Target Field Scoreboard Operator Hopes to Re-Establish Wünderkind Reputation After Challenging 2023 Campaign

“They just kept coming, man. I was getting bombarded with snags left and right,” said Woody Cunningham, the former top-ranked scoreboard operator at the collegiate level who signed a multi-year deal with the Twins in 2022. “Have you ever seen that movie The Birds? It was like the phone booth scene, but I was getting swarmed with error codes and really mean tweets.”

It was a rookie year Cunningham would love to forget, but he knows the adversity will help him in the long run. He took that task to heart this offseason, vowing to leave the ghost of his lost season in the past. 

I asked him about his challenging year in 2023, which saw the newly hired technical prodigy struggle through countless glitches and technical errors. Whether it was the wrong player’s picture being displayed during an at-bat, stat lines not adding up correctly, a misfire when it came to finding a proper celebrity lookalike or the semi-regular crash of the entire system, Cunningham got a lot more than he bargained for.

The two of us sit in the pregnant pause of silence while he thinks about how to answer.
Cunningham cracks his knuckles, leans back in his chair and looks me dead in the eyes. 

“The game doesn’t slow down for you. You have to grab that bull by the horns and hold on for your dear life,” he said, as he took a long hard drag of the heater between his calloused fingers. “This year is going to be different. That I can promise you.”

It’s not the first time the wünderkind has been tested. While interning with the Missoula Timberjacks, Cunningham set a record for being the youngest scoreboard operator in baseball history, since Charlie “The Chalk Whisperer” Chalmers in 1906. Because of that reputation, Target Field’s Game Presentation department continues to have faith in their young gun.

The 24-year-old graduate of Saint John’s University spent the offseason training in the mountains with world-renowned graphic designer Joel Sullivan, who helped develop the fabled Walks Will Haunt graphic that originated in the Metrodome in 1987 and thereby led the club to a World Championship.

The Twins counted on Sullivan to carry them in the franchise’s heyday. Now they’re calling on him to help right the ship of their brightest wayward star.

“Woodrow has all the raw tools that you’d want from a boardie, trust me,” the grizzled Sullivan said emphatically. “I ain’t coming out of retirement to work with no loser.”

Cunningham is said to have returned to the club in phenomenal shape, gaining 35 pounds of raw muscle after an offseason training regimen that included chopping wood for three hours each morning, sets of stadium stairs and isolated punch-dancing.

“I’m in the best shape of my life,” Cunningham said as he kissed his massive bicep. “I’m coming into this year faster. Faster. Stronger. Better. Go ahead, try me. Give me the name of any beat writer and I’ll give you their perfect celebrity lookalike.”

I play along, naming media personalities one by one. 

Tom Schreier of Zone Coverage.

“Ben Affleck in AIR.”

Aaron Gleeman of The Athletic.

“Jonah Hill in Moneyball.”

John Bonnes of Twins Daily.

“John Lithgow.”

Dan Hayes of The Athletic.

“Mayhem from the Allstate Insurance commercials.”

I’m awestruck, the genius is at work. Cunningham still has his fastball, and he knows it. But that was never really in question. We know he can execute at the facets of the game that he’s good at. How will he adjust to the areas where he needs improvement?

Time will tell how Cunningham responds, but the eyebrow-raising improvement to his physical health is notable, if superfluous to his role. 

“I know you don’t need to be this jacked to run the scoreboard, but let’s just say you don’t want any noodle-armed mouth-breathers pulling these strings, either,” Cunningham said. “We’ll leave those chumps to write for Twins Daily.”