Mabel Carlson’s doing something for her 98th birthday she never thought she would get a chance to do.
The lifelong Twins fan will be attending a game at Target Field.
As the Twins take on the Cleveland Indians this afternoon, Carlson will be seated behind home plate proudly cheering on the team she has loved for so long.
“I never miss watching a game,” she told The Journal as she prepared for the trip to the Twin Cities.
Carlson, who turned 98 on Aug. 3, is being sent to the game by the church she regularly attends, St. Paul Lutheran. The congregation came together to gather collections to send Carlson to the game as their birthday gift to her.
“I had mixed emotions about this and was very upset when I found out my church was doing this for me,” Carlson said teary-eyed. “It is a very generous gift, but accepting it is out of my dignity. The only reason I finally agreed to go is because I know this is something special they really wanted to do for me.”
The obsession with the Twins started years ago when Carlson and her late husband were both huge fans. She said she fondly remembered when the two of them used to attend Twins games regularly. At that time, the couple lived in Staples and would take frequent trips to the Twin Cities to cheer on their favorite team.
“We both love baseball and the Twins,” Carlson said. “Now that my husband is gone (he died in 1980) I’ve continued to follow them all these years.”
She said she has been to every stadium the Twins have called home except for one — Target Field.
“I never dreamed I’d get to go there, never in a million years,” she said. “This is a fantastic stadium. I’m so excited, I just don’t know what to do with myself.”
Regardless of where she sits — behind home plate breathing in the popcorn and hotdogs, or in her living room surrounded by her Twins bobble heads — Carlson, who refers to herself as a baseball nut, puts her entire spirit into the game.
“I have good neighbors that understand I get pretty loud when the Twins are on,” she laughed. “Cheering them on is what keeps me going. It gives me an adrenaline rush.”
For every game, Carlson sports her personalized No. 12 Twins jersey and signed baseball cap. Her jersey says ‘Mabel’ across the top and the number stands for the year she was born — 1912.
Many people are excited for Carlson to get this opportunity, she said, including one of her close friends — Dick Bremer, the announcer for the Twins.
“I’ve known Dick since he was a little boy,” Carlson said. “He and his family moved to Staples when he was 14 and his father was the minister of my church. I am so proud of him.”
Bremer knows Carlson is sitting in the crowd at today’s game and she is hopeful she’ll get to visit with him.
As far as having a favorite player, Carlson doesn’t really have one.
“Everyone brags about Joe Mauer. I think the rest of the boys work just as hard. I love them all,” she said.
Prior to game day, Carlson had a single comment about her feelings of being able to go: “If this is the last thing I do, everything will be complete for me.”
