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August 26, 2004
Riding Around America: Minnesota Baseball
Since I've been writing about all the ballgames I've attended during my current rail journey, I think it's only fair to write about the Minnesota baseball experience. If you've been following along, I'm a Minnesota native so I am certainly no stranger to the Hubert H. Humphrey Metrodome and the Twins ballclub. In fact, I can rightly say that I know more about the Metrodome than most Minnesotans because I actually worked there, as a part time maintenance man, for a few months last year.
The Metrodome enjoys the dubious distinction of being perhaps the worst baseball stadium in the major leagues. It was opened in 1982 and is a multi-purpose stadium which means it is used for baseball, football, basketball, concerts, trade-shows, conventions and other big events that come to town. It's most distinguishing feature is the roof, which is made of 10 acres of Teflon coated fabric, held up by air pressure.
The biggest complaints about the Dome are that it's ugly (it's all unpainted concrete and plastic), the generic seating plan provides unsatisfactory views of the action during baseball games, it's a multi-purpose stadium that's not actually good at hosting any type of event, the turf and concrete floor underneath is tough on the knees, the white roof makes it hard to see flyballs, and a host of other things - the list is long.
Most of the major complaints about the Dome are true. However, after spending several months learning the workings of the place as an employee and seeing three Twins games there this season (keep in mind I live in NYC), I've decided that the Metrodome is actually endearing. Yes, you read that right.
First and and foremost, it's unique. There are no ballparks like it and there never will be, ever. Watching a game at the Metrodome is as unique as watching a game at Fenway Park or any of the highly rated ballparks, past or present. Watching a game at the Dome is a completely new experience for a baseball fan who has never been there, just as an outdoor stadium is a new and strange experience for a Minnesotan who has never watched a ballgame not under a roof.
This same theory applies to the opposing team as well, which brings me to reason number two: homefield advantage. There are few teams in baseball who can claim a distinct home field advantage due solely to their stadium. All ballparks in baseball, with a few exceptions, provide the same advantages and disadvantages to both teams who play in them. At the Metrodome, opposing teams can not only lose the ball in the bright white of the roof but they might have try and catch it after it has bounced off of a speaker. At the Metrodome it is even possible for a ball to defy the laws of physics and not come down at all. Another component of this Dome-field advantage occurs during big games, when players are subjected to astonishing volumes of crowd noise. A playoff game in late innings at a jam packed Metrodome is the last place opposing teams want to be, especially when the noise levels are comparable to a jet engine (125db) and are enough to cause hearing damage if sustained long enough. Even during the regular season, opposing pitchers routinely step off the pitching rubber to compose themselves during tense situations when crowd noise is bombarding them from every direction. When filled with fans during a major sporting event it is the loudest stadium in America - possibly the world.
I've seen dozens of games at the Metrodome throughout the years and, despite all it's shortfalls, I love it. Believe it or not, I get that same mushy feeling and quickening heartbeat when I see the flourescent green turf as I did when I saw Wrigley Field for the first time last week. I still, after all these years, look up at the roof and am amazed that air is holding up all those heavy speakers and sheltering us from the rain and snow. When I worked at the Dome I walked past the main control room every day and marvelled at the dials and switches and toggles that control the blowers that hold up the roof. And who doesn't enjoy being thrust out of the building by the release of air pressure when exiting the building?
These are not what you would call "traditional" baseball experiences. Of course the Metrodome is no Wrigley Field, Fenway Park or Yankee Stadium (which I hate). But it's still baseball, and it is most definitely Minnesota baseball.
Plans are underway to build a new ballpark for the Twins. Although the effort is bogged down in the state legislature as of this writing, the new stadium will become a necessity in the next ten years if the Twins are to remain a competitive team. I am OK with that. A new, modern ballpark that gets more Minnesotans excited about the Twins is definitely a good thing. But I'd be lying if I said that I won't miss that big concrete and plastic monstrosity known as the Hubert H. Humphrey Metrodome.
Posted on August 26, 2004 at 1:59 AM
Comments
Baseball is fun to watch. I went to a minors game last week and was telling my friends about that time we took Nastia to a game. She did nothing but complain about baseball and America! It's funny in retrospect...
Posted by: Laura at August 30, 2004 1:39 PM