Minneapolis resident Jim Boyer always wanted to get a foul ball. At Tuesday's Twins game, five-plus decades of waiting paid off. He told his story on the RandBall blog:
Truth be told, Boyer said, the ball fumbled out of his grasp before he could scoop it back up again. But he brought it back to his house in Minneapolis and wouldn't let it out of his sights. Eventually, it will find a home on a small pedestal. But Tuesday night, he brought it to bed and let it rest with him as he slept. "A grown man sleeping with a Baseball," Boyer said Friday with a laugh. "My wife is next to me, and she was rolling her eyes. She thinks it's the dumbest thing an emerging senior citizen can do."
But Boyer doesn't care. In fact, in sending an e-mail to numerous friends and relatives -- many of whom have been to far fewer games and already had at least one ball to show for it -- Boyer only came to treasure his ball even more.
"Every man woman and child that has attended a Twins Baseball game has a ball, it seemed, and I've wanted one desperately," he said. "But you get to point in your adult life when you can't say it."
Now he can say it loud, and say it proud. Jim Boyer has a Baseball.
Get more RandBall musings at startribune.com/randball.
BEAVER FEVER
Bemidji State's run
Roman Augustoviz spoke with several folks during a trip to Bemidji advancing the men's hockey team's Frozen Four appearance. Here is a sampling from his blog:
Austin Wallestad, talking to a group of BSU players sitting at a table at Slim's Bar and Grill: "We are proud of you guys whatever happens."
Wallestad lives in Madera, Calif., but he is a member of the BSU alumni board and frequently travels to Bemidji. Both his wife and a daughter are students at BSU. He played in the first hockey game in the Glas -- the Beavers' home for the past 42 years -- in 1967.
Read more Goal Gophers at startribune.com/gophers.
