Patrick Reusse: Recalling the blasts from the past

Detroit righthander Francisco Cruceta loaded the bases in the eighth inning of Sunday's game against the Twins at Comerica Park. Michael Cuddyer proceeded to look more foolish than in any previous May at-bat, quite an achievement considering he's rolling along at a .196 clip this month.

Jason Kubel was next. He chose to allow Cruceta's split-fingered pitches to bounce in the dirt for called balls, rather than follow the Cuddyer example of hacking at them like a 36-handicapper trying to extricate himself from Oakmont's Church Pews.

Kubel reached a 3-1 count and then chose an approach so many 2008 Twins seem incapable of choosing.

He was going to look for a fastball in that little square strong hitters call the "happy zone." And if he got that pitch, he was going fire off a swing with the sole intention of smashing the baseball into the distant right-field seats.

That's exactly what happened. And to see that long-ball rip from a member of the Twins' current roster sent tears of nostalgic joy rolling down the pudgy cheeks of someone who goes back to Day 1 with this ballclub.

Here on the prairie, we were weaned as major league fans on the home run. The Twins arrived in 1961 with Harmon Killebrew and Bob Allison, two young sluggers who had combined to hit 72 home runs for Washington in 1959.

The lineup also included Jim Lemon, a veteran who hit 38 home runs for the Senators in 1960, and Earl Battey, a catcher who was in his powerful prime.

The original Twins were fourth in the American League with 167 home runs and third in 1962 with 185.

Jimmie Hall was added to the arsenal and hit 33 home runs as a rookie in 1963. That was third on the team behind Killebrew's 45 and Allison's 35.

Battey had a career-high 26 and Don Mincher, "Minch in a Pinch," had 17 in 225 at-bats. The Twins led the league with 225 home runs and with 767 runs scored.

A year later, Tony Oliva became a full-time force in the lineup. He hit 32 home runs. Killebrew hit 49. And, yikes, Mincher hit 23 in 287 at-bats. Combined, this lineup of sluggers upped its league-leading total to 221 home runs.

There was a night that summer when a Minnesota fan was alternating on the car radio between listening to the Twins and to his favorite National League team, the St. Louis Cardinals, on the booming signal of KMOX.

Harry Caray was doing play-by-play for the Cardinals. He was weaving an in-game scoreboard into the broadcast and started rattling off the litany of Twins home runs that night.

"For the Twins, home run by Oliva, home run by Killebrew, home run by Hall," Caray said.

And then he paused, no doubt to take a sip of a cool beverage, and bellowed: "Why don't they win a pennant up there?"

The Twins did so in 1965, of course, although Killebrew missed a couple of months because of an elbow injury, Battey was beat up and lost his power, and the home run total fell to 150.

The Twins never returned to a 200-home run total. They did put together back-to-back seasons of 196 home runs in 1986 and 1987, first getting Ray Miller fired, then winning a World Series for Tom Kelly.

Somehow, the Twins managed to miss baseball's steroids generation when it came to home run production. In 1998, as baseball naively celebrated the Great Home Run Race (70 for Mark McGwire, 66 for Sammy Sosa), Matt Lawton led the Twins with 21. And he would later get busted for steroids use.

The 2008 Twins have managed to top that embarrassing lack of power from a decade past.

Cuddyer is the second coming of Allison when it comes to muscles. Delmon Young showed enough slugging potential to be a No. 1 overall draft choice. Joe Mauer has decided, at 6-6 and 230 pounds, to follow the advice of 1890s star Wee Willie Keeler:

"Keep your eye clear and hit 'em where they ain't."

They ain't on the other side of the fence, of course, but the Twins have explored that region 29 times in 50 games, 13th in the 14-team American League.

Anyway, thanks for that Sunday cut, Mr. Kubel. You made an old Twins fan weep.

Patrick Reusse can be heard weekdays on AM-1500 KSTP at 6:45 and 7:45 a.m. and 4:40 p.m. • preusse@startribune.com