Glory days for Gaetti and gang

Gary Gaetti was frequently described as the heart and soul of the Twins in the mid-1980s, a fiery leader by word and deed. The third baseman drove in a team-leading 109 runs and was named ALCS MVP when the franchise won its first World Series in 1987.

He departed Minnesota as a free agent after the 1990 season, ending a rocky final three years. A religious conversion altered clubhouse relationships and, some teammates felt, took the passion out of his game.

In 1991, the Twins celebrated their 30-year anniversary in Minnesota with a poster collage of 30 of the best players in franchise history. Gaetti was not among them.

"That hurt a little bit," said Gaetti, who had 30-plus homers and 100-plus RBI in both 1986 and 1987 while starting a streak of four consecutive Gold Glove seasons.

The wounds have healed. This weekend Gaetti will return to the Metrodome with his 1987 teammates to celebrate the 20-year anniversary of the World Series triumph. The celebration will culminate Sunday when Gaetti and minor league director Jim Rantz will be inducted into the team's Hall of Fame.

"It does feel good," Gaetti said. "I remember coming back to play the Twins after leaving, and I had to fight through the boos."

Gaetti appears to have found happiness, both professionally and personally. He's the hitting coach for the Class AAA Durham (N.C.) Bulls, the top farm club of the Tampa Bay Devil Rays, a year after being fired in midseason by the Houston Astros. His oldest son, Joe, is a top prospect for Colorado's Class AAA farm club at Colorado Springs, and his youngest son, Jake, is a college intern in Durham's front office. He has been married to his second wife, Donna, for 12 years, and the couple has a 5-year-old daughter, Gigi.

Gaetti says he's humbled by the prospect of Sunday's induction but seems genuinely more enthused at the thought of seeing his former teammates.

"By far the most fun team I ever played with," he said. "We had a bunch of characters, and there was a camaraderie that you just don't see anymore. We really liked being around each other, on and off the field."

Building a World Series team

The core of the Twins team in 1987 consisted of six players who were rookie teammates in 1982: Gaetti, Kent Hrbek, Tom Brunansky, Randy Bush, Tim Laudner and Frank Viola. They lost a franchise-record 102 games in 1982 and failed to finish above .500 in any of their first five seasons, although promising newcomer Kirby Puckett joined the team in 1984.

Late in the 1986 season, youthful General Manager Andy MacPhail traded closer Ron Davis to the Cubs and added veteran starter Bert Blyleven in a trade with Cleveland. During the offseason MacPhail took the interim tag away from manager Tom Kelly, who had replaced Ray Miller late in '86. MacPhail also added All-Star closer Jeff Reardon, reliever Juan Berenguer and backup infielder Al Newman. Then, near the end of spring training, MacPhail swung a deal with the Giants for left fielder Dan Gladden.

The newcomers filled gaping holes, especially Reardon and Gladden. Reardon's presence meant the team no longer trembled with late-inning leads. Gladden brought a zaniness that was unique, yet a perfect fit to the personalities around him.

"It's kind of like [Gladden] was the leadoff guy we'd always been looking for, on and off the field," Gaetti said. "This guy was always on the go. Whatever was going on, he was going to be in the middle of it, whether it was a fight or a prank. He just fit right in."

The team's Achilles' heel was starting pitching, where the Twins relied on Viola and Blyleven, plus 28-year-old rookie Les Straker. After that it was mix-and-match, with MacPhail adding veterans Joe Niekro and Steve Carlton during the season.

The Twins were 21-22 in late May, and winning on the road was a season-long problem (29-52 vs. 56-25 at home). After losing at Milwaukee 1-0 on Aug. 28, the Twins trailed Oakland by percentage points in the AL West race.

Then Puckett went 10-for-11 with four homers and six RBI as the Twins won the next two games. Three nights later Puckett hit a two-out, two-strike homer to tie Boston 1-1 in the bottom of the ninth, and the Twins won 2-1 in the 10th.

The Twins won the AL West going away, clinching the division at Texas in the final week. They partied hard and lost their final five regular-season games.

Not to worry. Minnesota was a better postseason than regular-season team because of its one-two pitching tandem of Viola and Blyleven. The Twins went unbeaten at home, beating Detroit in five games in the ALCS and St. Louis in seven games in the World Series.

Hrbek believes Gaetti's contributions have too often been overlooked.

"You always heard about Puckett, Hrbek, but as far as backbone and guys that wanted to win, Gary wanted to win more than anybody," Hrbek said. "He was the guy screaming at the opponent from the top step of the dugout. Gary wasn't out there to make friends or headlines. He was just out there to win."

Lasting memories

The most important memories for Gaetti from '87 are not linked to highlights on the field. They are of his teammates and coaches, and of the emotions he felt along the journey.

This weekend's emotions will include sadness, because two teammates -- Puckett and Niekro -- have passed away.

Gaetti said both were key parts of a clubhouse filled with renowned practical jokers. Blyleven regularly lit the shoelaces of teammates on fire. Brunansky made a habit of tormenting public address announcer Bob Casey, often lining Casey's telephone ear piece with black shoe polish, then calling Casey's number. Hrbek would push his body against revolving glass doors, slamming the faces of his unsuspecting teammates.

"It didn't matter if we were waiting for an airplane at the airport or we were in the airport or we were checking into a hotel or riding the bus on the way to the ballpark -- somebody was always doing something that was hilarious," Gaetti said. "You'd have Hrbek lying down on the airport conveyer belt, going through the X-ray machine. Or the $5 bill with the fishing line attached to it in the middle of the airport concourse.

"Everybody was always trying to find a way to enjoy the moment. A lot of times it was at somebody's expense, but the guys on the team knew how to laugh at themselves."

The memories are also of Homer Hankies, the World Series victory parade and the welcome home at the Dome following the ALCS triumph at Detroit that attracted an overflow late-night crowd.

"That was one of the most awesome things I've ever experienced in baseball," Gaetti said. "I remember getting off the bus at the Dome and seeing Tina Hrbek [Kent's mother] and she was crying, and I started crying and couldn't stop. I guess all the emotion just flowed out. Herbie's dad had died not too long before, and just the fact that he wasn't here to see it. And then they opened the door, and 60,000 people are there, all of them to say thanks."

Conversion and conflict

Hrbek and Gaetti said they were closer than most brothers. They met as Class A minor leaguers and reached the majors as late-season call-ups in 1981. The 1987 season was the last in which the brotherly relationship applied.

Gaetti's religious conversion the following summer created a rift. Hrbek said he had no problems with Gaetti's new beliefs, only that Gaetti was outspoken in spreading them in the clubhouse. In retrospect, Gaetti believes he was too open with the media in discussing his personal life, and perhaps too vehement with teammates in defending it.

"I guess the biggest misconception is that I was trying to tell guys they could do this or couldn't do that," Gaetti said. "That wasn't it at all. But I was living a different life now, and when you get challenged in certain things, I guess it's human nature to want to defend yourself, or defend your faith."

Gaetti said he never felt like an outsider in the clubhouse and denied that his intensity as a player diminished.

"But I knew things had changed, that people were probably looking at me differently," he said. "Certain things were strained with Kent. Obviously, we didn't room together those years."

But time has healed those wounds, too. Hrbek and Gaetti are friends, if not as close as brothers.

"I'm not the evangelist that I was," Gaetti said. "Do I believe different than I did then? Not at all."

And so, he says, in the big picture he has no regrets.

"Looking back on [1987] gets my heart pumping, just thinking about all that stuff," he said. "Just the friendships that evolved and all that. I can't imagine what the weekend coming up is going to be like."

And there's one added bonus.

"It's ironic, Sunday is my birthday," Gaetti said. "That's quite an awesome birthday present."

Dennis Brackin • dbrackin@startribune.com