MINNEAPOLIS – Dick Bremer’s voice was a staple of Minnesota summers for 40 years, and on Saturday, the Twins honored one of the longest-serving play-by-play broadcasters in MLB history with their trademark light blue jacket.
“I woke up the other day, and it’s here,” Bremer said. “This is a big deal. I was really happy that so many Hall of Famers came back for this.”
Bremer sported an old red tie with the Twins logo at the bottom of it for the event. He later shared that it was a wool tie gifted to him from Calvin Griffith back in 1983, his first year in the booth. The wool didn’t make it a comfortable tie for Bremer to wear all these years later, but with Griffith known for his frugality, it led Bremer to hold onto it all these years later.
Bremer’s Hall of Fame induction was well attended by many former Twins Hall of Famers, including his broadcast partner of 26 years, Bert Blyleven. But the representation Bremer was most proud of seeing was over 50 people in orange shirts from his small hometown of Dumont, Minn., which included his elementary schoolhouse teacher.
“This whole thing was a celebration of my love for baseball, and that started in that little town, and they don’t play there anymore, but they still have a team,” said Bremer.
The Dumont traveling party was not Bremer’s only reminder of what made this day a lifetime in the making. All of Twins Territory had an appreciation for him for the decades he was in the booth, and Bremer never forgot his own roots as he introduced a new generation of Twins fans each season, and that stuck with him all the way until the end in 2023.
“I grew up a fan. Never imagined ever drawing a paycheck from the Twins. But I was part of the viewing audience, even though I was in the booth, and I sensed their loyalty to the team and how it was as intense as mine was to the team.”