The pied piper of St. Paul’s baseball funhouse was cracking wise about the 20-year warranty on his new ceramic hip when a middle-aged couple in Saints gear interrupted the team’s co-owner and founder to demand a bear hug.

Mike Veeck gleefully obliged, then delivered a monologue on the purity of Opening Day, the value of independent leagues and the wit attached to his club’s new ball pig, Alternative Fats.

Soul cleansing is in high demand during these troubled times, and the Saints have been scrubbing away anxiety for a quarter-century.

The classic rock cover band was growling and the good times were rolling on the concourse two hours before the Saints won Thursday’s season opener 5-2 over the Gary SouthShore Railcats on a raw, windy night more suitable for a prep football playoff game than summertime antics.

Another sellout crowd of 8,294 filled CHS Field as the Saints launched their third season in Lowertown after 22 at decrepit Midway Stadium. Craft beers and designer burgers have made this a hipster destination, but there still is a county fair vibe where seatmates greet each other like extended family.

“We couldn’t get young people to Midway if we were giving away $100 bills because mom and dad were there, but here they’re coming with dates!” Veeck marveled.

Veeck, 66, was the carnival barker who talked big 25 years ago when he founded the franchise but feared failure after sinking his last nickel into the deal. He recalled his wife painting garbage cans and railings before the team’s first game.

Nowadays major league marketers are plying the Saints for ways to monetize zaniness that does not seem so bush league anymore. The team could not compete directly with the Twins when the big-league club was at the Metrodome, let alone their sparkling outdoor ballpark in downtown Minneapolis.

But the baseball has always been competent. Lately it has been phenomenal.

The Saints have won consecutive North Division titles with a 135-65 combined record the past two years. In 2016, the team drew more than 400,000 fans and hosted the American Association All-Star Game.

Their topical irreverence ages like a fine wine. From the Randy Moss hood ornament and Love Boat giveaways to Bud Selig/Donald Fehr seat cushion night and the Michael Vick Chew Toy.

The latest swine to deliver baseballs to the home plate umpire was coined after President Trump spokeswoman Kellyanne Conway volunteered a set of “alternative facts” to exaggerate her boss’ inaugural crowd size.

Guys in drag do drag the infield. Players still engage with fans from the dugout. The between-innings entertainment remains delightfully campy, from toddler car races to doughnut-eating contests.

And their durable court jester is back dealing on the mound.

Ace right-hander Mark Hamburger hangs a “Hugs Are Free” sign on his locker, and he means it.

He returned to St. Paul with the flowing mane, 93-mph fastball and free spirit that have endeared him to teammates and fans, earning the win as the Saints improved to 3-0 in CHS Field openers.

Hamburger struck out eight over 8 1/3 innings, allowing one earned run and seven hits. Tony Thomas and Nate Hanson slugged home runs during a five-run sixth inning.

Hamburger tried out for the Texas Rangers in spring training but the team for which he spent a month in the bullpen during their 2011 run to the World Series was uninterested in re-signing him.

He spent the winter pitching once a week for the Melbourne Aces and loving every minute street-surfing through the second-largest city in Australia, sleeping diagonally in the back of a campervan parked outside a teammate’s house and swimming in the ocean.

“Australia was incredible,” Hamburger said. “I had more fun playing baseball there than I have my whole career. It’s the most peaceful place I’ve been. There’s cops walking around downtown 2 in the morning with no guns. Girls are walking by themselves. I’ll be going back there for years to come. I found a second home for sure.”

Hamburger, 30, has not given up on his big-league dreams. He flamed out of the Padres and Astros organizations while stubbornly sustaining a lifestyle that produced two failed drug tests and a rehab stint for marijuana addiction.

Hamburger resurrected his career with the Saints in 2013 and caught the attention of the Twins again, six years after the Mounds View High star wowed team scouts with a 96-mph fastball during a Metrodome tryout.

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For prep football players, 7-on-7 league is a nice substitute for the real thing He re-signed with Minnesota in 2015, served his 50-game MLB suspension and was invited to big-league camp. Despite respectable stats that included 63 strikeouts in 68 innings at Triple-A Rochester, he was never called up.

“Do I want to be in the majors? To a certain degree, yeah,” Hamburger said. “But there are a lot of levels to it. I enjoy being here. This is a beautiful place that has a knack for what baseball really is. It’s just about having fun.”

Hamburger had plenty of it during the tribute to late actress Mary Tyler Moore after the second inning Thursday night.

In a ballpark video, the pitcher was shown imitating the fictional Minneapolis newswoman driving a station wagon into Minneapolis, high-fiving joggers around Lake of the Isles and tossing a tam into the air on Nicollet Mall like Moore did during the intro of her eponymous 1970s sitcom.

Six thousand fans did the same with the blue and white tams they were handed entering the ballpark.

After 25 years, Veeck and the Saints are gonna make it after all.