For the third time in as many seasons, the Twins have lost someone very important to the organization just before Opening Day. In 2005 the team lost PA announcer Bob Casey, in 2006 it was the tragic and sudden passing of Kirby Puckett, and today the Twins have lost radio play-by-play man Herb Carneal.
The Twins came to Minnesota in 1961. Carneal arrived in 1962 and has been a large part of the radio broadcast ever since. In 1996 Carneal was given the Ford C. Frick Award for major contributions to baseball broadcasting and inducted into the Hall of Fame. In 2001 he was inducted into the Twins Hall of Fame and in 2005 the press box at the Metrodome was named in his honor.
Herb Carneal meant a lot to me personally. When I first moved to Minneapolis, I did not have a television and listened to every Twins game on WCCO 830 AM. Carneal was always my favorite of the Twins three announcers. He never got over excited, as John Gordon does, and sometimes had a great story about the Twins early days.
So Long, Herb Carneal. You will be sorely missed!
touch with baseball when his childhood heroes Robin Yount, Paul Molitor, and Jim Gantner retired but the Great Home Run Chase of 1998 reignited his passion. As a student at the University of Wisconsin-Milwaukee, Erik became involved with the campus chapter of Habitat for Humanity. With this group Erik traveled to Portland, OR and Baltimore, MD to work on construction projects and help the group raise $25,000 to partially sponsor a house in Milwaukee. Also at UWM, Erik met Peter Nagel. The two attended their first Brewers game together during Opening Weekend 2003. Despite their failure to ignite the coals at their first tailgate, the two had a blast and were soon making weekly trips to the ballpark. Erik has gone on to several colleges and changed careers several times, and has moved all the way out to New Hampshire, but has always stayed true to his baseball roots by holding part-time stadium usher jobs. To this day he looks back fondly on his incredible cross-country journey.
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