Corner 10/9

Another Memory Goes up in smoke

WOERNER’S CORNER

It happened again this week in major league baseball. Another team is closing its old stadium for a new, modern facility, with a corporate name. Unlike previous cases such as Philadelphia, Pittsburgh and Atlanta, this time is a good thing.

The Metrodome, now the former home to the Minnesota Twins, will bite the dust in the near future. A tear probably fell on Minneapolis as Kirby Puckett, one of the greatest players of the last generation, watched the last games in the building where he starred from his stadium seat beyond the clouds.

He would be one of the few in the game who cared. The Metrodome was known more than anything else for what became known as the Hefty bags behind the home run fences. It was rarely accused of being one of the great baseball venues of its generation.

Pitchers didn’t like the building because of the short home run fences. Hitters liked those short porches but with the exception of the designated hitters in the American League town, those hitters had to play the field.

That meant catching fly balls, or at least trying to, looking up at that white roof. That meant the notoriously poor turf that threatened knees and other joints when cleats got caught. Most will agree when the dome over that building finally pops, it will be a good riddance for the game.

Apparently, most people in Minnesota agree. There are Web sites counting down the hours to the opening of Target field. There is a surprise, have to get that corporate sponsorship in the name. It joins the likes of PNC Park Field, Coors Field and others.

Kudos from The Corner to Twins ownership who will provide outside baseball for fans in what is likely the coldest baseball city in the country.  Sorry all fans of the Red Sox, Yankees, Cubs or Mets, I think Minnesota weather has you beat.

The Twins are betting $544 million that they can beat the chances of snow in April or the need for winter coats if the World Series comes to town in October. They understand the need to thank fans who have been so loyal by provid?ing them with a true baseball experience.

Despite its so-called stadium, Minnesota has been a great baseball town that is just about to get better. The likes of Kirby Puckett, Ken Hrbek, Greg Gagne and others put together a product over the years that has always been competitive. This year was no exception as they extended the regular season one extra day in what was the best pennant race of the season.

Any teams who want to build new stadiums need to follow the Twins example. The theory of the Astrodome is gone. Like disco, it was a bad idea of a bad generation.

Most stadium builders in recent years have seen this. Even in the Canadian north, in Toronto, the roof on the building formerly known as Skydome can be opened to allow the affect of the outdoors to drift in. Admittedly, that is a unique affect.

Baseball is better outside, and if they can do it in Minneapolis they can do it any where in the country. Hopefully the Metrodome is a sign of what is to come, with domed, indoor stadi?ums becoming a thing of the past and baseball on the real grass, an exclusive experience of the game.