October 25, 1987: Minnesota's Dome, Sweet Dome

Local hero Kent Hrbek greets his teammates.

October 25, 1987: The Minnesota Twins defeat the St. Louis Cardinals, 4-2 at the Metrodome in Minneapolis, in Game 7, and win the World Series. Wave them Homer Hankies!

The Twins won Games 1, 2, 6 and 7 at the Metrodome. The Cards won Games 3, 4 and 5 at Busch Memorial Stadium in St. Louis. This is the 1st time every game of a World Series has been won by the home team. It has happened since in 1991 (again the Twins, over the Braves) and 2001 (Diamondbacks

over Yankees).

Game 1, on October 17, was the 1st World Series game ever played indoors. The Houston Astros and the Seattle Mariners had both moved into domes before the Twins, but neither had yet won a Pennant. Houston wouldn't until 2005, and, through 2022, Seattle still hasn't.

With 55,171 fans waving "Homer Hankies" printed by the Minneapolis Star-Tribune, in honor of the hitter-friendly Metrodome being known as the Homerdome, and the stadium being the loudest in the major leagues, the Twins won that Game 1, 10-1, on home runs by Dan Gladden and Steve Lombardozzi, and the pitching of Frank Viola. The Twins also won Game 2, 8-4, with Gary Gaetti and Tim Laudner hitting home runs.

With the strong pitching of John Tudor, the Cards won Game 3, 3-1. Bob Forsch outpitched Viola in Game 4, as the Cards won, 7-2. Danny Cox outpitched the veteran curveballer Bert Blyleven, and the Cards completed a St. Louis sweep, 4-2. They just needed to win 1 out of 2 in Minneapolis.

It didn't happen. Veteran Don Baylor and hometown hero Kent Hrbek homered in Game 6, and the Twins won, 11-5. The Cardinals took a 2-0 lead in the 2nd inning of Game 7, but the Twins came back with a run on a Lombardozzi single in the bottom of the 2nd, tied it with an RBI double by Puckett in the 5th, took the lead for good with an RBI infield single by Greg Gagne in the 6th, and added an insurance run on an RBI double by Gladden in the 8th. The last out was Jeff Reardon getting Willie McGee to ground to 3rd baseman Gaetti. Viola was named the Series' Most Valuable Player.

It was the 1st-ever World Championship for a Minnesota baseball team, the 1st for the franchise since they were the Washington Senators in 1924 (63 years), and the 1st for any Minnesota team since the Lakers won the 1954 NBA Championship (33 years).

Game 7 starter Frank Viola was named the Series' Most Valuable Player.

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October 25, 1987 was a Sunday. These NFL games were played:

* The New York Giants beat the football version of the St. Louis Cardinals, 30-7 at Giants Stadium at the Meadowlands.

* The New York Jets lost to the Washington Redskins, 17-16 at Robert F. Kennedy Stadium in Washington.

* The Philadelphia Eagles beat the Dallas Cowboys, 37-20 at Veterans Stadium in Philadelphia. This was 2 weeks after some of the Cowboy players had broken the strike, and took the field at Texas Stadium against an Eagles team pretty much staffed by "weekend warriors." The Cowboys won, 41-22. So, for this game, Eagles head coach Buddy Ryan called for a fake spike in the final seconds, as payback. Already up by 10 points, the Eagles scored a touchdown

* The Buffalo Bills beat the Miami Dolphins, 34-31 at Joe Robbie Stadium (now Hard Rock Stadium) in Miami Gardens, Florida.

* The San Francisco 49ers beat the New Orleans Saints, 24-22 at the Superdome in New Orleans.

* The Houston Oilers beat the Atlanta Falcons, 37-33 at the Astrodome in Houston.

* The Pittsburgh Steelers beat the Cincinnati Bengals, 23-20 at Three Rivers Stadium in Pittsburgh.

* The Green Bay Packers beat the Detroit Lions, 34-33 at the Silverdome in the Detroit suburb of Pontiac, Michigan.

* The Indianapolis Colts beat the New England Patriots, 30-16 at the Hoosier Dome in Indianapolis.

* The Chicago Bears beat the Tampa Bay Buccaneers, 27-26 at Tampa Stadium.

* The San Diego Chargers beat the Kansas City Chiefs, 42-21 at Jack Murphy Stadium in San Diego.

* The Seattle Seahawks beat the Los Angeles Raiders, 35-13 at the Los Angeles Memorial Coliseum.

* The next night, there were 2 Monday Night Football games. The Minnesota Vikings were supposed to play the Denver Broncos on October 25, but the Twins' success meant that the Metrodome wasn't available, so it was moved to the next night. ABC broadcast that game to Minnesota and Colorado, and the Vikings won, 34-27.

* The network broadcast the regularly-scheduled game to the other 48 States: The Cleveland Browns beat the Los Angeles Rams, 30-17 at Cleveland Municipal Stadium.

The NBA season began 12 days later. There was 1 game played in the NHL: The Los Angeles Kings beat the Winnipeg Jets, 2-1 at the Winnipeg Arena.