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[MUSIC PLAYING] BOB POTTER: I think Jackie Gleason probably said it best at the end of his television shows back in the 1950s. Remember that? He said, "How sweet it is!"

Yes, indeed, friends, the games are over and now it is time to celebrate. So we're going to spend this hour on Minnesota Public Radio talking about baseball on a day when the community celebrates the Minnesota Twins victory in the World Series. Certainly one of the most exciting cliffhangers in years.

A victory parade began at about 10:30 this morning in Saint Paul, winding up at the State Capitol. A second parade begins in about half an hour in Minneapolis. That one will work its way from the Basilica down Hennepin Avenue to 4th Street, ending at The Dome, where an hour long salute to the Twins begins at 2 o'clock this afternoon. We'll broadcast that live on many of these Minnesota Public Radio stations.

During this hour, we'll check in with various MPR reporters along the parade site, and we'll devote much of the hour as well to my colleague, Gary Eichten, who's over at The Dome now with baseball writer Howard Sinker. We'll be opening the telephone lines for your questions and comments, too, and give you a chance to visit with Gary and Howard. As for the parade in Minneapolis, it is going to begin before long around the Basilica area, as I mentioned. Minnesota Public Radio's Bill Catlin is standing by. Bill, what do you see down there?

BILL CATLIN: Well, Bob, a crowd that is several layers deep. Not on the sidewalk. You can still pass the sidewalks. But right here by the Minneapolis community college and the Basilica, there is lots of places to sit on walls with a higher view. So the walls are lined, the sidewalks are lined, and a fair amount of enthusiasm.

Quite a youthful crowd, as far as I can tell. I'm not sure if that's because we're close to the Chiron School, which was let out. But boy, I tell you, a reporter standing on the corner can, at any moment, be besieged by adolescents and preadolescents who want to yell into a microphone.

BOB POTTER: [LAUGHS]

Now, Bill, you were also at the start of the Saint Paul parade a few hours ago. About the same number of people as it appear to be?

BILL CATLIN: Oh, it's really hard to guess, but I would say, yes, maybe a few more. The terrain here is different enough that comparisons are difficult. One obvious similarity is that, at the beginnings-- at both beginnings, there was a crowd for maybe 200 or 300 yards or so, and then it really trailed off down the rest of the parade route. That was true in Saint Paul as well as here in Minneapolis. The crowd only lasts for a couple of blocks, and then it just looks like a regular old downtown Minneapolis.

BOB POTTER: All right, Bill. Well, keep us posted as the parade-- as the parade of vehicles begins to show up there, and we'll follow that along a little bit. The parade will be working its way up Hennepin Avenue. And I believe that Minnesota Public Radio's Chris Roberts is at a good vantage point there. Chris, what are you seeing?

CHRIS ROBERTS: You're correct, Bob. I'm on the corner of 7th and Hennepin. And down Bill's way, the crowd is a little bit more sparse, but here it is just jammed. And I think people have been here at least a couple of hours.

One thing that impresses me the most is the makeup of the crowd. I would say that it's probably 80% people under the age of 18. A lot of kids have gotten out from school and obviously gotten permission from their parents to spend a few hours in the downtown area watching the parade go by. So we're 80% adolescents down here. And in spirit, I include myself in that group, Bob.

BOB POTTER: [LAUGHS]

Chris, are people dressed for the occasion. Have they been aware of the fact that the weather is going to get colder as the day wears on? We're down to officially, what, 30, 34 degrees now in the Twin cities?

CHRIS ROBERTS: I'm afraid I didn't dress for the occasion. Some people are dressed for the occasion. A lot of people seem to have a lot of layers of clothing on. Others are walking around with leather jackets unzipped. I think they're hoping that once the parade starts and people really gather here on Hennepin Avenue, a lot of warmth will be able to be shared from each other.

BOB POTTER: Well, psychological warmth, if nothing else.

CHRIS ROBERTS: Absolutely.

BOB POTTER: Thank you, Chris. Minnesota Public Radio's Chris Roberts down at 7th and Hennepin. 35 degrees officially in the Twin Cities right now. The wind is from the southwest at 22 miles per hour and that makes the wind chill index 10 degrees above zero. I'll bet that my colleague, Gary Eichten, is awfully happy to be inside The Dome this afternoon, aren't you, Gary?

GARY EICHTEN: Bob, this is the best assignment I've had in years. This is great.

BOB POTTER: Where exactly are you in The Dome?

GARY EICHTEN: Well, we are on what would be the third base line, along the third base line? Actually, the field, kind of unfortunate really. It's set up for football at this point because, of course, football season is with us.

And if you're familiar with the football configuration here at The Dome, we personally are directly across from the football press box. And the big stage where the players will be and so on is right in the middle of the field. It would be on the 50-yard line.

BOB POTTER: I see. Now, are any members of the public there yet? Have they opened the gates yet to let people in?

GARY EICHTEN: Absolutely. They're starting to trickle in. I suppose, maybe a total of about a thousand people are here already.

There are some concession stands open. The souvenir people are hoping to do big business. No beer being sold over here today, though.

BOB POTTER: Oh, is that right?

GARY EICHTEN: Right. I think they're trying to keep it as a family event.

BOB POTTER: Sure. And you have Howard Sinker there with you, do you not?

GARY EICHTEN: Yeah, he's here.

HOWARD SINKER: Hi, how are you doing?

BOB POTTER: Hi, Howard. How are you?

HOWARD SINKER: Very good, very good. And you?

BOB POTTER: Well, I'm fine. I bet you're excited about all this having watched and listened to the games throughout the season. And I know I recall listening to you and Gary talking about the various games during "All Things Considered" and so on.

HOWARD SINKER: It's been fun. Really about 8:30 last night though, I crashed. I put the kid to bed and the next thing I knew it was 3:00 in the morning.

BOB POTTER: [LAUGHS]

Now, we've been reading about these games. Do you really think that these were about the best World Series games that you have seen in quite some years?

HOWARD SINKER: Yeah, I think that-- and it's not only me. It's not only people in Minnesota. It's what I was hearing Sunday night and Monday from members of the sporting media, other baseball writers from around the country.

We don't have to be the ones patting ourselves on the back because everyone else is doing it to us. They were saying, this is as good as I've seen, and these are people who've seen 200 baseball games this year. At first, they just wanted to get home. By about the eighth inning of game six, I think even the most hardened baseball writer wanted this to go on forever.

BOB POTTER: Howard Sinker, Gary Eichten are down at the Metrodome. Some of our reporters are standing along the parade site. We probably won't hear from them for a little while yet because the parade isn't even supposed to get underway from the Basilica till about 12:30 or so.

This is probably as good as time as any to open the telephone lines and give you a chance to visit with Howard or Gary or comment a little bit about this amazing baseball season that we've had here in the Minneapolis-Saint Paul area. If you'd like to make a comment, ask a question, 227-6000 is the number to call, 227-6000 in Minneapolis-Saint Paul. Elsewhere, toll free 1-800-652-9700, 1-800-652-9700, a number which, by the way, is good beyond the boundaries of Minnesota as well.

Guess I'd be curious to know from both of you guys if there's any way in the world you would have thought that you would be standing or sitting where you are today at the start of the baseball season? The Twins, of course, began the season after a positively dreadful season last year. And they wind up being not only the American League champions, but the World Series champions.

GARY EICHTEN: Well, Bob Howard actually predicted that the '87 team was going to win the world championship. And so yeah, Howard, did you pick this one?

HOWARD SINKER: I figured that the only way I would be at the Metrodome on October 29, 1991, would be if I was running laps around the concourse during my lunch hour. That's why this is-- I mean, remember how bad this team was last year. And they fooled us. They knew they were bad and they had a plan.

Tapani was learning. Erickson was learning. Gagne was learning. Knoblauch was learning somewhere in the minors. Someone knew he'd be here this year.

Maybe you thought that the old guys, Hrbek, Puckett, Harper were maybe a step slower than they used to be. It wasn't the case. Everything came together. The new players came in.

And I think MacPhail and Kelly probably knew this team was going to be even more than just competitive this year. I think they knew that if Oakland didn't have it together, that they could really make this run. But they weren't going to go around saying that.

GARY EICHTEN: Well, the thing that surprised me, though, Howard, was that there were a lot of charges toward the end of last year that not only were the Twins not very good, but that they quit. And it doesn't sound like the kind of a team-- didn't sound like the kind of a team that could rise from the ashes.

HOWARD SINKER: Oh, 120, 130 games into a poor season like 1990 was, players do quit. They don't come to the park as mentally intense as if they have a chance to achieve something. Kelly has acknowledged it. He said that by the time the young pitchers came around last season, the hitters had decided to take the year off. And that made the season appear even worse.

But that's common. The thing is you see good teams go into the tank. the Oakland A's in the World Series against Cincinnati last year, that was an absolutely disgraceful performance. That was a collection of stars not playing nearly up to their capabilities.

BOB POTTER: Well, the Twins didn't start this season off all that well either, but then they got that incredible streak of victories. What was it, 16, 17, something like that? And they seemed to carry it on from there.

HOWARD SINKER: Right. They started 2 and 9. And teams have those stretches during the year, it's just the Twins did it early. They did it on the West Coast.

To their credit, they did it after most of us were asleep most nights so we didn't see a lot of it. And I think that could have happened in June or July and gone unnoticed. And as it is, it makes the turnaround that much more dramatic.

BOB POTTER: Gary Eichten and Howard Sinker are at The Dome as we celebrate the Twins victory in the World Series today. By the way, Gary and Howard will be broadcasting live the Twins victory celebration at 2:00 today on most of these Minnesota Public Radio stations. Meanwhile, we've got some folks on the line with questions for them. So let's get these folks on the air. Hi, you're first.

CALLER 1: Hi.

BOB POTTER: What's your comment? What's your question?

CALLER 1: Well, I've got a couple of them. And I haven't heard anybody talk about-- I don't know if it's the seedier side of things, but I know that when you watch a golf tournament, they say, well, this person's going to make-- if they make this putt, they're going to make $200,000 or whatever. What do the Twins make when they won?

Did they get an unbelievable bonus? Did they get a great and that's it or what's the program there? And I've got two more questions. Should I just--

BOB POTTER: Why don't you just-- why don't you mention them and I'll write them down real quickly so that we get to them OK?

CALLER 1: I also want to know-- they're getting a ring, I understand, and I want to know, did they buy the rings, or does the team give them the rings? And who made-- who made it?

BOB POTTER: OK.

CALLER 1: And I know this is strange questions, but nobody ever talks about that side of it.

BOB POTTER: All right, interesting questions. What about the bonus that they get first of all?

HOWARD SINKER: I think a full share this year will be about $110,000. It comes from the portion of the gate revenues from the first four games of the series. And the $110,000 share is the biggest one in series history.

The World Series share used to be much more significant to players than it is right now. But remember, if you're Jack Morris, you already made $3.5 million this year.

BOB POTTER: Right. So what's another $110,000 to him?

HOWARD SINKER: Now if you're Chuck Knoblauch and you made about $100,000, you've doubled your salary. If you're Jim Wiesner, the clubhouse manager, maybe it's three times what you would have made otherwise. But for most of them, it's really just a drop in the bucket.

As for the rings, the team buys the rings. I don't know who makes them. Maybe some pottery shop in Cherokee, North Carolina.

GARY EICHTEN: Jostens, I think.

HOWARD SINKER: You put in the plug.

[LAUGHTER]

BOB POTTER: Howard Sinker and Gary Eichten are down at The Dome. Let me follow up with one other economic-related question. And that is, I saw in the paper today, I think it was that Jack Morris is already talking about trying to get some more money out of the team next year, maybe becoming a free agent or so on.

Wants to stay in Minnesota, but wants more than his $3.2 million. How much more can he get? And are these salaries out of line?

GARY EICHTEN: Howard?

HOWARD SINKER: Salaries are out of line compared to what you and I make definitely. But in baseball terms, no, they're not out of line. Remember, most of what Morris made-- oh, I'd say maybe about a million and a half of it was not guaranteed. I mean, it was based on meeting incentives.

He got money for starting in the all-star game. He got started-- he got another $100,000 for being the World Series MVP. He got bonuses for reaching certain innings plateaus.

For reaching 150 innings, he got so much. For 200, he got so much. And I think what he wants for the next couple of years, if not further into the future, is for that money to be guaranteed. And frankly, I don't blame him.

BOB POTTER: Back to the phones. More questions for Howard Sinker and Gary Eichten, who are at The Dome. Before we do that, Gary, what's going on? I hear some-- I hear some music there or something anyway.

GARY EICHTEN: Well, we have some young ladies dancing around. This is the Taylor Falls High school marching band. Actually, they're dancers, I believe it is. And, well, these aren't high school kids.

Anyway they're children dancing. There's going to be marching bands. There's going to be some rock-and-roll bands, Bob, which I know you'll appreciate.

BOB POTTER: Oh, absolutely.

GARY EICHTEN: And then, of course, eventually, I'm sure they'll get to the highlights. They'll put some highlights up on the board. People will go wild. The nice thing about being inside here, for the 63,000 people who bought a ticket to come in, is that they can also watch the parade on the screen.

BOB POTTER: Oh, sure.

GARY EICHTEN: So you can have your hot dog here and your Coca-Cola, watch the parade, and stay nice and warm. And the players will be here at your fingertips soon.

BOB POTTER: All right, back to the phones. More questions for Howard and Gary. You're on the air. Hi, there.

GLADSTONE NATALA: Hi. This is Gladstone Natala. And I like watching the Twins and I'm so excited that they got the World Series. But I'm from Zambia and I get puzzled when they say it's the World Series. Where did that term come about?

Because I don't see many teams that are from around the world apart from just that it's the United States and Canada. Could somebody explain that, please? I get confused.

GARY EICHTEN: Good old chauvinism, I suppose.

HOWARD SINKER: It's an American thing.

GARY EICHTEN: [LAUGHS]

HOWARD SINKER: It's the way we are. We were playing this thing before anyone else at this level. Really the only other baseball internationally that would be nearly as competitive would be in Japan. And that's generally considered to be the level of say, the middle minor leagues in the US.

If the Cubans played professionally, I think we'd have a real World Series. Because I think they-- I think if you take the best teams, the best players in Cuba, they would give Puckett and Morris a pretty good run.

BOB POTTER: So it would really be unfair and not very interesting baseball to watch the top US team versus the top Japanese team, et cetera, et cetera.

HOWARD SINKER: Right. And you don't want to call this a Super Bowl or the Super Series. I mean, let's pretend the world is ours for a 10-day period. It can't hurt too much.

BOB POTTER: It's been called the World Series ever since when?

HOWARD SINKER: Ever since 1903. Ever since the first one.

BOB POTTER: 1903. Minnesota Public Radio, we're going to break away from The Dome here just for half a second, and go to Minnesota Public Radio's Dan Olson, who's out along the parade site somewhere. Dan, what's going on?

DAN OLSON: Well, we're not somewhere, Bob. We're on the north side of City Hall, for crying out loud, in downtown Minneapolis.

BOB POTTER: All right.

DAN OLSON: Hey, Bob. It's starting to rain. My colleague Tom Fudge and I are here with technical operator Allan Baker. And we have a nice little cave-like effect under one of the arches here on the north side of City Hall. But the umbrellas just popped out, Tom Fudge.

TOM FUDGE: Yeah, that's right, Dan. They did. And you're indeed correct that we are lucky to be where we are.

DAN OLSON: We'll be dry.

TOM FUDGE: We will be dry. And it took a little doing to get this spot from the building manager here at City Hall.

DAN OLSON: Contest content.

TOM FUDGE: I can tell you that he said that he had to turn away family members who were looking for good vantage points from City Hall to watch the parade.

DAN OLSON: There's a little confetti on the north side of the street there. That is not officially approved confetti. Right, Tom.

TOM FUDGE: This is informal confetti. I guess that's the only stuff that is available these days.

[CHEERING]

But a lot of people from work have been shredding up documents that they use at work that normally would be recycled. But they've stuffed it into bags and there is some confetti flying out of the parking garage across from us here.

DAN OLSON: That cheer that just went up in the background is for a waste management truck that went by, not a Twins truck. There are about people four or five deep on both sides of this street here. And the situation is that the parade, of course, is not coming by here for a while yet. We have a lot of students who are out of school, probably unofficially. Is that your guess, Tom?

TOM FUDGE: Well, I would say that they are officially, unofficially. I've talked to high school students from Chaska, from Roseville, and from Blaine, and they are all excused. That is, they will be getting those from their parents saying that they have excused absences. I guess I'm wondering, Dan, whether there really is anybody going to school officially or unofficially today at all.

DAN OLSON: All right. Well, we've got lots of folks here on hand who can be visited with, Bob. We'll just wait for your sign whenever you want to hear from the people here who are just now getting a little dampish, and it's not turned into a heavy rain. We have some folks out here who have been on the curb for about 2, 2.5 hours. And wouldn't you think their bottoms are getting just a little cold?

BOB POTTER: You would think so. You would think so. I'll tell you one thing. It's lucky the parade was today and not yesterday because there was almost a driving rain and high wind yesterday. And that would have dampened people's spirits a little bit, I would suspect.

It is about 19 minutes past 12 o'clock. Baseball Extravaganza here on Minnesota Public Radio today, as we have reporters watching the parade site, various locations. And Minnesota Public Radio's Gary Eichten is at The Dome, along with baseball writer Howard Sinker.

We can take a few more questions here. We've got folks on the line, but some open lines, too. In the Twin Cities area, 227-6000. Outside Minneapolis-Saint Paul, the toll free number 1-800-652-9700, 1-800-652-9700.

Back to Gary and Howard at the dome for a bit here. Do you think that many of these players will be back next year? I know after the 1987 World Series, a lot of the players left, got traded away, took their free agency and went elsewhere.

GARY EICHTEN: Well, there are a whole number of them who are free agents. Howard, let's work down the list. Jack Morris starting at the top.

HOWARD SINKER: I think that MacPhail and Pohlad would probably be impeached if Morris doesn't come back. I think he can-- he'll be able to write almost his own numbers.

GARY EICHTEN: Brian Harper, catcher, immovable force at home plate, great hitter all year.

HOWARD SINKER: I think Harper's value increased during the postseason. He only hit 400. He made that big play throwing out the guy in the 10th inning of game six.

I think the Twins are going to see what price he might command elsewhere. And I think there's a much better chance now that that price will be met than there was, say, a month ago. Harper and Lenny Webster would be just the best one-two combination in baseball. And Junior Joe Hortiz can go find a job somewhere else.

GARY EICHTEN: Dan Gladden.

HOWARD SINKER: Probably somewhere else if somebody offers him a long-term deal. He's getting older. He batted 247 this year. He didn't have a great postseason until game seven of the series. I wouldn't be surprised if Gladden goes somewhere else and Pedro Muñoz and a couple other people get a shot.

GARY EICHTEN: Mike Pagliarulo?

HOWARD SINKER: I hope he comes back. I thought he was a stiff until about halfway through the season. I don't think there would be-- they'll be busting down the doors for his services, but I think he deserves a healthy raise. And I think the Twins will give him one.

GARY EICHTEN: Al Newman, one of the most popular Twins.

HOWARD SINKER: Again, he's a utility player, though. I think the Twins can find some cheaper labor at that position. And Al did not have a great year. You hate to see him go because he's a wonderful guy. But there'll be a job for him somewhere in baseball.

GARY EICHTEN: And Steve Bedrosian? New guy, came this year.

HOWARD SINKER: I think he's expendable. I don't think they'd make a huge effort to keep him. A guy like Bedrosian, a guy like Gladden, if there aren't any other offers out there or if there aren't good offers, I think the Twins will say, hey, look, if you want to come to camp next year and try to win a job, we'd love to have you. But there are no guarantees.

GARY EICHTEN: I think we've covered the waterfront, Bob.

BOB POTTER: Very interesting. Thanks for the analysis, guys. Let's go back to the phones. Get some more questions here. Howard sinker, Gary Eichten are at The Dome and you're on the air with them. Hi.

CALLER 2: Hi. I had a question for Howard about Scott Erickson and his arm. I'm wondering, is he capable of his pre-All Star form or is he destined to become another Allan Anderson or David West?

HOWARD SINKER: Oh, I think that that's pretty harsh to call him an Anderson or a West.

GARY EICHTEN: [LAUGHS]

HOWARD SINKER: Scotty Erickson's never going to say, I don't want to pitch on the last day of the season because I want to win the ERA title, like Anderson did a couple of years ago. I don't think he's going to be a consistent 20-game winner. But I think that Erickson is the kind of guy who you figure in your rotation as a third or fourth starter who, if he wins 12 or 15 games, it's a good year.

And really, he was the third starter this year. From beginning to end of the season, he was not as good as Morris and Tapani. But I don't know what happened the last half of the year. You could talk to five different people and get five different answers.

Was it his head? Was it his arm? Was it his-- what was it? Was it the shoes? I don't know.

But we'll find out a lot next year. We'll find out if his arm just got tired and maybe he's a first-half type of pitcher. There have been other guys like that over the course of the years in baseball. Geoff Zahn, who used to pitch for the Twins, you couldn't hit him until about June 15 and then he'd level off. He said he'd go 15 and 10, but it was all in the first half of the year.

GARY EICHTEN: But Erickson really stepped forward in the sixth game of the World Series. They hit him hard.

HOWARD SINKER: But Erickson got a lot of help. If Erickson had the Boston Red Sox fielding for him, he would given up about eight runs.

[LAUGHTER]

BOB POTTER: Howard, do you think the Twins are going to come back strong next year? Are the Twins going to be kind of a real force to be reckoned with, as Oakland was for quite some years, or might they just fade from view after a while?

HOWARD SINKER: It depends on who comes back and what their mood is. I think this is a team that isn't going to pull a Cincinnati Reds. They won the World Championship last year and they were nowhere to be found this year.

There are a lot of good teams. Remember, the American League West is the best division in baseball. There are the White Sox who are going to win it one of these years. Oakland still is going to be very, very good. And now they'll have something to prove.

The Angels have to get better because they've got Whitey Herzog running the show, and they don't have Doug Rader managing anymore. Seattle is improving and it's a flat-out good division. So if the Twins don't repeat-- the Twins could win 90, 92 games next year and finish in second.

MC: Let's hear it for Harry Newman.

BOB POTTER: Howard sinker and Gary Eichten are at the Metrodome, the site of a rally for the Twins this afternoon at 2 o'clock. The parade should be beginning in Minneapolis at around the site of the Basilica in around five minutes or so, and we'll be bringing you updates from the parade site , various locations, as this next half hour continues.

Back to the phones. More questions for Howard and Gary at The Dome. You're on the air.

CALLER 3: Hi.

BOB POTTER: Hi, there. I wanted to say that the Twins have made a fan out of me. I wanted to ask what the rest of the country is thinking about all this? I was listening to Arsenio Hall last night. And he mentioned the Twins winning the series and everybody booed. Do you have a comment about that?

HOWARD SINKER: Oh, that. We're just not trendy here. I think Atlanta-Minnesota, that's not a trendy series. If the Braves had won and he said the Braves won the World Series, they all would have booed too. So it was a no-win situation for trendy folks who fill television studios in Los Angeles.

GARY EICHTEN: And I suppose there's a residual complaining and whining about the Metrodome. Everybody has to get their three shots in on the dome.

HOWARD SINKER: Yeah. Yeah, although I was hearing some stuff after the game Sunday. One of the New York writers was telling me that if you're going to have a dome, this is the way to do it. Have an asymmetrical park. Have a park that looks lived in rather than the Sky Dome or the Astrodome.

People are starting to accept this place. And I think that there was very, very little during this series that you could blame on the dome, unlike '87, where the Cardinals seemed to be thrown completely off of their game. That's probably a tribute to the Braves that they came in here and they didn't really whine about the surroundings. Speaking of Whitey Herzog, he was managing the Cardinals in '87, and that's all he talked about, the dome this, the dome that. You almost forgot that John Tudor and Joe Magrane couldn't throw strikes.

BOB POTTER: Why do you think the Twins do so much better at The Dome or at least did during the series?

HOWARD SINKER: There are a number of teams who have home records that don't come close to resembling how they play on the road. The Twins, it's like Fenway Park. The Twins know how to play the weird quirks in this place.

Shane Mack can go back to the right field wall and know how the ball is going to bounce and hold a guy to a single. They know the sky. They know what the ball looks like coming down from the roof.

That was what was really nice about the Atlanta players. I mean, there was only one ball that was lost in the roof and it didn't really hurt them. And it's just a tough thing to grasp if you come in here.

But you go into other parks, you go into Yankee Stadium, and you have to put up with the noise level from the organ and from the recorded music. That's even more insidious than anything you hear here in the Metrodome. So it's like that all over.

BOB POTTER: Howard, let me ask you one other question along the same lines. It struck me that one of the reasons that the home teams won all the games in the World Series again this year, I would think, especially when games are that close, that tense, that the fact you get to bat last really becomes a fairly significant factor. If you're on the road, you are always looking at the prospect of sudden death. If you're a home team, at least you get one more chance even if the other team scores.

HOWARD SINKER: Absolutely. Four of the seven games came down to the last at bat, two in Atlanta, two here in Minnesota. Yeah, that's a big factor.

That's why when you flip a coin and you decide on the sandlot who's going to get to bat first, the guy who wins the coin toss always says we'll take the field. You get that last up. You know what the game situation is. You know how to plan your offense.

BOB POTTER: How was it decided that the Twins would get four games at the Metrodome, and Atlanta would only get three games at their home?

HOWARD SINKER: It rotates. In odd years, the American League team gets the extra game. In even years, it's the National League team. And the Twins have-- the Twins have planned well enough to only win in odd numbered years, '65, '87, '91.

BOB POTTER: They lucked out each time. 29 minutes past the hour. Let's go back to the phones and your question. Hi, there.

CALLER 4: Hi. This is Jim from Marshall. I was wondering, Howard, if you and other writers are saying this was one of the best series because of the quality of the baseball that was played or because of the drama? It seemed to me that there was a lack of timely hitting and some poor baserunning. So I'm just wondering what the buzz is as far as the quality of the play.

HOWARD SINKER: The drama, certainly. But the reason that there's a lack of timely hitting, and this is one of the things that third base coach Ron Gardenhire told me, is great pitching creates a lack of timely hitting. And there was some wonderful pitching in most of the games.

Steve Avery and John Smoltz working game six and seven on three days of rest. Jack Morris especially in games four and seven. That's what creates lousy hitting. There were guys throwing smoke and throwing curveballs that, if you saw them in the middle of the night, you'd roll out of bed, wake up, and scream.

So just because the scores aren't 12 to 10, you can still have good baseball. But a lot of it, there was drama in six out of seven games. And that just doesn't happen in the World Series very often. How much drama was there in '87? You knew who was going to win each game by about the sixth inning.

BOB POTTER: Gary, the noise, the sound that we hear in the background. Is that recorded or are those live orchestras that are playing?

GARY EICHTEN: I think that's the Taylor Falls marching band, one of the many marching bands that's going to be here. They're getting warmed up, tune it up. And you'll be happy to know, Bob, that also the Rockin' Hollywoods are getting ready to go.

BOB POTTER: All right, well, be prepared to speak up there, hey?

GARY EICHTEN: You bet.

BOB POTTER: It's about 12:30. We're broadcasting a Baseball Extravaganza during this hour on Minnesota Public Radio. Gary Eichten and Howard Sinker are at The Dome. We have reporters stationed along the parade site in Minneapolis, and we'll be hearing from them as the parade begins.

The parade, of course, finished in Saint Paul. Now, it started about 10:30 this morning. And by oh, a little bit before noon, it had wound its way past the State Capitol onto the freeway and headed in the direction of Minneapolis.

We have a number of folks on the line with questions. We're talking baseball today. Howard and Gary are at The Dome. And if you have a question for them, the toll free number is 1-800-652-9700.

In the Minneapolis-Saint Paul area, I'll mention it again, it's 227-6000. And we have a couple of lines in the Twin Cities yet. You're next. Where are you calling from this afternoon?

GRACE: Hello. Hello.

BOB POTTER: Hi.

GRACE: Hi. I'm calling from Ely. And my name is Grace [? Litella. ?] I don't have a-- I'm not smart enough, actually, to ask a question, but I do have a comment.

And that is on why it's called the World Series. Back in 1903, the New York World decided that it would sponsor and pay to sponsor the two best teams in the country to fight it out in the series. And that's how it started being called the New York World Series.

BOB POTTER: So it was a newspaper.

GRACE: It was a newspaper in New York, the New York World, that started that. And the reason why I know that is I have a cousin in Toronto, Ontario. And each year when we win the World Series, we get in communication. And one year, I said to him in a letter, why is it that it's sort of embarrassing to keep on calling it the World Series when it's just the United States? We can't even get the Blue Jays in here?

So he told me why it was. He said, well, it didn't really have anything to do with the best two teams in the world. It just was that the world, the New York World, was sponsoring it.

BOB POTTER: Well, one of many newspapers which we no longer hear of from big New York City.

HOWARD SINKER: Better the World Series than the Chevrolet series. Let's take what we can get at this point.

BOB POTTER: Or let's see what kind of automobiles did they have back in 1903, the Duryea or something like that, perhaps. I don't remember. I don't know.

HOWARD SINKER: I don't even want to think about what it would be called today.

BOB POTTER: [LAUGHS]

All right. Our next listener is standing by. Thanks for waiting. You're on the air with Howard and Gary down at the dome.

BERNARD M. BLEEKER: Yes, my name is Bernard M. Bleeker, B-L-E-E-K-E-R. I do not have any questions, but I do have a short comment here. The satirical poet Juvenal, circa AD 60 to 140 of Rome, bemoaned his society's obsession with bread and circuses, knowing that too many circuses lead to a society's not being able to produce its own bread, which in modern times means not being able to compete economically.

For economic health, we need sound, well-educated minds, not just sound bodies. Sports victories should be celebrated with restraint, not riotous abandon. Less money should be spent on them and more on thorough education.

BOB POTTER: Well, all right. Who could argue with that, I guess? But we don't have these World Series victories every year. We don't certainly have them every month. We have them-- I guess we've had one in the past four years and now this year. And I don't know, Howard, do you think that there's an excessive amount of celebration going on here?

HOWARD SINKER: Well, I just remember my dad told me that if I had scored 10 points higher on my SATs, they would have had a parade for me on my block when I was in high school.

BOB POTTER: [LAUGHS]

HOWARD SINKER: I think that to celebrate sports to the exclusion of being concerned about more important issues is folly, but this is fun. And I think we can celebrate something that's fun. I just love the idea of walking around Minneapolis after game seven, Sunday night and seeing people who normally wouldn't have anything to do with each other, giving each other high fives, sharing 7 Ups on the sidewalk, having a wonderful time. And if some friendships were made and if some communication was made, and if those people can see each other two months after the World Series and connect again in some more important fashion, then maybe we've done something here.

But I think getting carried away once in a while is great. And I prefer this to a lot of the artificial hoopla and artificial celebration that's going to take place January when the Super Bowl comes to town or in April when the Final Four comes to town. And we're likely not to have the local rallying point that we had with the Twins doing something phenomenal.

GARY EICHTEN: I also think it's important that excellence be recognized. What do you think, Bob?

BOB POTTER: Well, and what's the harm in having a little fun now and then? We wouldn't want to have fun every year. But once every four or five years, it probably doesn't kill us even if we are Minnesotans.

HOWARD SINKER: [LAUGHS]

Sure, next year we're going to have to contend with a presidential election. So let's have fun this year.

BOB POTTER: [LAUGHS]

All right, let's check in with Minnesota Public Radio's Bill Catlin, who's down at the Basilica, which is approximately where the parade is going to begin, the parade of team members and so on. Bill, what do you see?

BILL CATLIN: Well, Bob, I'm in the top step of the front entrance to the Basilica. To my right is a huge banner vertically that says "Hallelujah" and to my left it says "Twins." And I see a couple of cop cars that have stopped traffic on the parade route.

The parade actually is getting staged at Methodist Church, which is several hundred yards down the way here. I do not see anything that looks like the cars of the parade or the pickup trucks. I just see a couple of cops that are diverting traffic. So obviously, things are a little bit late getting underway.

And from this vantage point, I'm not sure exactly what to say in terms of how delayed it will be, but it has pushed forward a little bit in anticipation. A few umbrellas remain up. Most of them have come down.

It seems to be dried off a little bit. The wind is unabated. We're just waiting here for the thing to get going.

BOB POTTER: Any more people showing up in that area, Bill, than say 35, 40 minutes ago?

BILL CATLIN: Not that I've seen from this vantage point. It seems to have pretty well stabilized. On the side of the street across from the Basilica, it looks like people are four or five deep. There's only room for one person to sneak by in either direction on the sidewalk on the other side.

On this side, there's quite a bit more room. The crowd is only two or three deep on the sidewalk. And when last I checked, I've been huddling here out of the wind, things did peter out after a couple of blocks towards the beginning of the parade.

BOB POTTER: Well, I imagine as soon as they see the parade starting, the vehicles showing up, then there'll be some enthusiasm and excitement again down there.

BILL CATLIN: Expect a fair amount of whooping.

BOB POTTER: Thanks, Bill.

BILL CATLIN: Also, there will be a liturgical greeting from the people here in the Basilica.

BOB POTTER: Very nice. Thank you, sir. Minnesota Public Radio's Bill Catlin at the start of the parade when it begins. And we've got other folks along the parade route, too. We'll keep you apprised of how things are going as the parade wends its way from the Basilica, eventually down to the Metrodome, where a celebration is planned starting at approximately 2 o'clock this afternoon.

It's now about 21 minutes before 1 o'clock as we continue our Baseball Extravaganza on midday today. Let's go back to the phones. More questions for Howard Sinker and Gary Eichten, who are at the dome.

Hi. Thanks for waiting. Where are you calling from?

CALLER: Hi, I'm calling from Cloquet, Minnesota. I have a couple questions. I was wondering if they could say something about the players' salaries, how they are negotiated. I'm all confused about these clauses and contracts and free agency and everything, and comment too about how they think that might affect which players will come back. I'm particularly wondering about Brian Harper because he's my favorite player. And my second question is, I think I read in the paper that there were six players who are on this team who were on the '87 team, and I'm wondering if you could name them.

GARY EICHTEN: Seven actually, right?

HOWARD SINKER: Excuse me?

GARY EICHTEN: Seven players--

HOWARD SINKER: Seven, yes.

GARY EICHTEN: --left from the '87 team.

HOWARD SINKER: Right. Gosh, this sounds-- do we get 100 points for each one? Let's see. Larkin, Newman, Puckett, Hrbek.

GARY EICHTEN: Gladden.

HOWARD SINKER: Gladden.

GARY EICHTEN: We're at five. Gagne.

HOWARD SINKER: Gagne is six. And I know none of the rest are pitchers.

GARY EICHTEN: What are we missing?

HOWARD SINKER: Oh, gosh. We'll get this. We'll have this for you by the end of the hour.

BOB POTTER: Somebody asks Randy Bush.

HOWARD SINKER: Randy Bush, that's number seven.

GARY EICHTEN: Leave it to Potter.

BOB POTTER: No leave it to-- leave it to Rob [? Hebzynski, ?] our engineer. He's got his baseball facts straight. Great job.

GARY EICHTEN: Howard. Well, can you, in about a minute or two, explain the intricacies of the free agent system?

HOWARD SINKER: Well, that's really-- that a four credit course at the university. The brief explanation is, after six years, a player, if he doesn't have a long-term contract, if he doesn't have a multi-year contract, can be a free agent and can put his services out for any team. Until then, the player is bound to his team through an arbitration system that sets the salaries if both sides can't agree. Players negotiate their salaries in concert with agents who negotiate with General Manager Andy MacPhail and his assistants. That's the short version of how it works.

What happens though, right now, a guy like Dan Gladden, he's 34, 35 years old. If he wants a three-year contract, one of the things the Twins are going to talk about is, well, gee, how good is he going to be at age 38, playing the outfield? A leadoff hitter who's built for speed, is he going to be able to do the things in two or three years up the road that he was able to do when the Twins first picked him up in '87?

GARY EICHTEN: She was worried about Brian Harper, though. And you now think, though the Twins are going to resign him even though all season long we heard about Harper being run down for his defensive inadequacies.

HOWARD SINKER: Oh, I think that there's a-- what I want to say anyway, and I'll hedge a bit here, I think there's a better chance right now, in late October than there would have been in late May or late June. Harper is a hitting machine. There are just not that many catchers who can do the things he does with the bat. And he's a converted catcher. He can still improve behind the plate.

And the deficiencies that he has, he can get a little better at. He might become a little bit better with a little bit better thrower. He might become a little bit better with the glove. But he calls an awfully good game.

One thing that Harper does is he's not afraid to call a pitcher's best pitch. He'll have Jack Morris throw a forkball, which breaks into the dirt no matter what the count is, if he thinks he can get a batter out. Some catchers with a good defensive reputation are getting their reputation because they're calling for fastballs all the time. Because they're easier to catch and it's easier to throw out a guy at second base when he tries to steal.

GARY EICHTEN: Well, he made the big play in game six there when he threw out that guy trying to steal second base. Turned the game for the Twins. I thought, sure.

HOWARD SINKER: That kept him from having a guy at second and nobody out and punting him over to third.

BOB POTTER: 17 minutes before 1 o'clock. Minnesota Public Radio's Dan Olson is down near City Hall. We checked in with him 15, 20 minutes ago or so. It was raining and chilly. How is it down there now, Dan?

DAN OLSON: A lot better, Bob. Thank you very much for being so concerned about my personal welfare. And I'm very concerned about yours, too, sitting in that nice, warm, toasty studio there.

BOB POTTER: Yes, indeed.

DAN OLSON: My colleague Tom fudge and I are standing here on the north side of City Hall in downtown Minneapolis, which for you non-metro, non-urban types, is in the heart of downtown Minneapolis. Right, Tom Fudge? Is that an accurate description?

TOM FUDGE: That's correct. And we're trying to talk to some of the people here. We're live on Minnesota Public Radio. Can you tell me where are you from? What's your name?

CHRIS WARNER: Chris Warner from Brooklyn Park, Minnesota.

TOM FUDGE: I see. And are you normally a high school student?

CHRIS WARNER: No, I'm out of high school.

TOM FUDGE: So you didn't have to get any kind of excused absence from high school there.

CHRIS WARNER: No.

TOM FUDGE: Did you come to the 1987 parade?

CHRIS WARNER: Yeah, yeah.

TOM FUDGE: I see.

CHRIS WARNER: I needed an excused absence.

TOM FUDGE: You needed an excused absence for that one.

CHRIS WARNER: Uh-huh.

TOM FUDGE: Well, did you enjoy the game?

CHRIS WARNER: Which one?

TOM FUDGE: The last one.

CHRIS WARNER: The last one was the best one.

TOM FUDGE: Well, thanks for talking with us.

DAN OLSON: Now there's a lot of sound in the background, and the sound is from the people on each side of the street here on 4th Street, on the way to the Metrodome. Bob, Gary, Howard, you probably can visualize the scene here, 4th Street running approximately east and west in downtown Minneapolis. People about four and five and now six deep on either side of the street. The middle of the street is still clear. They're going to try to keep that clear.

A lot of young people, as our colleagues have reported along the way. Chris Roberts, Bill Catlin, Kate Moos, when they were in Saint Paul talking about all the young people out on the street. Tom Fudge, I'd say the average age here is probably about 18, 19 years old.

TOM FUDGE: I'd say that's definitely true. Although as the crowd gets bigger, and it is definitely getting bigger, we're seeing much more of a mix of folks.

DAN OLSON: There's the Minneapolis Public Health Center building, just kitty corner from where we are at. One of the signs hanging out the window Bob, Gary, and Howard on the third floor, it says, "nice shot, Twins." That's from the public health nurses. Did you catch that? Nice shot?

BOB POTTER: Oh, yes, Dan. I'm glad you pointed that out to us. I wouldn't have gotten it otherwise.

DAN OLSON: Well, there you go. I just wanted to be specific. Now, there are some rolls of toilet paper. People are playing catch with rolls of toilet paper.

Folks are trying to entertain themselves here, Bob. We don't have any players to cheer just yet so there is cheering going on back and forth across the street. And we'll stay in touch and let you know what's going on here.

BOB POTTER: Thanks. Minnesota Public Radio's Dan Olson and Tom Fudge at Minneapolis City Hall. Back to The Dome, where Gary Eichten and Howard Sinker are standing by. Gary, when we went on the air at noon, you said that indeed the gates were open and people were slowly filing into the dome. Has the crowd increased appreciably over the past 45 minutes?

GARY EICHTEN: Oh, yeah. They continue to trickle in here. There's still lots and lots of empty seats. I've never been good at crowd projections, but I would guess maybe 5,000 here at this point. And they're coming in steadily.

BOB POTTER: Being entertained by a variety of high school bands and so on and so forth.

GARY EICHTEN: Had incorrectly identified the band we heard before. Actually was the Baldwin-Woodville band, and I'm sure they'd like credit. And then the Rockin' Hollywoods were playing some rock and roll tunes and getting ready for it.

And of course, you can watch the parade on the big screen up there at The Dome here. So that's nice. This is real comfortable.

BOB POTTER: I imagine it is. 70 degrees year in, year out, right?

GARY EICHTEN: You bet.

BOB POTTER: Back to the phones. More questions for Howard and Gary as we celebrate the Twins victory here on midday. Go ahead please. You're next.

- Yes, I'm calling from St Paul. And I just wondered if Howard thinks the Twins might have any interest in repeating the experiment they tried last spring with Kirby Puckett moving him out of center to either right or left field.

HOWARD SINKER: The right field experiment worked about as well as if I was playing right field. He just didn't take to it. Center field, if you can cover the ground, is a much easier position to play because you see the ball coming off the bat. You pick up an extra step or two. And I just don't see it happening.

Shane Mack is a better right fielder than he is a center fielder, and Puckett is clearly a pretty darn good center fielder. And it just-- right now if he could play right field, they would have kept him out there. But it just didn't work.

It's one of those things you forget about. Back in April, he did it. And that seems like it was 10 years ago right now.

GARY EICHTEN: Well, Howard, my question for you, you said that Gladden is probably expendable at this point. The fact of the matter is Puckett has slowed down in center field. And I think one of the reasons the Twins were able to get along as well as they did was the fact Gladden covers so much ground in left field. Now, Pedro Muñoz is not a very good defensive outfielder and I would think would be hurt in the outfield, wouldn't he?

HOWARD SINKER: Right. I think what you'll see if Gladden disappears is that Shane Mack would play left field next year. At the Metrodome, there's a lot more territory in left field than there is in right, and they probably can get away with Muñoz in right. And I'm sure that if Muñoz is the regular right fielder, they'll have someone on the team who can play the game in the last two or three innings as a defensive replacement, a Jarvis Brown type of player. But I don't think you'll ever see Kirby Puckett surrounded by guys in left and right who are there primarily for their offense. He'll need more and more defensive support as he ages and slows down.

BOB POTTER: Howard, how big a factor do you think the designated hitter situation was in the World Series? Did that work to anyone's advantage or disadvantage?

HOWARD SINKER: Oh, I think it always works to the American League team's advantage to have it, because National League teams just don't have an extra guy sitting on the bench who has hit 25 or 30 home runs. In the National League park, what it meant for the Twins is that Chili Davis was either out of the lineup or in that hapless game five doing his impersonation of Fred Flintstone in right field. That just didn't work, and I don't think you'll ever see that again.

BOB POTTER: Well, on the other hand, was it tougher for Tom Kelly trying to figure out how he was going to jostle the various players so that he didn't have to have a pitcher hit?

HOWARD SINKER: In Atlanta, it was tougher for Kelly to figure out how to make personnel moves. In the Metrodome, it was tougher for manager Bobby Cox of the Braves to figure out how he was going to use his pitchers. One thing about National League Baseball is it gives you an excuse to get a pitcher out of the game.

You say, well, why did you take out Peña? Well, we had to hit for him. In the 11th inning of game six, he took out Peña and brought in Charlie Leibrandt. And you could see Kirby Puckett walking to the plate saying, thank you, Bobby. Thank you very much.

BOB POTTER: Why doesn't Major League Baseball, as a whole, agree on to either use the designated hitter in both leagues or not use it in both leagues?

HOWARD SINKER: Well, there's so little interleague play that it's two separate but equal games, so to speak. I don't really think that they need to make that change. You'll never see the designated hitter eliminated in the American League because it's a union issue.

It's a full employment scheme. You get more guys work. Guys like Chili Davis can get 500 at bats as an everyday player, instead of 100 at bats as a pinch hitter.

And the National League will probably continue to pride itself on being the purists' league and the league in which managers manage. And they make those very intellectual double switches in the lineup. So they're two different games, but they're both wonderful games. And there's no need for uniformity.

BOB POTTER: Back to the phones here. More questions for Howard Sinker and Gary Eichten, who are down at the Metrodome this afternoon. You're on the air. Thanks for waiting. Where are you calling from?

CALLER 5: I'm calling from Saint Anthony village here in the metro area. I have two quick questions for Howard. First of all, I noticed on yesterday morning's Today show, Bryant Gumbel's opening statement about the World Series was that he said it was unfortunate that the artificial surface played a role in game seven. I think he was probably referring to the high bounce that Gladden's ball took on his hit in the 10th inning. Have you heard any comments similar to that from other writers or complaints about the field or such?

And secondly, it has always struck me that these ballplayers, when they fall off pitch after pitch after pitch, if they're really doing it intentionally, it would seem to take more skill to actually follow off the ball than just hit the ball. And I'm wondering why they continue to do it. Why they don't just hit the ball instead of following it off? And I'll hang up and listen.

HOWARD SINKER: They're fouling off those pitches because that's two strikes. They have to protect the plate and they're taking the best swing they can. It's not like they have the luxury of taking a pitch to look for a better one.

On your other question, three out of the four surfaces--

GARY EICHTEN: Just to clarify, they are trying to hit the ball fair when they do that.

HOWARD SINKER: Sure. But they're not getting as good a swing because those are good pitches that are being thrown. Pitchers hitting the corner or it's a borderline pitch that they might otherwise take.

There is so much-- there's artificial turf in outdoor stadiums. If the Twins had played the Pirates, it would have been-- they would have been all artificial surfaces. The Twins have an artificial surface that was laid down in '87, and it's not as spongy as the original stuff that was here for the first five years of The Dome.

And it's pretty comparable to the stuff that's in a lot of other parks. It's terrible, but that didn't come with indoor baseball. So Bryant Gumbel was complaining probably about Dan Gladden's hit in the 10th inning. It would have taken that high hop and a dozen other stadiums around the major leagues.

BOB POTTER: The parade was supposed to begin at about 12:30 in front of the Basilica Church on Hennepin Avenue. I don't know if it's started yet or not. Let's check in with Minnesota Public Radio's Bill Catlin and see what's going on. Bill?

BILL CATLIN: Well, Bob, yes, in fact, it seems to be beginning. We've had the first few parties, I guess, you could call them. Several people walking along three mounted Minneapolis Police. In fact, the unofficial beginning began with this liturgical greeting from people here at the Basilica who carried down bells and a variety of other things.

And right now, passing in front of the Basilica are several police cars down the way. I can't really make out any of the Twins officials yet, but they are just about turning on to this northbound stretch of Hennepin Avenue. They'll be passing in front of a statue of Father Hennepin, who seems to be raising a cross in blessing, perhaps an appropriate symbol for this whole thing, beginning at the Basilica.

And the crowd was quite quiet earlier on. And as soon as things started looking like they were going to get going, the Homer Hankies came out, people started waving them, and started cheering. And the hankies are waving like they were in The Dome. And they haven't even-- most of them haven't even laid eyes on a Twin yet.

BOB POTTER: [LAUGHS]

All right, Bill, fine. We'll check back with you again if we have the opportunity here in the next couple of minutes. Back to the telephones.

Shall we take a couple more calls? Why not? Phone lines are full and you're on the air with Gary Eichten and Howard Sinker at The Dome. Hi.

CALLER 6: Hi. How are you doing today?

BOB POTTER: Good. What can we help you with?

CALLER 6: I'm calling from Minneapolis, and I have a comment and a question. I'm commenting on the person who called earlier about how we should not celebrate these things. And well, I consider myself a social activist. I could see a lot of things that aren't being taken care of in our society that should be. But I grew up in Cleveland, and I believe when something like this happens, you take advantage of it.

[LAUGHS]

It doesn't come along that often for a lot of fans around the country. And I believe sports transcends politics. I believe it's good in that sense. It brings people together no matter what their views are on issues.

And I don't see how the money that goes towards sports could be spent-- could be spent on other things because it comes from people's pockets. And if they didn't go to see a game, they'd spend it on a video or something else. My question is more related to if Howard might have an idea as to how many cities have actually yet to win the World Series? And how many fans out there are still waiting?

HOWARD SINKER: Well, let's see. In Boston, as producer Sara Meyer knows, they've been waiting for now, I think, 73 years. Which means that if you were born in, say, 1919, you're still--

GARY EICHTEN: Still waiting.

HOWARD SINKER: You're still waiting. You're probably outside Copley Plaza waiting for the parade to start. And you've been there for far too long.

A lot of cities. I can't give you the count right off the top of my head, but say if you go through the American League West, certainly there's never been a parade for Texas. There's never been a parade for Seattle. The White Sox haven't won for ages. Oakland hasn't won for what now, two years?

GARY EICHTEN: Two years. Yeah.

HOWARD SINKER: Two years. And that one-- Mike Woodley, if I can use the letters of another station, the WCCO producer and talk show host, was saying that after the '89 World Series, when Oakland swept the Giants because of the earthquake, there just wasn't anything that bordered on a celebration. Because it would have been totally inappropriate.

GARY EICHTEN: Bob, I think the situation here at The Dome has improved immeasurably. I say that because they've posted on the scoreboards around The Dome, the final score, the final scoreboard reading from the seventh game of the series. 9 innings of zeros, 10 innings for one team. Of course, that big one in the bottom.

HOWARD SINKER: It's just taken a turn for the worse, though, because they just put Gary Glitter's "Rock and Roll Part 2," otherwise known as the Hey song, on the stadium public address. And we do have the dancing women that some people feel have to show up at these events in order for them to take place.

BOB POTTER: Let's take one more quick call here from this listener. Where are you calling from?

CALLER 7: Calling from Northfield.

BOB POTTER: Yes.

CALLER 7: I had a question about the Twins use of the little organ themes and the trumpet calls during the game. I've noticed they've been doing this more and more the last few years, and that they're getting louder and louder. I think they did that over a hundred times during the seventh game to get the crowd to cheer. And I just wonder, do they think that this helps the team or are they trying to entertain a bunch of people in the crowd who they think don't really know much about baseball? Or what's your analysis of this?

HOWARD SINKER: Well, I remember a piece by Chuck Haga in the Star Tribune about six weeks ago in which the people who run the scoreboard and the sound effects said that they know to tone it down in the event of a tight and exciting game because the action on the field will take care of itself. They obviously were lying because the noise-- but again, in the Twins defense, it's like that everywhere. And the Metrodome is not the worst offender in baseball. There are other places where the noise starts on the first pitch and literally does not let up save for when the pitcher is in his motion on the mound.

BOB POTTER: It's awfully hard to tell when you're just listening and not actually at the facility, but it sure sounded like it was plenty loud down in Atlanta.

HOWARD SINKER: Yeah. And again, all of that was artificially generated. You don't think the fans started that cubic zirconia war chant on their own? They have the mechanical-- the buttons on the organ. And they'd start up and then the fans would start yelping.

BOB POTTER: Howard, Gary, thanks a million. We're going to break here for a bit. We'll check back with you on the news and information stations in a little while. Send the rest of the folks off to an afternoon of music broadcasting on Minnesota Public Radio as we celebrate the Twins' World Series victory here on Minnesota Public Radio.

[JOYFUL MUSIC]

This is Midday.

PAULA SCHROEDER: This is Paula Schroeder, host of Mid-Morning on Minnesota Public Radio. Join me for an eclectic blend of news, interviews, and features from around the region. We'll meet the people behind the headlines and travel the state to learn more about Minnesota. Mid-Morning beginning at 9:00.

This is KNOW 91.1 FM, 1330 AM, Minneapolis-Saint Paul, the Twin Cities news and information station of Minnesota Public Radio. The time now is 1 o'clock. Midday on Tuesday is made possible in part by Bay West providing environmental consulting, remediation, and analytical testing for business and industry.

We are going to catch up on the latest news from National Public Radio in Washington in just a bit. The start of the Middle East Peace Conference tomorrow in Madrid is headlining the news around the world today, and we'll find out what else is going on. And then in our next half hour, we will check back and see what's happening at the Twins victory parade in Minneapolis. Bill Catlin giving us the idea that it was just getting started at the Basilica a few minutes ago as it winds its way toward The Dome.

We'll also hear from Twins fans at the Minnesota State University in Akita, Japan. And National Public Radio commentator Bill Littlefield will offer his closing thoughts on the 1991 World Series. Many people are saying that this was the best World Series ever. We'll have all those items and a look at the weather too after the news here at one minute past 1 o'clock.

KORVA COLEMAN: From National Public Radio news in Washington, I'm Korva Coleman. Presidents Bush and Gorbachev are in Madrid to open the Middle East Peace Conference tomorrow. But today, they discussed UN-- rather US-Soviet relations over a working lunch. During the press conference that followed the lunch, Mr. Bush gave Mr. Gorbachev a new vote of confidence, which seemed to be a primary reason for today's meeting. NPR's Ted Clark reports from Madrid.

TED CLARK: Many Soviet republics used last summer's failed coup attempt in Moscow as an opportunity to loosen their ties with the central government. And a reminder of how Mr. Gorbachev's stature was weakened by the attempted coup came when a reporter asked him today, who's taking your place in Moscow while you're in Madrid? Mr. Gorbachev seemed defensive in his reply.

MIKHAIL GORBACHEV: I'm still the president. Nobody's taking my place.

TED CLARK: "And nobody's going to take me out of the action," he concluded. At this point, President Bush jumped in.

GEORGE HW BUSH: I am very happy to see my friend again and to have had very fruitful discussions that have not in any way been altered by the tragic coup attempt last summer.

TED CLARK: But Mr. Bush also made a point of saying the US has been in contact with the republics as well. This is Ted Clark in Madrid.

KORVA COLEMAN: Meanwhile, a rash of attacks on Israeli targets in South Lebanon are marring the Madrid peace conference. Hilary Brown reports from Jerusalem.

HILARY BROWN: According to reports from South Lebanon, the soldiers were killed in a bomb attack in Israel's self-declared security zone. The pro-Iranian Hezbollah, the Shiite Muslim party of God, has claimed responsibility. This followed an armed attack on Israeli soldiers overnight, also in the security zone and only 5 miles from the Israeli border. Israeli defense spokesman say five of their men were wounded and that they killed two of their attackers.

And according to Lebanese reports, three men in hang gliders were shot down over South Lebanon yesterday as they attempted to land in Israel. The attacks don't come as a surprise. Hezbollah and other radical groups have openly stated their intention to try to sabotage the Madrid peace talks. For National Public Radio, this is Hilary Brown in Jerusalem.

KORVA COLEMAN: President Bush today issued an order prohibiting almost all American commercial transactions with Haiti. The action is a means of exerting pressure on the country's military rulers to restore democracy. Only certain types of humanitarian assistants are permitted. The United States, along with the Organization of American States, is calling for a hemisphere-wide embargo against Haiti. On September 30, the military deposed democratically elected president Jean-Bertrand Aristide in a bloody coup.

First Fidelity Bank Corporation of New Jersey today said it's cutting its prime lending rate from 8% to 7 and 3/4%. The bank said the cut in the rate charged to its best customers would take effect tomorrow. On Wall Street, the Dow is up 9 points at 3,055 In active trading. This is NPR.

The union representing 4,300 nurses at six hospitals and 48 other health facilities, went on strike overnight. Contract talks failed late last night, and the walkout began at 11:00 PM Pacific Time. It's not known how many nurses didn't show up for work today.

A county spokesman said that the hospital management can't ask nurses still on the job to work until their relief shows up. But those nurses who were working when the strike began can't work forever. And after going home, they may join the walkout.

Great Britain and Vietnam today signed an agreement that will force tens of thousands of Vietnamese boat people in the British colony of Hong Kong to be deported to Vietnam. NPR's Deborah Wang reports.

DEBORAH WANG: Hong Kong officials say that Vietnam has agreed in principle to take back all boat people found not to be genuine refugees. The first to be deported will be new arrivals, those who sail into Hong Kong after today. The remainder of the more than 60,000 boat people in the territory will follow, although details of their return have not been finalized.

The agreement is a milestone. For years, British and Hong Kong officials have been trying to persuade the Vietnamese to take back all non-refugees. Vietnam has been reluctant, however, in part because of the protests of the United States. Hong Kong officials would not comment on whether force will be used against the Vietnamese, but said only the deportations would follow standard international practice. I'm Deborah Wang in Hong Kong.

KORVA COLEMAN: West African leaders have convened talks in the Ivory Coast aimed at disarming warring factions in Liberia and setting up free elections in the war-torn country. Liberia's interim president, Amos Sawyer, and main rebel leader Charles Taylor will participate in the talks. The Ukrainian parliament has voted to close the Chernobyl Nuclear Power Plant, the site of the world's worst nuclear disaster five years ago. Delegates passed a resolution announcing that the first and third reactors, the only ones still running, will be closed in 1993. I'm Korva Coleman, National Public Radio news in Washington.

BOB POTTER: Six minutes now past 1 o'clock. Well, it's cloudy around the area. Temperatures are indeed falling just as the National Weather Service has promised.

It's 41 degrees in Duluth Superior right now. That's the warm spot. That's kind of unusual that Duluth gets the honors as being the warm spot in any particular point in time, but they are today with the wind southwesterly at 21 gusting to 28 miles per hour in the Twin ports.

At Rochester it's 34 degrees. At Saint Cloud it's 30. And Minneapolis-Saint Paul now reports 33 degrees. The wind chill readings across the Southern parts of Minnesota are generally in the teens, single digits to the teens.

Forecast for Minnesota includes a winter weather advisory in Northwest Minnesota this afternoon. Statewide, there will be patchy, freezing drizzle turning to light snow or flurries in the West. Drizzle continuing in the East. May be some brief freezing drizzle or flurries as well.

Temperatures falling in the Eastern half of Minnesota and holding near steady in the West. Tonight, there's a chance of light snow in the West, scattered snow showers or flurries forecast for the East. Lows ranging from the teens Northwest to near 30 in Southeastern Minnesota.

Then for tomorrow, cold statewide with a chance of light snow or flurries and highs from the 20s Northwest to the 30s Southeast. We're getting a little taste of winter in the Minneapolis-Saint Paul area too today, with cloudy skies, drizzle, or brief freezing drizzle, possible. Flurries are possible late this afternoon as well. Temperatures will continue to fall into the 20s as the day wears on. Winds will be out of the Southwest to West, and then they'll switch around to the Northwest and increase to 15 to 25.

Tonight, look for cloudy skies, much colder temperatures, a 30% chance of light snow or flurries. The low tonight will be in the 20s, and at least the winds will die off to around 10 or 20 or so tonight. Tomorrow, mostly cloudy, still cold, flurries are possible.

Look for a high of 30 in Minneapolis-Saint Paul tomorrow. Normally, at this time of the year, you would expect a high temperature in the 50-degree range or so and a low of around 32. So we're going to be about 20 degrees cooler than normal for the next couple of days.

It's Twins victory celebration day today. The team and some of the officials and players, and so on conducted a parade through downtown Saint Paul this morning. The parade has now moved to Minneapolis.

And the ultimate destination is the Metrodome, where a parade, or rather a program, will be held at 2 o'clock this afternoon, a program that will be broadcast live here on this Minnesota Public Radio station. Let's check in with Minnesota Public Radio's Bill Catlin, who's down at the Basilica where the parade was supposed to begin in Minneapolis. What have you seen, Bill?

BILL CATLIN: Well, Bob, the team passed by. As you might expect, the crowd started hooting and hollering and waving Homer Hankies before they got here. As they arrived, particularly loud whoops went up for Jack Morris, of course. And then I think perhaps the most interesting thing is that as the end of the parade passed by, people scattered, Well, I'm standing where I was at the top step of the Basilica when the parade went by. And when it went by, I swear I could have seen about 2,000 people.

They're all gone. There's nobody here. Everybody just made a run for it as soon as the end of the parade passed. It's quite dramatic.

BOB POTTER: Well, in the last report, you had it around, I guess, it was maybe 10 minutes to 1:00 or something like that. I could hear bells and people and whistles and so on and so forth. And now it's absolutely silent.

BILL CATLIN: It's back to normal. But a little heavier traffic and nary a soul to be seen, except a few people heading back to their cars that I suppose are leaving the tail end of the parade up the parade route. It's not too much confetti, just a little bit, a few scraps of paper here and there. The clean up crew is hard at work already. This is a done deal at this end.

BOB POTTER: OK, Bill, thanks a lot. Minnesota Public Radio's Bill Catlin at the Basilica. What's happening, of course, is that the parade is moving up Hennepin Avenue, eventually headed in the direction of The Dome. Minnesota Public Radio's Chris Roberts had been along 7th and Hennepin a little bit earlier. Is that where you still are, Chris?

CHRIS ROBERTS: Yeah, I'm still here, Bob. I couldn't hear you for a while, but now you're coming in loud and clear. I'm looking at the parade of some 45 pickup trucks carrying the Minnesota Twins and their families. Obviously, the moment of euphoria has finally arrived for the thousands who've been lining at least Hennepin Avenue for the last two and a half hours.

And it's a controlled pandemonium right now. Just before the parade of trucks arrived, some Minneapolis Police officers on horseback passed by, pushing people back towards the sidewalk. There were some yellow ribbons that had been used to cordon off the area, and those were torn down by the fans.

In 1987, a lot of the players who were riding in Corvettes faced the onslaught of fans who rushed out to greet them and touch them. In this case, the fans are acting pretty well behaved. I'm looking at the pickup truck carrying Saint Paul Mayor Jim Scheibel and Minneapolis mayor Don Fraser, which is passing by right now, and it looks to be like a fun time for everybody who's down here.

BOB POTTER: Chris, do the trucks stop at all or do they just keep moving right along?

CHRIS ROBERTS: At certain points, they do stop and it gives the fans a chance to acknowledge whatever player or dignitary is passing by. It seems like a huge truck full of media types with cameras taking pictures is passing by right now, Bob. I'm still looking for some players. And they don't seem to be arriving yet, although our third baseman, Mike Pagliarulo, is in a truck right in front of me right now with his wife and young son.

BOB POTTER: They can't be far behind with the amount of crowd noise I hear, Chris.

CHRIS ROBERTS: Yeah. Yeah, absolutely.

BOB POTTER: Very good.

CHRIS ROBERTS: Bob, I have to say, I haven't seen such a massive display of affection by Minnesotans since, well, back to when President Gorbachev zoomed down Summit Avenue in that motorcade of his.

BOB POTTER: Thank you much. Minnesota Public Radio's Chris Roberts at 7th and Hennepin. We may check back with him. The destination of the motorcade, of course, is The Dome, where Gary Eichten is standing by with Howard Sinker. Gary, what's going on at The Dome right now?

GARY EICHTEN: Lots of music, lots of dancing. The crowd is slowly filling up. The Viking cheerleaders have arrived, and they're making their presence felt at this point.

All systems go. The Pillsbury Doughboy is here. And what more could you ask for, Bob?

BOB POTTER: Well, Gary, I would bet that those people who are watching the parade, the ones that have tickets to The Dome event, are hustling over there quickly where they can warm up a little bit.

GARY EICHTEN: Absolutely. Well, it should really be fun. And the players apparently will be speaking. I imagine they're going to be parading around and lots of musician. It should be fun.

BOB POTTER: Do you have any idea? Have they given out any programs? Do you have any idea what's going to happen there at 2 o'clock when this thing gets underway?

GARY EICHTEN: Very little. No programs as such. We know for a fact that a number of bands are going to play, and that's about it. And people will be speaking. But I hesitate to say this, Bob, given the fact that this is fairly highly well choreographed, but I have a feeling they're making this up as they go.

[LAUGHS]

HOWARD SINKER: It'll be interesting to see how long this can remain a politician-free zone.

BOB POTTER: Well, I was going to ask that too. I have a hard time believing that some of the politicians won't take an opportunity to get up there and claim at least some role in having made it all possible.

HOWARD SINKER: I believe that there were some plans for Governor Carlson to issue a proclamation declaring this Minnesota Twins day or week or month or millennium or something. But aside from that, I don't know of any other formal plans.

BOB POTTER: Howard, do you think there's any chance-- and there's been some talk of this over the past season or so, and it always got shut down because of the price. But do you think there's any chance that this World Series victory might give some momentum to those who would like to see a retractable cover put on The Dome? So that when you get those rare, nice, fabulous spring evenings, you could be outdoors for baseball.

HOWARD SINKER: Remember that this was a dome that cost about $70 million to build. The tab on the Toronto Sky Dome, which is the only retractable stadium in the world, is right now $577 million and growing on a daily basis as the debt continues to go, as the debt continues to mount.

BOB POTTER: Well, is that simply because of the cover?

HOWARD SINKER: Most of it, much of the cost is the cover. That started out as a $100 million dollar dome project. Someone decided to make it retractable. Actually, a group decided to make it retractable and that immediately more than tripled the price. And then there were a bunch of other doodads included that have driven it up even more.

But I would think that if you had a stadium with a retractable roof, it's probably the next generation of sports stadium here in Minnesota. And you'd be looking 15 or 20 years down the road. Because remember, Mets Stadium wasn't that old when they decided to wreck it. So maybe about the year 2010, they'll talk about doing something like that here in the Twin Cities.

GARY EICHTEN: And occasionally you still hear talk about building an open-air stadium essentially to go with this dome so that you can have your choice there.

HOWARD SINKER: But you could do that. But I think that by the time we're ready to build a new stadium, the technology is going to be in place to do a retractable roof and keep the costs under control.

BOB POTTER: They'll do it with lasers and satellites and microwaves and that kind of stuff, and maybe a fax machine thrown in. Thanks, guys. We'll check back with you in a little bit. 16 minutes past the hour here. As we continue following the progress of the Twins parade as it winds its way through Minneapolis, let's check in with Dan Olson and Tom Fudge, who are at City Hall.

DAN OLSON: Right you are, Bob Potter. And we've got people along the curbside here, Downtown Minneapolis on the North side of City Hall, right along 4th Street, folks, about five and six deep now on either side of 4th Street. And my colleague Tom Fudge has corralled the Wheaties brothers.

TOM FUDGE: We do have the Wheaties brothers here. You're absolutely right, Dan Olson. As people across the way are banging on tin things that are connected to a parking garage, that's all the noise that you hear. But I'm talking here with, let's see, what are your names?

MIKE BERG: Mike Berg.

TOM FUDGE: And?

ERIC BERG: Eric Berg.

TOM FUDGE: And they have been handing out a little item to the people in the crowd here. And can you tell me about it?

MIKE BERG: There are many boxes of Wheaties souvenir items or souvenir items with Ken Hrbek and Kirby Puckett on them.

TOM FUDGE: I see. And of course, this is reminiscent of back in 1987 when Wheaties came out, of course, with a world championship edition. But these are just the little ones that you've been handing out.

MIKE BERG: Right. The full-size boxes should be in the stores today.

TOM FUDGE: I see. How many of these have you yourself handed out to people in the crowd?

MIKE BERG: I passed out about a thousand of them. And along with nine other people, we passed out a total of over 10,000.

TOM FUDGE: 10,000? But you're all done now?

MIKE BERG: Yep, all done. They went fast.

TOM FUDGE: All right. Thank you.

DAN OLSON: Now, the contractual arrangement, as I heard Gary Eichten explaining it last night on All Things Considered, was that General Mills gets to use two of the Twins players, and then Kellogg's, though apparently has the Major League Baseball contract. We're on the north side of City Hall, Dan Olson here with Tom Fudge. And we're waiting for the players and Twins executives to come by. And I think they're probably about, oh, 10 minutes or so away.

But we've got a gaggle of people standing on the north side of City Hall, including some downtown office folks who I assume are here to watch the parade. We're live on Minnesota Public Radio. Would you care to tell me who you are and what you're doing down here? No, nobody wants to talk.

LINDA: Dennis is better at it.

DAN OLSON: Dennis is better at it. No?

DENNIS: Linda will tell you everything--

DAN OLSON: I see.

LINDA: I'm from New Jersey. I don't know anything. Talk to him.

DAN OLSON: Well, New Jersey is not an exclusion for talking about baseball. You are from New Jersey but here watching the Twins World Series parade. How should we explain that?

LINDA: Just for this series. I got tickets from my father.

DAN OLSON: This is a good father you have. That's a nice deal.

LINDA: Yep.

DAN OLSON: All right. And you saw how many games?

LINDA: Just two of them. I gave the other tickets away.

DAN OLSON: Please excuse my Major League Baseball ignorance, but where in New Jersey do you go to see Major League Baseball when you're there?

LINDA: We play down at Giants stadium, Byrne Arena.

DAN OLSON: All right, very good. Welcome to Minnesota.

LINDA: Thanks.

DAN OLSON: Isn't the weather lovely?

LINDA: Gorgeous.

DAN OLSON: Yeah. And you are? Who from where?

DENNIS: I'm Dennis from Minneapolis.

DAN OLSON: All right, Dennis, and you're here to see the parade, I assume?

DENNIS: Yes.

DAN OLSON: You're probably one of the tallest people around here. You'll have no difficulty seeing over.

DENNIS: No. Is there a prize for that, though?

DAN OLSON: Well, I don't have one on me, but maybe somebody can arrange for that.

DENNIS: But I don't see anything.

DAN OLSON: No, not yet. I think we're still 10 minutes away. Were you here for the '87 parade?

DENNIS: No, I wasn't.

DAN OLSON: Where were you?

DENNIS: I was in Michigan.

DAN OLSON: All right, that's an excused absence. Let's go down the line and talk to a couple of more folks. What is your name? Where are you from?

MIKE: I'm Mike. I'm from Saint Paul.

DAN OLSON: All right, Mike, there was a parade in Saint Paul. Were you back there for that?

MIKE: No, I just skipped out of work to come down here and watch the parade here.

DAN OLSON: Do you want to say hello to your boss back at work?

MIKE: No.

[LAUGHS]

DAN OLSON: All right, don't want to reveal that. I understand that. I've been there.

So what about this parade? This is a big event. Have you seen anything like it in your years?

MIKE: No, I missed-- I was at school in 1987 so I didn't get to see the other one. I'm pretty psyched to be here right now.

DAN OLSON: All right, we're glad to have you here. Nice to talk to you. Thank you all for chatting with us. Back to Tom Fudge.

TOM FUDGE: I wanted to mention, Dan, there may not be a prize for the tallest person here. But we do have a banner that might be a prize winner, which says "hoodoo voodoo, tap man do." I would imagine that that is some kind of reference to Mr. Tapani. But I'm talking here with an American Indian fellow from-- tell me what your name is and where you're from.

JAY ROJAS: My name is Jay Rojas. I'm from Leech Lake, Minnesota Indian Reservation.

TOM FUDGE: I see. And you just came down here for the parade?

JAY ROJAS: Yes, I did. I brought my kids over here to see the parade.

TOM FUDGE: I see. There was a lot of talk about the tomahawk chop and the controversy with that in the American Indian community. Was that something that you hold an opinion on or thought about?

JAY ROJAS: I think the aim-- to concentrate on something more important than the tomahawk chop. To me, I'm not offended by that, but they are. It's their opinion. My opinion is that I really don't care. I just like-- it's just a thing for a team.

TOM FUDGE: But you did root for the Twins at least?

JAY ROJAS: Oh, you know it. All the way.

TOM FUDGE: All right. Well, good to have you here. Thanks for talking with us.

JAY ROJAS: You bet. Thank you.

DAN OLSON: And we're still on the north side of City Hall. I don't think we'll leave the north side, will we, Tom Fudge? We're just planted here with technical operator Alan Baker, who is running the controls. And now I'm going to venture out. Alan, watch that microphone cord there and we'll see who else we can find.

The crosswalk here on the sidewalk is a little busy. I'm just going to stick my arm into the crowd here to locate some people who are facing away from me. I'm looking at a wall of backs here and some folks are moving away from me.

They see the microphone and know that we're live on radio, and they probably don't want to talk to me. Here's a guy who just met my eyes, though. What is your name and where are you from, sir?

TROY: Troy [? Fir. ?] I'm from Shakopee.

DAN OLSON: Are you on an excused absence from school today?

TROY: Well, sir, we go to college.

DAN OLSON: Oh, you're in college. I beg your pardon. Which college do you go to?

TROY: SSU.

DAN OLSON: Yes, very good. And this is?

TREVIN MAYER: Trevin Mayer.

DAN OLSON: We're live on Minnesota Public Radio here. And how long have you been down here?

TREVIN MAYER: Since about 10 o'clock this morning.

DAN OLSON: Well, where did you find a place to park?

TREVIN MAYER: Over on Fifth Street parking ramp.

DAN OLSON: No problem parking, huh?

TROY: No.

TREVIN MAYER: Not when we got here.

DAN OLSON: How many times have you been in downtown Minneapolis before in your life?

TREVIN MAYER: I don't know, about five times.

BOB POTTER: Well, it sounds like--

DAN OLSON: All right, very good. Thank you both, gentlemen, for chatting with us. Bob?

BOB POTTER: Dan, sounds like those young men are having a great time down there at the parade route. And we'll be, of course, broadcasting live the events from The Dome when they get underway right around 2 o'clock or so. Gary Eichten will be on hand there along with Howard Sinker as well.

The fact of the matter is that not all avid Twins fans are able to attend today's parade and celebration at The Dome. Students and faculty at Minnesota State University in Akita in Northern Japan probably wish they could be here. But they were able to watch Sunday evening's seventh game on Japanese television. In fact, their Monday morning classes were canceled so students could watch the game at 10:30 local time. John Keller is the coordinator of residential life at Minnesota State University in Akita, and earlier this morning he spoke with Mike Moss, who's the host of Worldview.

MIKE MOSS: What was it like when Larkin hit that ball into the outfield?

JOHN KELLER: Well, it was just incredible here. The residence hall lounge was packed with about 150 students. Oh, I'd say probably 50-50 American students and Japanese students. And when the fly ball hit, it was probably louder here than it was in The Dome. It was just amazing.

MIKE MOSS: Louder there than in The Dome?

JOHN KELLER: Oh, that'd be my guess. I don't know. We didn't have a decibel gauge here, but it was incredible. People were jumping around and screaming and the trumpet was playing. And it was amazing.

MIKE MOSS: The trumpet was playing? What was the trumpet playing?

JOHN KELLER: Well, we had one student, Maureen Miller, who's a student at the University of Minnesota from Minneapolis. And she periodically would play "Charge" while students alternated between yelling charge and banzai in keeping with our location. So when the fly ball hit, she went into a rendition of "Charge" and the place erupted.

MIKE MOSS: Well, baseball is a pretty big sport in Japan, isn't it?

JOHN KELLER: It sure is. In fact, the seventh game of the Japanese series was also finished yesterday, and the Seibu Lions defeated the Hiroshima Carp.

MIKE MOSS: How would you compare those two teams, the Seibu Lions and the Minnesota Twins? What do you think would happen if the two of them met?

JOHN KELLER: Well, I don't think it would be a good contest. I think the Twins would dominate pretty readily at this point.

MIKE MOSS: How come?

JOHN KELLER: Just too much power and the pitching would be overwhelming, I believe.

MIKE MOSS: What's the difference between baseball in Japan and baseball here in the States?

JOHN KELLER: It's very localized here in Southern Japan. Northern Japan, where we are, really does not have a professional team. And so it's more difficult to follow in Northern Japan. Of course, most of the population in Japan is in Southern Japan.

Fan reactions are also different. The fans at Japanese baseball games are continuously noisy. It's sort of like a Florida State football game.

There's a chant and it goes on forever and ever and ever. And it's very enthusiastic. And I think the quality of American baseball is still superior, though.

MIKE MOSS: Tell me something-- let's get back to the World Series championship and the bedlam that erupted over there in Akita. Tell me something, John, about how the faculty and the students interacted in all of this.

JOHN KELLER: Sure. We had talked about canceling classes and decided not to do that, and thought every student should make their own decision, and every faculty member should also make their own decision. There were quite a few faculty members who chose to cancel classes, and some attended the game.

One faculty member in particular came into the lounge, I think probably just to check on the score in about the seventh inning, and found most of her students sitting in the front row. And she was sort of coerced into joining them in the front row. And so class got canceled.

One of our English as a second language instructors decided that about the sixth inning, when his class was getting ready to start, that he would bring his class into the lounge, his Japanese students, and that they would have an impromptu course on American/Minnesota culture and watch the game together. And so it was really-- we're a small community, we're a small university, and everyone knows everyone else. And so it's a pretty friendly place. And it was really a very good spirit of camaraderie.

MIKE MOSS: So now things get back to normal there in Akita?

JOHN KELLER: Well I think so. Yeah, unlike in Minnesota, it's tough for us to continue the celebration. We're a little bit cut off from what's going on. We're lucky to get the game's broadcast in English as they occurred, but we're really cut off from the rest of the celebration. So we're pretty much back to normal now.

MIKE MOSS: Well, you know that today in Saint Paul and Minneapolis, there's a big parade in both cities, and then there's a big event at The Dome. And The Dome is sold out this afternoon for that crowd to come in and cheer the Twins on.

JOHN KELLER: Well, we wish that was televised here. During the game, we had some students we were-- we only had a few actual Homer Hankies here, but we had students who were making Homer napkins from with red magic markers and cafeteria napkins.

MIKE MOSS: Well, anything that helped. And we know that it helped because we won.

JOHN KELLER: Yeah, that's right. Obviously.

MIKE MOSS: You bet. All right, John, thanks very much.

JOHN KELLER: Mike, thank you.

BOB POTTER: John Keller, coordinator of residential life at Minnesota State University in Akita, Japan in conversation with Minnesota Public Radio's Mike Moss. 28 minutes now past 1 o'clock. Thousands obviously turned out for the parade honoring the Twins today, and also a big parade being held in Atlanta for the Braves.

When the series ended late Sunday night with Minnesota's 1 to 0 victory, many claimed it had been the most exciting baseball championship ever. Five of the seven games were decided by one run. Three of the games went into extra innings. Commentator Bill Littlefield says regardless of how people ultimately remember the '91 series, there's no doubt it reminded us of some valuable lessons.

BILL LITTLEFIELD: There is, first of all, the lesson of the old pro, with the emphasis on old. Throughout the '91 postseason, Atlanta's Steve Avery was the media's darling, and for good reason. At 21, he was impossibly poised and superbly effective. Child Steve, great story.

But in the end, it was old Jack Morris, age 36, who won the marbles, winning two games, the second by shutting out the Braves for 10 innings. Morris began pitching in the big leagues when Steve Avery was six years old. Morris's triumphant game seven also gave us the lesson of the second guessing managerial hunch triumphant. Everybody who follows baseball knows that complete games are passé, and that the arms of starting pitchers must be protected, since there are only about 11 sound ones on 26 teams.

That's perhaps what Minnesota manager Tom Kelly was thinking when he told Morris after the top of the ninth inning Sunday that he was through. "Why?," Morris asked, "I feel fine." Kelly looked at his pitcher thoughtfully. This was a moment wherein he would be ripe for second guessing if he screwed up.

If he sent Morris out to the mound for the 10th and Atlanta started spraying singles around the park and perhaps even scratched out a run, afterward, everyone would ask Kelly why he had expected Morris to go on forever. Well, Tom Kelly would have said, He said he was OK. Oh, jeez, 10,000 writers would have groaned or smirked or chortled to themselves.

How could a 1991 manager be so dumb? How could he fall for the old, honest boss, I'm all right. Let me stay in. I can get this guy line.

Tom Kelly must have thought of that. But he gave the ball back to Jack Morris anyway and shrugged. "OK," he said, "it's just a game."

Baseball is supposed to be more complicated than that these days, more scientific. It's played indoors on synthetic surfaces by millionaires, who are often resented by the fans for their security. But for 10 days this fall, the fine and eternal promise and possibility of the game itself transcended those distractions.

Tom Kelly is right, baseball is just a game. But it is splendid to be reminded again of its potential to delight us and surprise us. Great fun to hear once more the wondering and argument over whether we've seen the best. Find to contemplate that banquet of a series as sustenance for winter.

BOB POTTER: Commentator Bill Littlefield. 1:30 is the time. We'll get to Outlook in a little bit.

At 2 o'clock, we go back to The Dome and the big celebration for the Twins. Minnesota Public Radio news editor Kate Moos actually strapped on her tape recorder and went out and covered a story today. Kate?

KATE MOOS: No, no, no, no.

BOB POTTER: That wasn't very kind.

KATE MOOS: I do some honest work every once in a while.

BOB POTTER: Yes, you do. Yes, you absolutely do. And you certainly did today, covering the rally and so on.

KATE MOOS: That's right. It was fun to be in downtown Saint Paul. Got a chance personally to wave at Jack Morris, which sent chills up and down my spine. So I'm very happy about the event.

BOB POTTER: Is there anything going on besides Twins mania today?

KATE MOOS: Well, there is, but frankly, not a whole lot, Potter.

BOB POTTER: Yeah, I'm not surprised.

KATE MOOS: We're going to be reporting on the parades, both in Saint Paul and in Minneapolis. Of course, we'll be at The Dome for the festivities there, and we'll be keeping track of those events. We are also going to report, though, on a plan by a coalition of Saint Paul churches to revitalize inner city neighborhoods. The Saint Paul Ecumenical Alliance says it hopes to create jobs, improve minority education, and revitalize housing. And Donna Nicholson will give us details on that plan.

BOB POTTER: All right, Kate. Thanks a lot. And of course, we'll have more on the developments at The Dome today, too. I'd like to tell you that today's live coverage of the Twins victory celebration was certainly a team effort here at Minnesota Public Radio.

And I'd like to take this opportunity to thank the operations department at Minnesota Public Radio, including Mr. Scott Yankus, Stephanie De Smet, Alan Baker, Brian Tonneson, Alan Strickland. And our technical director today in the studio was Rob [? Hebzynski. ?] And thanks to the MPR reporting staff Bill Catlin, Dan Olson, Chris Roberts, Kate Moos, Robin [? Gehl, ?] Tom Fudge, Karen Boros, and Loren Omoto.

Midday is produced and directed by Sara Meyer. She had help today from Mike Edgerly and Greta Cunningham. Do stay with us. Lots more Twins action to come.

[JOYFUL MUSIC]

And now it's Outlook from the British Broadcasting Corporation. Here's John Tidmarsh.

JOHN TIDMARSH: Hello, and welcome.