Hubert H. Humphrey Metrodome

Anaheim Angels @ Minnesota Twins
June 1, 2002

Twins 4, Angels 2

W: Kyle Lohse
L: Kevin Appier
S: Eddie Guardado
HR: Tim Salmon (ANA), Christian Guzman (MIN)
Attendance: 17,480
Time of Game: 2 hours, 35 minutes

Stadium Facts

Location: Minneapolis, MN
First Game: April 6, 1982
Capacity: 48,678
Type: Dome
Surface: Artificial turf

A couple weeks after graduating from college, I went on a camping trip with a couple friends, Charlie and Mike, to Northern Minnesota. On our way back home, we stopped in Minneapolis, met up with Mike's brother, and went to a Twins game at the Metrodome. This would be the first official stop on my baseball park tour.

Let's just say I didn't get the best park out of the way first. Quite the opposite. I strongly dislike domed stadiums, particularly ones that do not have a retractable roof. Fortunately, only two such stadiums remain: Minnesota and Tampa Bay. I believe baseball is meant to be played outside. There are fundamental differences in the way the game is played indoors, especially on artificial turf. The Twins have switched to the improved field turf since I visited, but it is still not the same as natural grass with a dirt infield.

The Twins have a distinct home field advantage in the Metrodome. In addition to the necessary familiarity of playing on artificial turf, it also takes some experience to get used to tracking fly balls while looking into the white roof. Opposing players routinely lose sight of balls. Not surprisingly, this happened on a couple occasions in this very game. The dome can also be a difficult atmosphere for a visiting team when the seats are filled with screaming fans. This wasn't the case for this particular game, but I've seen more than enough games on TV where the fans had an obvious impact on the game.

I'm sure part of my dislike for the Metrodome is because my White Sox never seem to be able to win there. However, I don't think anybody outside of Minnesota (and not all of those within) would say the Metrodome is a good baseball park. Might be nice for football, but certainly not baseball.

Just walking in and out the doors of the stadium is a unique experience. The air pressure from within causes quite a gust when the doors are opened. Once I was inside the park, I felt more like I was at a large basketball arena than a baseball park. You simply lose some of what makes baseball great when you take away the outdoor elements.

Our seats were in the GA section in center field. We had a pretty decent view of the game from there, but I could tell that there must be thousands of pretty bad seats in the upper deck of the outfield, above the baggie wall in right and in left too.

I don't remember too much about the game, other than Angels outfielders struggling to catch fly balls. Both starting pitchers (Kyle Lohse for the Twins and Kevin Appier for the Angels) had good outings. The Twins broke a 1-1 tie in the bottom of the 7th by scoring three runs, highlighted by a two out, two run home run by Christian Guzman. Everyday Eddie Guardado made things interesting in the 9th as he went for the save. Tim Salmon led off with a home run and the Angels followed with two more hits. However, Guardado got out of the jam without any more damage. The Twins won the game 4-2.

The upcoming 2009 season will be the final year of baseball for the Twins in the Metrodome. They are moving into a brand new outdoor park in 2010. Many are criticizing the Twins for building an outdoor park due to the early spring weather conditions in Minnesota. I'm personally very excited about it. I think baseball is better in the cold than in any condition indoors. Perhaps a retractable roof would have been a good idea, but that was probably cost prohibitive. As far as I'm concerned, the Metrodome can't close (for baseball) fast enough.

Finally, here are some of the photos I took at the Metrodome along with a scanned copy of my ticket stub, the program cover and my scorecard. I didn't invest in a digital camera until the following summer, so all of the 2002 photos were taken with my very cheap camera. In fact, I think I used a disposable camera for these Minnesota shots.

Photo Album

From Minnesota

From Minnesota

From Minnesota

From Minnesota

From Minnesota

From Minnesota

From Minnesota

Next stadium: Comiskey Park (now U.S. Cellular Field)