Eight Years Later - Our Review of Target Field - Home of the Minnesota Twins (5/25/2019)

The boys are back!  When we did our Big Baseball Adventure back in the Summer of 2011, we visited every major league field but two: Target Field in Minnesota, and Marlins Park in Miami.  We didn't get a chance to visit those two places because we were limited on time.  But we always said that we will complete the trip and visit all 30 major league cities at some point.  Well, Michael and I decided to take a weekend visit to the Twin Cities to knock out one of the final two parks and it was well worth it.  Not only did we see see the Twins play, but they just happened to be playing our beloved White Sox!!!

When we set off on our adventure back in 2011, Target Field had just opened the previous year.  We heard great things about it and felt like we missed out on seeing a really cool ballpark.  On May 24th, we hopped on our plane and made it to Minneapolis.  We got a nice hotel right next to the Mall of the Americas, which we'll discuss later.

The trip was well worth it!  The game was a day game with a 1:00 pm start.  We woke up on Saturday morning the 25th and we couldn't have asked for better weather - sunny with a high around 80.  Michael and I grabbed some breakfast and headed downtown a bit early to check out the stadium and catch some BP.

Anyway, when we arrived, we walked around the outside of the park.  The perimeter of the park had plenty of cool photos and statues of Twins greats from the past.  Anyone who knows me knows that I have a strong connection to the Twins as Kirby Puckett was my little league coach.  It's cool to not only say you know a major leaguer who grew up in your hood, but to have him be a Hall of Famer is even more special.  Needless to say, although he passed away a few years ago, he is still worshiped as a god in Minnesota.

Once we got into the park, we hung out down the left field line and watched some BP.  Then Mark hooked us up with a special guided tour of Target Field by one of the memorabilia curators who has worked for the Twins for 40 years.  That was really cool!  Then we headed to our seats to watch the game.

Michael and I both agree that Target Field is beautiful!  We had seats in the lower level just behind 3rd Base.  The views were spectacular.  From our seats, you have a great view of the downtown Minneapolis skyline.

The nice thing is we were joined by a couple of my longtime good friends and Minnesota natives Trent Wilcox, who I attended law school with and got into plenty of mischief with, and Mark Wiersbeck who I've known since we both worked at Digital Equipment Corporation back in the late 80's.  Mark is a diehard Twins fan and pretty much hates the White Sox so it was double the fun.

The park is intimate.  It's hard to see any bad seat in the place.  The scoreboard was large, but not too overbearing like in some parks that we have seen.  The big Twins logo with Minnie and Paul in center field is a very nice touch.  The fans were all very nice - especially the ticket takers who helped us find our tour.

There were plenty of great food places to eat, although the one we visited during the game was a disaster because they took forever causing us to miss out on a White Sox home run!

As for the game, the Twins crushed the White Sox 8-1 and the Sox got swept in the series too.  But watching a game in Target Field was awesome and we'd love to come back.  After the game, we walked around the main level and took lots of pictures.  And of course, we visited the Team Shop and got a baseball and team hat just like we did in all of the other 28 parks we visited.

After the game, we walked around downtown Minneapolis near the stadium and took some pictures at First Avenue - the place where they filmed many of the scenes from Purple Rain and a place where Prince played many a night.  Then we all headed over to Top Golf, had dinner, and watched Trent beat us all in a friendly game of target golf.  It was great seeing my friends and it was very cool that Trent, his girlfriend, and Mark got to share in the trip with us.

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The next day, we had hoped to get a tour of Paisley Park - Prince's former home that is now a museum of his music career, but it was too late.  Instead, we spent the morning over at the Mall of America.  Wow!  How big is it?  It not only has a full-size amusement park, it has four Lids stores!  Anyway, we hung out there for a few hours before we had to catch our flight back to Phoenix.  The highlight was definitely finding a vintage Tanner Boyle Bad News Bears jersey for Michael at the Lids store.

Overall, it was a great trip.  I would slot Target Field as my #7 stadium.  Michael ranked as his #5.  We both highly recommend visiting Minneapolis and seeing a game at Target Field on any baseball trip.

Revised Stadium Rankings (Eight Years After the Original Trip) as of 5/25/2019

Here are our final stadium rankings for the trip that now includes our recent visit to Target Field in Minnesota. 

Next year (2020) we will visit Marlins Park in Miami, and at some point, we will need to visit the new Sun Trust Park in Atlanta and the new Globe Life Field, which will be the new home for the Texas Rangers beginning in 2020.  Michael completely revised his list from 2011, but I simply slotted Target Field in with no new changes.

Michael's 2019 Completely Revised Rankings - As of 5/25/2019

1. PNC Park - Pittsburgh Pirates

2. Petco Park - San Diego Padres
3. AT&T Park (now Oracle Park) - San Francisco Giants

4. Safeco Field (now T-Moble Park) - Seattle Mariners

5. TARGET FIELD – MINNESOTA TWINS

6. Camden Yards - Baltimore Orioles

7. Minute Maid Park - Houston Astros

8. Citi Field - New York Mets

9. Coors Field - Colorado Rockies

10. Kauffman Stadium - Kansas City Royals

11. Fenway Park - Boston Red Sox

12. Miller Park - Milwaukee Brewers

13. Comerica Park - Detroit Tigers

14. Chase Field - Arizona Diamondbacks

15. U.S. Cellular Field (now Guaranteed Rate Field) - Chicago White Sox

16. Wrigley Field - Chicago Cubs

17. Yankee Stadium - New York Yankees

18. Citizens Bank Park - Philadelphia Phillies

19. Great American Ballpark - Cincinnati Reds

20. Busch Stadium - St. Louis Cardinals

21. Nationals Park - Washington Nationals

22. Turner Field – Atlanta Braves (now defunct)

23. Rangers Ballpark - Texas Rangers

24. Progressive Field - Cleveland Indians

25. Anaheim Stadium - Los Angeles Angels

26. Rogers Centre - Toronto Blue Jays

27. Dodger Stadium - L.A. Dodgers

28. Oakland Coliseum - Oakland A's

29. Tropicana Field - Tampa Bay Rays

Lance's Revised Rankings:

1. PNC Park

2. AT&T Park (now Oracle Park)

3. Camden Yards

4. Petco Park

5. Safeco Field (now T-Mobile Park)

6. Coors Field

7. TARGET FIELD

8. Citi Field

9. Fenway Park

10. Minute Maid Park

11. Chase Field

12. Comerica Park

13. U.S. Cellular Field (now Guaranteed Rate Field)

14. Miller Park

15. Kauffman Stadium

16. Citizens Bank Park

17. Great American Ballpark

18. Busch Stadium

19. Yankee Stadium

20. Rangers Ballpark

21. Turner Field (now defunct)

22. Nationals Park

23. Anaheim Stadium

24. Progressive Field

25. Dodger Stadium

26. Wrigley Field

27. Rogers Centre

28. Oakland Coliseum

29. Tropicana Field

My Main Man is 18 Today.

Seven years ago today, we got up at 3:30 in the morning from our hotel in Chicago, packed up the car with the family, and drove all the way to Cincinnati to catch a Noon game between the Cubs and the Reds.  It was a hot and muggy day in Cincy, but we had great seats down the left field line and we celebrated his 11th birthday.

Since then, Michael has finished grade school, started and finished high school, played hundreds of baseball games for his club and school teams, came within an eyelash of winning a state high school baseball championship, and has turned into one of the finest young men a dad could ever hope to have raised.  In less than three months, Michael will be leaving for Northern Arizona Univ. for college.  It will be tough not to see him everyday and see his empty room.  But seeing the hats and baseballs we collected on our baseball trip that are still hanging on the walls in his room will always put a smile on my face and remind me how much fun it was spending over seven weeks with him on our big baseball adventure.

Happy 18th Birthday to you Michael.

Love always,

Dad

May 5th, 2018 - Michael Played His Last Baseball Game Today

I've seen Michael play over 500 baseball games in the last 12 years.  Maybe none was more heartbreaking than today when his Seton Catholic High School baseball team lost to St. Mary's 9-7 and was eliminated from the 4A AZ State Championship Tournament.  They made it to the final six teams and came up just short.  Seton was expected to win and get one more shot at Catalina Foothills - the team that had beaten them a few days ago - for the right to play in the championship game.  But it didn't happen.  Michael had a great senior year and finished  with a .387 average.  He made Second Team All-Region and was a three year starter on the varsity at third base.  He played so well during the playoffs and made me even prouder than I normally am.

He's officially done with organized baseball.  It's sad for me knowing that the days of watching him play may be over.  But I've had the best seat in the house watching him play and grow up into a fine young man.  I hope to be around and see him enjoy baseball with his son(s) as much as I enjoyed it with him.

Michael's Final Hit of His Career

Michael - Six Years Later

It's so hard to believe our baseball trip was nearly six years ago.  A lot has changed since then, and most notably, Michael.  He finishes his junior year of high school this week and was the starting third-baseman and pitcher for his varsity baseball team at Seton Catholic in Chandler, AZ.  I'm so glad we did it because in the blink of an eye, they become teenagers who never have time for the old man anymore.  He's turned into a great baseball player and he's an even better son.  Hard to believe this is him now.  I'm so proud of him.