Transcripts

JIM BICKAL: In 1961, when the Senators left Washington and moved to Bloomington to become the Twins, Mike Atkinson was 13 years old. He remembers people being pretty excited about big league baseball in Minnesota. It didn't take long for him to become a hardcore fan and he remained loyal as the glory years of the late '60s turned into the mediocrity of the 1970s.

MIKE ATKINSON: I can describe myself as a fan that supports them, no matter how they do. I don't boo when they do poorly. But I do cheer when they do well, but I don't let myself get too high or too low. I know there's a lot of ups and downs in the season.

JIM BICKAL: Atkinson says he supports all of the Twins, but there's one former Twin who holds a special place in his heart-- Harmon Killebrew.

MIKE ATKINSON: His career is continuing. He's not playing anymore but he-- you still follow the guy. You don't forget about him. And when he's-- if he's doing a commercial or if he's broadcasting, he's still being our hero, and he always will be. He's never seemed to have ever let anyone down, ever. And I guess that's what heroes are made out of, people-- they never have to say they're sorry, and I don't think he's ever had to say he's sorry to anyone.

JIM BICKAL: In the early 1970s, Atkinson got interested in collecting. First it was baseball cards and buttons, then it was media guides, pennants, pictures, pencils, dolls, cups, mugs, jugs, anything that was connected with the Twins. He says the fun of collecting isn't as much in having the stuff, but in finding it. Atkinson is a detective for the Minnetonka Police Department. He says his professional knack for tracking leads carries over to his hobby.

In 1977, he started collecting players' bats, and that's when he got real serious. His goal was to have a bat from every player who ever played for the Twins. Over 25 years, that's well over 300 people, and he's got a bat from every non-pitcher except nine. He gets them from garage sales, charity auctions, fans, clubhouse men, as well as other collectors.

One of the guys whose bat he doesn't have is Cotton Nash. You've probably never heard of Cotton Nash, and that's not surprising. He only batted 16 times in the major leagues over three seasons, but he played for the Twins, so Mike Atkinson wants his bat.

MIKE ATKINSON: About two years ago I wrote a letter to Cotton Nash, and he wrote back indicating that he did have a couple of bats that he had kept-- I think most players keep a couple-- but that neither one of them was cracked, and he wanted to keep them. So a friend of mine was up recently because of a funeral in his family and I mentioned the story to him, and he said he had a friend that knew Cotton. Now he's going to contact this individual that he knows that's a good friend of Cotton Nash, and ask him if he'd try to intervene for me to see if one of those two bats he might part with.

JIM BICKAL: For a while Atkinson says he got so caught up in collecting bats he kind of lost track of the team, but he's been following them pretty closely lately. He sees a lot of games at the Dome or on TV. He especially likes listening on the radio.

MIKE ATKINSON: When that game is on, I know everything's OK. The only thing that usually can interrupt that game is some news reports or something like that, but then we go back to the game. And I think everybody in general feels that way. It's like listening to some soothing music, I guess.

JIM BICKAL: Unlike a lot of so-called baseball experts, Mike Atkinson thinks the Twins have a real good team this year, but that doesn't really affect his feelings for the team. He follows them no matter what.

MIKE ATKINSON: If you have to be closing in on 40, it's nice that I started with this team at age 13, and I've kind of followed up on it and I haven't lost sight of it. So if you got to get old, it's kind of nice to get old with a baseball team, I guess.

JIM BICKAL: By the way, if you're cleaning out the garage this summer and you happen to find a baseball bat that used to belong to Pete Whisenant, Tom Lundstedt, Mike Poepping, Minnie Mendoza, or Cotton Nash, give Mike Atkinson a call. He'd appreciate it. I'm Jim Bickal reporting.