As the Minnesota Twins battle the Anaheim Angels in American League Championship Series, MPR's Tom Scheck reports that many fans both inside and outside the dome are engaging in peculiar habits to ensure that the Twins will keep winning all the way through the World Series.
The Twins are preparing for the second game of the American League Championship Series against the Angels. The Twins won game one in front of 55,000 fans, a big crowd is expected to fill the Metrodome again for game two.
TOM SCHECK: The Metrodome has a familiar feeling during these playoffs. There are the homer hankies. There's the sound of crowd noise bouncing off the walls and the Teflon roof. There's also a replica of the Frankie's sweet music Viola sign that hung in the Metrodome during the two World Series Championships in 1987 and '91. Viola was the World Series MVP in '87.
SPEAKER 1: 21 tickets [INAUDIBLE]
TOM SCHECK: The concourse outside the Metrodome, which was nearly empty during the team's losing seasons, is now jam packed. Fans shuffle, prod, and push their way through the crowd to buy beer, talk to other fans, or walk through something called a Homer Hanky Hospital. Many fans outside the Metrodome also believe that they have a subtle power to help the Twins win.
TAMMY JO COOK: I almost didn't wear my visor tonight, but then I figured I'd better because every time I've worn it, they've won.
TOM SCHECK: Tammy Jo Cook is like many other Twins fans. She's superstitious about the team. While some fans are comfortable buying a ticket and just watching the game, others believe that their direct actions will have an impact on how the team does on the field. Some wouldn't watch the final game in the Oakland series because they thought they brought the team bad luck. Mark Kleven takes it one step further.
MARK KLEVEN: I have not washed this shirt all year, and that's a problem. It's dirty.
TOM SCHECK: Kleven is wearing a Twin shirt and helmet. He says he only wears the helmet on special occasions. And every time he's worn it, they've won, almost.
MARK KLEVEN: Actually, this is the first playoff game I wore this to, but I am undefeated when I've gone to Twins games, except for one game. But that was a friend of mine that went with me, and he's lost 12 games in a row. So he's never invited.
SPEAKER 2: [INAUDIBLE]
MARK KLEVEN: He's not invited to games anymore.
[WHISTLING]
TOM SCHECK: The superstitions vary among fans. Some groups of fans have to sit in the same seats. If the Twins win, and they shuffle their seats if they lose. Some fans bring Homer Hankies from the last two World Series. Rich and Judy Rheault and their daughter Katy are carrying grocery bags of stuff into the game. Rich Rheault says they have signs, American flags, pins, and a hat from the 1991 World Series that's been out of the state for the last decade.
RICH RHEAULT: And I gave this to my uncle in Chicago, who just recently died, and my aunt gave it back. So we brought it along just to kind of as good luck. And I put my new one on because this team was supposed to be contracted, but they didn't. And now they're here again, and they're going to hang around. So we got this for luck and this for the future.
TOM SCHECK: Other fans would normally think nothing of stepping on a crack or crossing the path of a black cat say, they're tripped up by the Twins mojo. Mary Stewart of Minneapolis, and Kathy grant of Minnetonka say they've bought new Twins gear since Friday's loss against Oakland. They said their old clothing didn't work.
Stewart, whose birthday is on the 13, also carries the head of a Corey Koskie bobblehead doll that broke off from its body. She says she rubs it for good luck every time the Twins third baseman is at bat. Grant is wearing a Holy necklace from the Vatican.
SPEAKER 3: Something about baseball, you hear all the superstitions they have about, like kicking the line when they go out on the field and all the things they do.
SPEAKER 4: Yeah. Yeah. I just think it just makes you superstitious. If they win, and you have something on that they won with, then you wear it again.
[WHISTLING]
TOM SCHECK: Other fans, like Darren Ripley from Jordan, scoff at such superstitions. He says the positive vibes that fans think they're sending to Twins players are silly.
DARREN RIPLEY: The Minnesota Twins are not going to win or lose the game on what a fan wears the game, so we have to get over the superstitions.
TOM SCHECK: Nevertheless, superstitious fans will continue their rituals at the game or in front of the television. They hope they can return to their normal lives, or at least wash their shirts after the Twins win the World Series. I'm Tom Scheck, Minnesota Public Radio.
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