Thread: Your Favorite #14 memory

Hrbek/Gant nothing more needed

All of the above, but also Herbie’s first home run in Yankee Stadium. I’ve always rooted long distance, growing up in New Jersey and living in New York City: Was I there? No. Was I watching on TV? No, I turned it off to go to sleep in the 11^th inning, the first time I’d ever turned off a Twins game. But I was so excited to read about this rookie from Bloomington, Minnesota hitting a home run in Yankee Stadium, that my somewhat waning interest in baseball was thoroughly renewed. And I was able to follow with passion as the Terrible Twins of ’82 blossomed into the champions of 1987.

So many great Hrbek moments but I still gotta go back to... I think it was sometime in August in 1981... Straight from A-Ball I believe... Kent Hrbek in his first game beat the Yankees with a home run in extra innings.

Minnesota kid from straight from A Ball? Are you kidding me... Instant Hero for me as a 16 year old.

The World Series Grand Slam and his arms up in the air as he rounded matched exactly what my arms were doing when it happened. That was special... My heart was in my throat watching every game of that series. It was huge and I will never take that moment for granted.

I also still remember a fairly meaningless home run he hit at the dome in 1987. I had a great first row seat behind the plate. Didn't want the game to end because those seats were so exceptional. Hrbek hit a home run that game that got out so quick... Never seen anything like it.

It left his bat and in what seemed like less then a second... the ball bounced off the folded blue seats behind the RF Baggie and back on the field. I swear the ball had already bounced back and landed in RF before the right fielder could even turn around.

Still the hardest hit ball I have ever seen and I can still remember it like it was yesterday and it was just a meaningless home run out of many for him.

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How’s this for a meaningless homerun: Since he didn’t live too far from there, my brother invited me to see Rod Carew inducted into the HOF in 1991. The Twins were also in the Hall of Fame game that was also played that weekend. We were sitting in right center in that little Doubleday Field, so when Herbie first came up, my brother echoed my thought and said, “Get ready to catch one.” On the next pitch, Herbie hit it right toward us, but it went over our heads into someone’s backyard or something (now it is a parking lot). Yet another way that 1991 was a great year. Went back to Cooperstown for Kirby (2001) and Bert (2011). Once a decade thing, I guess.

Originally Posted by Longdistancetwins

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How’s this for a meaningless homerun: Since he didn’t live too far from there, my brother invited me to see Rod Carew inducted into the HOF in 1991. The Twins were also in the Hall of Fame game that was also played that weekend. We were sitting in right center in that little Doubleday Field, so when Herbie first came up, my brother echoed my thought and said, “Get ready to catch one.” On the next pitch, Herbie hit it right toward us, but it went over our heads into someone’s backyard or something (now it is a parking lot). Yet another way that 1991 was a great year. Went back to Cooperstown for Kirby (2001) and Bert (2011). Once a decade thing, I guess.

Always gonna be memorable when you almost make a call prior to it happening.

Originally Posted by mcrow

No doubt about that, but on career as a whole Puckett was better. Hrbek is underrated outside of MN, IMO but still not HoF level.

I should have picked a better word than "but" to preface my observation. No, I wasn't building a HOF case for Hrbek; he needed to play someplace other than 1B for his hitting skills to rise to quite that level.

I'm nominating his Taco John's commercial from a few years back. Herbie Like!

First all of Herbie's 1981 efforts are not in play - he was wearing #26 at the time. But you also have to give a nod to Pete MacKanin - last twins homer hit at the old Met.

You're right. My bad.

Originally Posted by USAFChief

Hrbek's WS grand slam still gives me goosebumps. One of my all time favorite Twins moments.

and I still don't think he pulled Gant off first. Gant's momentum took him past the bag.

Yup. Gant was out because he didn't slide. Coble explains it at the end of this video for the physics-challenged people who don't understand that Gant was falling on his own after running into Hrbek and that Hrbek has every right to apply the tag as Gant gets himself out with a dumb play.

My favorite memory of Hrbek is the fact that he played the rest of the World Series despite the fact that he received multiple death threats after that game, including one helpfully phoned in to his mom's house. Stay classy, Atlanta!

My favorite Hrbek memory is my dad complaining about Don Mattingly's gold gloves every time Hrbek caught an impossibly bad throw from a fellow infielder. Hrbek could scoop it and stretch like mad! Dad was right.

Man! So many good Herbie memories. His GS in the Series, the Gant play, his awesome defense, bp shows, how happy he seemed to be playing the game he loved, etc.

I met Herbie in my hometown when he used to go fishing with my best friends uncle. Just a snot nosed kid bothering him with baseball and fishing questions. The next year I was at the dome with my dad and on the wall by the Twins dugout and Herbie recognized me and said "hello" and asked if "I was catching any fish?". I was the envy of every other kid there. Always stuck with me that such a big time athlete could be so nice. That is my favorite Herbie memory.

Originally Posted by ChiTownTwinsFan

Settle down. It's just a game. And it's not being a jerk enjoying the things that go your way. Sheesh. Find a Braves forum if this makes you upset.

Eh, my hatred of Hrbek has as much to do with 1991 as my love of the Atlanta Braves does. He'd been a jerk before 1991 to my family and I, and he has been a jerk multiple times since. I've also been on Twins forums with most of the folks here since before 2000, so I'll be glad to stay, thanks.

Originally Posted by twinsnorth49

And being an oversensitive Braves fan on a Twins forum is a whole new level of dumb-ass.

Yeah, no. Not oversensitive. I hate Hrbek. There's probably 3 people in the whole world who I hate at a personal level. He's one.

Originally Posted by LaBombo

Yup. Gant was out because he didn't slide. Coble explains it at the end of this video for the physics-challenged people who don't understand that Gant was falling on his own after running into Hrbek and that Hrbek has every right to apply the tag as Gant gets himself out with a dumb play.

Yes, he should have slid, but there are plenty of physics-intelligent people who have shown his momentum stopped, and then Hrbek pulling back. We can have this argument for ages. I just know what Twins players from the time say about the play...

Originally Posted by biggentleben

Eh, my hatred of Hrbek has as much to do with 1991 as my love of the Atlanta Braves does. He'd been a jerk before 1991 to my family and I, and he has been a jerk multiple times since. I've also been on Twins forums with most of the folks here since before 2000, so I'll be glad to stay, thanks.

Hrbek is a fan favorite to many Twins fans. Jerk or not, he was a big part of an era that saw two World Series for us. Maybe, in such a crowd, instead of responding with hate, it would be better to just not interject on this particular subject. Just a suggestion.

Originally Posted by ChiTownTwinsFan

Hrbek is a fan favorite to many Twins fans. Jerk or not, he was a big part of an era that saw two World Series for us. Maybe, in such a crowd, instead of responding with hate, it would be better to just not interject on this particular subject. Just a suggestion.

And he mistreated a number of Twins fans among my family. I'm the only non-Twins fan among my family, so his indiscretion with my family wasn't to a group of Braves fans. He's just a guy who gets put way too high on a pedestal for my personal experience with the man. Conversely, my personal experience with Kirby was very, very good, and he's been vilified since his death after being an even bigger fan favorite during his career.

I heard that Hrbek liked to dip his ice cream into beer.

2 World Series Championships, can't beat that!