Hot enough for you?
That’s been a common question over most of the opening days of June, 2020. We’ve had at least five days in the mid to upper 90s with plenty of humidity, “sticky” — the kind of heat and humidity expected in late July, not early June. If we could only “bottle” some of this heat up and release it next January???
I ended last week’s column wondering about the chances of there being any amateur baseball played this summer. There is still nothing new to report. As I understand it, teams can practice, but there is still no official word on when games can start happening? It seems that baseball is considered a high-risk venture. Playing tennis is fine, but baseball will have to wait.
Next week, however, high school sports — according to the latest release from the Minnesota State High School League (MSHSL) office — can begin practicing in small groups with social-distancing factors in place. No competitive games or scrimmages are yet allowed.
Thanks to the kindness of my friend, Kevin Rogers, I have been reading Dick Bremer’s most interesting autobiography about his TV broadcasting career with the Minnesota Twins. Kevin, a true baseball guru, has an autographed copy of Bremer’s book, which was just recently released.
There are many good stories told by Bremer about his childhood, growing up in Dumont (near Wheaton, close to the South Dakota border) before moving to Fulton, Missouri and finally to Staples where he graduated from high school in 1974. Dick’s father was a minister, so they moved a couple of times when he accepted a new call.
The book is divided into nine innings and sub-divided into 108 “stitches” (the exact number of them on a new baseball). I am in the middle of the fourth inning, having just finished “stitch” number 43, entitled “Hit the Road, Jack” which describes how the Twins in Game 2 of the 1987 American League Championship Series (ALCS) hammered the ball off the pitching prowess of Detroit Tiger ace Jack Morris and opened up a 2-0 lead in the best-of-seven series.
Morris, a native of St. Paul, had been 8-0 against the Twins at the Metrodome before that 6-3 loss. Interesting how Morris, four years later, pitched his memorable 10-inning shutout (a 1-0 victory) in Game 7 of the 1991 World Series against the Atlanta Braves at that same jam-packed (and loud) “Dome.” I am sure that Bremer has a “stitch” about the ’91 heroics of Morris as I continue to read.
During college at St. Cloud State, Bremer worked as disc jockey with the DJ nickname “The Duke.” Since he worked the late-night shift, he was dubbed “The Duke in the Dark.” He later interned at a TV station in Cedar Rapids, Iowa before landing various broadcasting jobs in the Twin Cities.
Nothing is mentioned in Bremer’s book about his two interviews with me following Heron Lake-Okabena’s televised victories over previously undefeated Austin Pacelli (52-42) and Moose Lake (62-46) in the semifinals and championship game of the 1981 girls’ basketball state tournament.
Dick and I were both much younger back then.
As an almost 30-year-old, fifth-year head coach back in March of 1981, little did I know that this tall and young 25-year-old reporter, named Dick Bremer, was going to become a very famous fellow who — after decades as the play-by-play announcer for the Twins — later would entertain me with an interesting book, chock full of “stitches” about his broadcasting experiences, describing the thrills of the game, and team, he has loved since he was a little boy growing up in a tiny town on the western edge of Minnesota.
