Contact Us : thegoldseat@gmail.com
Our parents had the Purple People Eaters of the 70’s and Killebrew’s HR’s. But for most of us the love affair with MN sports started in 1987. It was a good year. The Twins won the World Series, a new NBA expansion team was awarded to begin play in ‘89 and the Vikings came a few yards short of playing in the Super Bowl. But the love affair would become a living dream a few years later when the Twins played the Atlanta Braves in the 1991 World Series.
The 1991 World Series was ranked by ESPN to be the best ever played, with five of its games being decided by a single run, four games decided in the final at-bat and three games going into extra innings. With 69 innings in total, the 1991 World Series holds the current record for longest seven-game World Series ever (some of the early years had nine-game Series, extending longer).
With Atlanta up in the series 3-2 and the game still tied 3-3 in the bottom of the 11th inning, Atlanta manager Bobby Cox, perhaps sensing a long game ahead, sent Charlie Leibrandt to the mound. Leibrandt threw four pitches to Kirby Puckett. The first three gave him a 2 ball-1 strike count. The last one…
“Puckett swings and hits a blast! Deep left center! Way back! Way back! IT’S GONE!!! The Twins go to the seventh game! Touch ‘em all Kirby Puckett! Touch ‘em all Kirby Puckett! And the Twins have won this game 4-3 on a dramatic home run by Kirby Puckett!” - WCCO announcer John Gordon, announcing the event.
Another announcer would give the play his own trademarked call…
“Into deep left center…for Mitchell…And we’ll see you… TOMORROW NIGHT!” - CBS television announcer Jack Buck.
The Twins would go on to win Game 7 1-0 in 10 innings, but it was the HR by Puckett in Game 6 that everyone remembers.
So what about the gold seat? After the 1991 World Series the Twins had a golden seat installed in a sea of blue seats at the Metrodome where Puckett’s HR landed.
The gold seat is still there and our love affair with Minnesota sports continues.
Welcome to The Gold Seat.
About The Authors
The Gold Seat is a blog about MN sports written by MN sports fans. The founding members are: Keith E, Ben R, Drew E, Justin B and Brad S. We all love sports in the land of 10,000 lakes and each of us have a certain team we love to blog about.
If you’re a local sports fan and feel your thoughts would help enhance and grow the website, we want to hear from you. We’re always looking to add more members and authors. If you think you fit the bill and bleed purple (Vikings), green (Wild), maroon (Gophers), blue (TWolves), red (Twins), preps (local HS) or money (Sports Betting) — then start commenting on the website. We’ll notice you.
Contact us at : thegoldseat@gmail.com