A MIGHTY WIND: They've just gotta ruin all my illusions about the Twins championship teams, don't they? First, Kirby Puckett turns out to be a scoundrel and serial abuser of women. Now comes news that an elderly former Metrodome technician has admitted that for years he manipulated the air in the stadium to give the Twins an advantage.
"Twins cheating" rumors are nothing new- for years they were accused of stealing signs from the Dome's centerfield cameras. When I first heard the news about Dick Ericson's little scheme I had visions of the Twins having to take down the championship banners -a la the '97 Gophers and Fab Five-era Michigan basketball- but, it turns out, Ericson acted not on orders of the team, and it's debatable whether the wind even helped them that much at all.
Then again, maybe it was the wind, and not Kent Hrbek, that pulled Ron Gant off first base in the '91 World Series...