We were really looking forward to Opening Day at Target Field. On the brewery side, we had more locations and beers at the ballpark, including the major league debut of Grapefruit Supreme. On a personal level, more than a few Surly employees were going to spend Thursday at the yard, soaking in the return of baseball, warmer weather, and a playoff-ready Minnesota Twins squad. (There are also employees who don’t care for baseball but enjoy wandering around what is essentially an open-air bar in downtown Minneapolis with a Furious in one hand and a Kramarczuk’s Polish in the other.)
So anyway, that’s not happening.
But we’re not ready to admit defeat. We’re going to celebrate the opener as best we can while we shelter from home. You can too. Here’s what you’ll need:
INTERNET ACCESS
YouTube has three classic Twins games available to watch right now:
- Game 163, 2009. Twins vs. Tigers. Sports Illustrated called it the best regular season game of the decade. Sports Illustrated was right.
- Game 7, 1991 World Series. Twins vs. Braves. This was pretty cool. The Halloween Blizzard happened like three days later and those are the only things anyone here remembers about 1991 except grunge.
- Game 5, 2002 ALDS. Twins vs. Athletics. Minnesota and Oakland were supposed to play today, so this might be the best choice if you only have time for one.
BEER
We’re going with Grapefruit Supreme to start. Might have a Furious later, we’ll see how the day goes.
CASED MEAT PRODUCT
Like you, we’re minimizing our grocery store runs as we practice social distancing, which means we have some supply shortages. For example, we’re without hot dogs and buns. But we have some sausages and a loaf of bread. It’ll do. Mustard for us, but if your preschooler wants ketchup that’s fine.
WARDROBE
We have a cap, a Surly baseball t-shirt, and an official MLB baseball. We’ll pretend we caught a foul ball.
HELMET NACHOS
A Target Field delicacy treasured by true fans of the game’s nuances and food served in souvenir headgear. We don’t have a helmet but any bowl will do.
FREE TIME TO DO THIS
Time is a flat circle. The photographer took the shots above at 7:45 am on what might have been Wednesday? Could’ve been Monday. It’s hard to say.
Surly fans in other parts of the country, feel free to replicate this experience–there’s a wealth of Brewers, White Sox, Cubs, Cardinals, Tigers, Rockies, and Diamondbacks games out there to watch. (Would advise skipping the ’87 World Series, St. Louis.) No, it’s not the same as the real thing. Not a lot of things are right now. But we’ll get through this with patience, snacks, bandwidth, and Surly. Play ball.
