Reusse: Twins’ problems go beyond Pohlad ownership

The Twins had a media luncheon on Jan. 23, the Friday of TwinsFest, in a dining/drinking area of Target Field’s second floor. There was a medium-sized buffet area that had salad; a beef product in gravy; a hamburger-and-tater tot hot dish; and there was wild rice soup as a bonus.

You know what is rarely not tasty? A cup of wild rice soup, with small bits of chicken included.

This event is more winter access to team principals than bribery. The evidence is that there is no alcohol served. Even though I have not partaken in that demon since April 1981, I always will contend that no attempt to bribe a gathering of sports media can be taken seriously without alcohol.

It might be craft beer now rather than Hamm’s on tap, or peach bourbon rather than my beloved Tanqueray gin in that hypnotic green bottle, but no booze, no bribe — that’s a rule that has been engrained since Calvin Griffith’s notorious Twins Room in the bottom level of Met Stadium.

Yes, I was a regular there in the ’70s, and no more soothing words were ever uttered than when Jimmy Robertson, Calvin’s brother and the boss of that enclave, headed for the door around 12:30 a.m. and said, “Lock up when you leave, fellas.”

I’ve been lucky to be in attendance for many incredible sports happenings through the decades, but few have topped this:

Twins Room bartender Art Ruane, pushing 70, with a stiff left leg and a snoot full of beer, trying to show Bill Mazeroski, former second baseman, Hall of Famer-to-be and then a Mariners coach, the proper technique for turning a double play in a basement bar at 2 o’clock in the morning.

“Twins Room Will Close One Hour After End of Games.”

The routine for the beat writers, home and away, was to head to the clubhouses after games, get a few quotes, and get back upstairs to the pressbox to put some reactions into the Twins articles for the late edition.

Meaning, the sign on that wall was a death knell for beat writers when it came to free booze postgame, since it took more than an hour to hit the clubhouses and then rewrite.

The California Angels happened to be in town when Jimmy posted this upsetting news. Dick Miller, Don Merry and John Stellman represented the three newspapers that traveled with the Angels.

They acquiesced, unhappily, to the new Twins Room rule that left them thirsty postgame for one evening. But the next day, those gents called “Hoggie, the Rat and Stelly” came into the Twins Room, took out a couple of cigarette lighters and burned the closing notice off the wall. Mr. Robertson took note of this lobbying and late that very night we thirsty souls (and Twins insulters) were hearing, “Lock up on your way out, fellas.”

Well, I know people who were doing it as an occupation 50 years ago, while drinking their liquor.

We bashed Calvin in the first half of the ’70s, we celebrated with Rod Carew and the Hit Squad in ’77, we turned again on Calvin in the early ’80s, celebrated when Calvin sold and Carl Pohlad bought, went wild with a couple of World Series championships, turned again through the ’90s, blasted away at Pohlad during contraction talk in 2001, had a fabulous first decade of the 2000s without a postseason payoff, got the new ballpark, lost, then won some, and now we are outraged that these new Pohlads — the third generation — have fallen back again.

You’re never going to another Twins game as long as the Pohlads own the team, you harumph in Tweetland, even if you haven’t been to a game in a decade and really only care about the Vikings.

Right now, baseball is the only one of the four major men’s sports that is mightily messed up, and that has nothing to do with the Pohlads.

When the Dodgers gave $240 million for four years to Kyle Tucker, a good hitter worth maybe $40 million per on the highest side fathomable, what we have now in MLB came to an unofficial end.

“When someone gets a contract that three or four teams could consider paying, you still can make a case, ‘Our game is still somewhat competitive.’

“When it’s a deal only one team — one, the champion Dodgers — can consider paying, we’re in trouble.”

My response: “The Milwaukee Brewers had the most phenomenal season that a smaller-budget team could ever have. Great competitors, great managing, great front-office decisions, great play all season.

“And when they get wiped out in four games by the Dodgers ... you’re in trouble.”

Go ahead, blast the Twins ownership on social media, but it says here that Tucker’s contract was the last straw (actually, bales of millions) that will force MLB to fix itself.