Baseball ? Has any team done this before?

The Mn. Twins clinched the division title on the last day of the regular season and it was the first time all year that they had been in first. Has this ever happened before? Probably, but I've never heard of it. Quite amazing I'd say! Go Twinkies!!

Also, Twinkies catcher, Joe Mauer, became the first AL catcher to win the batting title, beating out Yankees star Derek Jeter, .347 to .343.

My wife is a Yankee fan so things are a little tense in our home right now!
Phil

History Made

I'm a big Twins fan living in the suburbs of Minneapolis/St. Paul. Was at the game yesterday. It was euphoric in the Metrodome. Very few of the 45,000 fans left the dome after the Twins game was completed. They put the Tigers-Royals game on the two JumboTrons and the crowd chanted "Let's go Royals!". All the Twins players stayed outside the dugout and watched the game with the fans. Huge victory celebration on the field after the final out and the players jogged around the stadium high-fiving the fans. Absolutely awesome and surreal ending to a unbelievable comeback by the Twins. (They were still 10 1/2 games out of first place on August 7th!) By the way, it is the first time in the history of MLB for a team to move into first place in the last game of the season. Go Twins!

- Michael

What an exciting way to end the season! Can't wait for the game tomorrow, but what an undesirable time: 12:00 noon central time. Hope Santana, the M & M boys, Cuddyer, et al can work their magic again.

I don't know the answer to your question Phil, but wonder if the '51 New York Giants ever were in first place the year that Bobby Thompson hit his homer in the final playoff game. I know that they were substantially behind in August.

(Added: I just found an article on the internet which said that, while there were high expectations for the Giants that year, the Giants greeted their fans that season with an 11 game losing streak. It was not absolutely clear whether that meant the first 11 games, or, just an 11 game losing streak near the beginning of the season. They were certainly behind from mid-May until the end of the season. Their first lead, presuming that they started out in May losing, was after the first game of a three game playoff.)

(Added still later: Found it. The Giants were tied for the lead the first day of the season (they won their first game) and the third day of the season (they were 2 and 1), but then fell way behind with their 11 game losing streak. They only caught up at the end of the season and went ahead in the playoffs. So, the first game of a three game playoff was the first time that they led during the whole season.)