before its time because Cal Griffith was looking to pinch every last Lincolnhead he could pinch. A lot of people today don't realise how and why Griffith stuck the Twins in the Mentaldome - the world's biggest gasbag got built in the first place because the Minnesota Vikings threatened to leave Minneapolis unless they got a new domed stadium on the taxpayers' dime, and Minnesota's grand high muckety mucks fell for it hook, line and stinker. The place was designed and built primarily for football and made merely "adaptable" for baseball. Griffith was offered what amounted to a free lease - and, as you might imagine, Ol' Cheapskate Cal went for it hook, line, and stinker. And stinker it was - Cal was so bent on saving the bucks he didn't bother to read the fine print, which among other things guaranteed every last dollar generated by every last Metrodome event's concessions, parking, and sundry incidentals going to the Vikings, including luxury boxes, with the Twins getting peanut shells at best. And thus did Metropolitan Stadium, still a young park, go before its time.

[Spruce]

I seem to recall the Metrodump was financed by a "Temporary" 1/2% sales tax which still exists today.