| Target Field Hits the Mark |
By Sally Haase
July, 19 2010
Minneapolis, MN --After hearing about the beauty of Target Field from
friends, co-workers and Minnesota Twins broadcast announcers Dick
Bremer and Bert Blyleven during every televised home game, I decided to
check out the new home of the Twins myself. This season the Twins have
been offering guided tours of the ballpark during Twins road trips. It was a
beautiful day for a ball game on All-Star Tuesday and it was also a beautiful
day for a ballpark tour. You might think hearing about the greatness of
Target Field constantly would set you up for a disappointment. It does not.
The great thing about the tour of Target Field is that you get to go places
regular ticket holders are not allowed into during a game and you are also
allowed places on the tour like the warning track and visitor’s dugout that
would buy you a night in the Hennepin county jail if you decide you want to
go there during a game.
The first stop on the tour was the suites. The Twins pay tribute to home
grown ball players by naming suites after Jack Morris, Paul Molitor, Roger
Maris, Terry Steinbach, and Charles Albert Bender who was the first
Minnesotan elected to the baseball Hall of Fame. Lack of luxury suites was
a problem for the Twins with the Metrodome, there is no lack of suites in
Target field. Other suite areas are known as clubs, the Legends club
features three lounges, Puckett Lounge, Carew Lounge, and the 573
Lounge (named after the number of homeruns Twins great Harmon
Killebrew hit in his career). Each lounge features memorabilia of and from
the three players, highlights include a Puckett gold glove, Puckett’s sliver
slugger award, Killebrew’s first contract with the then Washington Senators
and Killebrew’s Hall of Fame speech. Killebrew also autographed many of
the items in the display case in the Killebrew lounge. The lounges are
spacious with plenty of comfortable seating and big windows to watch the
game. The background to the Puckett Lounge bar is a larger than life
image of Puckett with his trademark megawatt grin. A fitting picture of a
player who was larger than life to many people. The Twins really
incorporate the history of the team and baseball in Minnesota into all of its
suites and lounges, the Metropolitan lounge, a food and meeting area for
season ticket holders depicts the history of minor league baseball in
Minnesota with photos of Nicollet and Lexington park. The Town Ball
Tavern is a bar that tributes town teams throughout the state with aerial
photographs of town ballparks. The floor in the Town Ball Tavern was
purchased from the Minneapolis armory and was the floor that the
Minneapolis Lakers played on before the team moved to Los Angeles and
dominated the NBA.
The Champions club is the mother of all clubs in Target field, if you wonder
why the seats behind home plate are rarely filled, the Champions Club is
why. All ticket holders for seats behind home plate are allowed access to
the Champions Club. The club is a tribute to the World Series teams,
featuring 3 beautiful murals of the 1965, 1987, and 1991 Twins teams done
in color pencil, yes, you read that right, color pencil. The Club also has a fire
place, beautiful Kasota stone and even Minnesota Twins carpet. If the
weather is not ideal, you don’t need to sit in the seats behind home plate for
the entire game, (although you may want to because the seats are so
comfortable) you can go to the Club and have a drink or a bite to eat and
watch the game on TV screens. Of course the Champions Club would not
be complete with out the World Series trophy, both 1987 & 1991 trophies,
along with the 87 & 91 World Series rings and the 1965 American League
championship ring are displayed in cases in the entry way of the
Champions Club.
The on the field features are amazing too, the scoreboard is the size of two
basketball courts and features well over 4 billion different variations of color,
the flag pole for the American flag is the flagpole from Metropolitan stadium,
members of the Richfield legion club rescued the pole from the scrap pile
and the flagpole has been at the Richfield legion club for 20 plus years until
it was brought to its new home at Target Field. The batter’s eye in center
field has been repainted with a darker, flatter color after complaints from
players about it being hard to see the ball. With the score of 8-7 in the first
game after the break, the batter’s had no trouble seeing the ball against the
repainted
batter’s eye.
Someone must have been dreaming about this stadium for years, because
it does not seem possible that this stadium was put together in just a few
short years. After years of watching baseball in a Teflon covered dungeon,
Twins fans finally know what it is like to have real baseball stadium to watch
their favorite team make another run at the playoffs. Target Field was just
named the number one stadium for all around experience and after taking
the tour, I understand why, it takes the past, present, and future and mashes
it altogether into one amazing ball park.
July, 19 2010
Minneapolis, MN --After hearing about the beauty of Target Field from
friends, co-workers and Minnesota Twins broadcast announcers Dick
Bremer and Bert Blyleven during every televised home game, I decided to
check out the new home of the Twins myself. This season the Twins have
been offering guided tours of the ballpark during Twins road trips. It was a
beautiful day for a ball game on All-Star Tuesday and it was also a beautiful
day for a ballpark tour. You might think hearing about the greatness of
Target Field constantly would set you up for a disappointment. It does not.
The great thing about the tour of Target Field is that you get to go places
regular ticket holders are not allowed into during a game and you are also
allowed places on the tour like the warning track and visitor’s dugout that
would buy you a night in the Hennepin county jail if you decide you want to
go there during a game.
The first stop on the tour was the suites. The Twins pay tribute to home
grown ball players by naming suites after Jack Morris, Paul Molitor, Roger
Maris, Terry Steinbach, and Charles Albert Bender who was the first
Minnesotan elected to the baseball Hall of Fame. Lack of luxury suites was
a problem for the Twins with the Metrodome, there is no lack of suites in
Target field. Other suite areas are known as clubs, the Legends club
features three lounges, Puckett Lounge, Carew Lounge, and the 573
Lounge (named after the number of homeruns Twins great Harmon
Killebrew hit in his career). Each lounge features memorabilia of and from
the three players, highlights include a Puckett gold glove, Puckett’s sliver
slugger award, Killebrew’s first contract with the then Washington Senators
and Killebrew’s Hall of Fame speech. Killebrew also autographed many of
the items in the display case in the Killebrew lounge. The lounges are
spacious with plenty of comfortable seating and big windows to watch the
game. The background to the Puckett Lounge bar is a larger than life
image of Puckett with his trademark megawatt grin. A fitting picture of a
player who was larger than life to many people. The Twins really
incorporate the history of the team and baseball in Minnesota into all of its
suites and lounges, the Metropolitan lounge, a food and meeting area for
season ticket holders depicts the history of minor league baseball in
Minnesota with photos of Nicollet and Lexington park. The Town Ball
Tavern is a bar that tributes town teams throughout the state with aerial
photographs of town ballparks. The floor in the Town Ball Tavern was
purchased from the Minneapolis armory and was the floor that the
Minneapolis Lakers played on before the team moved to Los Angeles and
dominated the NBA.
The Champions club is the mother of all clubs in Target field, if you wonder
why the seats behind home plate are rarely filled, the Champions Club is
why. All ticket holders for seats behind home plate are allowed access to
the Champions Club. The club is a tribute to the World Series teams,
featuring 3 beautiful murals of the 1965, 1987, and 1991 Twins teams done
in color pencil, yes, you read that right, color pencil. The Club also has a fire
place, beautiful Kasota stone and even Minnesota Twins carpet. If the
weather is not ideal, you don’t need to sit in the seats behind home plate for
the entire game, (although you may want to because the seats are so
comfortable) you can go to the Club and have a drink or a bite to eat and
watch the game on TV screens. Of course the Champions Club would not
be complete with out the World Series trophy, both 1987 & 1991 trophies,
along with the 87 & 91 World Series rings and the 1965 American League
championship ring are displayed in cases in the entry way of the
Champions Club.
The on the field features are amazing too, the scoreboard is the size of two
basketball courts and features well over 4 billion different variations of color,
the flag pole for the American flag is the flagpole from Metropolitan stadium,
members of the Richfield legion club rescued the pole from the scrap pile
and the flagpole has been at the Richfield legion club for 20 plus years until
it was brought to its new home at Target Field. The batter’s eye in center
field has been repainted with a darker, flatter color after complaints from
players about it being hard to see the ball. With the score of 8-7 in the first
game after the break, the batter’s had no trouble seeing the ball against the
repainted
batter’s eye.
Someone must have been dreaming about this stadium for years, because
it does not seem possible that this stadium was put together in just a few
short years. After years of watching baseball in a Teflon covered dungeon,
Twins fans finally know what it is like to have real baseball stadium to watch
their favorite team make another run at the playoffs. Target Field was just
named the number one stadium for all around experience and after taking
the tour, I understand why, it takes the past, present, and future and mashes
it altogether into one amazing ball park.
Search this site
| 1965 color pencil drawing from the Champions Club |
| Wood back seats, not seen since pre WWII era can be found in the second level. |
Puckett Lounge.
