50 Years Ago... Twins Win and Neil Armstrong's "Small Step"

[Seth Stohs]

Dave Mona is well known in the Twin Cities media circles. He was a long-time sports writer, used to be involved in Field of Dreams in the Mall of America and has long been the co-host of The Sports Huddle with Sid and Dave on WCCO radio. 

 

He shared a story this morning on his Facebook page this morning that I found very interesting from 50 years ago this month... He told me that I could share it with the Twins Daily readers, so I thought I would place it here. 

 

 

It was July 20, 1969, almost 50 years ago. I was covering the Twins for The Minneapolis Tribune. We played an afternoon game in Seattle, winning 2-0 on home runs by George Mitterwald and Cesar Tovar. It was Jim Perry's 11th victory. The game was played in 2 hours and 10 minutes as the Twins, under Billy Martin, improved to 59-37. It was getaway day and everyone dressed quickly to get on the plane to fly back to Minnesota. Somewhere over Montana, as meals were being served and card games and light conversation filled the plane, the pilot of the Northwest Airlines charter came on the intercom. "I'm able to pick up a radio broadcast from the moon. If you don't mind I'll try to give you a little of the play-by-play." Over the next few minutes he would keep us updated. As we flew from Montana over North Dakota, he said, "They've landed on the moon. The door is opening and Neil Armstrong is about to go down the steps. He's on the ground." All conversation had stopped on the plane and suddenly the silence was broken by loud cheers and applause. "Wait a minute," the pilot said. "He's saying something...'a small step for man...a giant leap for mankind." From the sounds inside the plane, you would have thought the Twins had just won the World Series." It's a day I'll never forget.

 

 

 

[yarnivek1972]

Word is, fellow astronaut (and a bit of a prankster) Pete Conrad tried to talk Neil into saying “what the heck is that?” and then cutting the feed...

[Seth Stohs]

 

Word is, fellow astronaut (and a bit of a prankster) Pete Conrad tried to talk Neil into saying “what the heck is that?” and then cutting the feed...

 

Ha!! That would have been funnier, but not quite as monumental!!

[jkcarew]

So cool! Next story: what Dave and the Twins were doing on Aug 18 of that year when Jimi Hendrix closed out Woodstock. I'm not convinced Dave was aware of Woodstock at the time...or now, for that matter

[Aichiman]

 

So cool! Next story: what Dave and the Twins were doing on Aug 18 of that year when Jimi Hendrix closed out Woodstock. I'm not convinced Dave was aware of Woodstock at the time...or now, for that matter

Apples to whatever is the most insignificant small fruit you can think of.  Woodstock will evaporate from the collective consciousness as soon as the last hippy dies--which isn't too long.  Hendrix will live on a bit longer, but IMHO, the Apollo landing was the most amazing event in human history.

 

[David HK]

 

So cool! Next story: what Dave and the Twins were doing on Aug 18 of that year when Jimi Hendrix closed out Woodstock. I'm not convinced Dave was aware of Woodstock at the time...or now, for that matter

Heh... to be honest, I'm not sure a lot of people who were actually there were aware- then or now...

[ashbury]

So cool! Next story: what Dave and the Twins were doing on Aug 18 of that year when Jimi Hendrix closed out Woodstock. I'm not convinced Dave was aware of Woodstock at the time...or now, for that matter

 

Heh... to be honest, I'm not sure a lot of people who were actually there were aware- then or now...

If you remember Woodstock, then you weren't there.

[jkcarew]

 

Apples to whatever is the most insignificant small fruit you can think of.  Woodstock will evaporate from the collective consciousness as soon as the last hippy dies--which isn't too long.  Hendrix will live on a bit longer, but IMHO, the Apollo landing was the most amazing event in human history.

Did I make an argument comparing the two in significance? They happened withing weeks of each other. It was a unique time.

[Craig Arko]

I remember nothing about the baseball game. Watching Apollo 11 (and Walter Cronkite and Jules Bergman) on our family's first ever color TV; that will remain with me for the duration.