Our thoughts were pleasantly vaulted to spring today when we received an advance copy of a new book about baseball.

We're Gonna Win, Twins! tells the story of the first 50 years of Major League Baseball in the Twin Cities. A good chunk of South Dakota lies within "Twins Territory" (another of those abstract geographical regions with fuzzy boundaries, like KELOLAND), so many folks around here might find the book entertaining.

The book's author is Doug Grow, a Watertown native who covered the Twins as a sports columnist from 1979 to 1987 and as a metro columnist from 1987 to 1991. He now writes for MinnPost.

His book begins with the old Washington Senators moving the Cities and goes through the lean years, the World Series in 1965, more lean years, more World Series and ends anticipating the first season in the new outdoor Target Field. It even covers the remarkable one-game playoff last year against the Tigers to determine the Central Division winner (a game I had the chance to attend via the WNAX bus, but declined. It's just further proof of my innate ability to make really dumb decisions).

Grow's book will be published in April, just in time for the first pitch. We're looking forward to both.