Fond adieu to indoor baseball

For the last 27 years, the Minnesota Twins have enjoyed 72 degree comfort, field turf, “the baggie” and perhaps the biggest advantage in sports—the Metrodome roof.

After yesterday’s game against the Kansas City Royals, that entire splendor is no more.

Next year they move outside and the Hubert H. Humphrey Metrodome gives way to Target Field.

Target Field will be an approximately 37,000 seat stadium, which will diminish the fan capacity by more than 10,000. It will move them from one of the loudest stadiums in sports to an outdoor field and force them out into the elements and the Minnesota weather.

In April and perhaps September and October, they will dodge snowfall, wind and lots of rain.

Fans will begin begging for a roof and the friendly confines of the “homer dome.”

But enough of the disadvantages of leaving the dome. I want to celebrate the Metrodome’s 27 great years as a baseball stadium by giving my top five moments the Twins have brought to Minnesota while inside their magnificent abode.

Number five:

Hrbek’s  Heroics.

In game six of the 1987 World Series with the Twins trailing 3-2 for the series, native Minnesotan Kent Hrbek  propelled the Twins giving them a 6-5 lead after hitting a grand slam in the bottom of the fifth inning.

The shot sent Twins fans into a frenzy, nearly knocking the dome off its foundation. The Twins won the game, evening the series at three apiece. The rest was history.

Number four:

Scoreboard surveillance.

On the final day of an amazing 2006 season, the Twins, having already clinched a playoff spot, still had a shot of winning the division if the lowly K.C Royals upended the Tigers.

After the Twins had already beaten the White Sox and Joe Mauer, another native son, had won his first batting title, fans stuck around to stare in silence at the Metrodome scoreboard to see if the Royals could pull it off.

They did and the dome exploded in celebration creating a once-in-a-lifetime event—fans screaming after watching a scoreboard with no action on the field.

Number three:

Puckett remembered.

On Mar. 16, 2006, fans packed the dome to remember a fallen hero—Kirby Puckett. On a fateful day in 1995, Puckett’s jaw was broken by a Dennis Martinez fastball.

The injury ended Puckett’s storied career and he retired in 1996. Ten years later, due to a stroke, Puckett passed away. A week later the memorial service was one of the most watched and saddest events the Metrodome ever hosted.

Number two:

Morris breaks the Braves.

In game seven of the 1991 World Series, in what now would be an unthinkable feat, Twins ace Jack Morris, exhausted after pitching three days earlier in game four, pitched a 10 inning shutout to beat the Atlanta Braves and clinched the Twins’ second World Series title in less than five years.

Number one:

Puckett’s presence.

In game six of that 1991 World Series, the Twins trailed 3-2 in the series to the Braves and Kirby Puckett played a game to be cherished for all time.

After robbing Ron Gant of an extra base hit with a sensational grab, Puckett came to the plate in the bottom of the eleventh inning with the Twins facing elimination.

Puckett provided a walk-off dinger to send the Homer Hankies waving and giving the Twins new life in the series. Kirby had three RBI’s in the 4-3 Twins victory.

Despite a lot of scrutiny over the years, the Metrodome has provided the Twins a plethora of great memories. Puckett, Hrbek and Morris became immortalized as Twins legends and that will never be forgotten.

Although they will be moving outdoors for the first time in 27 years, nobody in Minnesota will forget the lasting memories that were ingrained in Twins fans’ minds in the great years that the Metrodome hosted Twins baseball.