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Metrodome itinerary by Wise Guides

Hubert's, right across the street from the Metrodome, doesn't look like much from the outside but is a shrine to Twin Cities sports inside. Start here, bonding with Minnesotans over beers before heading inside for the game. Hit the patio bar if it's a nice day and have a brat from the grill. ... The Metrodome gets low marks for its sterile look and feel, but at least appreciate that it's been host to an array of historic sporting events in just over 25 years. It's the only stadium to have hosted a Super Bowl, baseball All-Star Game, a World Series (twice), and the NCAA Men's Final Four. That said, Twins fans will be ecstatic when the team moves into its new downtown, open-air park in 2010 (as long as it's not snowing that day). ... Another thing fans are enthusiastic about is the Dome Dog, made by Minnesota-based Hormel. Have one, and wash it down with a cold one from St. Paul's Summit Brewing Co. or a Leinenkugel, a beer imported all the way from Wisconsin. ... After the game, head to the nearby Minneapolis Town Hall Brewery, popular with fans and other locals for its wide range of micro-brews. ... If you're looking to do some wandering, walk about eight blocks west of the Dome to Nicollet Avenue. It's the heart of downtown Minneapolis and home to many bars, restaurants and shops. Nearby is Atlas Grill, with great steaks and chops, upscale but fan-friendly. ... If you've got shopping (and eating) on the brain, hop on the light rail line, Metro Transit's Hiawatha Line (Route 55), right near the Metrodome and take it to the Mall of America. It's on the spot of the former home of the Twins and Vikings, Metropolitan Stadium, and the indoor theme park at MOA has a plaque where home plate at the Met used to be.

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Minnesota Twins - User Comments Add your own

Visit the Metrodome While You Still Can! -- 2007-06-24

I heard terrible things about the HHH Metrodome from most folks I read reviews from/talked to before I visited my one time in 2005. Well, I'll say that this is an alright place. No, it's not perfect and it's not exactly the same as all of the retro ballparks of the 1992-present era. But, it's in excellent shape, it's paid for, it's comfortable to watch a game in, it's easy to park and walk to, the ticket prices are outstanding (I got a $10.00 deal that included the seat, a hotdog, and a coke), the fans really get into the game, and the team is good. If I lived in Minneapolis I can't see where I'd be too excited about a new outdoor facility. Minnesota has distinct weather issues in April, May, September, and October. But, I guess June-August will be okay. I'm certain ALL of the folks that demanded an outside ballpark will attend ALL of the bad-weather games in the new facility. I rate the Metrodome a B.

Ronald Theriot

Better than the alternatives -- 2005-03-23

While almost everyone can agree that the Dome is not a wonderful venue to watch baseball in, it has several things in its favor; 1) It was built under budget; 2) It covers its operating costs every year, and thus does not rely on perpetual public subsidies; 3) The ticket prices are wonderful, and very beneficial to family baseball fans.

If the Twins want to pay for their own Stadium, so be it. The concomitant price hike, reduced capacity, and excessive pandering to corporate fans would be negative, but that would be the Twins decision. However, the public should not be expected to subsidize that shift when a perfectly functional stadium exists today. My tips for potential visitors; aim for the outfield seats in right field, above the area previously known as the "garbage bag." Those seats provide a close, elevated view of the field, for a very reasonable price.

Donald McGee

Cheap, But You Get What You Pay For -- 2005-01-17

The Metrodome has to be the most affordable place to take in Major League Baseball. Last season, in 2004, you could get an upper deck general ticket (left foul pole to right foul pole) for $3 with a college ID on Wednesday nights. Tuesday nights were also half-off lower deck generals (left foul pole to the baggy in right) at only $7.50. To get into a major league game for under $5, and to get lower deck seats for less than $10 is pretty fantastic. Wednesday nights were also Hormel Dollar Dog night, so if you had any college ID in your possession, you could get an upper deck general ticket and seven hot dogs for $10.

The major problem, which is worse than either the turf, roof, or awkwardly located bullpens, is that all the seats are angled at the 50-yard line for football. If you sit along the third base line, you're facing the visitor's bullpen. If you sit along the first base line, you're facing the home bullpen. If you sit in left field, the visitor's dugout. If you sit in right field, the home team's dugout. The only seats that face home plate are right behind home and dead center.

It is really bad anywhere past third or first base along the baselines. They're the worst seats to have because you have to look sideways to see each at bat.

Kyle Eliason

I'm In The Monority But ... -- 2004-10-24

I've been to the Dome a number of times in my travels, and I've enjoyed every trip there.

I agree that it's a bad baseball facility, that you feel like you're in a shopping mall and seeing the ball against the roof is no easy task. But I enjoy the atmosphere, maybe because it is so different. Further, the food is good (I think), and ticket prices are dirt cheap. I like paying $10 for general admission and being able to sit whereever you want, even in the first row in left field. Try that in New York.

Further, there's a nice bar close by with good food and a really good sports memorabelia store across the street if you get there early.

I've been to something like 25 stadiums, and I always like this one.

Bruce Mochan

-- 2004-07-22

The Metrodome is the worst sports facility in the history of American sports. No? Name a worse one. reason#1, baseball, to be enjoyed, must be played outside. #2, There is a constant humming from all the people who are about to fall asleep. Their yawning bounces off the roof,plastic seats, concrete and that blue baggie thing they call a right field wall. #3, there are about 35,000 blue empty seats for every game. #4 After 3 innings of all this, you feel like your in an aquarium,with the blue seats, green "field", gray roof. #5, if you manage to fool yourself into having a good time, forget about yelling and being rowdy, you'll just wake everybody up. Maybe it's a good thing. After all, it is the 7th inning and that's when everybody starts to leave. Good God man, my life is cursed. Being a baseball fan here is lonely and depressing. Again, there has never been a worse professional sports venue in the history of American sports. Go ahead, try to name one, in any sport, ever.

Brendan

Brendan Peterson

Its an outrage -- 2003-04-18

The Metrodome is the worst thing ever perpetrated on the Twin Cities sports fans. I lived in MN from 1983-89 and was around for the Twins '87 championship. The team was fun to watch but the Dome is an abomination. The place has a totally antiseptic feel and, because the upper deck starts at the rear of the lower deck (rather than overhanging it), very few good seats. Then, there's the ridiculous baggie wall, about which more than enough has been said. Also, Minnesotans are fun and outdoors loving and asking them to be indoors in summer, when they've had to do so through a long, cold winter, is nuts. If the Twins had a facility like Safeco, they'd outdraw the Mariners.

Chris Mitchell

Love To Hate It -- 2003-01-09

As the only Twins ballpark I've known and the only ballpark I had been to before my trip to Milwaukee this season, I've grown close to the Metrodome. That doesn't change the fact that it's without a doubt the worst stadium in baseball. But where else can you see a game for $5? How about a dollar for a hot dog? And I have so many trinkets from free promotions laying around. And it's good baseball. Miller Park is hidiously over-priced, and they're perhaps the worst team in baseball. Do the Twins and the Vikes need a new stadium? Yes. The Minnesota summers are too short not to be able to enjoy the always defiant Twins in the atomsphere. And the Vikes have clearly lost the days of Bud Grant and his team sitting on the cold sidelines of the Met without any heaters. We need open air for both, because we're Minnesotans, and we can take a little rain and cold weather. Funny astroturf hops and balls lost in the roof are fun and comical, but it's not pure. The Twins can win without having a booby-trapped house of horrors, and as long as they can continue to win, the fans will continue to yell as loud as ever.

Ryan

The Good and Bad of the Baggie Dome -- 2002-07-12

Good:

When it gets loud, it really gets loud.

Lots of cool activities in the fan zone outside the stadium. Kids will love it.

Leinenkugel beer is great, can't find it at other stadiums.

Bad:

You feel like you're in a mall.

You are crammed in your seat like a sardine. No leg room at all.

Anything upper deck feels like you're in Duluth. Doug Mientkiewicz looks like a flea.

Artificial turf sucks.

Not many fun things between innings on the jumbo tron. Isn't that what its for?

Max Rieper

Not Built for Baseball -- 2001-09-10

A previous comment is exactly right; the color of the Metrodome's roof should tell one all he needs to know about the appropriateness of that facility for baseball. Everyone knows about the obvious flaws of this building, e.g. the baggie, the turf, etc., but the basic things are also very substandard; the seating is very cramped, aisle access is inadequate, the sight lines are all oriented for football and the upper deck is far too remote. It is worth noting that the 4 franchises most frequently mentioned as candidates for contraction, Tampa Bay, Montreal, Miami and Minnesota, all play in buildings that were either built for other sports or have a fixed roof. The Metrodome is both. The only positive is that ticket prices are reasonable, especially if one watches for the many special packages.

Terry Walters

HHH Metrodome -- 2001-07-06

The Metrodome is without comparison the W O R S T venue for baseball ever dreamed up by a living person. It is a direct insult to anything left that passes for tradition in the game.

A previous writer's comment that there was 'nothing better' than watching a visiting left fielder lose a ball in the roof sums it all up, along with the suggestion that noise some how played a part in generating two world's championship!! Good grief!!! How 'bout clear skys, real grass, and fans cheering (and jeering) at the appropriate times? Whoops! That's Jacobs Field! FJ

fLACO jIMENEZ

Quirky place -- 2001-07-03

I do believe that the Dome was built with a good reasoning behind it. The Twins, and Vikings, have fans throughout Minnesota, Iowa, North and South Dakota, and Nebraska. This being the case, the roof allowed fans from several hours away to be guaranteed of attending a game. With technology, it has become obscelete. Unfortunately, the Twins built the Dome about six years before the technology caught up.

As far as tickets, you won't find a better ticket price. On weekends, fans can get four lower lever seats, four sodas, four hot dogs, a parking pass and a game program for $34. And, the seats in the upper level right behind home plate are only $10, even if you are in row one. And that is every day. Plus, there are few places left that have a $5 seat, and an $89 full season-ticket package.

Finally, there is nothing like watching a Twins hitter hit a pop fly that the left fielder can't find. I know it helped to pad Kirby's double total a few years. I'd like to see a new place, but the team's good play this year shows that if the team is good, people will show up regardless of the stadium!

Tom Urban

How to leave -- 2001-06-11

While the Dome is a sterile place for baseball, it is one of the best bargains. Good seats for only $25. First level bleachers only $10. "Sota's" will be paying a lot more for a game when they get a new stadium! When you leave the Dome, don't use the revolving door. It's the only stadium that literally blows you out. It's because of air pressure used to keep the roof up. An experience not to be missed.

Stephen Magill

A dump for baseball -- 2001-06-04

The Metrodome was built under budget to keep Vikings fans warm. Well, they got what they paid for, a football stadium that is lousy for baseball. No ballpark should have a garbage bag and football seats for an outfield wall. I hate astroturf and the sliding pits that go with them! But they do the best job of displaying retired numbers with giant baseball cards on the upper deck...we actually get to see what those players look like. And as ugly as the Baggie Dome is, it has a unique place in history, the only building to host a World Series, a Super Bowl, a Final Four, and a Baseball All-Star Game. But the Twins need a retractable roof classic looking stadium with real grass.

David Bryant

By the way... -- 2001-06-04

Who was the genius who decided to make the roof the same color as a baseball? Between the roof and the crowd noise back when the Twins were good, they had baseball's best home field advantage...the Twins have won all their 1987 and 1991 World Series games at home!

David Bryant

Got what we paid for indeed -- 2001-06-04

Dave Bryant is right. It's a dump for baseball. The best that can be said for it is that dollar-for-dollar it's a bargain. It cost about 10% of what Miller Park cost Milwaukee. Even adjusting for 20 years of inflation, that is defensible public policy. But we've paid for our economy with 20 years of sterile atmosphere. It's time we treat ourselves to a ballpark. The quirks of the Dome -- foul balls that richocet back into play off suspended speakers, Dave Kingman popup that never came down, deafening Homer Hanky roars during the '87 and '91 World Series, left fielders shielding their heads against the descent of unseen fly balls -- are aggravating but will be remembered with a degree of nostalgia after the Dome is history. There was a time when even Fenway and Wrigley weren't considered classics.

Dave Klaassen

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