Minnesota - New Stadium Info

May 22 - WOOOOHOOOO, the Minnesota Twins will have a new ballpark beginning in the 2010 season. After the conference committee came to an agreement that was very similar to the House plan, both legislative bodies approved the stadium deal over the weekend. You can see the pics of the new stadium and lets hope we get a quality park to showcase our team and our city/state.

May 10 - soon the House bill and Senate bill will go to a Conference Committee to find a compromised solution. Since the bills are so very different, this seems like a daunting task. But there may be hope with the Senate Democrats willing to compromise.

May 09 - MN State Senate passed a bill to build the Twins stadium, a new Vikings stadium and pay for major transit expansion. These things will be paid for with a 7 county wide $0.05 sales tax increase. This will also require a referendum.

April 27 - MN State House passed the Hennepin County / Twins Stadium Proposal calling for a 0.15% sales tax on luxury items, amounting to $0.03 for every $20 spent.

April 22 - Interesting new ballpark info.

April 22 - Hennepin County proposal financial details.

April 21 - MN State House Taxes Committee voted 15-13 in favor of the sales tax increase without the need for a referendum. This is a major hurdle crossed for the proposed stadium.

April 19 - Star Tribune columnist Nick Coleman asks that we not bore him with the propaganda (he means the facts) of a $0.03 tax on every $20 spent, because HIS calculations say it will cost us billions of dollars. Good thing he's a columnist and not a mathmatician.

April 18 - Hennepin County Board approves a revised agreement for a new Twins stadium plan. As expected the agreement is approved 4-3.

April 18 - St. Paul Pioneer Press Bob Sansevere offers a brief commentary on the Twins / Hennepin County venture to build a new stadium with a small county sales tax increase that amounts to 3 cents for every $20 spent.

Metrodome Info

Memorable Metrodome Moments

The HHH Metrodome recently was ranked 29th out of 30 MLB stadiums by Sports Illustrated. Even with factors such as relatively low ticket prices and the team's recent success the Dome fell to the bottom of these rankings.

As of 2001 the HHH Metrodome ranked 28th in the League for stadium revenue. Since then 2 of the teams ranked below the Twins have built new stadiums, pushing the Twins to 30th out of 31 for stadium revenue. The Metrodome as of 2001 generated 1 / 10 of the revenue as the teams at the top of this list.

2006 Stadium Hot Stove talk

The 2006 offseason stadium hot stove is picking up for the Twins. In early February a Henenpin County District Judge Charles Porter ruled that the Twins are not obligated to play in the Metrodome after the 2006 season. This is concerning for Twins fans. The stadium lease was a major factor in staving off the contraction threat from a couple years ago. Now the Twins are free to pursue other options following this upcoming season.

Now the state legislature is giving us hope that they just might step up and vote to allow the Hennepin County - Twins stadium proposal. But as soon as the politics begin (like the comment below), you know this is going to be a long drawn out battle.

"In other words, blame (Gov. Tim) Pawlenty if a publicly subsidized ballpark gets built, or point the finger at him in the unlikely event that the Twins leave Minnesota because a ballpark was not built."

I hope that in 2007 I am not watching the Las Vegas Twins compete in the desert, because if nobody is willing to step up to the plate the Twins will be leaving.

St. Louis - Busch Stadium (1966 - 2005)

Since this is the last year of Busch Stadium I wanted to take a trip to visit the home of the St. Louis Cardinals. So on my birthday we made the trip to watch 2 Division leaders battle.

The stadium was unique. Of the stadiums I have visited it would rank near the bottom of my list due to it being old and dirty. The stadium though is full of history as it has been the home field to a number of Hall of Famers including Lou Brock, Ozzie Smith, Orlando Cepeda and many others. These great players and great teams have made Busch Stadium home to 3 Championships for the Cardinals and 7 other World Series. The first full season the stadium was open, Busch also hosted the 1966 All Star Game.

It should be noted that 1987 saw the Cardinals beat the Minnesota Twins in games 3, 4 and 5 of the World Series but it was not enough as the Twins won games 1, 2, 6 and 7 at home to defeat the Cardinals.

I am looking forward to visiting the new Busch in the coming years.

Cardinals 1 vs. Atlanta Braves 8
2 HRs and 5 RBIs from Andruw Jones.

Denver - Coors Field

Coors is a very nice stadium. We took the stadium tour in the morning before the game and I was very impressed. Coors is built so that you can be walking around inside the stadium and can basically see the field at all times. It was very charming and very nice. I highly recommend seeing a game if you are in the area. Denver is of course the Mile High city so the stadium has a row of different colored seats in the upper deck that is exactly 1-mile above sea level.

Rockies 5 vs. San Francisco Giants 7
Barry Bonds came up to the plate 6 times. 1 Hit, 3 intentional walks and a strikeout with the bases loaded.

Toronto - Skydome

Toronto Blue Jays 4 vs. Minnesota Twins 9

Boston - Fenway Park (1912-present)

This was THE park I wanted to see above all others. The stadium is old, small and dirty but it is so unique and full of history that it was a great experience. The manual scoreboard, Pesky's pole, Duffy's Cliff, the Green Monster, curse of the Bambino, Bill Buckner and coming back from 3 games - O to beat the Yankees in the 2004 ALCS all make this the Mecca of ballparks. There are a number of interesting facts and historical moments surrounding Fenway Park.

Hall of Famers who called Fenway home are numerous but here are a few who stand out; Ted Williams, Wade Boggs, Carl Yastrzemski, Cy Young and even Babe Ruth for 6 seasons. Fenway was also witness to 9 World Series', 5 of which resulted in Championships for the Red Sox.

We arrived early to take the stadium tour. We saw the replica "Cheers" bar behind the Stadium Club seats and then were able to walk around the field on the warning track. I then was fortunate to run into Peter Gammons on my wayout of the stadium. The game was very hot and we were cramped in our tiny seats but it was a fun game with enthusiastic fans. My friends John and Naomi even took time on their honeymoon to enjoy Fenway; this is a must for any serious baseball fan.

Red Sox 7 vs. Devil Rays 6
Pedro Martinez was making his first start since coming off the DL.
Greg Vaughn hit a grand slam and nearly hit a 2nd but it wasn't enough as the Red Sox pulled out the victory.

San Francisco - 3Com Park

San Francisco Giants 5 vs. Montreal Expos 4. Barry Bonds hit one of his 700+ home runs in the 1st inning and this also the 1st and only time I saw the Montreal Expos play.

Oakland - Oakland Colisseum

Oakland Athletics 5 vs. NY Yankees 3

Season opening game of the Yankees last world championship. As a homefield Domer I always enjoy getting rained on. This game went into rain delay because of a very cold rain for 20-30 min. Stadium was very average and in a crummy part of town. Doesn't rank very high on my list of stadiums.

Chicago - Comisky Park

Chicago White Sox 5 vs. Minnesota Twins 2

Attended the game with Suzy and my good friend Mike Anderson. We got some sweet free hats for signing up for a credit card.

Suzy got freaked out by an imaginary spider! Neither Mike or I saw it but she freaked out!

Milwaukee - County Stadium (1970 - 2000)

County Stadium was a very old stadium that did not have much to offer for ammenities or uniqueness but it was charming in a Milwaukee sort of way. Pictured below is the famous Sausage Race that has become a fun tradition in Milwaukee. County Stadium was home to Hall of Famers Hank Aaron, Rollie Fingers, Don Sutton, Robin Yount and Paul Molitor and it hosted the 1982 World Series which the Brewers lost in 7 games to St. Louis.

The picture in the upper right also has Miller Park in the background as it was being built.

Milwaukee Brewers 2 vs. Cleveland Indians 5
My first experience at County stadium. This was also my first baseball game with my eventual wife, it was a very fun game and we had great seats.

August 07, 1998
Brewers 0 vs. Cincinatti Reds 17

September 05, 1999
Brewers 9 vs. St. Louis Cardinals 13
The season of Mark McGwires single season HR chase. Big Mac did not hit a HR but he did hit won hard and deep that hit the fence above the padding. To most of the fans in the stadium it appeared to be a HR but we were all disappointed to only see the double.

July 4, 2000
Brewers 4 vs. Philadelphia Phillies 7

August 16, 2000
Brewers 5 vs. Cincinnati Reds 1

New York - Yankee Stadium

The House that Ruth built is the place to go for more than the mystique of the Yankees. It is the home of baseball history. 26 World Championships, Mantle, Gerhig, Ruth, Dimaggio and a host of other baseball greats all called Yankee Stadium home. The most loved and most hated team in the majors with the most loved and hated owner in all of professional sports. But you can't deny the lore and awe of watching baseball at Yankee Stadium.

One interesting and I think widely unknown fact is that for the 1974 and 75 seasons the Yankees actually played their home games at Shea Stadium. Yankee Stadium was old and in rough shape ownership sold the stadium to the city, leased it for 30 years and then it was closed for 2 years worth of renovations.

New York Yankees 1 vs. Texas Rangers 6
I remember very little about the actual game. We sat in the LF bleachers and sat next to a father and his young son from Texas who were doing an East Coast Stadium tour. It was this game that planted the seed of my goal to see all major league stadiums. I really did not see much of the stadium and of any park I would return for a 2nd visit, this is the one.

New York - Shea Stadium

New York Mets 3 vs. Philadelphia Phillies 2

Denver - Mile High Stadium (1993-1994)

Mile High is much more widely known as the home to Denver's NFL team, but for 2 years the Rockies played in this stadium. It held 72,000+ and the Rockies racked up some impressive attendance numbers drawing over 7.7 million fans in just under 2 seasons (2nd season was the strike). An interesting fact is that to convert the football field into a baseball diamond and back into a football field, the entire east stands (three tiers containing 21,000 seats) floated out to left field on a cushion of water, transforming a 100-yard football field into an asymmetrical baseball field.

Colorado Rockies 8 vs. Chicago Cubs 9
Sammy Sosa with a 2 HR game

Cincinnati - Riverfront Stadium (1970 - 2002)

Cincinnati Reds 6 vs. NY Mets 9