The Hubert H. Humphrey Metrodome

The Minnesota Twins called the Metrodome home for 28 years where it hosted the 1985 All-Star game, two World Series in 1987 and 1991 (they won both of them), and an epic 2009 AL Central Tiebreaker game. Photo by Society of American Baseball Research.

John Butler

jbutle58@lakers.mercyhurst.edu

The Hubert H. Humphrey Metrodome was the home of the Minnesota Twins for close to thirty years. It defiantly wasn’t the most suited for baseball with its turf surface and Plexiglas on top of the outfield wall, but fans came to enjoy watching games there during the most successful period in franchise history where they won the 1987 and 1991 World Series.

Before the Twins moved to the Metrodome, they spent its first twenty-one seasons at Metropolitan Stadium in suburban Bloomington. They experienced great success during their initial decade in Minnesota which resulted in their attendance topping 1,000,000 in each of their first 10 seasons at the Met and they also led the league in attendance twice. [1] The Twins best year in the ballpark came in 1965 when they hosted both the All-Star game and World Series that they lost to the Los Angeles Dodgers 4 games to 3. However, as the team dropped in the standings during the 1970s, so did the attendance which began the Twins' pursuit of a brand-new stadium. [2]

In 1977, the Minnesota Legislature passed a non-site-specific stadium bill and empowered a newly created stadium commission to assess options. [3] A year later, the commission voted to build a multipurpose domed facility on the eastern side of downtown Minneapolis, and the Hubert H. Humphrey Metrodome opened in 1982 with a capacity of 55,000 for baseball. The stadium was named after former United States Vice President Hubert H. Humphrey.

The Metrodome opened on Saturday, April 3rd for an exhibition game between the Twins and Philadelphia Phillies. [4] Pete Rose of the Phillies got the first hit, and the Twins Kent Hrbek got the first home two homers in the new stadium. [5] The initial regular-season game was played three nights later, with the Twins falling to the Seattle Mariners 7-11, but Minnesota’s Dave Engle sent one over the left-field wall for the first official hit and home run in the Metrodome.

Three seasons later, the Twins hosted the 56th All-Star Game on Tuesday, July 16, 1985, where 54,960 fans gathered the Metrodome to watch the NL All-Stars cruise to a 6-1 victory over the AL All-Stars. [6] LaMarr Hoyt of the San Diego Padres received MVP honors after earning the win by tossing three innings while only allowing two hits and one earned run. The Metrodome would also be the site of a baseball first when it became the first dome stadium to host a World Series game on Saturday, October 17, 1987. [7] Minnesota defeated the National League Champion St. Louis Cardinals in game 1, 10-1 and eventually captured the 84th Fall Classic with eight strong innings by future AL Cy Young Award winner Frank Viola [8]

More memorable moments happened at the Metrodome such as Kirby Puckett robbing Ron Gant of a home run in the third frame of Game 6 of the 1991 World Series, receiving help from the plexiglass. [9] Then, in the bottom of the eleventh, Puckett sent the home faithful happy by launching a walk-off homer off the Braves Charlie Leibrandt where Jack Buck famously called, “And we’ll see you tomorrow night!” [10] John Smoltz and Jack Morris faced off in a phenomenal game seven pitching matchup and the latter went ten scoreless innings to set up Gene Larkin’s series-winning single [11], plating Dan Gladden to give the Twins their second World Series Championship in five years.

Beginning in the mid-1990s, the Twins were pushing for a new ballpark and it was not until May 2006 that the State of Minnesota approved financing for the construction of a new facility. [12] Target Field opened in April 2010, bringing outdoor baseball back to the Twin Cities. However, the Minnesota Twins ended the Metrodome’s run in style by forcing a tiebreaker game with the Detroit Tigers after defeating the Kansas City Royals 13-4 on Sunday, October 4 meaning at least one more game in the place. 48 hours later, the Twins hosted the Tigers in an exciting back-and-forth tiebreaker game that concluded with a 6-5 win for Minnesota in 12 frames. [13] Unfortunately, the magic at the Metrodome ended on Sunday, October 11 when the Twins lost 4-1 to the eventual World Series champion New York Yankees in Game 3 of the American League Division Series.

Even though the Metrodome is not around anymore, baseball fans and Minnesotans will always remember the days of Kent Hrbek and Kirby Puckett, the first indoor World Series game in 1987, Frank Viola and Jack Morris’ pitching dominance, and winning the 1987 and 1991 World Series.

Endnotes

[1] Stew, Thornley (2012, Minnesota). Twin Cites Ballparks of the 20th Century and Beyond. The National Pastime: Baseball in the North Star State. Retrieved April 9, 2021, from https://sabr.org/journal/article/twin-cities-ballparks-of-the-20th-century-and-beyond/

[2] Ibid.

[3] Stew, Thornley (n.d.). Metrodome (Minneapolis). Retrieved April 9, 2021, from https://sabr.org/bioproj/park/metrodome-minneapolis/

[4] Ibid. Twin Cities Ballparks of the 20th Century and Beyond.

[5] Ibid.

[6] Baseball Reference. (2021). 1985 All-Star Game Box Score, July 16. Retrieved April 4, 2021, from https://www.baseball-reference.com/allstar/1985-allstar-game.shtml

[7] Baseball Reference. (2021). 1987 World Series Game 1, Cardinals at Twins, October 17. Retrieved April 9, 2021, from https://www.baseball-reference.com/boxes/MIN/MIN198710170.shtml

[8] Baseball Reference. (2021). 1987 World Series Game 7, Cardinals at Twins, October 25. Retrieved April 9, 2021, from https://www.baseball-reference.com/boxes/MIN/MIN198710250.shtml

[9] [MLB]. (2013, June 25). 1991 WS Gm6: Puckett’s amazing leaping grab at the wall. [Video]. YouTube. Retrieved April 9, 2021, from https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BQksDqxG36s

[10] [MLB]. (2014, Nov. 13), 1991 WS Gm 6: Kirby’s homer forces Game 7. [Video]. YouTube. Retrieved April 9, 2021. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rRD2IbYFf7o

[11] [Minnesota Twins]. (2015, Oct. 2). 1991 WS Gm7: Larkin’s single wins series for Twins. [Video]. YouTube. Retrieved April 9, 2021, from https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=seW7_XMudqg

[12] Ballparksofbaseball. (2021). Metrodome, Minneapolis, MN. Retrieved April 9, 2021, from https://www.ballparksofbaseball.com/ballparks/metrodome/

[13] [MLB]. (2014, Sep. 2). Casilla’s hit in 12th puts Twins in playoffs. [Video]. YouTube. Retrieved April 9, 2021, from https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RcaeQuD3qxc