MINNESOTA TWINS 1987 WORLD SERIES' COLLECTOR'S EDITION - DVD review

Fans of the 1987 Minnesota Twins had to appreciate the 2006 St. Louis Cardinals for taking over "first place" for fewest regular season wins by a World Series Champion (83 for the Cards vs. 85 for the 1987 Twins). Does this mean that the '06 Cards also take over the title of worst team ever to win a Series? Not necessarily. The Cards had limped their way into the playoffs, nearly blowing a massive late-season lead to the mediocre Astros, but at least they outscored their opponents during the season thanks mostly to the efforts of Chris Carpenter and the 6th highest scoring offense in the NL.

The 1987 Twins, by contrast, were outscored 806-786 during the regular season and finished in the bottom half of the AL in both runs scored and runs allowed. Nor were they blessed with a bevy of household names. Immortals such as Tom Lombardozzi, Tim Laudner, Roy Smalley (a former shortstop who served as a DH that year), Al Newman, Les Straker and Mike Smithson all filled prominent roles on the roster. They had their share of solid contributors, including the power-hitting troika of Gary Gaetti, Tom Brunansky and the underrated Kent Hrbek, and also received a Cy Young caliber season from ace Frank Viola, and a workmanlike effort from the aging Bert Blyleven, a brilliant pitcher who inexplicably has failed to earn his plaque in Cooperstown yet. But as for true stars, they didn't really have anybody… with one exception.

Kirby Puckett. Surely one of the most unusual stars the game has seen in recent years. Short and squat (OK, he was fat though not so much in 1987), Puckett looked more like a third base coach about ten years and thirty pounds past his glory days. Nobody looking at him in pre-game warm-ups would ever believe that this little fire hydrant was a speedy runner and Gold Glove center fielder with a lethal bat. In his early years, Kirby was rightly criticized as a slap hitter with an empty average, but by 1987 he was in his prime, and lashing balls not only into the gap but over the fences with regularity. In 1987, Kirby was at his very best, hitting .332 (4th in the league) with power (28 homers) and finished 3rd in AL MVP voting. (Trivia Question: Can you name the winner of the 1987 AL MVP? Hint: He's not in the Hall of Fame, and Kirby is. Answer below.) Kirby continued his winning ways in the Series, pounding the ball at a .357 clip though he didn't take one deep (even though virtually everyone else on the Twins' roster did.) R.I.P. Kirby.

The 1987 Twins also hold the honor of the worst road record of any World Series winner, a stunning (and stinking) 29-52 during the regular season. Of course, they were also a nearly unbeatable 56-21 in the Dome, which helped set the stage for the 1987 World Series, the first series in which the home team won every single game. Fortunately for the Twins, it was the AL's year to host so they got to play four games in the Metrodome rather than having to face the Cardinals four times in Busch.

The Twins' series win as just as unlikely as their odd post-season appearance. The Running Redbirds of 1987 weren't exactly a typical powerhouse offense (Jose Oquendo in right field???), but they did win 95 regular season games and finished 2nd in the league in runs scored, powered by the league's top on base average and an effective (if grossly overrated) basestealing attack. Even without the services of the oft-injured slugger Jack Clark, the Cards were heavily favored with stars such as Ozzie Smith, Willie McGee, and even Vince Coleman who fortunately did not run into any automatic tarpaulin machines. That didn't matter to the Twinkies who went deep early (Dan Gladden hit a grand slam in Game 1) and often, introducing the Homer Hanky to a national audience.

This boxed set from A&E (in conjunction with MLB Productions) includes the complete broadcast of all seven World Series games, each averaging about three hours. The seventh disc also includes several extra features (see Extras below) but for the most part you're simply getting the games and nothing else. What else could a Twins' fan want?



Video

The video, presumably just recorded from the original broadcasts, is surprisingly poor. The interlaced transfer shows endless examples of combing, and the video quality in general is very fuzzy and muddy. Did the games really look this bad when originally broadcast, or did somebody chintz on the transfer? It's not so bad that Twins' fans won't want to own the set, but be prepared for be disappointed.

Audio

The DVD is presented in Dolby Digital Mono. The audio quality is adequate, more of less like it sounded on original broadcast I'm sure.

Extras

Like all of A&E's baseball offerings, each game is on a separate disc and housed in its own keep case. Each keep case features the box score on the fact, and several trivia factoids on the front along with other vitals such as attendance, game time temperature, etc. The inside cover of each case also provides a play-by-play account of the entire game. I really like the way A&E has designed the cases for these baseball releases; they're a pleasure simply to look through.

All of the special features are found on the seventh disc. They include:

History of the Minnesota Twins (7 min.)
Don't get too excited. This is a very brief, very superficial overview of recent Twins' history, beginning with today's stars (Johan Santana and Joe Mauer) then flashing back to the Twins' inaugural season in Minnesota (1961) after the move from Washington. Not much here really.

AL West Division Clincher (6 min):
Most of the final inning of the division clincher vs. the Rangers. Jeff Reardon closes out the game against the murderer's row of Pete Incaviglia, Oddibe McDowell, and Geno Petralli. Glory Days sure do pass you by.

ALCS Game One 8th-inning rally (6 min):
Footage of the Twins' come from behind four-run rally in the eighth vs. the Tigers.

ALCS Clincher (8 min.):
Here, Reardon shuts the door against Matt Nokes. About six minutes of this is post-game celebration and interviews.

Killibrew Throws out First Pitch (44 sec.):
Killer throws out the first pitch in Game 1 of the Series.

World Series Trophy Presentation (3 min.):
Just what you'd expect.

World Series MVP Trophy Presentation (3 min):
The winner… Frank Viola.

Puckett Game 7 Post-Game Interview (42 sec):
All too brief, but it's good to hear from Kirby.

Championship Parade Highlights (12 min.):
It sure looked cold in the Twin Cities.

Program Value

Ultimately, Twins fans couldn't care less whether the 1987 team was the "worst" team ever to win a World Series because it's better to be the worst World Series winner than the best anything else. What seemed like a once-in-a-lifetime fluke turned out not to be, as the Twins would win a second series in 1991 though in that case they fielded a much better team, winning 95 regular season games.

I don't understand why the video quality is so poor. Regardless, I wish A&E would hurry up and start pumping out more of these baseball sets. It's a pleasure for any baseball fan to have games like this available on DVD no matter the quality. How long do I have to wait for the 1980 Phillies' post-season set? That one better have the NLCS as well as the Series.

Trivia Answer: The 1987 AL MVP was none other than big bad George Bell living proof that nothing turns a sportswriter dumber than a big pile of RBIs (let's be fair, though; it was Bell's one legitimately great season). Alan Trammell finished 2nd, just ahead of Puckett.