April 29, 2017
St. Cloud, MN – The St. Cloud Rox are pleased to announce that former Major League Baseball All-Star outfielder and World Series champion Tom Brunansky will be in attendance as this year’s opening night guest. Brunansky will throw out the ceremonial first pitch at the Home Opener presented by Coborn’s on Friday, June 2nd at 7:05 p.m. at Joe Faber Field as the Rox take on the Rochester Honkers.
In addition to throwing out the first pitch, Brunansky will be signing autographs and taking pictures with fans throughout the night which will feature the season’s first of six fireworks shows.
Brunansky was selected in the 1st round, 14th overall, in the 1978 MLB Draft by the California Angels. He made his major league debut with the Angels in April of 1981 and was traded to the Minnesota Twins the following season. Brunansky became the Twins starting right fielder for seven seasons. He was an American League All-Star in 1985 and won a World Series championship with the Twins and current Rox Assistant Coach Al Newman in 1987.
After his time with the Twins, Brunansky played for the St. Louis Cardinals, Boston Red Sox and Milwaukee Brewers before retiring following the 1999 season. He played in 14 MLB seasons, appearing in 1,800 games, hitting 271 home runs and 919 runs batted in.
Brunasky returned to the Minnesota Twins in 2010 serving as the hitting coach for the Twins Rookie League team in the Gulf Coast League. In 2011, Brunansky served as the hitting coach for the Twins Class AA New Britain Rock Cats. He was promoted to hitting coach for the Twins Class AAA Rochester Redwings in 2012. Most recently he served as the Minnesota Twins hitting coach from 2013-2016.
This season will be the Rox sixth playing in St. Cloud. Cy Young award winner Bret Saberhagen, and former Twins Terry Steinbach, Jacque Jones, Gene Larkin and Greg Gagne have previously thrown out the first pitch during Rox home openers.
Single game tickets for all 36 Rox home games during the 2017 season including the home opener go on sale starting Thursday, May 4th at 10:00am at the Rox ticket office located at the Municipal Athletic Complex, over the phone by calling (320) 240-9798 or 24 hours a day online at www.stcloudrox.com.
The St. Cloud Rox are a member of the finest developmental league for elite college baseball players, the Northwoods League. The 23-year-old summer collegiate league is the largest organized baseball league in the world with 20 teams, drawing significantly more fans, in a friendly ballpark experience, than any league of its kind. A valuable training ground for coaches, umpires and front office staff, more than 160 former Northwoods League players have advanced to Major League Baseball, including two-time Cy Young Award winner Max Scherzer (WAS), two-time World Series Champion Ben Zobrist (CHC) and MLB All-Stars Chris Sale (BOS), Jordan Zimmermann (DET), Curtis Granderson (NYM) and Lucas Duda (NYM). All league games are viewable live via the Northwoods League portal. For more information, visit www.stcloudrox.com or download the new Northwoods League Mobile App on the Apple App Store or on Google Play and set the Rox as your favorite team.
