Outside of Chicago Cubs and Cleveland Indian fans, I'd guess there's not much of a rooting interest in South Dakota concerning the World Series. My Minnesota twins were edged out of the race kind of, ah, early.

But then again, maybe there should be.

After all, the manager of the Cleveland Indians is a South Dakota native. At least technically.

Yep, tis true...Terry Francona, two time World Series champion (and maybe soon to be three) was born in Aberdeen, South Dakota in 1959.

According to the Aberdeen American News (an interesting article from June of 2008), Terry's dad Tito was playing for the Aberdeen Pheasants, a Baltimore Oriole farm club at the time, and Terry's mother was an Aberdeen native.

Now, in the interest of total honesty, Terry didn't spend long in Aberdeen, apparently moving along with his folks when he was about 2 years old. The life of a baseball player, you see, can be rather nomadic. Terry pretty much grew up in Pennsylvania, just outside the Pittsburgh area.

But in the American News article he does say his mom talked a lot about Aberdeen. Terry even recalled the name of his mom's alma mater, the Aberdeen central 'Golden Eagles'.

By the way, Terry went on to a successful major league playing career, and an even more successful major league managing career.

And it all began in Aberdeen, South Dakota. So maybe now you do have a rooting interest in the World Series!.

Wikipedia Contributed To This Article


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