Wishful Fields Archive Target Field History

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So Long, January!

February 1, 2009 12:42 AM

COMMENT

Forty-eight beautiful degrees. Sunshine worthy of sunscreen. You may not believe this, but the air down by the ballpark actually smelled of cotton candy this afternoon (there may have been something going on at that nearby basketball arena).

Strolling around without a care (or gloves), I snapped a few new pictures.

This gate opens onto Seventh Street from the circulation ramps, but it appears to actually be an entrance gate, rather than an exit gate. It has something of a Bat Cave feel about it because it's not a gate proper, but an area of louvers that will swing in, virtually disappearing when closed...

Looking through it, you can see the outfield pavilion (upper deck at least).

Glass going in over the Oliva gate.

A truck is leaving the HERC plant. Here you can see the proximity to the promenade. For the record, the truck drove right by me and I smelled nothing...

Trains now rumble regularly beneath the promenade.

Looking through the Oliva gate, you can see the outfield stands.

Here's another look at the Oliva gate.

At one point, we thought these windows might represent one of the so-called knotholes. But nope. Nothing to see here. (Nearest I can tell, there will be no view of the playing field whatsoever from the Seventh Street sidewalk.)

Wow! Looking good.

More new pix tomorrow!

Catching Up

I had to be away for awhile to finish a very large project for a key client. But I was thinking, "Hey, it's January. Nothing ever happens in January."

Wrong.

Thanks to everybody who kept the discussion going and brought a myriad of new tidbits from TwinsFest.

I will get to those over the next couple of days. But first, we need to take a look at the renderings for the new Marlins ballpark:

Whew! That sure stinks!

It combines an ugly roof with long, boxy tracks, then adds the familiar curviness of those old concrete donuts (one of which is being demolished even as you read this -- RIP Shea; RFK: You're on borrowed time).

Frankly, this design looks to me like an updated version of the Carousel of Progress at Disneyland!

There's a great, big, beautiful tomorrow! (I loved this place as a kid.)

Don't get me wrong. They certainly do need a roof down there in ways that we don't. But it doesn't have to be ugly. OK, maybe it does have to be ugly (because there's really no such thing as an attractive roof over a baseball field), but it doesn't have to be that intrusively, aggressively, unimaginatively ugly.

And why would you build an oval within a gigantic square site? I'm not saying that it has to look like anything specific, but it surely should acknowledge its surroundings.

Look familiar? Unfortunately, just adding little balconies with cool angles will not offset the pervading ugliness.

I keep asking myself: What could account for the utter lack of taste in such a design, when it comes from the same group that designed Target Field?

There's only one answer: the collaborators. Whoever is working on this from within the Marlins needs to be reassigned right away. I'd love to go down there and help them avoid making the second-biggest mistake in franchise history.

For Further Study

Lots of folks have been offering up their pictures. Here are a few fan collections:

http://www.flickr.com/photos/34999765@N08/3242435939/
http://www.flickr.com/photos/dwallick/3179255039/
http://www.flickr.com/photos/58434322@N00/?saved=1
http://www.flickr.com/photos/23006598@N05/?saved=1

And there are updates among the official collections as well:

Ballpark Authority
Twins Official Ballpark Page

Finally, here's a blast from the past:

Sometime in the late 1980s: B ramp is under construction. Not yet built: Target Center, I-394 and the A ramp.

Compare it to this one that I took last March from close to the same spot:

And note how much progress has been made just in the last 10 months!

Thanks for stopping by today!

Comments

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HE IS BACK!!!!

Posted on February 1, 2009 at 01:28 AM by woooooo hoooooo 1

about time!

Posted on February 1, 2009 at 02:03 AM by steve 2

Rick,

Thanks for sharing your pics and also adding the links to some of the other pics out there. All of the different pictures help us die-hard really out of state fans keep an eye on the progress of Target Field.

Posted on February 1, 2009 at 08:10 AM by Mo 3

Some more pics courtesy of Midwest Product posted over at Minnescraper

Posted on February 1, 2009 at 08:24 AM by Mo 4

Some more pics courtesy of Midwest Product posted over at Minnescraper.com

Posted on February 1, 2009 at 08:23 AM by Mo 5

Thanks for the update. Keep 'em coming!

Posted on February 1, 2009 at 09:48 AM by Brandon 6

when i first saw the gate of the circulation ramp i thought those were spikes to "fend off evil-doers" but nope, they aren't.

pitchers and catchers report this month...

Posted on February 1, 2009 at 10:48 AM by annoying customer 7

My God, TF is looking fantastic.
I also like the new "title" pic that you have with the countdown. That's a really nice pic.
I wonder if you'll be able to hear the train whistles as they pass under the promenade - and have a Safeco Field thing going on. The train tracks pass right under the roof, when it's in the open position, and they love to blow the whistles as they pass under cause it creates a really neat echo.

Posted on February 1, 2009 at 11:48 AM by luke 8

Marlins biggest mistake - - giving Johan to minnesota?

Posted on February 1, 2009 at 11:54 AM by Abe Frohman 9

Just saw a sneak peek of the new Twins commercial that's going to air during the 3rd quarter tonight. Effing hilarious and probably one that many posters on this site will find rather relevant!

Posted on February 1, 2009 at 12:58 PM by johnk 10

Rick, you never got to say good-bye.

Posted on February 1, 2009 at 8:36 PM by left field crane 11

the new twins commercial was fantastic. i can't wait for the next in the series!

Posted on February 1, 2009 at 10:40 PM by annoying customer 12

minnesota's biggest mistake = sucking !!! haha

and marlins ballpark looks way better then target field , target field looks like a mall lol what are you doing trying to have style and class leave that to us professionals in miami
thats how we live our lives , dont try to compete

Posted on February 21, 2009 at 04:07 AM by marlins fan 13

why would the twins build a new stadium with no dome? during april and may its no were near baseabll weather.

Posted on March 25, 2009 at 1:39 PM by rjg 14

why would the twins build a new stadium with no dome? during april and may its no were near baseabll weather.http://wire.rotoinfo.com/wp-admin/options-reading.php

Posted on March 25, 2009 at 1:39 PM by rjg 15

Why indeed? Why build anything without a dome? Why expose yourself to weather? Why not build bicycles with domes? Camping sites with domes? You could sleep under the stars even when there weren't stars to sleep under!

No, rjg, you are wrong. If you look at the baseball records from back when the Twins played outside at the Met, you'll find that they cancelled only a handful of games due to weather.

But the real reason to play baseball outside is nothing other than it was divinely ordained. Yep. This is how the game is meant to be played. God said so. If you don't believe me, fine. You can look it up.

Posted on March 27, 2009 at 9:38 PM by HurricaneBob 16

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"You talk about the magic, the aura, but what really makes a stadium is the fans. Concrete doesn't talk back to you. Chairs don't talk back to you. It's the people who are there, day in, day out, that makes the place magic."

– Bernie Williams

Explore the Site

Here are 50 images chosen randomly from the 3004 found on this site. Click the image to be taken to the original post. A new list is created every 10 minutes.

Wind veil framing

Love the lighted, translucent panel

This was actually taken from the top floor of the International Market Square.

Better them than me

The right field overhang is in place, and the first base stands are starting to go in.

This is as close as I could get to a pedestrian-eye view of the main entrance. This is what you'll see as you enter by coming down Sixth Street.

This looks south and shows the track configuration for Northstar. The platform shown is just a placeholder. To the best of my knowledge, concept drawings for this platform have not been released. Keep in mind, this is NOT part of the ballpark project. It is completely separate.

The bridge is Seventh Street.

A view into the park down Sixth Street from just beyond Hennepin. Note that one side of the street contains century-old, classic buildings -- structures which are likely to last another century or more. The other side, not so much. (Click the image to see what it looked like from exactly the same spot 97 years ago.)

Some of your fellow BPMers at a game in May of 2010 (we had almost the whole section)

Usher Anna hands out Homer Hankies

Spring of 1982 (click to enlarge greatly -- can you pick out Kent Hrbek?)

This looks up Fifth Street (LRT train visible in the distance). This bridge is also being partially rebuilt (see next photo).

Look at all those flag poles! But wouldn't the one from Met Stadium look great just inside the gates in the middle of that entrance plaza?

Gate 34 Puckett

Double plays will be turned here.

Looking back toward First Avenue

Ballpark elevation diagram, viewed from Fifth Street. (Click to enlarge.)

He'll always be a fan favorite, but did you know that he's making $18.5 million this year? The Twins' entire outfield today, combined, makes $7.45 million.