Meet 90-Year-Old Twins Fanatic Carol Wegner: 'World Series All The Way'
MINNEAPOLIS (WCCO) -- With spring training under way, baseball is officially back for Twins fans in Minnesota and Florida.
Ninety-year-old Carol Wegner has been a huge fan since the team moved to Minnesota in 1961. Because of COVID-19, she wasn't able to make a spring training trip to Florida this year.
"Growing up, our school had a merry-go-round, teeter totter and swings. What did we do? We'd play ball," said Carol.
Even before the Twins were a part of Minnesota, Carol had baseball in her blood. In Stearns County, she's known as "the baseball lady." Her house is a shrine full of Twins memorabilia from years gone by, and in all shapes, sizes and conditions.
"It's kind of had its ups and downs and so on," said Carol while holding a bobblehead from the 1960s.
From her shoes to her light switches, from Harmon Killebrew to Joe Mauer, she covers her house like Byron Buxton covers center field.
"To see the excitement in her face and how she knows all the Twins," said daughter Vicki Jenniges. "She can name them off. She knows their home state, knows where they all came from."
Part of that knowledge comes from watching spring training games. Last year Carol was in Fort Meyers, on her way to watch her third spring training game in a row, when the pandemic hit.
"That afternoon, on the bus on the way over to Fort Meyers, they got a warning to go back, to turn around and go back," said Carol.
COVID kept her from making the trip this year, and now she's not entirely sure how she'll watch her favorite team. FSN, which carries Twins games, is currently only available through cable providers and some streaming services, like AT&T. Carol has Dish, so she's hoping something gets worked out, or it might back to listening on the radio, like she did in the 60s. At least her optimism over the years hasn't changed.
"I was a fan through thick and thin," said Carol. "World Series all the way."
