Transcripts

text | pdf |

---

SPEAKER: The Minnesota Twins beat the Seattle Mariners 3 to 2 last night, lowering their magic number for winning the AL Central Division to 11. Minnesota begins a big three game series tomorrow night against the red hot Oakland A's at the Metrodome, and officials expect attendance to be high.

The A's are riding an AL record 20 game winning streak to town. If the season ended today, the A's would be the team the Twins would play in the first round of the playoffs. Joining us now on the line is Dave Saint Peter, Vice President of business affairs with the Minnesota Twins. Good morning.

DAVE SAINT PETER: Good morning, Perry.

SPEAKER: Just what are attendance expectations against the A's?

DAVE SAINT PETER: Well, we think we'll be anywhere, really, from 90 to hopefully 100,000 plus this weekend. Some of that will be dependent on walk up sales. Clearly, there's a lot of interest in the first place Twins coming to town, but also the fact that the Oakland A's are on a historical winning streak here. And hopefully, the Metrodome will be the thing that helps the Twins get over the hump against Oakland this weekend.

SPEAKER: Yeah, looking at the bigger picture, what do you expect for the team's overall attendance this season?

DAVE SAINT PETER: Well, right now we're on a pace to come in just under two million. We still think there's hope to get two million in total attendance. But certainly understanding we drew 1.8 million last year. We should far exceed that. And the fan support from Twins fans, really, throughout the region has been very strong here during the 2002 season.

SPEAKER: Of course, the postseason is just about assured. What's been the response to the call for postcards or online registration for postseason tickets?

DAVE SAINT PETER: It's been very strong. Our response from our season ticket base and our corporate partners has certainly exceeded expectations. And then coupled with the fact that we've received upwards of 20,000 to 30,000 postcards from fans all over the region wanting to secure postseason tickets through the random draw, we believe that we're in a sell out situation for postseason games. Random draw applicants are being notified this week and we'll move forward now to sell those seats and to certainly create that home field advantage for the Minnesota Twins in their first trip to the playoffs in 11 years.

SPEAKER: What else is the team doing to prepare for the postseason?

DAVE SAINT PETER: Well, there's all kinds of activities. One of the most exciting things, actually, is the return of the Homer hanky. Very proud to announce that actually, just Friday night when we play Oakland, the first 20,000 fans at that game will receive the first 20,000 Homer hankies of 2002.

The Twins are working with the Star Tribune on, really, the reintroduction of something that was such a trademark and signature during both the 1987 and 1991 World championship seasons. That is certainly just one of many things that are going on right now as we prepare for a run to the playoffs.

SPEAKER: Speaking of the Homer hankies, former manager Tom Kelly still works for the team and has experience with postseason. What's he doing to help prepare the team?

DAVE SAINT PETER: Well, Tom Kelly actually is going to be leaving town here in the next day or two to help us prepare. He's going to be part of our advance scouting team. Tom, along with another member of our baseball department, will be scouting the New York Yankees as well as other people who will be scouting the Oakland A's and other potential opponents of the Twins.

So Tom has been very active this year, working with our minor League clubs, and now we'll move into more of a scouting role here over the next couple of weeks to try to provide as much information as possible to Ron Gardenhire and his staff as we prepare for the playoffs in October.

SPEAKER: All right, very good. Good luck to you.

DAVE SAINT PETER: All right, Perry. Thank you.

SPEAKER: Dave Saint-Peter is vice president of business affairs for the Minnesota Twins.