Metrodome
Minneapolis, MN
Chicago White Sox
at Minnesota Twins
June 24, 2003
By
Ken Schlapp
I started my day by driving up to see the Roger Maris Museum, which
is in his hometown of Fargo, North Dakota. The Museum is located in
the West Acres Shopping Center on 13th Avenue and it was worth the
trip. When you find the location in the mall you are greeted by the
flags depicting each of his 61 1961 home runs over the main display
case, which also shows a timeline of his career and displaying loads
of
 memorabilia.
They have a theatre with actual seats from Old Yankee Stadium where
they show a movie about Maris' baseball history. And best of all
there is no fee to see either the movie or the museum. In fact,
when you get there, it's up to you when to start the movie (provided
that nobody was watching it already). There are also two displays in
the theatre; the first displays his career stats and the second
presents his 1961 home runs on a game-by-game basis. The only
downside to the museum is that there is no souvenir stand, but I
guess that saved me some money.
After the museum, I headed to the food court for lunch where I found
the Rising Bread Co. for a Sierra Smoked Turkey Sandwich. This
sandwich was on potato bread with home made chips, tomatoes, Swiss
cheese, and chipolte sauce and was the best sandwich I had in a long
time. It appears that these is a local food chain, but if you are
at the Museum, go here for lunch. You won't regret it! I do,
however, regret that I missed the Maury Wills Museum (because I
didn't know about it), which is at the Newman Outdoor Field. This is
the home of the Independent League Fargo Red Hawks, where Maury
Wills is currently a broadcaster.
From there it was off to the Mall of America in Bloomington,
Minnesota (just outside of Minneapolis and on Harmon Killebrew
Blvd), which is the former site of Metropolitan Stadium. This was
the home of the Twins for 20 Years from 1961 until 1981, when they
moved into the Metrodome. Prior to that they played their games at
RFK stadium in Washington, DC as the Washington Senators. A plaque
in the shape of home plate is located on the floor of Camp Snoopy to
commemorate the exact location of home plate at Metropolitan
Stadium. Camp Snoopy is an amusement park that is actually located
on the inside of the Mall of America because it is so big! In fact,
there is a sign in the mall indicating that 7 Yankee Stadium's could
fit inside! I had a hard time finding the home plate plaque, but
after asking an employee of Camp Snoopy where it was, I found it
after zigzagging around the rides and game booths. The employee
also helped me find the seat from Metropolitan
Stadium that is high up on one of the walls to indicate the spot
where Harmon Killebrew hit his 520-foot home run in 1967. That was
a far walk from the home plate plaque and when you put things into
perspective from where the two remnants from the old stadium are
located, you realize just what kind of mammoth shot that must have
been!
OK, I have to admit that I've been delaying my inevitable commentary
on the Metrodome. This is mainly due to the way my mother raised
me. You know, if you don't have anything nice to say, don't say
anything at all. I hate to say it, but this is the bottom of the
barrel as far as Baseball Stadiums go. What makes it even harder to
pan this place, is that the Twins (especially Glo) have treated me
so well in my adventure. They made sure that I was taken care of
with good tickets to the game as well as having all the information
that I would need to find my way around the stadium and the city.
I'll take the time here to say "Thank You" once again, but
unfortunately, that can't
take away the feeling that I was watching the game in a high school
gym. Indoor Baseball on artificial turf is just awful. I'll admit
that I've been here several times because my sister used to live in
Minneapolis, and I would/will still go several more times because I
love Baseball so much, but I still don't like the stadium. Baseball
was meant to be played outdoors on grass and dirt. At least, most
of the newer indoor stadiums have retractable roofs so that the game
can be played outdoors whenever possible.
The dome does have some history in its favor though. The Twins won
the World Series here in 1987 and 1991 by taking home field
advantage to its maximum. Both of those series went the maximum 7
games with the home team winning every single game. Luckily for the
Twins, they got to play the 7th game in the Metrodome each time. In
fact, the 7th game in 1991 was one of the most famous World Series
games ever. This was the game where Jack Morris pitched a 10-inning
shutout to close out the series against the Braves. Obviously, the
boisterous Twins fa ns cheers thundering through the dome was a big
part of the Twins success in those two years. I'd also say that the
Twins fans were into the game and behind their Twins every time that
I have been here.
The Twins also share this stadium with the NFL's Minnesota Vikings,
so as you walk around the dome you will find plaques commemorating
the heroes of both teams. You will also notice that there is a
Jumbotron screen at both ends of the dome, which is mostly to
facilitate football, but is still useful so that no matter where you
sit, you can get all the information on the screen. The Twins
players that have had their numbers retired are also honored with
large banners on the right center field wall near the roof. This
section also includes the Twins Championship banners. However, the
Twins championship trophies are located in the fan accommodation
section of the stadium, where you would never notice it unless you
asked, which I did.
This stadium is famous for its "baggy" in right field, which refers
to the plastic covering the retractable stands behind the right
field wall. If a player hits a ball off the "baggy" it is a home
run. Another interesting quirk with the stadium is that if a batted
ball hits the roof or the beams supporting it, the ball is still in
play. I was even lucky enough to witness that happen today. Brian
Daubach of the White Sox hit a popup off the roof for a double, when
he should have been out on an easy popup!
The game was a pitcher's duel between Esteban Loaiza of the White
Sox and Rick Reed of the Twins ending in a 2-1 victory for the
Chisox. First of all, I was just happy to see the Twins without
Kenny Rogers starting for the first time on my trip. I'll also
admit that even though I've said that I don't like this stadium, I
 have
been rooting for the Twins the last couple of years. Mainly to
stick it to Bud Selig, by showing that a team can still win with a
low payroll when they are properly managed. Note you can see the
Mets and the Orioles to find out that you can spend a lot of money
on your team and still fail if you have poor management. OK, back
to the game. The White Sox got their first run when Daubach scored
on a Carlos Lee single in the 2nd after reaching on his dome hit
mentioned above. They added another run in the 6th on a Frank
Thomas RBI single, while the Twins managed their only run in the 8th
when Kielty scored on a throwing error by Jose Valentine. Loaiza
pitched 8 innings without an earned run for the victory, while Reed
pitched 7 solid innings, but the 2 runs he gave up were enough to
take the loss. Billy Koch pitched to one batter (Tori Hunter) in
the 9th to pick up a cheapie save.
During the game, the Twins had a few interesting promotions. In the
3rd inning a pickup truck is driven onto right field, where a fan
attempts to throw a tennis ball from the upper deck into the back of
the truck for a chance to win the truck (no luck tonight). In the
6th inning, young children are brought out to change the bases. I
like the fact that these promotions are not all via the electronic
scoreboard. The promotions may be done this way to stave off some
competition from the St. Paul Saints of the Independent Northern
League, who are very popular in this area. There is, however, the
standard electronic race featuring a fishing race with 3 different
color Mr. Magoos competing against each other.
As far as food is concerned, you can get all of the typical ba seball
foods here. I got a bratwurst, which was very good. I'll also
have to say that everyone I dealt with at the stadium were very
friendly and helpful, and I'm being honest about that and not just
trying to find something nice to say. You might also want to get
some food at the stands outside the stadium before you go inside.
They have BBQ food as well as grills cooking sausages and dogs that
smelled really good.
Finally, I have to add this paragraph for the benefit of my sister
Linda who lived in Minneapolis for several years. When you drive
around the country, you can't help but notice the different styles
of driving people have in different areas. Unfortunately, I've
found Minnesota the most frustrating place to drive. It seems to be
normal to have the slowest cars driving in the left lane and the
faster ones forced to pass on the right. But of course when you try
to pass the slow moving car then feels the need to speed up. This
also throws off all the jokes I've made all my life about Jersey
drivers. Now I have to change the jokes to Minnesota drivers. It's
also been uncanny how many times during my weeks of driving since
leaving Minnesota that I have gotten frustrated over being stuck
behind a slow driver only to find out that they had, you guessed it,
Minnesota plates!
Bottom line - The fans are good, the Twins are a good team, and the
people are friendly, but the Metrodome is the worst stadium in my
opinion to date. Like I said above, it's still good baseball so
don't let the Dome stop you from going to games here.
Basic trip facts:
* Stadium # 9
* Old Stadium Sites visited - Metropolitan Stadium (Total - 5)
* Miles traveled - 613 via Car (Totals: Driving - 4,460, Subway -
20, Air - 3,196, Total - 7,676)
* States, provinces and/or commonwealths passed through - South
Dakota, North Dakota, and Minnesota (Totals: States - 18, Provinces
- 0,
Commonwealths - 1)
* Seats -Section 134, Row 6, Seat 3 - Field Level by 3rd Base
* Prices: Parking - $4.00, Beer - $5.00, Bratwurst - $3.50, Hot Dog
- $3.00 Program (including pencil) - $4.75, Souvenir Soda Cup - 4.00
* Credit Card giveaway - 1961 Twins T-Shirt
* First Pitch - 7:06 PM
* Attendance - 19,229
* Results - White Sox 2, Twins 1, W - Esteban Loaiza, L -Rick Reed,
S - Billy Koch
* Home team record to date - 6 wins, 6 losses
* Record of "team I was routing for" to date - 3 wins, 9 losses
* Lodging - Albert Lea, Minnesota
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