Twins Baseball Game: Saying Goodbye to the Metrodome
Saying Goodbye to the Metrodome
I attend 1 to 3 baseball games every season. Maybe it’s because I always say if the twins go to round 2 of the playoffs or make the world series…(hmm that hasn’t happened recently) or maybe it’s the overpriced beer (now that’s a legitimate reason for not attending many games). The games that I do attend I usually end up people watching to see what other crazies are at the stadium. So when a few friends from Iowa called me up at the last minute and said they had tickets to the Twins / Red Sox game, I was excited to get my first and maybe only twins baseball game in for this year. Additionally, it is the last season of the metrodome so I thought it’d be a great opportunity to snap some photos as well.
We arrived at the stadium about 20 minutes before the game started. What I didn’t remember was that it was Hormel “dollar dog” night and that getting to our seats might be a pain. If I had remembered this small detail, I would have walked outside the stadium to the gates nearest our seats, instead we walked in Gate H and slowly moved towards our seats along the first base line. Fighting through the people waiting in line for the dollar dogs took almost 15 minutes. Now judging from these lines, someone might have thought…”Wow the ball park is full tonite!”…However, once I got to my seat, I began to snap a few photos and observed the many empty seats.
This to me indicates either the horrible inefficiency of the stadium concession stands or poor stadium design in moving large numbers of people. Go and ahead and see below for yourself the large number of seats that are unoccupied…
View of the Stadium from the first base side
Besides watching the game and getting photos of some of the more well known players like Joe Mauer, Justin Morneau, David Ortiz, and Jason Vartiek, I started looking around the stadium and noticed the signs like the “Count down to outdoor baseball” or “Count down to real grass stains”…I’ve included a few of those sign photos in the post. I thought they were interesting and gave the fans something to look forward and things to think about when the new outdoor ball park is opened next year!
The number of home games left this season
A reference to fact there's no retractable roof at the new stadium...April and September/October baseball could get mightly cold!
More of the countdown signs
Seeing these signs had me thinking. First, they did decrease the countdown number from 53 to 52 somewhere in the 6th or 7th inning. I actually wanted to get a picture of the sign changing and somehow missed the number decreasing. Second, I can’t believe they had already played 28 home games. The baseball season is long, but it seems to be going by quickly.
The next sign of “Countdown to CH-CH-CH-CHHHHH” had me thinking….”Which idiot vetoed the retractable roof?!?!” Apparently the retractable roof would have added a couple of hundred million dollars to the cost of the new stadium and the reliability of retractable roofs are suspect. To those people, I say it should have been added. After living in Minnesota for the past 4.5 years, I know for a fact it doesn’t start warming up until at least the first week in May. The question that remains to be answered is “Will Minnesotans go to the ballpark in the cold weather?”. My guess is that if its playoff baseball (think October), the stadium will be packed and of course this coming April it will be packed because people want to see the new park, but what about in future April months after the park is opened? I guess it will depend on how good the team is perceived to be.
The next countdown signs are for grass stains, starry nights, and skyline sunsets. Its hard to believe that they played baseball on astro turf for so long. There have reports that playing on the astro turf is harder on players’ bodies. Plus really, it isn’t a baseball game without the potential to get the uniform dirty. The starry nights and skyline sunsets…this is talking about the location of the new stadium in downtown Minneapolis. I think this will be great to see and experience once the weather is warm during the summer months of baseball. I think people will appreciate this because they’ve had nothing to see other than the ceiling of the Metrodome since the twins have been playing baseball.
While I was taking in the signs around the stadium, I was also observing the people seated around me. I was surprised at the amount of red sox fans at the game. It was funny though, the people to my immediate right were die hard twins fans and I could tell based on how they were “cheering” against the red sox. Then there were the people seated in front of me. They seemed like they didn’t even want to be at the game. I guess if you don’t want to be there, why are you showing up? People like that confuse me.
In the end, the twins won 4-2. I got to watch a few well known players hit and play baseball and experience a game in the last season of the Metrodome. The Metrodome doesn’t have quite the history that was associated with old Yankees stadium (which I attended a game there last year), but it is still nice to say that I saw a game in the last season of indoor baseball. I am looking forward to trying out the new stadium and seeing how outdoor baseball works in the state of Minnesota. You can follow the progress of the new stadium and find out more information here.
- Biking in Des Moines, Iowa and Minneapolis,MN over Memorial Day I have a goal of biking 1200-1500 miles this summer. Over the long holiday weekend, I was able to add 50 more miles to my total. Biking in Des Moines Although I knew I would be busy being in a friend's wedding in Iowa, I decided to pack the......
- Twin Cities Bike Walk Week - May 10 - 16 Twin Cities Bike Walk Week -. Since the month of May is National Bike Month and because the twin cities is such a bike friendly city, I thought I would share this link on the blog. I recently bought a bike and am working on article talking about my first......
- 2010 goals... Xin nian kuai le or happy new year! 2009 was an interesting year and I think I gained some perspective. I think this came having different experiences like traveling to China, learning Mandarin, jumping on the bicycle again, having a different job, and spending time with friends and family. All......
- The first week of bike ownership... To continue on with the theme of May being National Bike Month, I wanted to share some impressions and thoughts about biking after a week of enjoying my latest purchase and toy. After a week of owning a bike and 65 miles of riding it, I've already learned a few......
- Goals and an update on my major announcement First my update to the announcement… Last week I announced that I was leaving my previous employer of 4+ years and taking a different position elsewhere. I wanted to give a brief update on the response to my farewell email and my observations of the new job so far. That......
Related Websites
- On This Date in Baseball History-March 19 1941- Recently released from the Cardinals, Paul Dean signs with the Giants. Altough he goes 4-for-4, New York also releases Dizzy's brother. 1951- Tiger player representative Fred Hutchinson asks for the players to have input in the selection of the new commissioner. 1970- Indian Ken Harrelson fractures his leg......
- The Popularity of the Deer Hunting Game Online A deer hunting game can be a fun way to pass some time for avid hunters and outdoor enthusiasts. While nothing can take the place of getting out into the woods and really hunting, the online community has come up with some suitable diversions for hunters who are looking for......
- Ford Wayne Gretzky Classic Recap In Clarksburg, Ontario, Roger Tambellini managed to shoot a 2 under 69 on Sunday, taking the win at the Nationwide Tour's Wayne Gretsky Classic by a total of four shots over his competitor, Blake Adams. Tambellini managed to finish a tournament record of 20 under at a total of 265,......
- Athlete Profile: Dan Wakeham The first male Olympic competitor on snowboard in Britain, Dan Wakeham has announced that he will be retiring from the world cup circuit. He has recently announced that following seven years with the British snowboarding team, he will be retiring from World Cup level competition. Dan Wakeham is only 27......
- On This Date in Baseball History-October 18 On October 18, 2007, Joe Torre declines the Yankees contract offer and ends his 12-year stint as manager of New York. The Yankees offered a one-year, $3 million pay cut with incentive bonuses. Torre guided the Yankees to the playoffs in each of his 12 years at the helm,......
I’m pretty sure the Metrodome uses the newer artificial turf that more closely mimics real grass than the older “astro turf” that was originally used in all the domes. There are still many college football stadiums that use the artificial playing surfaces, and they claim to have studies showing that the new turf does not cause additional problems for athletes playing on it, plus there is less risk of holes or uneven spots on the field for players to trip on.
So, the real grass may be better for tradition, but the artificial grass may not deserve the bad rap it used to have.
Did you consider that the “Countdown to CH-CH-CH-CHHHHHHH” sign might be referencing sprinkler and the noise it makes, hence the grass in the background.