TC Bear Named Twins Most Fearsome Man/Bear Hybrid

On a day when Sonny Gray took home MVP honors and Royce Lewis was named Rookie of the Year, the Minneapolis chapter of the Baseball Writers Association of America set aside a special honorific for another Minnesota Twins employee.

“We’d like to congratulate, if that’s even the right word for it, T.C. Bear on being the team’s Most Fearsome Man/Bear Hybrid,” said the Star-Tribune’s Phil Miller. “His existence is an affront to creation, to life itself. Kids at Target Field seem to like him, though.”

The BBWAA usually hands out standard postseason honors for on-field performance, plus special awards for Leadership and Media Good Guy (Carlos Correa and Pablo Lopez, respectively). It’s unclear what drove them to include a special award for the veteran Twins mascot, but they didn’t hold back on their opinions.

“I straight up do not like him,” said The Athletic’s Dan Hayes. “His dead, lidless eyes are beyond reason. They know neither love nor hate, only hunger. He is from hell, and to hell he should return. Still, it’s hard to deny that he makes families and church groups feel welcome.”

“Fear is a strong word,” said the Pioneer Press’ Betsy Helfand. “But one of the clubbies (clubhouse attendants) accidentally touched TC’s T-shirt cannon once. TC came up to him, whispered in his ear, and the clubbie stormed out of the locker room. He never came back.

“But that’s not the weird part,” she added. “One of the Target Field security guards saw him leave in his car. She swears she saw TC in the back seat. Which is impossible. TC was launching souvenirs into the third deck at that exact moment. They checked security footage of the lot. It was just static. The entire day. Static.

“Fear is a strong word. But it’s apt.”

“Edgar Allen Poe wrote, ‘Words have no power to impress the mind without the exquisite horror of their reality,’” said MLB.com’s Do-Hyoung Park. “I was on Jeopardy.”

Ryan Jeffers, who took home the Most Improved title, was asked his thoughts on TC Bear.

“One thing you need to know is that you’re never the first one at Target Field,” said the Minnesota catcher. “TC is there. Sitting cross-legged on the mound. Looking straight ahead. But not looking at you. Almost like he’s looking through you.

“But that’s not the weird part,” he added. “You look away, then look back to the mound, and he’s gone. Then you feel his hot, rancid breath on your neck. He tells you that he, and he alone, knows the day and hour of your death. Then he takes pictures with a local marching band.”

TC Bear is the first recipient of a special honor from the local BBWAA chapter since former Twin Roy Smalley was given the Lifetime Achievement, Hair award in 2017.

Image license here.