"A vacationing sportswriter was sitting on a bench in front of Hammond Stadium in Fort Myers, Fla., last week. He was deep in an hourlong conversation with Wayne Hattaway, clubhouse man emeritus for the Twins.

The battle cry when he worked in the minor leagues for the organization was, "There's the right way, the wrong way and the Hatta-way."

Wayne started with the Twins in 1964 and retired because of failing eyesight in 1996. Except, he never left -- just stuck around the team's winter home in Fort Myers. In 2002, Ron Gardenhire became the manager and worked it out with veteran players to finance Hattaway traveling with the big-league club.

He's known universally as "Big Fella," for that's his salute to every male that he meets around the ballpark. The ladies get a "Hi, hon."

Wayne is known as a dedicated pessimist, and he was in fine form last week. This put the crusty old sportswriter in the rare position of being the positive voice in a conversation on a Minnesota sports entity."