As the Minnesota Twins are set to kick off their 2026 campaign at Camden Yards on March 26, I think it is a good idea to look back at some of the greatest and most memorable Opening Day moments in franchise history.
1) First, let's start where it all began. April 11, 1961.
The Minnesota Twins played their first game as a franchise. Can’t get much more historic than that, right? Actually, to make the stage even bigger, they opened up the season at Yankee Stadium. Going up against guys like Mickey Mantle, Roger Maris, and Yogi Berra - a Yankee team that went on to win 109 games that season and brought their 19th World Series title home.
Anyways, the newly relocated ball club shut up the packed New Yorker crowd behind a stellar pitching performance from starter Pedro Ramos. He tossed a three-hit, complete-game shutout, striking out Mantle twice and Maris once. Ramos also knocked in a run with a single up the middle in the seventh.
2) April 1, 2002 - Kansas City
This might be my earliest memory as a Minnesota Twins fan. Opening Day at the beautiful Kaufmann Stadium, fresh off a brutal 2001 season, and rumors about the contraction of the franchise were swirling around in the offseason.
Leading off the 2002 season, right fielder Jacque Jones sent a no-doubter towards the fountains. One of his two home runs of the game sparked what ended up being a magical season for the Twinkies.
Dick Bremer had an incredible call (even though I can’t find any video of the play) and said something along the lines of, “Contract that! I hope that one lands in Milwaukee!” I miss Bremer on the call.
3) April 7, 1970 - Chicago
This is one of the forgotten moments in Twins Opening Day history, I’m guessing. Behind the Hall of Fame stretch of the Twins’ lineup (Carew, Killebrew, and Olivia), a guy by the name of Brant Alyea made MLB history on this day against the White Sox.
Alyea set the MLB record for RBI on Opening Day, a mark that has only been tied once since, by driving in seven runs on four hits, including two bombs into the old Chicago Stadium seats. Alyea didn’t last long in a Twins uniform, but his name will always be in the club’s history books.
4) April 5, 2004 - Metrodome
This game makes the list for a couple of reasons. First, hometown hero and Hall of Famer, Joe Mauer, made his MLB debut in front of a packed-out Metrodome crowd of 49,584. He walked in his first AB against a prime CC Sabathia, then went on to tally two hits and scored twice on the day. The hype was massive around this kid, and he gave us a glimpse of what was going to be a legendary career.
Then, the game itself was incredible. A back-and-forth battle between division rivals, where our bullpen picked up the slack of a struggling Brad Radke against a powerful Cleveland lineup. Then, in the 11th inning, Shannon Stewart sent a three-run homer into the left field seats to send the fans home smiling.
5) July 24, 2020 - Chicago
I remember this one like it was yesterday. In VERY uncertain times, after the world was shut down for months as a global pandemic hit, MLB baseball’s delayed season was finally underway.
Coming off an incredible 2019 season full of “BOMBAS” and lots to look forward to, Max Kepler started things off right in an eerie, empty ballpark full of cardboard cutouts in Chicago. On the first pitch of the 2020 season, Kepler (pre-roids) sent a bomb over the right field fence. It was in that moment that I knew everything might just be O.K. in Minnesota.
6) April 12, 1965 - Minnesota
This is one that many of today’s Twins fans might not know about. In another Opening Day matchup against the Yankees, a banged-up and aging Mickey Mantle and Roger Maris led the powerhouse into Bloomington’s Metropolitan Stadium, but the usual packed ballpark only had about 15,000 in the crowd.
In classic Minnesota spring fashion, a lot of snow melted with the rain very fast at the start of April. This led to rising water levels in the Mississippi River, and flooded a big part of the surrounding areas of the stadium. Players, including starting pitcher Jim Kaat, had to be airlifted by the WCCO helicopter to make the game, due to being stranded in the floods.
President Lyndon B. Johnson declared a major disaster in Minnesota, and the National Guard was working endlessly to try to minimize the damage. With that being said, after the grounds crew worked tirelessly the week prior, removing a reported 40 inches of snow and ice from the playing surface, the teams still showed up on a cold and wet day in Bloomington and put on a show for the fans in attendance.
Kaat threw nine innings, and the game went into extras. Bobby Allison led off the 11th with a fly ball that was lost in the gusting, cold winds, and he ended up hustling out a triple. The Yanks walked the next two up to get the bases loaded, got two outs, and bench player Cesar Tovar came up to bat in a big spot. He stroked a line drive into the outfield grass to end the game against, who else but Pedro Ramos, the guy who started off the Minnesota Twins with a shutout at Yankee Stadium five years before.
Here’s to the 2026 Minnesota Twins baseball season. May they stay healthy and give the fans something to write about in the future.