In 2010 the 50 greatest Twins list of all time was announced, commemorating the 50th season of franchise’s existence.

In early September that year, I spent a good part of the weekend watching the ’10 version of the Minnesota Twins play some great baseball vs. the Texas Rangers. The pennant race was heating up, and Twins on the field were playing like real ball players who like to play in October.

At Target Field that weekend, many of the greatest Twins of all time (many who played deep into cold weather of the Fall) reunited to play a “legends” game. It was pure pleasure to watch the “Boy’s of Summer” take to the new outdoor field in Minnesota and try to recapture their “Glory Day.”

The highlight of the Legends Game for me was watching Kent Hrbek put his own special mark on Target Field. T-Rex, as he was known back in the day, tried to make one of his patented foul ball catches near first base, but this time instead of getting Metrodome rug burn, he dented out a chunk of the new Twins infield grass. It’s a good thing Hrbie has a sense of humor.

The 50 Greatest Twins list was  voted on by a panel of print, radio, and television journalists, plus senior members of the Minnesota Twins staff.

Here is the entire list of players. I will create links to each player, as I blog about each one in the typical Sports Daddy story telling tone.

• Rick Aguilera
• Bob Allison
• Earl Battey
• Bert Blyleven
• Lyman Bostock
• Tom Brunansky
• Rod Carew
• John Castino
• Michael Cuddyer
• Gary Gaetti
• Greg Gagne
• Ron Gardenhire
• Dan Gladden
• Dave Goltz
• Jim “Mudcat” Grant
• Eddie Guardado
• Larry Hisle
• Kent Hrbek
• Torii Hunter
• Jim Kaat
• Tom Kelly
• Harmon Killebrew
• Chuck Knoblauch
• Jerry Koosman
• Corey Koskie
• Gene Larkin
• Billy Martin
• Gene Mauch
• Joe Mauer
• Sam Mele
• Paul Molitor
• Justin Morneau
• Jack Morris
• Joe Nathan
• Tony Oliva
• Camilo Pascual
• Jim Perry
• Kirby Puckett
• Frank Quilici
• Brad Radke
• Jeff Reardon
• Johan Santana
• Roy Smalley
• Rick Stelmaczek
• Kevin Tapani
• Cesar Tovar
• Zoilo Versalles
• Frank Viola
• Dave Winfield
• Al Worthington

With their first World Series title in 26 years, the Minnesota Twins finally earned league-wide respect. As second baseman Steve Lombardozzi put it, they could no longer be called the “Twinkies.”

The Twins, who were the Washington Senators until 1961, edged the Cardinals, 4-2, in Game 7 of the 1987 World Series to capture the franchise’s first championship since 1924.

Every day from now to Spring Training, MLB.com Live will air a classic game on Baseball’s Best. Game 7 of the 1987 World Series can be seen on Wednesday at 10 a.m. CT.

The Twins trotted out Frank Viola for the third time in the series, this time in a rematch of Game 1 against Cardinals rookie Joe Magrane. In Game 7, Viola outdueled Magrane for the second time, throwing eight innings of two-run ball in his second straight start on three days’ rest. For his efforts, Viola earned World Series Most Valuable Player honors.

Though St. Louis tagged the left-hander for two runs in the second, taking a 2-0 lead, Minnesota slowly chipped away and claimed a 3-2 edge in the sixth. Dan Gladden’s RBI double in the eighth provided closer Jeff Reardon a 4-2 cushion, not that he needed the extra help. Reardon pitched a 1-2-3 ninth to wrap it up. Minnesota finally had a professional sports championship to call its own.

Still, the title wasn’t totally convincing for a few reasons.

The Twins went 85-77 in the regular season, the worst record for any World Series champion at the time. The Cardinals, who won the National League pennant for the third time in six years, were hindered in the series by injuries to star hitters Jack Clark and Terry Pendleton.

Also, if it had been 1986 or 1988, Game 7 would have been played at Busch Stadium. Before the All-Star Game determined home-field advantage, the American League champion earned the honors in odd-numbered years regardless of regular-season success. That gave the Twins a huge edge in hosting the final game, given the home team had won each of the first six contests and they had hit .184 in the three losses at St. Louis.

So the critics certainly had ammunition, not that the 55,000 screaming fans waving “Homer Hankies” cared.

“It doesn’t matter how we did it, as long as we did it,” third baseman Gary Gaetti told the Associated Press afterward.

For the first time in World Series history, the home team won every game. The series was played partially indoors for the first time, too. It marked the beginning of plenty of October baseball in the Metrodome.

Manager Tom Kelly piloted the club to another Game 7 triumph in the 1991 World Series and, 10 years later, handed the reins to Tom Gardenhire, who made Minnesota an annual playoff contender at the turn of the millennium. Clearly, Lombardozzi was onto something.

“We are not the Twinkies anymore,” he famously shouted. “I don’t ever want to hear that again. We are the Minnesota Twins.”

With one minute or so left before the midnight deadline for trades, the Mets landed the big one tonight when they acquired the ace pitcher Frank Viola from the Minnesota Twins for Rick Aguilera, David West, Kevin Tapani and two other young players.

With one minute or so left before the midnight deadline for trades, the Mets landed the big one tonight when they acquired the ace pitcher Frank Viola from the Minnesota Twins for Rick Aguilera, David West, Kevin Tapani and two other young players.

It was a blockbuster that the Mets had been struggling to swing for two weeks in an urgent move to save a team in trouble, a team that was losing its seventh game in a row and falling seven games out of first place tonight even while the trade was being pieced together.

Viola, a 29-year-old left-hander from St. John’s University, was the World Series hero for the Twins two years and won the Cy Young Award as the best pitcher in the American League last year. He signed a three-year contract worth $7.9 million earlier this season, but has not been thriving on the mound. ‘It’s a Shock to Me’

He will join the Mets here Tuesday with a record of 8 victories and 12 defeats and an earned-run average of 3.79. But he has a career record of 112-93 and his new manager, Davey Johnson, described him tonight as ”one of the premier left-handed pitchers in baseball.”

The Mets clearly hope that he will make up for the loss of Dwight Gooden, disabled since July 1 with a torn muscle in the right shoulder. They also hope he will make up for the loss of Mark Langston, the strikeout star of the Seattle Mariners, who was traded to the Montreal Expos in May after the Mets had tried to acquire him for six months.

”It’s a shock to me,” Viola said in New York, where the Twins arrived for a series against the Yankees. ”It’s the first time it ever happened. I have a lot of fond memories of Minnesota, the fans and the world championship. But this is coming back home to New York, where I rooted for the Mets when I was growing up.”

”I know we gave up a lot,” Johnson said, ”but he’s one of the best.” Twins Wanted More

”We’ve been working on it hard for the last week,” said Joe McIlvaine, vice president of the Mets for baseball operations. ”It came together tonight.”

It came together after the Twins had rejected the Mets’ offer of Aguilera, West and Tapani, and insisted on more players. The deal finally was made on this basis: Viola for Aguilera, West and three players not named publicly. But it was understood that the three would include Tapani, now pitching for the Mets’ Tidewater farm team, and two other young players. who will probably not be delivered to the Twins until September.

The best-known of the players going to Minnesota is Aguilera, who has pitched for the Mets for four years. He has been hit hard in the bullpen lately, but was being returned to the starting rotation this Thursday. Now, his place may be taken by Frank Viola.