Hubert Humphrey

Metrodome

 Major League Baseball Park #12 out of 39

            I have mixed feelings about having never visited old Metropolitan Stadium in Bloomington. The opinions I've heard about that place tend to vary quite a bit. The last home plate from the Met can be found inside the Mall of America. Strange to find something like that between a rollercoaster and a Lego™ store in the middle of a three-story shopping mega-center. I know only one other person who had been there and he seemed to miss the old players more than he missed the old stadium.
            The Hubert H. Humphrey Metrodome opened April 3, 1982. The roof is unusual in that it's made of Teflon, not concrete or steel. I've only been to one other place like this (BC Place in Vancouver, Canada) and both places are interesting to see because of the roof. Huge air vents are required to keep the roof up and the air-pressure changes between indoors and outdoors cause people leaving an event to feel as if they're being blown through the exit doors. I'm not blown out very strongly, but just enough to make me want to go back in and leave again.
            Suffice it to say if that's the case, there isn't anything else very interesting about either place and that's certainly true.
            Tim and I never knew why it seemed every hotel room in the state of Wisconsin was booked on the night of July 8th, 1994, but they were (at least those rooms along I-94) and we found ourselves still on the road at 5 AM -- after the Milwaukee game the night before -- and deciding to catch a few much-needed z's at a rest stop along the highway. We rolled into Minneapolis later that day, caught up with my mother and sister (who drove up from northern Iowa for the game) and our whole group sat together in the upper deck behind home plate.
            I remember very little about my 1994 visit. The Twins lost to the Indians 4-3. The Metrodome looked and felt a lot like my old Kingdome.
            By the time I took my wife to see the Metrodome in May of 2003, the Twins were in the 13th season of their rebuilding mode. Tom Kelly was replaced by Ron Gardenhire. A large section of the upper deck in right field was covered by a white curtain holding up large portraits of the players who've had their numbers retired. Of course, Minnesota is dairy country so there was a large plastic replica milk gallon sitting near the stands down the right field line.
            We watched one game from behind the first-base dugout and saw the next game behind the bullpen near the third-base line. In both locations we chatted with Twins fans who were surprised that we had travelled all the way from Seattle just to see a couple of games in Minneapolis. Because I started my baseball trips before I met my wife, she didn't catch up to me (number of different parks) until she visited the Metrodome.
            As we get closer to seeing every major-league park, we'll have to take more of these weekend trips to somewhat isolated areas. We're probably done with weeklong, five-park trips until we're able to bring someone with us who was seeing those places for the first time. Maybe we should just rent an RV and cover everything in one summer...anyone hoarding about six lucky lottery numbers? We could sure use them.
            The Mariners swept the Twins that weekend and we also stopped by the Mall of America for the first time.
            Despite the dullness of their multi-purpose stadium (which contributed greatly to the dullness of this page), Minneapolis is a great place to visit. The weather's a little rough during the winter, though, so I'm glad baseball is played during the summer. While I'm in no hurry to see the Metrodome replaced by a new stadium anytime soon, if it ever was replaced, I'd return as soon as I could.

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