A few years ago in Minnesota, I was in then-Twins manager Paul Molitor's office and noticed a guitar hanging on his wall. It was autographed by Bruce Springsteen.
When I asked him about it, Twins public relations man Dustin Morse said to Molitor, "You've got to tell him the TK story."
"TK" is Tom Kelly, the former Twins manager who was the skipper during during the final three years of Molitor's career from 1996-98.
Molitor proceeded to tell me this story:
The Twins were in New York to play the Yankees and were taking batting practice at the old Yankee Stadium when Molitor was standing by the batting cage.
"Hey, you want to meet The Boss?" Molitor asked Kelly.
Kelly, who grew up in South Amboy, NJ and attended Monmouth University, said no. And that kind of surprised Molitor, who thought he knew his manager pretty well.
Anyway a few minutes later on the warning track behind home plate, there was Molitor schmoozing it up with Springsteen. When Molitor returned to the cage for his turn to hit, Kelly walked over in bewilderment.
"I thought you meant (George) Steinbrenner!" Kelly exclaimed.
At least he didn't say Tony Danza.
