After a nice dinner of silver dollar pancakes and a good night's sleep in Madison, WI I set out for Minneapolis. Most of the drive was in the state of Wisconsin which meant I saw a lot of cows, cheese stores, and open prairie land. It was a pretty boring drive and I was happy to arrive in the Twin Cities.
I found a Mail Boxes Etc. in some Minneapolis suburb and sent some of my souvenirs home to Connecticut. It freed up a lot of room in my car for the second half of the trip. I checked into my hotel, had a quick workout, listened to the couple in the room next to me copulating at high volume (that is the sound level not the frequency of the act) and then headed over the to the Metrodome.
The Hubert H. Humphrey Metrodome is pretty centrally located in downtown Minneapolis and very accessible from the many highways in the area. Parking is pretty easy, mostly surface lots in the area (a range of prices) and the neighborhood feels active and safe. All around the Metrodome are colored statues and cutouts (made of metal) representing the sports played in the metrodome. There are picnic areas, comfortable benches, ticket stands, and trees all around the complex giving it a personal feeling. And, on this night, a large tent had been constructed across the street and the Twins Friday Night Concert Series was hosting a local blues singer for fans who arrived early at the game.
As for the size and capacity of the complex, the Twins do an excellent job trying to hide the fact that the stadium was designed for football. Built with public funds in 1982 for only $68 million, the Metrodome has the ability to seat more than 52,000 fans, but many of those seats have been either retracted into the right field wall or covered by an immense white curtain which displays the Twins retired numbers and championship banners. Most of the outfield walls are made of a plastic bag like material with the right field wall standing more than twenty feet high (an addition to the park that was made not long ago to get rid of the "homer dome" nickname). The dugouts are spacious, the bullpens hidden under the stands up the first and third base lines, and a mural decorates the right field wall commemorating the ten year anniversary of the Twins first World Championship in 1987.
However, no matter what you do or where you are in the complex, you can't help but look at the roof. The Metrodome sports a canvas roof (like a tent) that has no visible support beams, rods, or other mechanisms keeping it up. That is because it has none -- the roof is supported by air pressure and controlled with several large exhaust pipes located behind home plate (which keep the pressure at such a level that the roof does not sag). Since the wind was quite strong on this night, fans were required to use the revolving doors to enter and exit the facility. According to the locals, the roof has collapsed on several occasions due to tears caused by inclement weather, but they assured me it doesn't happen regularly.
The rest of the stadium is colorful and modern. The concourses are wide and clean, the food stands are identified with large neon signs (though not tacky neon), and the seats are easy to get to (only two levels). There is a special section (the FuncoLand Fun Zone) for families with children including video games an other activities, regular promotions (on this night there were 16 hours of softball to follow the MLB game), but the main attraction is certainly the game taking place on the field.
As for the overall "stadium experience" I have to give the Twins credit for creating a friendly baseball environment. Obviously, the Twins want a new stadium -- one designed for baseball only (there is already a model in the front office and pictures on the web). According to one of the locals, a stadium initiative has already failed once and it is up to a special session of the State Legislature being convened in September to authorize the new construction. I agree that the stadium is not fit for baseball -- although I would love to come for a Vikings game -- and hope that they do get their new stadium so I can come back and visit the proposed state of the art retractable roof.
I miscalculated my arrival time at the Metrodome and ended up sitting in the dugout for a while before batting practice was scheduled to start. Several players came into the dugout and spoke with me (all wondering about the trip) and I watched a few take some warm up tosses (one almost severely hindering his chances at having children while receiving a knuckleball attempt from one of the relief pitchers). Most of the players seemed very comfortable with my presence, spitting near me, scratching themselves at will, and all the other things you would expect from a ballplayer. It was nice to see everyone relaxed and friendly -- a pleasant change from most parks.
When the Indians appeared in their dugout I walked over to say hello to some of the folks I had spoken with on July 4th at Jacobs Field. I spoke briefly with the coach who last week called me a "spoiled, rich, white kid" and met his son who was traveling on the road trip with a friend. A few minutes later, he too was smacked by a knuckleball attempt -- this time thrown by an Indians coach and bruising his throwing hand. Everyone on the field got a good laugh out of it.
Near the end of the Twins rotation, I walked over to Chuck Knoblauch (the Twins second baseman) and asked him if I could ask him a question. He said "no". I wasn't sure if he was joking or not so I asked anyways. He replied "I said no." and turned around. Sort of emberassed I walked away. Then he answered my question. The rest of the time I spent talking with two of the "Fan Relations" guys (a cute name for security) about anything and everything related to the teams, the stadium, life (they were joking about some of the folks on the field) and field protocol. They were very honest and that was refreshing (if not somewhat depressing when they tried to describe the stadium and its attractions). The rest of batting practice was pretty mundane so I left early to explore.
The Management of the Twins was a pleasure to deal with and extended every courtesy to me during my visit to the Metrodome. They granted me my press credential without any questions or problems (as other teams have) and actually gave me good directions to the stadium (a rarity on this trip). When I arrived, I was given my press pass, directed to the field, and left to my own devices -- no one watching over me as if I was dangerous and nobody checking my credentials as if I didn't belong. After the game I was given some of the free giveaways from past nights and for the upcoming games. No other team had done that.
Reed Varner of the Media Relations Department joined me on the field and we talked for a while during batting practice. Mr. Varner seemed particularly interested in the trip and almost seemed emberassed by the Metrodome (they REALLY want a new stadium). He explained the whole roof system to me, we talked about he divisional battle taking place in the AL Central (the Twins are on the cusp but still eleven games below .500), and he gave me the scoop on the reporters to stay away from while I visited the press box.
When we compared the stadiums around the league -- he had visited most of them -- he seemed surprised that I was impressed by the color and excitement surrounding the Metrodome. He acknowledged that the team was having trouble filling the seats (guessing that only 18,000 would come to today's game) because the message from the front office continued to be what a poor stadium this was for watching baseball. But, he made a special point of how nice all the players were (as many of them walked by and joked with him) and how their relationship with the fans was one of the best in the league (as we spoke, four lucky kids sat on the field and the players came over and offered autographs and souvenirs). The Fans in Minnesota are lucky to have this organization representing their baseball interests.
There is no elevator to get media folks from the field level to the press box, but then again because the stadium is so small (only two levels) the stairs aren't that tough to manage. From the main concourse, the walls and doors of the press box are almost hidden in a wild baseball mural , but once you get inside things are plain and calm. Friendly attendants are everywhere offering information, food, directions and answering my questions.
The guys in the press box actually watched most of the game, rather than working on their stories or making jokes about the players. They genuinely seemed interested. I was assigned space number 73, right next to the Marketing Coordinator (and web page guru) for the Twins. We talked throughout the game about the trip, the team, the stadium, web page construction, and numerous other things. He, along with most of the others in the organization, really wants a new baseball only complex but tried to use the Metrodome to his team's advantage shouting "lose it in the lights" on several occasions when the Indians were in the field. Finally, he pointed out the neatest aspect of the stadium, the fact that it is the only complex in the nation to have hosted the World Series, All Star Game, Superbowl, and NCAA Finals (not to mention regular tractor pulls and Promise Keepers conventions which outdraw all of the previously mentioned events -- "hey, we're the midwest, we get off on those things.") Overall, he was probably the most honest and friendly of all the folks I had spoken with in the press box (even better than the folks in Canada who had gourmet food).
THE FOODSpeaking of the food at the ballpark, the Metrodome has some interesting options for fans who are hungry when they arrive for the game. The best option in the entire stadium is rumored to be the St. Louis style ribs located outside of the stadium (available on this night to the folks who were present for the free concert). Elsewhere there is the Brats and Brews stand (although they boil their brats and that just isn't right), the specialty ice cream and frozen yogurt stand, and the Grandstand Grille which offers chicken sandwiches, gourmet burgers (oxymoron?) and other things in addition to the regular fare. And, for those who are looking to be healthy at the park (not really the reason to come to a game) there is a "healthy alternatives" stand -- ironically located next to the Brats and Brews outlet on the top level of the stadium. Disturbingly the nachos were once again the most popular food at the park, followed by the gourmet ice cream (served in the waffle cones as a sundae) and the cotton candy.
As for the pretzel, it looked and felt very warm and soft, almost falling apart in my hands from freshness. When I bit into it, I was dissappointed to find it had an odd taste to it -- not like plastic. Closer examination indicated that the pretzel actually had a whole wheat quality to it -- the first time I had expereienced that -- and I have to say it was a pleasant change. Both types of mustard were delicious and added to the pretzel nicely -- overall, it is in the top five of pretzels I have eaten to date.
The fans in the Metrodome on this night were even fewer than expected -- only 14,400 showed up for the indoor game. There was some competition in the city including a block party and some much needed warm weather. The fans inside the Metrodome sat quietly in the 70 degrees and artificially lit environment through a painfully fast ballgame. If not for the screaming line drives into the stands (which are right on top of the field), I'm sure many of them would have fallen asleep early on -- there just wasn't enough action on the field for the fans to follow.
When I walked up to my section, up high just to the right of home plate, I had some trouble finding folks to speak with (the section was not very full). There were some families, a few die-hards, and two very loud Indians fans -- an eclectic mix of Twins fans. The seat I had actually purchased were filled by an underage couple (amorous in an illegal sort of way) so I moved up a few rows to get a better view of the field.
I ended up next to Mike Evans, a former batboy for the Twinkies (during the 80's) and we spent a few innings talking about the state of the game and the Twins. He was frustrated by the escalating costs of the game (he had actually received free tickets from his friend who is the Twins clubhouse attendant) but acknowledged that baseball was still the best game around. He lamented the fact that he wasn't able to introduce me to his friend who would surely have found me a ball or something as a souvenir from the stadium. We chatted about the food at the stadium, he was just as surprised as I was that Nachos were as popular an item as they were, and were both excited and interested in the fact that almost everyone in the stadium was actually "stretching" after the top of the seventh inning.. All in all,it was a nice couple of innings.
As for the game, the Indians jumped out early thanks to a two run homerun by Marquis Grissom and never really let up. They added a run in the fourth on some sloppy play and a wild pitch by the Twins, and again after loading the bases in the seventh. The death blow came on a solo homer by Julio Franco which just barely cleared the baggie in right. The Twinkies outhit the visiting Indians but couldn't muster any actual offense. There were some blown opportunities, some missed plays, and too many walks. The painfully boring game came to an end with as little excitement as possible and the Indians evened the series at one game a piece with the 5-1 victory.
After the game, I hung around to watch the beginning of the sixteen hour softball marathon. I dreamed about the opportunity to play any sport on a major league field and left the stadium with a yearning to toss a ball or swing a bat. I went back to my hotel -- no fornicating could be heard (I guess lighting only strikes once) -- and went to sleep.
The nice woman from Mail Boxes Etc. who packed and sent all my souvenirs.
The two Fan Relations Representatives from the Metrodome.
The view from my seats.
