1. The Hubert H. Humphrey Metrodome
The Hubert H. Humphrey Metrodome opened in 1982 in the Twin Cities as the home of both the Minnesota Twins and the Minnesota Vikings. Since Minnesota is very cold in the winter, it prudently had a dome on it. This sad confluence of events means that in addition to being the site of the very first Major League game I ever attended, it is one of the very ugliest venues I've ever been in.
The white dome material didn't allow sunlight through, but did let the inside of the dome get brighter. This meant, of course, that high infield pops were often lost against the bright white ceiling. In fact, if I remember correctly (and we've seen that I may not), at my very first game one such high infield pop fell behind the pitchers mound for a single despite there being four infields within fifteen feet of it.
The rest of the venue was either dark blue or concrete gray. There were no windows or natural light anywhere that I can recall. You couldn't see the field from most of the concourses. In short, it was basically a standard 1970s era multipurpose sports facility that happened to have a dome slapped on top of it.
One interesting thing about the dome was that it was somehow held up via air pressure (I'm probably getting that wrong), so when you exited the stadium air would force its way out the doors so you felt like you were being blown out of the stadium.
In short, the Dome was pretty much was terrible, but it had character. Twins fans definitely had a "it may be a dump, but it's OUR dump" attitude toward the Dome. When it was finally torn down the Twins had already moved out some years prior for a pristine baseball only park, but the Metrodome will live on in the memory of the Twins fans who watched them clinch two World Series titles on that field.
I experienced it three times.
- Minnesota Twins 2, California Angels 0 - June 22, 1992. As discussed ad infinitum. Kirby Puckett!
- Minnesota Twins 4, Cleveland Indians 2 - April 21 2002. The teams, scores and year were on my personal lists so I was easily able to track down the precise date. Based on the date, I suspect I was visiting friends in the Twin Cities in the interregnum between washing out of boot camp and moving back to Cleveland. I have vague memories of going with some of my high school friends.
- Cleveland Indians 6, Minnesota Twins 5 - October 2, 2004. I actually wrote about this briefly at the time, as it this was the only Twins game in Metrodome history that ever got suspended midway through so that they could convert the field to football for a Minnesota Golden Gophers game. It's even mentioned in Dome's wiki article. My family was there for the first 'day' of the game; it was called in extra innings and resumed the next day, so I have it on my lists as a "5-5" tie. Then Twins manager Ron Gardenhire was livid about the delay, because the Twins were in a playoff race and were being preempted for a terrible college football team.
Ironically, that post from 2004 says I visited 8 parks that year, of which 6 were new to me, and that "one day I'll compare and contrast them." I guess that day has finally arrived!
In any event, for now the Metrodome is first in the rankings. Trust me, it's going to fall a LONG ways...
Park Rankings
RankParkTeamFirst Visit# Visits
1The MetrodomeMinnesota TwinsJune 22, 19923
The white dome material didn't allow sunlight through, but did let the inside of the dome get brighter. This meant, of course, that high infield pops were often lost against the bright white ceiling. In fact, if I remember correctly (and we've seen that I may not), at my very first game one such high infield pop fell behind the pitchers mound for a single despite there being four infields within fifteen feet of it.
The rest of the venue was either dark blue or concrete gray. There were no windows or natural light anywhere that I can recall. You couldn't see the field from most of the concourses. In short, it was basically a standard 1970s era multipurpose sports facility that happened to have a dome slapped on top of it.
One interesting thing about the dome was that it was somehow held up via air pressure (I'm probably getting that wrong), so when you exited the stadium air would force its way out the doors so you felt like you were being blown out of the stadium.
In short, the Dome was pretty much was terrible, but it had character. Twins fans definitely had a "it may be a dump, but it's OUR dump" attitude toward the Dome. When it was finally torn down the Twins had already moved out some years prior for a pristine baseball only park, but the Metrodome will live on in the memory of the Twins fans who watched them clinch two World Series titles on that field.
I experienced it three times.
- Minnesota Twins 2, California Angels 0 - June 22, 1992. As discussed ad infinitum. Kirby Puckett!
- Minnesota Twins 4, Cleveland Indians 2 - April 21 2002. The teams, scores and year were on my personal lists so I was easily able to track down the precise date. Based on the date, I suspect I was visiting friends in the Twin Cities in the interregnum between washing out of boot camp and moving back to Cleveland. I have vague memories of going with some of my high school friends.
- Cleveland Indians 6, Minnesota Twins 5 - October 2, 2004. I actually wrote about this briefly at the time, as it this was the only Twins game in Metrodome history that ever got suspended midway through so that they could convert the field to football for a Minnesota Golden Gophers game. It's even mentioned in Dome's wiki article. My family was there for the first 'day' of the game; it was called in extra innings and resumed the next day, so I have it on my lists as a "5-5" tie. Then Twins manager Ron Gardenhire was livid about the delay, because the Twins were in a playoff race and were being preempted for a terrible college football team.
Ironically, that post from 2004 says I visited 8 parks that year, of which 6 were new to me, and that "one day I'll compare and contrast them." I guess that day has finally arrived!
In any event, for now the Metrodome is first in the rankings. Trust me, it's going to fall a LONG ways...
Park Rankings
RankParkTeamFirst Visit# Visits
1The MetrodomeMinnesota TwinsJune 22, 19923