Culture

What’s your favorite memory of baseball at the Metrodome?

Eric Ringham Oct 2, 2009
25

The Minnesota Twins are about to finish their final season in the Metrodome before moving to their new home at Target Field. What’s your favorite memory of baseball at the Metrodome?

  • Patrick Hirigoyen

    Call this my WEIRDEST Metrodome memory. It was early in the Dome’s existence, on a cold April night — glad to be indoors! — and Dave Kingman came to bat. He swung at a pitch and it went up, and up, and up… and never came down. All he infielders stared upward, their arms outstretched. It had gone through a small hole in the fabric, and stayed there. What I can’t remember is how it was ruled — ground rule double? Foul ball? Do-over? If anyone can answer that, let me know. Only in the Dome!

  • The day the Twins won the pennant in 1987, I was working my shift as a Respiratory Therapist at HCMC. In those days, the renal (kidney) unit was on the northeast corner of the building, directly kiddy corner from the dome. We could hear the fans before the doors were opened, the roar of it poured out into the street, which was teeming with screaming fans, the sound was deafening. Everyone,crowded by the windows, the docs, the nurses, the aides and all these frail thin patients in their hospital blue bathrobes, we were all there observing the event, chattering and laughing. In that moment we all left our roles behind and were all equal in our enthusiasm. All those chronically ill folks, laughing and pointing out the window, I’ll never forget it, it was a totally theraputic moment for all of us.

  • Adam Burnside

    In the summer of 1991, Kellogg’s was offering free tickets to a MLB game of your choice if you sent in a certain number of Raisin Bran box tops. I worked at a summer camp and at the beginning of the season the staff decided we’d push Raisin Bran as hard as we could and see if we could get enough box tops to take the whole staff to a Twins game at the end of the summer. After two months of raving to the kids how awsome Raisin Bran was, we got enough box tops, got our tickets, made a huge banner to hang from the upper deck railing and roadtripped from Menagha, MN to the Dome for one of the funnnest games I’ve attended. I don’t remember who we played or if we even won. I just remember what an awesome experience it all was.

  • Kathleen Johnson

    Hey Patrick (earlier post) – I think the ball stuck in the hole in the dome ceiling is a ground rule double.

    The dome, for all its bad points, made it easy for three generations of my family to attend Twins games. In recent years we have had a large group that goes to several games a year, and since it was usually easy to get good tickets, required little advance planning other than choosing a date and sending out the email to meet at Hubert’s by 6 pm. All the cousins, children and grandchildren joined in, even after our parents were unable to climb the dome steps and walk the long concourses.

    The one game I remember the most was against Oakland in late August 1991. At the time my boyfriend and I had been living in Anchorage, Alaska for years and were back in Minneapolis for a visit. We had a shrine in our basement devoted to the 1987 Twins. At that August game, it was a Friday night with a big crowd, close to 40,000, and the atmosphere was electric – we said to each other that the pennant race started that night. You could just feel it in the air. When that game ended with a Twins victory against hated Oakland, we said to each other, this team is going all the way.

    There was something special about keeping the faith in the Twins while living 4,000 miles away. Our dome visits then were few and far between, and thus cherished. Luckily we had friends and family to keep us supplied with homer hankies, memorabilia and newspaper clippings (before the days of the Internet…)

  • judy candell

    My “favorite” memory of the Metrodome is how hard I fought against it!! Those of us who opposed it so vigorously now seem to be justified.

    As to a new Vikings stadium? Let them move if they can’t use what’s already provided. There are so many wiser ways to spend our tax dollars.

  • Mark

    Watching the Twins in retro Washington Senators uniforms play the Athletics also in retro uniforms under a teflon roof on fake grass. The anachronism was priceless!

  • My most memorable moments from Twins games at the Metrodome has always been the 7th inning stretch, and the ice cream.

    As a young kid, my whole family would go to the games to get out of the summer heat. With a set of binoculars for all 5 of us, we would sit up in the center field upper deck so my dad could get a good look over the pitchers shoulder just like you see on tv. As the 7th inning stretch came around, it was a tradition to get ice cream for everyone to last us through the rest of the game.

    A close second in memories was as we were leaving the game when they used to open up all the doors to let out some of the air. It was always fun to walk out, then try to walk back in through those doors.

  • Tim – MPLS

    My first visit to the Metrodome was when I was 18. I had been given tickets by a Southern Minnesota AM radio station whose Sports Director also set up a meeting between myself and the voices of Twins Baseball, Herb Carneal and John Gordon. It was then that I realized that radio announcers look nothing like they sound.

  • Louis

    Apr 27th 1994, Twins vs. Brewers: Scott Erickson pitches a no-hitter.

  • Paul

    Summer 1991: Dan Gladden hits a walk-off homer in the 9th to win the game. I was in the left field bleachers and watched the ball hit the foul pole–which in the Metrodome is actually a longt thin yellow NET.

  • I will always remember going to games with my brother and grandma. She was 4’11”, about 100 pounds, and a diehard Twins fan. She would loop her arms through ours when we walked through the “windy doors” after the game. Ever since she died, every time I walk through those doors I think about her.

  • Rich Halvorsen

    When news of Kirby’s passing away that night I knew what i had to. I went straight down there and lit a candle in front of the place at the makeshift memorial. We all there discussed our memories and it was a very emotional night.

  • Tom

    I had the great good fortune to witness Kent Hrbek’s Game 6, 1987 World Series grand slam. The fans screaming made it impossible to hear my buddy in the seat next me.

    When the Cardinals came to bat at the top of the next inning a Twin’s fan walked to the bottom of the section holding a large piece of poster board. When he turned and walked back up the steps the sign showed Minneapolis connected by a squiggly line representing the Mississippi River to St. Louis.

    The poster read, “Hey St. Louis, our Budweiser today, is your drinking water tomorrow!”

    Minnesota, not so nice….but funny.

  • Carolyn Tornstrom

    As a piano teacher I often recommend the use of a metronome (a device that gives an exact beat, set at the desired speed of the musician). In response , they , the students and their parents, predictably call it a “metrodome” .

  • Kevin Theissen

    It was game 6 of the 1987 World Series and my brother and I, ages 11 and 13, were in the jam-packed Metrodome. Twins were down 3 runs and Kent Hrbek was at the plate with the bases loaded. It seemed like the entire dome crowd was holding its collective breath with each pitch. When Hrbek hit the Grand Slam over the Hefty bag in right field, the roar had to be the loudest noise I’ve ever heard in my life.

  • Ginger Venable

    I met my husband in the fall of 1982. He was chairmen of the Gohper’s first Homecoming in the Metrodome. After several dates leading up to homecoming I went to the Metrodome for the big game. His entire extended family was there to watch him on the field during the half time ceremonies. In the 3rd quarter I went over and met the large crew. I must have passed the test as we married two years later and just celebrated our 25th wedding anniversary. I look back with fond memories of meeting everyone at once. We have been to many a Gopher, Twins and Viking game since. You can see what a crazed sports fan he is still today by checking out his photo on the front page of the Star Tribune today, Oct 2. He’s the one in the purple horned cheese head – yelling Go Vikings!

  • Alice Dee

    Walking out of the phenomenal 7th game of the 1991 World Series with a headful of LSD, fine Afghani hash and tequila, down 5th St. and right into a raging New Orleans Radiators show at Glam Slam.

  • Andy

    Out of many moments, two stand out.

    The first was the last game in 2006 when the Twins took the division as the Royals beat the Tigers. I remember standing up in the Upper Deck with my college buddies and watching the remainder of the KC/DET game on the jumbotron. Not only was it cool to watch live TV on that screen, it was pretty amazing how it all went down.

    The second was much less important, but still pretty awesome. Between games in a double header, the usually reserved organist began what ended up being about a twenty minute jam session. When it was over, we all stood up and cheered. It was epic.

  • Eileen

    My favorite memory is this past August. My husband turned 70, So with my soon to be 93 year old mother, 2 sisters, son, nephew, and cousin we all took the light rail from the Mall of America to the Metrodrome. The lightrail was a 1st for all of us plus it was a 1st for the Metrodrome for my husband & myself & even though the Twins lost we all had a great time not only watching the game but meeting the fans that were around us. Great Birthday present for my husband.

  • aaron

    i remember my dad taking me to game 2 of the ACLS against the detroit tigers in 1987. i was 9 years old, a big baseball fan, and a naive small-town kid. i have a vivid memory of being in the left field seats, sitting behind fans who held up a sign that said ‘Kirk Gibson Sucks!’ and thinking, ‘hey, they can’t hold a sign like that. they must be breaking some law!’ the deafening noise is another memory from that game.

  • Liz Forsythe

    Living in rural Minnesota adjacent to the Voyageur’s National Park, we do not often get the pleasure of actually attending a Twins game. Our best memory is recent, as my husband and I were able to take our grandsons, Nick and Bennett, to the Twins vs Cleveland game on August 14. I believe that Grandma and Grandpa had just as much fun watching the boys enjoy the game as they did by explaining to Grandma what was going on, doing the wave and enjoying the stadium food. It was the best ever for the four of us!

  • Dee Griffin

    I cannot remember if it was the ’87 or ’91 World Series, but a friend of mine and I went down to Moby’s (which is no longer there but Block E is there now) on Hennepin to watch the game on TV. When we won the final game, everyone went streaming out of the bars and joined up with the fans from the Dome, and people were climbing light poles and hugging and kissing each other. It was amazing and we also went to the Dome when the Twins won over Detroit and had a great time.

    Also, since I am in the Army National Guard, I was able to help take the giant American Flag out on the field prior to a Twins game. I was very honored and proud to help out with this great experience. Over the years, the Twins have given tickets to my fellow service members and myself to watch games in the Dome. I have been honored to go to those games including tonight’s game because of the generosity of the Twins organization to the military.

    Thank you Twins for all the great memories in the Dome and watching you overseas during my deployments.

  • stuart klipper

    My Metrodome memory in the form of a poem:

    THE WAR COMES HOME

    The war comes home to me

    albeit via eavesdropping

    still it does come home

    in the Dome

    in section 118, row 30, seat 22

    during a Twins game.

    June 15, 2007.

    Right to my rear

    in the seat just behind

    with his blond curly knees

    nearly on my shoulders

    up to my ears almost

    sits a soldier of the war

    Norseman in guise

    and proportion

    He is mighty of aspect

    a Thor

    Thoughtful in cast.

    Delicate golden wire-rims

    SOP tattooed

    stencil-font letters

    boldly from wrist to

    I suppose shoulder

    his tee-shirt sleeve

    cutting off the remainder

    As I see it only obliquely

    I can’t read its text

    though it is brazen

    and emblazoned

    Unlike him

    as yet unweathered.

    He’s with a date

    much younger

    pretty and petite

    Oddly so

    an au go-go throwback

    hair retro doo-ed

    make-up to kill

    dressed in a sheath

    A dress to a game?

    Later I am told the style

    has been returning.

    He doesn’t much follow the game

    she explains the plays

    but then

    he has his own stuff to say

    First just about his newly

    placed earring

    its piercing

    a wound still

    badly healing.

    He has had other wounds too

    Though not available to view

    Shattering ones by their sound

    He is recently freed from

    months of medical interventions.

    He goes on about his recent life

    on both fronts

    Iraq Afghanistan

    a few times over

    He is heavy duty

    Special Forces.

    The real thing.

    He has seen it all

    and starts saying it

    in deadpan delivery

    Any affect too much

    for him

    or was he unable of it?

    I gather what I can

    The crowd’s sounds waxing

    What I do hear is starling

    I can tell she’s stunned too.

    Action and death

    And impossible situations

    Deeds done no matter what.

    But it is of the death

    that stops it all

    Two buddies

    by the sound of it very close ones

    One gone as ghastly as it can go

    right by his side

    In still steady tones he details

    cooly too

    the other’s dying

    just matter of fact.

    Slowly and close

    it took all night long

    and though coaxed

    he expires in his arms.

    I am in tears

    Her cheeks too are wet

    Her eyes lost to this awe

    awfullness

    her breath held.

    I turn

    I offer him my hand

    You’ve seen some shit

    I say

    He

    that true and never old litany

    You know it is not political

    We do it for our pals.

    Enough has been said

    We all go back to the game.

  • Kelli K.

    Limerick for the Dome

    The Metrodome opened when I was ten

    We’d head there from Fargo again and again

    We’d drive fast on I-94

    Couldn’t wait to walk through the door

    Brilliant turf, seats and players felt like Zen

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