In his first visit to Metropolitan Stadium as a Royal in 1975, Harmon Killebrew drew a walk his first time up, after a warm ovation. When Rod Carew returned as an Angel in 1979, he bounced out to the pitcher. David Ortiz's first post-Twins at-bat in the Metrodome, with the Red Sox in 2003? Solid single to right.
Justin Morneau, third in franchise history in home runs and the MVP of the American League a decade ago, had a chance to top them all Friday. He missed by about 6 inches.
As a video of some of his greatest moments as a Twin played on the Target Field scoreboard, Morneau shyly waved his bat as the standing ovation grew in intensity during the second inning. "That was nice. You never know how it's going to play out, but to have a little extra time, leading off the inning, and the video — all that stuff was pretty neat," Morneau said. "And to have your walk-up song [AC/DC's 'Rock and Roll Ain't Noise Pollution'] played in the visitor's ballpark, that was pretty special."
Then the 35-year-old slugger timed a 1-and-1 slider from Ricky Nolasco and whipped his bat at it, sailing what looked like a vintage Morneau home run — and a poignant remember-me? — toward the right-field overhang. But the ball fell just inches short of reaching the planters for career homer No. 21 in Target Field, striking the top of the limestone facing and ricocheting toward right fielder Max Kepler.
Morneau, rounding first base, had to screech to a halt and retreat to first, receiving another round of cheers.
It was a nice moment for the four-time All-Star, who last played a game in Target Field on Aug. 29, 2013 — two days before he was traded to Pittsburgh.
"It would've been nicer if the ball would have been a foot higher, and I could have jogged around the bases," said Morneau, who is now 5-for-16 against his old team, counting three games with the Rockies. "It was a very neat experience."
And it was a moment that Morneau said he was looking forward to for some time.
"It's different, but it's exciting," the British Columbia native said before the game. "I was driving around this morning, and I was excited. It should be fun."
Baseball has been only sporadically fun for Morneau since he left Minnesota. He won a batting title with the Rockies in 2014, but a series of injuries, and the occasional return of concussion symptoms, limited him to 49 games in Colorado last season. Then he underwent elbow surgery last winter, delaying his return to the game. The White Sox signed him in June, and activated him two weeks ago.
"My swing feels good. … I feel like I can go out there and battle. I feel like I can put [good] at-bats together with guys in scoring position," he said. "It's fun to be out there in those situations. That's what I enjoy the most."
His former Twins teammates — and there aren't many anymore, just Joe Mauer, Brian Dozier, Trevor Plouffe, Eduardo Escobar, Glen Perkins and Kyle Gibson — enjoy seeing him, too. As do plenty of Twins employees he befriended in his seven seasons in the Metrodome and three in Target Field.
"He came by today to harass some of the clubhouse staff. He's meant a lot to our team's history," manager Paul Molitor said. "He gave a lot to the community, and he performed extremely well. I'm just glad he's found his way back to the big leagues."
Now that he has, he's surprised Terry Ryan, the general manager who drafted him in 1999 and called him up to the major leagues in 2003, isn't here, too. "It was a little bit surprising. Not a lot of turnover happens here," he said of Ryan's firing nearly two weeks ago. "I talked to him briefly after it happened. He was somebody that was always very good to me, and honest. That's what everybody always said — if you want to know the answer to a question, ask Terry. He'll tell you the truth. … As much as he cared about baseball players, he cared about people more."
