Pat Reusse believes that the modern fan needs all the bells and whistles to be enticed to take in a game? Well, the Metrodome can hardly boast about amenities and the Twins have done a brisk business the past few years. I believe Pat's way off base with this one. Putting a competative team on the field seems to have made up for the lack of club seats, stadium clubs, and imaginative food offerings.
No, young and old, fans will always be fans. And the Twins will always have their share of loyal, engaged fans who flock to the ballpark to appreciate the game, not the superfluous add-ons.

$20 is a "great event rate" - seriously?

I have heard Pat Reusse wax very enthusiastically in both print and radio about the ballpark. I think he just needed a column, and post-olympics, with the Wolves, Gopher puck and hoop, and Wild all sucking, this is what he came up with. Also, Pat is at the latter stages of his career and one of the hazards of that is you spend more time looking back wistfully than looking forward with excitement.

I grew up at Wrigley Field and I would never want to see the Cubs replace it with a Target Field . . . but the Met is gone and it was never a place of charm or character. It was a utilitarian ballpark built in an era when craftsmanship was at a nadir, by a minor league team, at clearly the lowest possible cost and then maintained as such.

But those were Pat's salad days professionally and perhaps personally. And there is a certain charm in baseball sans bells and whistles and video commercials. But Pat knows as well as anyone that that's baseball 1965. Even at Wrigley today, due to the absence of all the advertising media, the stadium announcer reads 30 minutes of sponsorships and ads over the PA before every game. You can't go home again. . .

Awesome post Rick! What a treat on a Sunday morning!

Pat needed to fill some space as he does well when he plops down in his friggin seat...He's out of touch with reality with that piece.

Great post Rick!

Question on seat numbering. Does anyone who has chosen seats know which direction the seat numbering goes? For example, is seat 1 of row 12 of section 121 the closest seat in that row to home plate or vice versa?

Also, has it been published anywhere how many seats are in a row for each section?

Seat 1 in 121 would be closest to HP.

My seats are section 102 in seat 3 and the seat numbers count up as you move away from the plaza toward home plate from here.

I dunno about how many seats in a row but I can tell you this - it's a LOT less than the dome. Like, alot. thank god.

So it sounds like seat numbers go up left to right as you look at a section and aren't based on home plate.

I agree with you, Rick. Reusse is a d-bag and local radio is run by hacks.

Rick, I've had trouble crossing 5th there as well. Even though it appears to be a crosswalk, I think they actually want you to walk back down to the stoplight before crossing.

Thanks for the great article Rick. I am getting goosbumps everytime I think about the new stadium. For a former met lover, this will be great and we will learn all over again what baseball is all about.

P.S. $20 to park across the street from the ballpark is a steal. Try that in any other city.

Brand New Throwback Kirby Pucket Powder Blue Stitched Jersey available. Size Large. $55.00 Free Shipping. Send me an email if interested.

A note about weather...

I don't wish to beat a dead horse, but I recently looked into some historical weather data that I'd like to share. I had read all the arguments on here, being that the weather was much like other northern cities in baseball, and that there would only be 3-4 rainouts per year. I thought to myself "No, no, no. They're missing the point. Minneapolis is in the center of the continent, not near any large body of water, so to base a weather study solely on the average misses out on the variability of Minnesota weather. Sure, the average may be fifty, but in Boston it's probably 45 one year and 55 the next where in Minny it'll be 30 and 70." I went to wundergound.com and looked at the historical highs on April 12th over the past ten years of some baseball cities in an attempt to prove this point. Turns out I was wrong. Although this is a crude study being that it only looks at one particular day, it highlights that the weather here really isn't all that different. Here is what I found:

(City, Avg, StdDev, MinHigh, MaxHigh)
Cincinnati 64.6 11.7 46 82
Baltimore 63.4 10.1 47 75
Pittsburgh 62.3 12.1 43 82
Philadelphia 60.5 9.9 48 77
New York 58.7 9.3 44 76
Cleveland 58.5 13.9 43 82
Seattle 57.4 8.6 48 78
Denver 56.9 14.6 37 75
Detroit 56.8 9.6 46 73
Minneapolis 54.2 10.3 37 72
Chicago 53.9 12.4 37 75
Boston 53.8 9.8 41 69

I did the same study on precipitation, which showed that Minneapolis was the driest of any of these cities on April 12th. Still, focusing just on rainouts misses out on all the fans that won't go to a game knowing that it will happen but it will be 50 with a persisent light rain. However, I was ecstatic when I heard there will be no roof. I have been to about ten or so stadiums around the country and can attest to the fact that a retractable roof stadium just isn't the same.

I mostly agree with Adam on the Reusse column. Kind of silly but it didn't outrage me. My main problem was that he is taking that tone now and was ridiculing the Saints and their Midway experience in those early years. Though come to think of it, part of his critique was that people were watching the antics as much or more as the game.
The way I look at the seating numbers, as you face the field, let's say sitting in your row, the numbers to your right are lower and they go up as you move leftwards down your row. There may be some exceptions. 22 seats in a row is the most I am aware of, at least for main bowl areas, compared to 33 in the Dome.

Dave St. Peter was on with Sid this morning. He mentioned a few things.

1) The Twins reached the 21,000 FSE level on Friday. They feel they have a chance to hit 22,000 by opening day.
2) Only Two suites remain to be sold (of those that were set aside for season ticket sales)
3) 96% of the premium seats have been sold (Champions and Legends club) He did not discuss the topic, but I would guess the remaining seats in these areas will not be available when single game tickets go on sale to the general public.
4) They feel that over 2 million tickets will have been sold by opening day.
5) They are very optimistic that they will hit 3 million in attendance this season. When you consider our new seating capacity selling out all 81 games would be roughly 3.2 million. I wonder how many additional people can be squeezed in using the Bud party deck and standing room only?

Thanks for the new update Rick.

You are welcome Rick. My rough numbers placed some of those areas a bit closer and apparently closer. But man does that Puckett Gate look close. Look for some BP balls to be raining down on the plaza. Players will be drooling over hitting that area of the park for sure.

I too have frequented the crosswalk on 5th and had some close calls. After that first one I have made sure that I always start to walk towards the stop light before crossing and keep looking as I cross, even at the light. Some of those cars come pretty hot around the corner and over the bridge on 5th. I would think they close down that part of 5th on game day. With so many distractions around the park for pedestrians and drivers, all directly adjacent to the park, I don't think they have much of an alternative.

Blackburn signed: four-year/$14 million contract, club option for 2014 at 8 million

Hopefully its contract extension day for the Twins today...

TwinsNow posted on Twitter -

#Twins sign Blackburn to 4-year, $14 million contract with $8 million '14 option. 20 others sign too, taking care of entire 40-man roster.

Haven't seen those details yet tho....now lets look to 2011 and Mauer. :D

Did someone already post this little tidbit from Charley Walters this morning?

"Look for the Twins on Monday to announce Schweigert as their new brand of hot dog, replacing Hormel, which had produced the Dome Dog."

Yeah, that place in the sidewalk where you come out from crossing the LRT tracks is not a crosswalk. I remember seeing them cut the swale last fall thinking this is a ridiculous place for a crosswalk; and it is not for that. They cut it for small vehicles to get on to the promenade area. That was the week before the Northstar opening, which had several food vendors on the promenade.

There is an abundance of signage there to tell you that it is not a crosswalk; not sure how you could have missed it. That said - several hundred thousand people are going to use it as a crosswalk this year.

There was an article in the DT Journal about road closures they are thinking about adopting during Twins games. The 5th street bridge was not one of them; but it definitely should be. Link is to the article.

1. Great update as always.

2. On the discussion of length of a homerun to reach various parts of the ballpark, it was unclear to me how the Puckett gate distances were calculated. I want to know how far a homerun has to go to right field just to make it over the 8-10 rows of fixed seating. I'm assuming a home run shot that would have ended up in the upper deck at the dome would be high enough to clear the fixed seating at TF. I just want to see the first scramble down the plaza after a ball.

3. I agree with the dangers on 5th street. The opening that Rick is talking about will have to be blocked somehow (gates, police, whatever) for this to work. I assume that will be the case if 5th remains open. The current signage will not be enough.

4. I was totally wrong in saying three months ago there was no way they were going to make 20,000 FSE ticket holders. I don't know if they'll make 3M attendance, since I still think some of those school night games in April and May will be around 30,000, but boy are people getting excited for this team and park.

5. Thanks Rusty for providing the weather data. I too am surprised that our standard deviations are lower than some of those other cities. In the Central division, I would have thought only Kansas City might be more variable than us.

The hot dogs missed, I guess.

Question, if a game begins as a nice, sunny 12:10 start with a chance of rain later in the day...and say it starts drizzling around 2, at what point do they consider a rain delay? Does it have to be a persistent downpour for a rain delay, or do they institute a rain delay for the slightest drizzle?

Luke-
I think it'd have to be a significant downpour. Watching other games, whether they be Twins road games or not, they try to play through the rain. It's when it gets really heavy/dangerous for the players to be out there. That's when they usually put the delay on.

This is exactly why I think there will be very very few complete rainouts.

First, they have superior drainage. I assume the Met had...well...dirt.

Second, the Twins (just like all teams) do not want to disappoint fans and, more importantly, do not want to lose the gate. Though I suspect all games will be made up as day-night doubleheaders, there are now revenue consequences for the Twins with regards to concessions, TV, radio, and so on with regard to weekday afternoon make-up games or games that must be scheduled during the Fox/ESPN blackout windows.

Finally, when you think about the summer, we really have very few all day rains. More common are the late afternoon thunderstorms. That may delay/suspend play for 60-90 minutes, but it won't be enough for a total postponement.

reusse is just another old man who claims everything was better in his day. I think as youth fleats we try to hold onto all the great memories we had of being young.... and love to trash anything new. maybe in 20 years people will be talking about how great the dome was. Yes, its weird and gross.

Looks like the seat numbers march around the field in clockwise fashion, just like section numbers. It was the same way at the HumptyDump.

I'm still hoping to someday see a chart with individual rows and seats mapped out.

Rick,

thank you for the great post, and I'm so grateful someone else feels the same way about radio in general, and especially sports talk, if you're sports talk well then...talk about sports, I don't care about your politics

I think 3 mil in attendance is very possible, the 2009 attendance was 2,416,237 according to the mlb attendance report. The twins would need an additional 7,207 people per game to reach 3 mil, which is a lot, but I think definitely attainable.

Looks like I won't be buying extra tickets tomorrow. I was going to buy one or two based on the promotion schedule but it still isn't out.

Same here. They are losing out on probably 12 - 15 "best available" sales.

I can't stand that wheezy fatass.

Aside from some inaugural season stuffs, they probably don't see a need for a calendar jam packed with promotions. If you build it....

That's kind of why it's weird that it's taking this long. They don't need a ton like they used to. The Twins in the past have put it out in January or February. I don't know if they ever let it go into March.

I would think they'd know by now, nearly one month away, what the promotions would be and have them posted for fans. The way it's going, I wouldn't be surprised if it wasn't out by the 13 when the public can get tickets.

...or they're waiting for Mauer to sign so they can have all Mauer 2010 promotions.

Looking for opinions on downtown hotels for stays primarily dedicated to Target Field - between the Mariott (The Depot Renaissance) at 215 S. 3rd or the Hotel Minneapolis Doubletree 215 Forth South, which would you pick and why? (Assuming prices are comparable)

Other recommendations close to the ballpark that would be better?

Depot location is great... if the game you're attending is at the Dome. Doubltree is mice but usually overpriced. Try the Residence Inn City Center, or the Marriott City Center (also usually high-priced). The one I'm curious about is the HomePlace on N 2nd... never stayed there but only 4-5 block walk to TF.

--Sorry, typing on a Touch is an adventure for old fingers, and autocorrection is sometimes less than helpful.--

that's: "Doubletree is nice..." and it's the "TownePlace Suites on N 2nd..."

There's a doubletree a couple miles away on 394 that I stayed at after a Twins game last year... Quite nice.

Forgot to mention that walking distance or reasonable cab ride to Target Field is top priority.

A few miles should be reasonable

As far as promotions...the only thing we know is the 50th Season celebration weekend scheduled for Labor Day weekend.

Adam, I agree with your take on Reusse. I also agree with your take about Wrigley. I too would not want Wrigley and Target Field replaced. Having seen games at Wrigley, I would much rather we have Target Field. No offense to Wrigley. It is a beautiful park and it has character and tradition and all that, but it is really not all that nice anymore. I hope they figure out a way to preserve it gracefully in some sort of major renovation, but it is going to need to have that renovation relatively soon if it is to survive.

My prediction is that the Twins will SELL OUT the season PRIOR to opening day. You heard it here first, my friends.

Bob

I wouldn't eliminate the possibility. And as a FSTH, it's all the better for me! :)

Just thinking in regards to the promotional schedule, maybe they are going to wait until after the season ticket pre-sale coming up over the next two days to see what games still have a lot of open seats, or seem to be less in demand. Then they can shift their promotions to try and drive more sales to those games, with the goal to sellout the stadium for this year I could definitely see that as a strategy.

By the way, I have yet to get my password for tomorrow's 10:00 am pre sale. But I did get the automated voice mail asking me if I got my password. I will be traveling tomorrow anyway. Does anyone know if you can call and place tickets or is it all online?

Do any MLB teams schedule doubleheaders any more? I know they've become extremely rare and pretty much only happen after rainouts now. I remember quite a few seasons ago, there was a big deal made about the Twins scheduling a double-header on a Saturday inside the Dome. The Twins certainly wouldn't schedule a doubleheader this season or perhaps not even for a few seasons out, but if it is still a practice that is employed by some teams, would the Twins try it out?

jfh - the closest place i can think of for a twins game is the graves 601 hotel. it is on 1st ave right across the street from target center/target field. great hotel.

i also like the westin minneapolis in the old historic minneapolis farmers & mechanics bank building.

specific to your question/choices: for a twins game i would take the hotel minneapolis (doubletree) over the marriott depot which is over on washington ave. i think the hotel minneapolis is a better hotel and the walk to target field and the warehouse district/1st ave/hennepin ave bars, nightclubs, restaurants is easier.

FPM2K - at least for me and my aging memory, the last "scheduled" doubleheader for the Twins (not sure about the other 29 MLB teams) was a doubleheader against the Indians in 1990. Which, if memory serves right, was also on national TV.

The Twins would be wise to drop AM 1500 and go back to WCCO for the simple reason that the signal for 830 is markedly better in all weather conditions than KSTP.

Out here in the western metro, am1500 is a bit crackly, wcco is always clear as a bell.

I don't mind Garage Logic but also agree that real pre game coverage needs to be at least 1 hr prior. WCCO always did a much better job of coverage.

I think what happens in the case of a rain-out isn't even really a true doubleheader, but rather two games in one day with time in between to clear the stadium and "restock", so to speak. That way, a team does not lose a game's worth of of gate. A true doubleheader would be a "two-fer", which teams are loathe to do. I could be wrong, of course.

the Wind Veil was lit up over the weekend, along with the Topiaries as well, looked really nice, just a bunch of multi color LEDS that changed color and patters lighting from the ground up, couldnt seem to see the effect of the wind on the veil as much though.

so sunday came and passed without any joe mauer signing

I remember the Twins scheduled a double-header at the Metrodome against the Oakland A's in 1999 or 2000 on a Saturday afternoon/night.

My dad and I went and I thought that was pretty cool to be able see two games that day for the price of one.

I have a login and password for today's STH presale and don't really plan on buying any. I have a lot of money sunk into Twins tickets right now, with my package, exhibition games, OD, and the KC trip I bought tickets to last weekend. Anybody want mine? Email me and you can have it. I really want to get first row seats in the overhang for a game, but not sure if I would be able to get them.

They are taking the tarp off the field.

In regard to downtown hotels: Not that it matters significantly in regard to quality of stay, but I had lunch with an employee of Hotel Minneapolis yesterday and was told that it is/was being bought out by a competitor and will have new management. No idea what changes might be in store.

Hey guys,
What game do you think will be harder to get tickets to: the Saturday Brewers game, or 1 of the 3 Yankees games? I'm not sure which to try for first in the presale

nice thing about most of the hotels in downtown, is you can just use the skyway to get to the ballpark

Well I got tickets in row 1 of the overhang. 5/9 against Baltimore. Row 1 of section 136.

Awesome post, Rick! And how could it not be with opening day a month away?

I think it will be fun to watch batting practice at Target Field. When the sluggers groove their home run swings, balls will go flying over the fence. How far will they go?

So far, presale is a disaster ...

I sure hope the Twins are "holding back" a majority of tickets available for public sale because there is nothing in this presale.

It's going to be a very tough ticket this year, especially the "premium" games.

Got 1st row Overlook tickets against DET 6/28... that'll be pretty sweet.

What problems are people having? The password was so generic that I am sure a lot of scalpers got in and are buying them up. I gave my password out to a poster on here but decided to just see if overlook tickets were out there and got some. I doubt he had any problems logging in though.

JFH, regarding hotels, Graves 601 comes up in the online travel sites for last minute deals. I booked one there last year at a relatively reasonable price. I don't recall how much. As you probably know and was posted earlier, it's in Block E.

It's ultra hip and trendy if you're into that kind of thing.

Couldn't get close to any of milwaukee or yankee games, and don't have all day to take off work. I got what I wanted for a value game, so there are at least some decent diamond box seats for certain games. Good luck, all.

Easy to get tix for all games except BOS, NYY, MIL...Anyone who wanted other weekends including Rockies and Braves had plenty of options available for pairs, 4-together wasn't as easy. I think there are still tons of pairs for KC, COL, ATL, and other high-demand games.

Supposedly, now the promo schedule will be released tomorrow.

I got in and had tickets for some of the premium games (NYY, MIL, etc) but dang that timer ran fast or I am just typing really slow today because I lost them trying to fill out that monstrosity of a purchase page. It also gave me some error about my credit card not having the correct number format for the card type. Everything there was right, weird. I did get some of the tickets i wanted so all was not lost.

I was a victim of the Milwaukee series presale demand. Every time I refreshed the screen the section I wanted disappeared. Ended up in the family section for both Saturday and Sunday's games. The Saturday purchase was not intended (really tired and was not paying attention one bit) so 5 tickets are up at face value/transaction fees for this game if anyone is interested...clicky clicky

Schweigert is confirmed as the hot dog supplier. Dollar Dog nights is now Monday (home opener excluded).

Glad it ended up working out for you Jared. Demand for tickets is so high. Count me in on the over 3MM tickets sold this season bandwagon.

I think the only games that are sold out at BOS, NYY, MIL...Even the Royals series, the first weekend ever at Target Field, has tickets all over the stadium still available.

Glad they are doing dollar dog night, but I only have tickets to 1 Monday night game other than Opening Day so it doesn't really mean much to me. Wednesday nights are a better night to catch a game. Will Monday be student night then?

I'm all for Twins broadcasts going back to WCCO. On a good day, I can pick it up all the way down here in the middle of Iowa.

I thought the ticket process went very smooth today. I wanted to try various spots throughout the park and was able to get better seats than I thought were going to be available. I only looked at weekend games and was able to get front row seats in the skyline deck for both the Rangers and the Mariners. Front row in the pavilion in center field for the Braves and some how got Field box front row seats for Oakland in August.

I knew that the pavilion and skyline deck would be available since they were never open to season ticket sales, but it really took me by surprise to see front row available in Field box. I know many people selected their season tickets in rows 20 and above. I wonder if they were holding them back for future season ticket sales and have now finally made the decision to open them up for single game sales?

The problem isn't the strength of the radio station. It's that you live in the middle of Iowa.

Correction: It looks like 4/17 vs Royals sold out.

Fog has lifted and tarp is off. Need some nice sunny days to green up the field...

I'm sure they are holding some tickets back for the general public presale, so I bet they are not sold out.

Appears as if barricades have been removed and entire plaza is open. If anyone is down in the area, can you check and see if the proshop is open. They are supposed to have a soft opening this week with the Grand Opening this Saturday.

"The problem isn't the strength of the radio station. It's that you live in the middle of Iowa." - Hardy freaking har.

Now introducing the Twins Dog, Twins Big Dog, Dugout Dog, and Dinger Dog. Click my name

Trosy I will go look right now. I work a couple blocks from there. Hope I can make it out without buying anything though, if it is indeed open.

Thanks DVS2008!

Considering it was nearly impossible to get tickets for Milwaukee, Anaheim, NY Yankees, and Chicago White Sox, I was stil able to get some decent seats for some decent games

Section S, Row 1 -- Saturday August 14
Section 136, Row 1 -- Monday May 3 (Detroit's first game back since 163)
Section 319, Row 3 -- Saturday, May 29
Section 215, Row 2 -- Thursday Sept 2 (I figured I will take Thursday and Friday off and go to the state fair as well since its a holiday weekend)

Just got a direct Tweet from @MinnesotaTwins that the proshop is open...

Reusse... EVEN THE HOT DOGS PAY TRIBUTE TO THE MET! (brutal)

What could be better on a summer day, Than watchin' the Twins win it all the way? Just sittin' in the stands an shout, "Hooray!" With a hot dog, Schweigert hot dog They're the ones you get When you're at the Met So if you got a taste for more Run down to the grocery store 'Cause Schweigert makes it better!

Plus, you can a dozen of them at the store for what one will cost at the park.

Yes Ben...But when that little jingle was written the dogs only cost you a quarter at the ballpark.

Congrats to those that got tickets in the presale - I have some disappointed season ticket partners - I either got the transaction volume too high or no seats to match your request every time for almost an hour. Even when seats showed available (and a couple times when I could actually select them), I would get one of those error messages.

By the time I got through on the phone (about 50 minute wait), the games I wanted were either sold out or a lot further from the infield than I wanted.

I did get one game though in a section I wanted to try - 1st row overlook for one of the Rockies games - should be cool. If my partners don't want my regular seats for that game, they'll be up on tctraders soon.

I just bought a new pair of gloves in the pro shop!! The plaza is open on both ends. I am currently uploading some photos to Flickr and I will send another post in a bit.

jfh - did you inquire about any of the Brewers games? I am sure they are sold out (for now). What other games did you inquire about on the phone?

They're pretty smart switching dollar dog night to Mondays... The Twins only have five Monday home games (besides OD)

I can't imagine they'll have student anymore.

Is that a Twins "official" Pro Shop on the plaza, or is it something different because of the "Majestic" branding? I'm curious about it because of the season ticket Pro Shop discount. If I won't get it down there, I'm not quite as giddy about that store... Although it looks very nice regardless.

I was told that dollar dog and student night would carry over when I bought my ST. Again, take whatever the Twins say with a grain of salt. They told me right about the hot dog. We'll see about the other.

I attached some pictures from my trip over to TF at lunch today. 4 of them show ads popping up around the field. All are 3 dimensional, and are pretty cool. The pro shop is open and I wandered through there for about 15 minutes. The view of the field from there is awesome. Everything inside is hella expensive though. They have the Gardy bench jackets (I have the blue one) in about 5 different colors now. All of the hoodies and jackets are $90 plus. Not as many jerseys as you would expect, and they don't have any of the gray aways in replica.

Both ends of the plaza are open. I got a good look at the boxes that they are going to be sending out ST's in. They were all in the windows putting them together. I asked about the discount for STH's in the Majestic shop to their manager. He said that they haven't finalized a percentage yet, but the cards will be mailed out with the ST boxes and the final discount will be listed in there (it sounds like they have figured it out, he just didn't want to tell me). Look at the picture of the Bronze Glove I posted. Didn't know it would say Twins on the inlay.

Haha, 90 bucks for a hoodie. Uh, no thanks. I thought 50-60 was overpriced.

I also was on the plaza today and the shop was open not fully stocked but tons of new sweet stuff! the wind vail makes no noise at all, hrbeks looks cool but like someone mentioned b4 its kinda small...i will load pics tonight

ahhh nice to see grass! getting excited!

I forgot to mention how windy it is on the plaza. It was really swirling. I wouldn't be surprised if it plays some type of effect on the gameplay.

The Twins Big Dog sounds the most promising due it being all beef and being cooked on grills. Too bad though its Schweigert whose hot dogs are largely school lunch quality in terms of flavor, but expecting a Best's, Vienna, Hebrew National or Ambassador was remote and pointless. I get that Schweigert is a Minnesota company and bringing in an out of state hotdog after splitting with Hormel would have caused an outcry (remember how bitter people got about the out of state grass?), but Schweigert is still a mediocre hot dog and it's a shame that it's the only brand on offer. It's too bad quality couldn't have won out partially via limited specialty dog at some kiosks or stands with Schweigert as the main brand overall.

From the WCCO photo, it looks like the Schweighert Big Dog will also include a bag of chips, like its predecessor.

looks like the dugout dog will be my dog

and just like the ballpark itself, the hot dog co. they go with cant please everybody... come on .. its a hot dog!!!its not ment to be prime rib... its ballpark americana.

hot dog , beer, outdoors... im sold!

and the guy in the twins store in TF told me they can look up my sth info in the database and apply the discount today.. 20% im sure it is

That sucks Rick...I bought some gloves there today and the guy told me I'd have to wait to get the card in the mail. Would only have saved like $1.50 but it sucks that they tell different things to different people. Oh well.

Some interesting stuff going on in todays game. Revere is 2/3 with a double and a triple! Man I am jacked for that kid. Old Jacque had a double today as well.

I just want to be assured that hotdogs are made with lips and @$$holes from Minnesota pigs.

I'm so pissed that the new $1 dogs are a combination of pork and beef. Why should all the Goys and Shiksas get hot dogs for a $1 while we probably have to dish out $6-$7??

Great shots. I take it in Ad5 you were up against a barrier? Can you walk up to the Tradition Wall yet?

I noticed there are still tickets available for the Thursday April 15 Red Sox game

Ad5 was right up on the Puckett gate. I'm not sure where the tradition wall is so. You can't really see it but on the one ad there is a guy riding a riding mower and another painting the lines of the Target logo. The first ad I posted looks to be Morneau's swing, but there aren't any numbers on the back.

Here are the 2010 Dollar-A-Dog Nights:

May 3rd - Detroit
June 28th - Detroit
July 19th - Cleveland
September 6th - Kansas City
September 20th - Cleveland

Also, I received tickets for the Open House today on the Sunday date. Did they split those and put some ticket holders on Saturday and some Sunday?

Jorge,

You must have missed it, but almost a month ago the Twins announced that Kramarczuk's would be offering sausages and brats at Target Field. I think it is safe to say that quality won out in that instance.

Pro Shop open!?! I'll be there tonight :)

I just drove down 5th, and there's a group of people jackhammering away at that odd non-crosswalk. They weren't far enough along for me to see exactly what they're doing to it, though.

DVS - did you see how late the PRO SHOP is open till? Why haven't the Twins announced this?!!?

Also, how has DSP's blog not been updated since December?

I did miss that item and that is something nice to hear, although brats and polish sausage are merely cousins to the noble hot dog as opposed to "Twins", if you will.

Anyone know the pro shop hours at TF?

My open house is for Saturday the 20th.

My Open House is Sunday as previously mentioned, so they must have sent half Saturday and half Sunday to keep things calm.

OG Jeff, I think another post earlier mentioned that the opening of the pro shop this week would be a "soft" opening, which would mean no official announcement by the Twins. The "Official" opening is for Saturday when the rest of the plaza opens. Got to make sure employees know their stuff, registers work smoothly etc. before the big day Sat. Kind of like the same reason there's the Gophers game, exhibition games etc. Got to test-run everything before the real thing hits.

Now, as far as why DSP's blog hasn't been updated since December, well I guess there just hasn't been much going on to update the fans about. :)

I called the Twins today about hours:

M-Sat: 10am - 8pm
Sun: 10am - 6pm (I think)

I glanced at the hours but I do not remember what it said for sure. They might not even be honoring those hours anyway. I'm pretty sure it said 8 AM to 5 PM on non game days though. Don't quote me on that though. They had phones in there, so maybe somebody could track down the phone number?

Did they split it up full one day and partial the other? I have a conflict with Sunday's open house. I was counting on going Saturday.

I was really looking forward to this, my son is planning a trip home from College for it. I wonder if there is any wiggle room? I guess I will find out when I get home and check the mail.

Minn if I get Saturday I will trade you mine for your Sunday. I really don't care which day I go. I only have 2 seats though so I'm not sure how many passes I will get.

Well, I'm a partial season ticket holder and got tickets for Sunday. So, if full season are getting them for Saturday, that may be the case. Otherwise, maybe they did it like exhibition games where certain 20 and 40 plans get one, and the others get the other day.

What you get in the mail is an invitation and I believe a ticket for each seat. My guess is that if you call, they might be able to help you out though.

Twins shutout Baltimore today. Two SO's in a row. Pitchers are looking pretty damn good early in ST. Besides Duensing and Swarzak - they got beat up yesterday...

i have 2 seats and they gave me 3 tix for open house

Is our discount card going to be good on jerseys? Did they have any road authentics of actual players yet?

They did not have any of the gray road authentics of any players...just the blank. I would think that the discount would be good on jerseys, since that's what most people will want to buy there. That place will make a lot of money though in that location. They had a lot of great merchandise. I had to get out of there before I dropped $100 on just little items.

Just some quick thoughts on the “Hot Dog” issue, while I personally only buy Hebrew National for consumption at home and would have loved to see them available at TF, as has been mentioned earlier if the Twins had gone with an out-of-state brand the uproar would have be twice as loud as the grass issue.

Also depending on how there fixed you don’t necessarily need a premium dog, (see the Coney’s that George serves at the Gopher Bar in St. Paul). Also given the retail price of the likes of Hebrew Nationals and Nathan’s the price at a ballpark would be way out of line.

While I might be a hot dog snob at home, when I am at a ballpark the most important things are the dog needs to be hot and the bun should nice and soft not stale, with appropriate condiments available both in the concourse and in the stands.

Until last year, discounts were good on jerseys with the exception of "customized" jerseys. There were no discounts offered on customized jerseys.

As for this year, I am not sure, maybe they changed the policies? I do know the STH discount will drop from the 25% last year to 20% this year.

Are the open house tickets via mail or e-mail? And do we know what it includes?

Does anyone know when they're suppose to be placing the statues out in the Plaza????

I have 4 tickets for the open house for Sat 3/20 but can't make it. Does anyone want any? I will mail them to you for no charge (I could use the karma). Post your email and I'll get in touch.

Are we going to get an article from Rick comparing the Hormel dogs vs. the new Schweigert hot dogs at Target Field? I would love to hear his opinion on this matter!

The hot dog choices at TF sound yummy.
Just as long as they dont wrap them in tin foil and keep them in a warmer for three hours. Fresh is the name of the game folks.

From the Ballpark Authority

Ballpark Area
Construction Update
3/08/2010

March 8th to April 2nd

Miscellaneous work taking place includes heat elements for piping under the Pedestrian Plaza and the erection of the Tribute Wall on the Plaza railings (the aluminum panels will be erected next week and the glass panels at the end of March). Closures will not happen on a daily basis, but will happen sporadically throughout the following 4 weeks.

Which installment was it that had the mention of the concourse that you could technically see through, but not actually see the field? Going nuts searching, and wanted to show that to a buddy. Also, the catwalk that some folks may need to take to get to their seats. Thanks.

rick, just emailed you

Tom,

I think I should be getting some as I just bought season tix over the weekend, but since I only got two tickets I think I get three passes and I need one more. I am just not sure when I will get mine and what day they are for. I would like to have four passes as i went in on the tix with another person and his wife and I thought him and his wife and me and my wife could go.

damn!

Anyone else have 4 tickets they want to give away or trade for three?

Also, are people receiving actual tickets or by email?

They are actual tix I got in the mail today. Sorry but Rick was first to claim them :)

Tom,

Thanks, missed it by that much!

The invitation says you can sit in your seats, visit clubs and restaurants, etc.

Tickets are coming in the old fashioned snail mail. The link shows a photo of mine. Sunday the 21st. A beautiful thing!

I have 2 seats and got 2 tickets for the open house in the mail today.

I think Sam may have pulled one over on the Twins, you sly dog, you!

I received two tickets and the invitation just like jpberka showed. How long does everybody plan on staying around? It's from 9 am to 5 pm on Sunday (I assume Saturday is the same).

if the resturants are open me and the kids are eating lunch

Anyone have any Open House tickets they would be willing to part with? Please let me know.

Weather is clearly going to be the big question on the 20th & 21st. If we get a good day, I imagine I might hang out a bit in my seats. Otherwise, I think many of us could end up wandering the concourses. ;-)

grrr....still no official info yet on a general public open house, huh?

Ok..My rant..I was under the impression STH's could go to EITHER Sat. or Sun. That's the way I read it online..I have plans on Saturday so we were going down Sunday and were even gonna ride the Northstar from Big Lake to check it out..Got the tickets today and I get Sat..No problem I thought and quickly fired out a email to my REP..He actually responds within the hour and says Unfortunately, Open house dates cannot be switched and I must go Sat..They got my 10,000 bucks so now they can do what they want I guess..Anybody want to switch a Sat. for their Sunday?

Considering the next weekend is the Gophers game and the weekend after that are the games with the Cards, I'm thinking that the public open house IS the Gophers game.

I could be wrong Luke, but I think the open house for the general public isn't really an open house. I think it's the Gopher baseball game. I believed they planned to have a separate open house for the public, but scrapped it.

How many Sat tics you got? I'll trade you if you want 2 for 2.

Not taking a shot at any station, just used to like the fact that I could catch a game once in a while even way the hell down here when it was on CCO.

email sent

jpberka,,,Check your spam box :)

Reply sent

Oh OK jpberka. Thanks. Which is a little strange to me, as they're capping attendance at the Gopher game to 25,000; I think more than 25,000 would like to see the new ballpark.

I know I had heard about the Gopher game including an open house of some sort, but I thought that had been above and beyond what they had already considered planning.

Teamwork...Yea baby...

I have Sunday (2) but do not care which day I go - if I can help anyone out = bmcevers4065atmsndotcom.

I have 4 open house tickets for Saturday, but cannot go. I will swap for 4 Sunday passes.

Details on the Season Ticket Open Houses:

Friday (Legends Club) - presume Champions Club too
- Officially the Delta SKY360 Legend's Club Open House at Target Field
- Guided tours of Target Field
- Delta SKY360 Legend's Club concessions available for purchase
- Friday, March 19, 4:00pm to 8:00 pm

Saturday and Sunday (can't tell if one is for full season plans and one for partial plans - I mixed up the envelopes) - details are the same for both days:
- Officially the "Season Ticket Holder Open House at Target Field"
- First change to sit in your seats
- Opportunity to visit Target Field's club spaces, group and hospitality areas and restaurants

"Event is subject to change and weather permitting"

It also appears that tickets are limited to the number of tickets per season ticket accounts.

I bought some extra tickets today, andgiven what I saw online and available (and of course who knows if the Twins are holding something back), I revise my earlier statements. I'm going to bet over on 3M fans. I still don't think they will sell out the season, but I'm amazed some of the limited games 2 hours into the process.

If they get off to any start at all, 3M+ is a lock.

I went down to the proshop tonight and the staff told me management was working with the Twins on a discount for STH. We can still get the discount at the other proshop's but currently not at the Majestic Twins Store.

mjh, i will swap with u. i have 4 sundaY PASSES AND WOULD RATHER GO SATURDAY.

DVS2008,

thanks for the offer to switch open house tickets. As it turned out I got Saturday open house tickets. All is good.

I appreciate the offer, nice to know there are friends out there. I had to laugh when I read "Event is subject to change and weather permitting". What type of weather is going to prevent me from getting to the open house.? I'm still there even if we have a foot of snow. I'll spend the day shoveling out my row and checking the distances between my seats and all of the various concessions.

jth - The Champions Club Open House is together with the Suite Holder's Open House which is March 12 from 4:00 to 8:00. I believe that those account holders will also be picking up their tickets at this event.

Jim,

Click name and email me. Thanks.

In regards to the STH discount on personalized attire. Last season I received the STH discount on a jersey at the Apple Valley Pro Shop. I did not receive a discount for the lettering & numbering on it. I would hope the Twins continue discounts for the clothing.

I got 2 Sunday passes and will switch for 2 on Sat if anyone out there wants to. tpullis yah00d0tc0m, I think you can figure it out.

Maybe it's just me, but "Schweigert Row of Fame" just doesn't have the same ring to it :)

Open house tickets are selling on ebay...

Just got 4 tix to open house for Sat, does anyone have 4 for Sunday to trade? I have a convention that ends Sat night

Email me

I was told that the "public open house" is the Gopher game and that plans for a public open house the weekend of 3/20 was scrapped when the decided not to distribute season tickets then. Not sure how/why one was related to the other.

One thing I noticed is that there are no guided tours for the "regular" season ticket open house on Saturday and Sunday.

Took my first tour around target Field and it looks even better in person. I pull out my camera to take some pics and the battery is dead...I guess I'll have to store it in my head until the open house. 1 thing I noticed is how the hard the wind was blowing around the gates and the wind veil was swaying back and forth like they needed to tighten it. I walked past DSP but couldn't think of anything to say other than "Hi".

so far it looks like all of those "open house" tickets for sale on ebay are from people in wisconsin, iowa or outstate minnesota.

Catching up after being out of town over the weekend. Thanks for the great swipe at Soucheray in your post, Rick. I have also flipped on KSTP a couple of times after hearing they are now "sports talk". That show is three Neanderthals grunting in a cave for three hours. I cannot fathom how anyone could listen to that for more than sixty seconds without their brain exploding.

It's so weird and beautiful seeing people roaming the plaza on the webcam.

Click name for a quick look at walking up to Kirby's gate on the plaza today.

Selling open house tickets just doesn't seem right to me, but I'm glad it seems to be people who can't easily make it there in person. If I end up with any left over, which I doubt, I will check on here for people who may still be looking for tickets.

I cant believe this hasent been brought up yet but on web cam 1 the entire playing field is visible except for the infield grass!!!!

What in the world is going on with the Open Houses? The Twins tell the media that STH would be on Saturday and the general public on Sunday (3/21).

Now that sounds like it has changed?? WTF? Furthermore, the Twins don't own the ballpark. Where is the Ballpark Authority as it is a public facility paid mostly by the public.

I am planning on attending Sunday and frankly I don't want to hear that I'm not "invited" just because I don't have season tickets. I helped pay for the damn facility and I want to get to see it and not worry about just getting a chance to be one of 25,000 fans at the Gopher game.

If I'm the Twins I especially want non-STH fans there. They already have STH money, they should be trying to get more fans to become STH fans and not having an open house for the general public doesn't get it done on many levels.

Rant over, but let's hope the Twins make it truly an open house on at least Sunday.

K

The "TAR" on the Target Field sign above gate 34 is still out. Hope they fix this soon as it looks pretty tacky for a brand new ballpark.

The outside plaza looks lit up like a christmas tree right now.

Ticket buying strategy question: Sure, I'll hop online again on Saturday to see if I can snag some games later on in the season.

I've come to the conclusion that a) it's probably best to find Friday/Saturday games just in case one gets rained out or goes late. Then you don't have to try to twist the boss' arm to get off work at noon the next day to see the makeup. b) my strategy is to buy two games in a row, especially early on, because if Game A is rained out, I get to see a doubleheader very likely the next day.

Here's a poser: Let's take the Twins series against Texas May 28-30. May 28 and 29 (Fri and Sat) go off without a hitch. Sunday is a total wash and is rained out. It's early enough in the season that a makeup game is going to happen - however Monday the 31, they're in Seattle for a 9:10 start against the M's. So, when does the rained-out Sunday game get made up? Next time the Rangers are in town?

What happens to late-season games in mid-September that get rained out and being so late in the season and such a tight schedule for the upcoming playoffs, do those games just go unplayed then, thus leaving the Twins with less than 162 games for the year?

luke - you are starting to do "it" again. be careful. try making it through the day without pondering the weather and the twins at the same time.

:-)

No problem Minn. Would have sucked if your son came up and it hadnt worked out. I wonder if people on the first base side actually would be permitted to shovel out their seats? There is still quite a bit of snow over there. Granted it will probably be gone in a couple weeks.

Twins fortune cookie: Going to a picnic you know will not get rained out because it is in a parking garage does not make it a great picnic.  

dvs2008 - visited the park yesterday and i would expect any snow left on the first base side of the stadium to be gone in far less time than a couple of weeks. it is almost gone now.

Rick...

Just giving you an update on ESPN 1500. Because of their contract with KFAN, AM 1500 can't use ESPN programing right away. I haven't heard what date they will be able to make the switch, but until then, it will be pretty awful "sports" programming. Things should get better by the time the season starts