The past few years have not been the golden age of baseball in Minnesota. There are many examples to back that claim, but here's one that epitomizes it: The Twins, in an act of promotional desperation in keeping with the team's fortunes, held a Doug Mientkiewicz Night in 1999. It was a night to summon all the Rostenkowskis and Manischewitzes in the neighborhood, because anyone with a 12-letter last name got in for a buck.

At no time during that season did Mientkiewicz's performance at the plate (.229, three homers, 32 RBIs) raise a call for a night in his honor. He was -- and seemed destined to remain -- a guy with 12 letters on his back and no hits in his bat. He was The Unpronounceable, and they'd ride that pony as far as it would go. At the time, it wasn't far. On the night in question, Mientkiewicz and all 12 of his letters stayed on the bench. Some members of the Mientkiewicz family will tell you Twins manager Tom Kelly didn't like the idea of an underachieving rookie being given his own night. But, in reality there were many valid reasons to keep Mientkiewicz off the field.

And, to make reality even more real, Mientkiewicz now understands he was keeping himself off the field. After each failed at-bat, he turned into a bad combination of Bill James and Alan Greenspan, analyzing and over-analyzing every minute detail of his approach to hitting, his swing and the numbers they were producing. When hitters abide by the theory See the ball, hit the ball, they're relying on more than a platitude. They know that a guy with more than one thought coursing through his head is in trouble. Mientkiewicz, with as many thoughts in his head as letters on his back, tortured himself all the way back to the minor leagues, where he spent the 2000 season before joining the U.S. Olympic team.

Now Mientkiewicz is thinking less and hitting more. Now the Twins are cool and he's the coolest. Considering where he came from, he'd be a great story if he was hitting .290 or .300. Considering where they came from, the Twins would be a great story if they were five games over .500. Considering where they are now -- Mientkiewicz over .400, the Twins atop the AL Central with the second-best record in the majors -- it's the best story in baseball.

When the gates to the Metrodome open 90 minutes before game time, a double-stepping wave of teenage boys descends upon the first few rows of the left-field bleachers. This is the infamous Knoblauch Gang, but it's also a Mientkiewicz Gang. They chant "U-S-A! U-S-A!" in reference (or deference) to Doug's Olympic heroics. They've also made a habit of getting a group together to spell his name on their T-shirts. Predictably, it covers most of the power alley.

"That's devotion right there," says Twins closer LaTroy Hawkins. "After all, you've got to get a lot of guys from the neighborhood together to spell out Mientkiewicz."

Tim Keown is a senior writer for ESPN The Magazine. E-mail tim.keown@espnmag.com.