Minnesota
Minnesota Twins homestand highlights: May 24-30
MINNEAPOLIS-ST. PAUL, Minn. (KTTC) – This week, the Minnesota Twins return to Target Field for their fifth homestand of the season.
This seven-game, Memorial Day weekend, stay will face off against the reigning World Series champion, the Texas Rangers and the American League Central division foe, the Kansas City Royals.
Friday, May 24 vs. Texas Rangers (6:10 p.m.; gates open at 4:30 p.m.)
Star Wars Night: Join your favorite characters from a galaxy far, far away on Star Wars Night! This theme night package will receive tickets to the game and an exclusive co-branded Star Wars/Twins Dark side vs. Light side button-up shirt.
Gate Giveaway: The first 5,000 fans through the gates on Friday will receive a Star Wars Reversible Bucket Hat.
American Legion Day: This Memorial Day Weekend, the Twins will honor those who have served and will welcome members of the American Legion to Target Field on Friday night. The night includes first pitches from Pam Krill (Membership Director of the American Legion Department of Minnesota) and Paul Hassing (Commander of the American Legion Department of Minnesota). “Take Me Out to the Ballgame” will be led by George Hunt, commander of the American Legion Post 630 in Brooklyn Center, MN.
Saturday, May 25 vs. Texas Rangers (1:10 p.m.; gates open at 11:00 a.m.)
Be the Change Ceremonial First Pitch: In response to the events that followed the murder of George Floyd on May 25, 2020, John Baker founded Be the Change to support youth-oriented nonprofits and foster connections between corporations and communities in Minneapolis and St. Paul. He will throw out a ceremonial first pitch prior to Saturday’s game against the Rangers.
612 Saturday presented by Carbliss and Bally Sports North: From 11:00 a.m. until first pitch, fans can enjoy $6 drink specials, $1 snacks and $2 food specials, while receiving the Twins’ best gate giveaways.
Gate Giveaway: The first 10,000 fans through the gates on Saturday will receive an exclusive, unique light-up Jhoan Duran Bobblehead that is based on the flamethrowing closer’s iconic entrance.
Bowlers’ Day: Fans who purchase this group event package will receive a ticket to the game and a Twins Bowling Shirt. The day will also include a ceremonial first pitch thrown out by a member of the Minnesota bowling community.
Twins Camps Champions Day Recognition: Last year marked the seventh year of Minnesota Twins Camps. Over 1,300 young athletes attended the weeklong camps held throughout Minnesota, including a skills competition with the finals at Target Field. The 2023 skills competition top three finishers in baseball and softball will be recognized on the field prior to the game.
Sunday, May 26 vs. Texas Rangers (1:10 p.m.; gates open at 11:00 a.m.)
Pablo Day: Fans who purchase this special theme ticket package – available for all of Pablo’s Target Field starts from May through September – will receive a ticket to the game and a special Pablo-themed jersey. A portion of the proceeds from each package sold will benefit local nonprofits Children’s Minnesota, Project Success and Ruff Start Rescue. Pablo Day ticket package purchasers will all be seated in the same area on Pablo Day (section 101).
USTA Day: The Twins will welcome a group from the United States Tennis Association on Sunday, including a ceremonial first pitch thrown by Jon Rydberg, an accomplished international wheelchair tennis player from Pine City, MN.
Kids Day: Every Sunday home game at Target Field is Kids Day! Kids meals are half priced at select concession stands, a member of the T.C. Sluggers Kids Club will throw the ceremonial first pitch, nine lucky kids will take the field with the Twins before the top of the first inning as part of a special Kids Starting Lineup. Families can enjoy all the fun of Bullseye’s Backyard that features interactive activities including Big Catch, Run the Bases, and a coloring mural to let kids of all ages leave their mark on Target Field. Kids can print their own baseball cards, win ticket upgrades, get a custom screen-printed bag or bandanna and even the chance to be selected as the Target Ball Kid for a game.
Monday, May 27 vs. Kansas City Royals (1:10 p.m.; gates open at 11:00 a.m.)
Memorial Day: The Twins join the rest of Major League Baseball in observance of Memorial Day and in honoring those who have made the ultimate sacrifice. Play of Monday’s game will pause for a moment of silence at approximately 3:00 p.m. CT, to mark the National Moment of Remembrance.
Ceremonial First Pitch: A ceremonial first pitch will be thrown out by Logan Stroeing on behalf of NubAbility Athletics, an organization whose mission is to encourage, inspire and instruct limb different youth by getting them out of the stands and into mainstream sports. Logan was born with multiple congenital limb differences and often participates in NubAbility-led activities, including working with the Twins on a baseball/softball camp for youth with limb differences.
Welcome back, Tyler Duffey!: The Twins will pay tribute to current Royals reliever and former Twin Tyler Duffey before the game. A fifth-round selection by Minnesota in the 2012 First-Year Player Draft, Duffey made his major league debut for the Twins in 2015 and spent the first eight seasons of his career with the club.
Tuesday, May 28 vs. Kansas City Royals (6:40 p.m.; gates open at 5:30 p.m.)
Cirque du Soleil Ceremonial First Pitch: For the first time in more than a decade, Cirque du Soleil has returned to the Twin Cities under its renowned Big Top with BAZZAR, an eclectic homage to the origins and ongoing legacy of the world-famous circus company. Prior to Tuesday’s game, performers from BAZZAR will throw out a ceremonial first pitch in a uniquely Cirque du Soleil way!
Wednesday, May 29 vs. Kansas City Royals (6:40 p.m.; gates open at 5:30 p.m.)
Daily Ticket Specials: Fans can take advantage of the All You Can Eat Legends Landing, Military Discount and TickPick Family Section.
Thursday, May 30 vs. Kansas City Royals (12:10 p.m.; gates open at 10:30 a.m.)
Postgame – High School Dreams: After the conclusion of the Twins-Royals game, Target Field will host the sixth and final regular season high school baseball game, this time featuring an all-Iowa matchup of Kee (Lansing, IA) vs. South Winneshiek (Calmar, IA).
- TickPick Family Sections – Tickets in the alcohol-free family section include a FREE hot dog and Pepsi (available at the Mill City Grill near section 311).
- All You Can Eat Legends Landing – Get access to bottomless food and drinks plus a great view of the diamond and Minneapolis skyline with a ticket in sections S-V.
- Student Discount (Monday-Thursday) – Ballpark Access tickets are just $5 for students. Tickets are available via mobile delivery; plus, students can download a free Metro Transit ride pass.
- Military Discount (Monday-Thursday) – Active military members or veterans with a valid ID, up to three additional guests can receive half-price Diamond Box High or Home Plate View tickets.
- Treasure Island Resort & Casino Senior Days (Weekday games) – Fans 55-and-older can receive a $5 discount on Field Box, Treasure Island Cove, and Left Field Bleacher tickets.
- Dollar Dog (Tuesdays) – Every Tuesday, hot dogs are just $1 at the Hennepin Grille and Taste of Twins Territory concession stand.
- Kids Day (Sundays) – U.S. Bank kids’ meals are 50% off. Postgame, kids are welcome to live out some big-league dreams by running the bases.
Season, group, and single-game tickets for the Twins’ 2024 regular season home schedule at Target Field are available online, by calling (612) 33-TWINS or 1-800-33-TWINS, or in-person at the Target Field Ticket Office.
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Lori Tocholke waited nervously near baggage claim carousel 11 Tuesday afternoon at Minneapolis-St. Paul International Airport, her heart “beating a thousand miles per hour.”
On March 12, Tocholke’s newest grandchild, Greyson Leo Phillips, was born, 2 pounds 2.6 ounces and 12 weeks ahead of schedule.
The premature birth was traumatic enough for Tocholke’s daughter, Cheri Phillips. Worse was the fact that Greyson was born while Phillips and her husband, Chris, were vacationing in Brazil.
Because of a technicality, Brazilian authorities refused to issue his birth certificate. Without a birth certificate, Greyson couldn’t get a U.S. passport. And without a U.S. passport, Greyson couldn’t go home to Minnesota.
The family’s travails caused a storm in Brazilian media, held up as an example of how the country’s bureaucracy can tie up daily life for no good reason.
At the airport Tuesday, a half-dozen news cameras encircled the entry to baggage claim.
All Tocholke wanted?
To hold her newest grandchild for the first time, 105 heart-wrenching days after he was born. Tocholke told the other waiting family members she had first dibs.
The plane landed at 1:48 p.m., seven minutes early. Tocholke bided her time as Chris, Cheri and Greyson gathered their things from the plane and made their way from gate G19 to baggage claim.
Suddenly, a stroller burst through the doors, then Cheri, then Chris: a happy, exhausted family, finally home. Applause erupted. Tocholke hugged her daughter, then she got down to the business at hand: That sweet baby boy.
Greyson’s silver-blue eyes peered up at his grandma as she scooped him out of the stroller and cooed. He cried a few times. “Oh, I know!” his grandma soothed. She snuggled him and jiggled him, and he quieted. She held him like a football, then passed him to another family member, who passed him to another, then another.
“Everybody’s here, everybody’s safe, my heart is full,” Tocholke said.
A few feet away, tears and sweat streamed down Chris Phillips’ face and chest, exhausted after three days of travel and months of uncertainty. The family had gone to Brazil to visit Chris’ 8-year-old daughter, who lives with her mom in the Brazilian coastal city of Florianópolis.
“It was an ordeal, and not something we ever expected,” he said. “We went down for 17 days, just to visit my daughter on her birthday. Along this entire process, it seems like every time we made one step forward, it was three steps back.”
During their sojourn in Brazil, the family did interviews with a slew of Brazilian media outlets, focusing on the gaps in Brazilian bureaucracy. Their story resonated. Three days after Minnesota media first published the family’s story, two representatives from the Brazilian cartorio, like a public notary, came to their AirBnb with Greyson’s birth certificate.
“We love Brazil; this wasn’t us hating Brazil,” Chris said. “I go there three times a year. My daughter is half Brazilian. Now my son’s been born in Brazil. I feel part Brazilian. It’s a wonderful place. But what do I hope changes? I hope Brazilian bureaucracy is behind us, but for hundreds of millions of Brazilians, it’s not.”
Before they left the airport for the hour drive to Cambridge — to the new home they closed on remotely from Brazil — Cheri pulled out a bottle and fed Greyson.
“He’s been alive for three and a half months and never been home,” Cheri said.
“We’re home, bud,” Chris said, patting his head. “We’re home.”
In the wake of the Jan. 6, 2021 attack on the U.S. Capitol, many leading Minnesota businesses announced they were pausing their political donations to review their giving strategy.
Some went further, vowing not to bankroll political candidates who supported Donald Trump’s attempt to overturn the 2020 election.
But today, three and a half years later, nearly all of them have resumed giving money to politicians engaging in election denial, according to an analysis by Citizens for Responsibility and Ethics in Washington, a nonprofit that investigates government corruption.
Among them were some of Minnesota’s blue-chip mega corporations: UnitedHealth, Target, Best, Buy, 3M, U.S. Bancorp, Ameriprise and Ecolab, which all promised not to donate to members of what CREW calls the “sedition caucus.”
But as of today, they’ve given hundreds of thousands of dollars to politicians who voted against certifying the 2020 election, opposed the establishment of the Jan. 6 committee, or otherwise supported Trump’s attempt to undo the 2020 results.
A number of other Minnesota companies, including CHS, C.H. Robinson, Thrivent and Polaris, never promised to suspend donations and have continued giving money to candidates who sought to undermine the rightful, peaceful transfer of power after the 2020 election.
One of those companies, Moorhead-based American Crystal Sugar, has for years been one of the biggest financial supporters of the sedition caucus. According to CREW’s analysis, they’ve given over $1 million since 2021, the third highest amount in the nation. Among other things, they’re focused on maintaining the federal program that keeps sugar prices high and undergirds their profitability.
Only one current Minnesota lawmaker voted against certifying the 2020 election results: Rep. Michelle Fischbach of the 7th District, who falsely told Fox News shortly after the 2020 election that vote tabulators were “finding votes” when in fact they were counting them.
In a sign of the state Republican Party’s post-Jan. 6 radicalization, she was unable to obtain the party’s endorsement this year and is now facing a primary challenge from a Christian nationalist who says his goal is to “harness God’s power to lead ordinary Americans and their legislators in Washington back towards the Lord.”
CREW said the companies should mind the value of a stable democracy.
“Corporations depend on the stability and laws of a strong democracy in order to do business,” CREW writes. “Taking a stand against lawlessness aligns with the long-term interests of companies benefiting from government protection of intellectual property, contract enforcement and support for American business interests at home and abroad.”
According to their analysis, just one Minnesota company has so far upheld a promise to not give money to election deniers: Golden Valley-based Cheerio maker, General Mills.
An aging dam in Minnesota is in “imminent failure condition” after flooding on the Blue Earth River, officials say. The Blue Earth County Sheriff’s Office said Monday that there had been a breach on the west side of the Rapidan Dam near Mankato, but the main part of the 114-year-old dam is “still intact and there are no current plans for a mass evacuation,” CBS News reports. Water surged around the dam after debris accumulated early Monday, washing away the western bank and several buildings including an electrical substation, reports the Mankato Free Press.
“The dam could fail,” Eric Weller, Blue Earth County emergency management director, said Monday, per the Star Tribune. He said people who would be in danger from a collapse have been warned and many have been evacuated. Officials in North Mankato say a flood emergency has been declared and an earthen levee is being built “out of an abundance of caution.” Officials say that if the entire dam fails, the river will surge around 2 feet, enough for existing flood-control systems to handle. (A rail bridge linking Iowa and South Dakota collapsed Sunday night.)
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