Man With Four Balls Not Able to Walk

In the early 90's (during my college days), I loved going to Minnesota Twins games with my youngest brother, Mike. I would get tickets through Winona State that cost about $10 apiece. The price also included the bus ride. Typically, Mike would come over to my place on 3rd Street after school. We would then walk about 10 blocks to the Winona State campus where we would board the coach bus in the Minne Hall parking lot. We both usually listened to headphones on our way up there. I was into country bigtime, so some of the cassettes I listened to on the ride up included Mark Chesnutt's "Almost Goodbye", Clint Black's "Put Yourself in my Shoes", Vince Gill's "When I Call Your Name" and Garth Brooks' "The Chase".

Once we arrived at the Dome, we would find the proper concourse to enter and find our seats. My brother would invariably order a malt cup sometime during the game. I grew to like them as well.

My most memorable game was one against the Texas Rangers. Our favorite place to sit was in the lower left field (as pictured below):

For the price, you got a pretty good look at some of the players (much better than in the upper deck) and there was always the possibility that a ball would land close by. During this particular game, a guy with the Rangers named Paul (I can't remember his last name) was up. After a few foul balls, Paul hit the ball and it headed right for me. I am totally serious. The ball was coming straight for me. I froze like a deer in headlights. I couldn't move. It got closer and closer. It went over the plexiglass in left field and just at the last moment, sailed a few rows above me. Man, I was so relieved. They showed a replay of it on the Jumbotron and everyone near me (including my brother) stood up as the ball got closer while I was sitting down as still as a statue. In all the commotion, it took me a while to realize that the Rangers had scored runs on Paul's mighty swing. I don't recall if the Twins won that night.

It was always an adventure exiting the ballpark. One was almost physically pushed through the exit doors by the strong winds, winds that were used in keeping the Teflon top of the Dome fully inflated. We boarded the bus again after the game and most people would be quite talkative, especially after a win. After about 45 minutes (with the lights inside the bus turned off), most people would try to rest. It was always a rude awakening for them when the bus driver turned the lights back on once we returned to Winona State. After that, my brother and I would walk back to my place and call it a night.