Long awaited, and not disappointing at all, this my little tribute to the first game ever played at Target Field on Monday April 12th. The Twins won, and opened their new venue with a classy, old school baseball day. I drank a few beers, sat in the sun, and enjoyed this great return to baseball outside. It had been almost 30 years since I last saw a major league game outside in Minnesota, and now I want to go to as many as possible this year and beyond.

The baseball jones is rampant, the fever is at high pitch, and like the dawn of my early addiction to this sport, it is spawned from visits to an outdoor Major League stadium in Minnesota. I have attended two games at the Twins fans’ baseball lair called Target Field this week, and I have to admit that I am craving even more.

Words were hard to write after the opening day game with the Red Sox. All I could really do is post pictures and let them speak for themselves.  But as my Vikings Tailgate buddy Brandon wrote on my Facebook,

“Pictures don’t let people feel the breeze hit their face, or the sun shine on it. Pictures don’t let people see the sun glisten off the skyline or hear the crack of the bat. Pictures don’t let people experience everything that is OUTDOOR baseball…the way it, the greatest game ever invented, was meant to be played!!”

I had to agree,  and added to the string on April 12,

“Don’t forget, the taste of polish hot dog, followed by the cold swallow of an ice cold Summit ale, or the smell of ballpark as you hear one of several impromptu bands jammin as you exit the light rail. ”

There is so much more to write about the First Night game vs. Kansas City that I attended last night, but Twins fans should also take note the product on the field is pretty damn good too.

A few months ago, I was in Fort Meyers for the first exhibition of the season with the Red Sox at Hammond Field. The Public Address announcer started rattling off the starting line up, Dennard Span, Orlando Hudson, Joe Mauer, Justin Morneau, Jim Thome, Michael Cuddyer, Delmon Young, JJ Hardy and Nick Punto. I turned to the guy sitting next to me and said,

“That line up has a nice ring to it.”

He agreed, and then reminded me that we still had Jason Kubel sitting on the bench. Ah, Mr. Kubel, the dude that hit that first homer at Target Field on Monday afternoon. A fellow So Dak kid playing in Minnesota, and making some history.

I have to admit I am still awe of our new digs, and very stoked to be a fan of this franchise.

Opening Day at Target Field in Minnesota:

Met Stadium 1980's

Tomorrow is a day that I have been waiting for since 1981.

That was the last time I saw a Major League baseball game played in Minnesota under the open sky at Metropolitan Stadium. I cannot believe this day is approaching, outdoor baseball in the State of Hockey is coming!

I have seen hundreds of games inside the bubble of the HHH Metodome, including games 2, 6 and 7 of the 1987 World Series, and Game 2 in 1991. There have been so many great moments inside the Humpty Hump, but nothing will compare to the cold, chilly, sunny skies of Target Field.

I am jealous of my 5 year old boy, who will get to see an entire lifetime of great baseball in this brand new venue. I feel I have been robbed of this privilege for most of my adult life. While other teams have built new cathedrals for their teams, Twins fans were stuck with a hefty bag and revolving doors that blew hats off their heads.

I always defended the dome, saying that I would go anywhere to see “good baseball” and the best baseball at any level is from the Twins. I was and remain a loyalist to a fault. Now on the eve of one of the greatest days in Twins history, I feel like my 5 year old on Christmas Eve.

I purposely avoided contact with Target Field during it’s construction. I wanted to wait for the first time a “REAL” game was played at that venue before walking into the stadium. Like a present wrapped under the tree, I have seen the new venue from afar. I even sneaked a peak at it from the skyway on my way to a Timberwolves game a few weeks back, but I quickly looked away, for fear of ruining the moment for tomorrow.

It want this to be a complete surprise, a whole new feeling, a rush, a high, a moment I will never forget. It will be like the first time I ever walked into Met Stadium, with my father back in 1976. I have spent my entire sports watching life trying to re-capture that first experience; the smell of hot dogs, the buzz of the crowd, the sun burning brightly above…

Tomorrow, the Twins play the Red Sox, and I will be there with my camera and wallet. This will be the greatest present a diehard baseball fan could ever get. Twins fans now can feel legitimate and Big Leagues again.

I am stoked, and feel privileged that I will be able to take my own son to outdoor baseball for many years to come!

I often read really good articles about baseball, and like to share them when they are Twins related. This story, written by a Yankee fan, offers some perspective on why baseball would be tainted if Mauer ended up a Yank for economic reasons. Every day that passes, where Mauer’s contract has not been extended, is a day closer to baseball doomsday.

Here is the article:

Published March 18, 2010 by:
Ron Hart

The Minnesota Twins and their homegrown native son Joe Mauer, who may someday be considered the greatest catcher of all time, are reportedly having trouble agreeing to a contract extension.

As the Twins are just about ready to open a brand new modern stadium, Target Field, and as they come off yet another successful season on a smallish payroll, this should be a great time for the Twins and their fans. The Twins have been the model franchise on how to compete in the big leagues in a small market and Target Field, as a baseball only stadium with all of the modern amenities, is drawing rave previews.

But it appears the Opening Day pageantry may have a shadow hanging over it as the uncertainy over the Mauer contract situation promises to become more of a distraction.

As is becoming par for the course in baseball, the New York Yankees and Boston Red Sox are increasingly being mentioned as possible suitors for Mauer. The Yankees still have a very productive and borderline Hall of Fame caliber catcher in Jorge Posada. While the Red Sox do not have a top line catcher, the combination of Victor Martinez and Jason Variteck is something most teams would happily sign up for.

Recent days have seen speculation in the New York newspapers that the Yankees, who happen to have the top catching prospect in the game in Jesus Montero, could trade him and other prospects for Mauer. The way it works in modern baseball, if a team believes it cannot afford a free agent to be, they will trade him a year or two prior to his contract expiring so that they can at least get some inexpsensive talent in return.

While I am personally a big time Yankees fan and have been since birth, I am rooting very hard for Joe Mauer to stay in Minnesota. Free agency is a fact of life in baseball, as are economic realities. But Joe Mauer grew up near the Twin Cities and as a Twins fan.

The Twins fans have supported their team even when it had a difficult time competing on a lesser payroll. This is not a franchise that has a bunch of bandwagon fans, or one that shows up only when it’s ‘trendy’. And
while the city is far smaller, I’d venture to say that there are per capita far more ‘real Twins fans’ in the Minneapolis St. Paul area than there are ‘real Dodgers fans’ in LA. And while the Twins will never reach the glamour level that the Dodgers do, they represent the type of fan base that is critical to the health of Major League Baseball and the sport itself.

I have another reason, perhaps one more selfish, for wanting Joe Mauer to remain a Minnesota Twin. If Mauer is traded to the Yankees, or signs with them in the offseason, then it really will confirm all the worst that people say about baseball and the Yankees.

When I defend the Yankees and their payroll to people, I point out that while the Yankees spend a lot of money, they do so mainly to keep their own homegrown players in the fold. The Yankees have had through the past fifteen years more homegrown stars than any team in baseball. Derek Jeter, Mariano Rivera, Jorge Posada, Bernie Williams, Andy Pettitte, and Robinson Cano are all home grown Yankees making large salaries. Yes, Alex Rodriguez, Mark Teixeira and CC Sabathia are big time, expensive free agents (though technically, the Yankees acquired A-Rod through a trade), but it’s not as if most of the team was simply bought.

But bringing Joe Mauer in would confirm the worst and make it difficult, even for me, to defend it anymore.

Plus, the reality is that as a fan you want to have something to root for. Nobody’s favorite basketball team was the Harlem Globetrotters. And while the randomness and vagaries of baseball are far too great for payroll alone to guarantee anything, what fun is it rooting for a team with a mega-star at every position…unless, of course, they were your own homegrown megastars?

So for the good of non-Yankee fans everywhere, please let’s have Joe Mauer stay a Minnesota Twin. And for the good of Yankee fans everywhere, please let’s have Joe Mauer stay a Minnesota Twin.