Mason: Target Field Should Not Have A Roof

[gil4]

Plus - what's so bad about double headers? Those are awesome!

 

They aren't real double-headers if you have to leave the stadium and pay again. Then again, the whole concept of double-headers has been ruined for me by the two that I have been to:

 

July 27, 1978

Game One: NYY 11, CLE 0

Game Two: CLE 17, NYY 5 (and it wasn't that close - the Indians led 15-0 after 4-1/2)

July 27, 1978 Cleveland Indians at New York Yankees Play by Play and Box Score - Baseball-Reference.com

July 27, 1978 Cleveland Indians at New York Yankees Play by Play and Box Score - Baseball-Reference.com

 

Aug 1, 1975

Game 1: CHW 5, MIN 1 (called after 6 innings, an hour into the third long rain delay of the night)

Game 2: ppd, rain

August 1, 1975 Chicago White Sox at Minnesota Twins Box Score and Play by Play - Baseball-Reference.com

Those were the two worst experiences I have had at the ballpark. (Still better than work, of course, and I still can't resist the idea of two games for the price of one.)

 

I can watch baseball all day and was never the type to leave a game early. I always have to make sure that I go to games with people who understand when a game is over. (10-0 in the top of the 8th = NOT over. Players shaking hands on the field after the last out = over)

 

Even when the third rain delay started in that 1975 game (when I was 10) I grudgingly left/was dragged from the stadium before the game was officially called. I saw the lakes forming in the infield, and I knew it was getting late (twi-night dh), but there was still the possibility of them finishing one game and playing another without me.

[gil4]

I did like the Twin Domes concept with a shared roof between two stadiums (which wasn't seriously considered), but I liked what we ended up with better until this April.

[DaveW]

Against the White Sox.

 

This would make me nostalgia all over my keyboard if it happened.

[snepp]

This would make me nostalgia all over my keyboard if it happened.

 

The children Dave, think of the children.

[Otto von Ballpark]

Last Twins scheduled doubleheader (two games, back-to-back, for one admission): May 26, 2001 vs Oakland at the Dome. Both games went 10 innings, plus a short break in between, for a total of 8.5 hours of baseball that day. (Somewhat regrettably, I left after the first game, bitter about its 10th inning conclusion. But that's a long time to sit inside the Dome for daytime baseball -- the Dome ambiance was always best for night games.)

 

May 26, 2001 Oakland Athletics at Minnesota Twins Box Score and Play by Play - Baseball-Reference.com

 

May 26, 2001 Oakland Athletics at Minnesota Twins Box Score and Play by Play - Baseball-Reference.com

 

This was also MLB's last scheduled doubleheader until 2011, I believe.

[StormJH1]

Totally in agreement with Mason on this one, though he's certainly not offering anything new or unique with that viewpoint.

 

Minnesotans are predisposed to complain about what they have, versus what they could have had. First of all, any one older than 10 years old on this forum should probably have a memory of the minor miracle it took to get a (largely) government-funded park built in any form. That thing was approved in 2006. If it goes a few year later into the start of all the economic problems, who knows. Yes, the Vikings got their stadium too, but that was several years after '08.

 

I've been to Safeco. I feel like a lot of the inspiration in terms of concourse structure and atmosphere are borrowed from Safeco (although many of the new parks have similar elements, and all of them are copying Camden, to a degree). The game I went to was in early May 2010. That Seattle team was terrible, and the attendance for that game was horrible. It was raining that day (big shock, I know), so the roof was closed before the game. What people don't understand about that, though, is that the roof only covers the top and field. If you were in many of the exterior areas of the park, you still get both wet and cold. In fact, we told one of the ushers we were from Minnesota, and she was jealous that Target has heat lamps. It was 42 degrees that day, and I think we were colder that game than we were at either of the 32 degree games I went to in Minnesota this year, mostly since we weren't prepared.

 

Safeco is a park that mostly "gets it right" in terms of it feeling somewhat "outdoor" when the roof is open. But I don't think a retractable roof stadium of that type was EVER feasible given the $500 million-ish budget, and (more importantly) the size of land they had to work with.

 

Target Field is a great park, and there is no way in hell I would trade a few weeks of threatened rain/snow outs in April for a gloomy, dumpy experience during the remainder of the mostly gorgeous summers we have here. The doubters said everything from "it's too small an area to put a ballpark" to "the whole thing will smell like a trash compactor", and none of it was true. We've also found out that we have a world-class grounds crew (and heated field) that can be get the field in perfect condition hours after a gigantic snow storm. I don't want Metrodome 1.5 - I love our new park.

[StormJH1]

I did like the Twin Domes concept with a shared roof between two stadiums (which wasn't seriously considered), but I liked what we ended up with better until this April.

 

Weather sucks everywhere right now. Games in Detroit and Chicago were cancelled yesterday while the Twins played TWO games. (Coincidentally, from parts of the same system that cost us the game on Monday).

 

Three weeks from now, nobody will care about this, or barely even remember that it happened.

[gil4]

Three weeks from now, nobody will care about this, or barely even remember that it happened.

 

Maybe I just can't relate, because I still clearly remember and still complain about the weather at a scheduled double-header in 1975.

 

I'm sure it says more about me than about those who won't care/remember. For the record, I do agree that outdoor baseball in summer is worth the inconvenience of a few rainouts in April.

[ThePuck]

Last Twins scheduled doubleheader (two games, back-to-back, for one admission): May 26, 2001 vs Oakland at the Dome. Both games went 10 innings, plus a short break in between, for a total of 8.5 hours of baseball that day. (Somewhat regrettably, I left after the first game, bitter about its 10th inning conclusion. But that's a long time to sit inside the Dome for daytime baseball -- the Dome ambiance was always best for night games.)

 

May 26, 2001 Oakland Athletics at Minnesota Twins Box Score and Play by Play - Baseball-Reference.com

 

May 26, 2001 Oakland Athletics at Minnesota Twins Box Score and Play by Play - Baseball-Reference.com

 

This was also MLB's last scheduled doubleheader until 2011, I believe.

 

I went to those games and I met Brad Thomas (the starter for game 2). It was his first start and he and his lady were staying at the Holiday Inn Metrodome where I used to stay when I went to the Dome for games. My lady and I got into the shuttle to take us to the game and he got in right after. We headed out but we weren't taking the same route we normally take. Turns out we went to the players entrance first, dropped him off and then the shuttle took us where he normally took us.

 

He didn't do so well, but Santana came in and did well. Team ended up winning.

[IdahoPilgrim]

I remember the debate about outdoor games back in the seventies, and the question about whether we should have sideline heaters. Bud Grant said it best: "Baseball is meant to be played in the conditions that exist."

 

Oh, wait...

[kab21]

Most people take vans buses with family and friends they stay over nite and weekends go to malls spend money. No roof is just bad, just wait till we have a wet cold summer. I remember when it rained every day for a month.

 

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[kryptik]

A retractable roof stadium "done right" was way out of the Twins' budget, so I can't get too bent out of shape about not having it. I love everything about Target Field and am glad its our new home for the future.

 

That being said if the Twins and the state weren't so cheap a retractable roof stadium could've been a massive boon for the sport in the state. Prep/college teams are already at a massive disadvantage versus southern states in terms of conditions during the spring, and a retractable roof could have created a lot of opportunities for baseball in Minnesota in general.

 

This spring has been an anomaly weather wise so jumping to conclusions about that kind of stuff is worthless. I am thinking more in terms of what could be done in the later winter months in terms of youth development. Prep/youth/college baseball teams could rent the facility for tournaments/showcases etc. Instead the state decided to get into a pissing match about Gopher baseball and their possible accommodations at the new Vikings stadium. The politicians would've never done it because of cost but it could've been a great thing for baseball at all levels in the state.

[TheLeviathan]

Doubt anyone was complaining today.

[ThePuck]

Doubt anyone was complaining today.

 

Never under-estimate a person's ability to complain...