A Joint Statement from Metropolitan Stadium and the Metrodome

With the announcement that Target Field would be open to fans at reduced capacity to start the 2021 season, the former homes of the Minnesota Twins released a statement to the media regarding this initiative.

For 49 years, we provided a home field for the Minnesota Twins and their fans. While we had glorious seasons with playoff runs and nightly sellouts, there were other, less crowded seasons. OK, there were many, many other less crowded seasons. If you feel at all put out by these restrictions, please know that there were years where this was done without public health in mind. Like Mickey Hatcher, it simply just happened.

METROPOLITAN STADIUM: Once those legendary teams of the ‘60s and early ‘70s went away, it was a tough sell. If we could have gotten 10,000 fans to watch Willie Norwood butcher a fly ball in Bloomington or thrill to the stocky grandeur of Craig Kusick, we’d have been grateful. As it was, we’d get burnouts who had tickets to Deep Purple at the Met Center accidentally wander into the ballpark. We’d count them towards attendance and give them the boot once they lit their left-handed cigarettes and asked Halsey Hall if he had acid.

METRODOME: 10,000 people at a game? We wish. You throw out 1987, 1991, and a few seasons around that, it was basically the players, security, media, and Mike Trombley’s extended family. What was nice is that you could really explore the space of the facility. Stretch out a little bit. Kids could enjoy the wind tunnel effect of the revolving doors over and over and over while the adults went to the Rally Room and got bagged in the comfort of a nondescript bar. Houston Jimenez played so often that the Black Sox were like, “Hey, you got mad at us for throwing games?” We made our own fun at the Metrodome. Now you have iPads and TikTok and craft sausage stands. It’s not the same. It’s not better.

As we enjoy our respective retirements as a giant-ass mall and a new football stadium that keeps breaking, we hope you hold our memories close to your heart. Remember, 10,000 fans at a game is just one “we’ve hired an analytics geek from MIT and we’re gutting the team you love to maybe be competitive in 2029 if no one notices our garbage can whacking code” away.