Baseball Fever

With the opening of the baseball season this last week and all the hype regarding the Mariners during the off-season, I've been pretty obsessed with baseball recently. Due to the Mariners poor start and struggling offense, they've been pretty frustrating to watch lately and honestly, not too fun to write about. I'm not trying to say I've given up hope for the season, we're seven games into a 162 game and once they activate Cliff Lee and Eric Bedard from the DL, The Mariners will no doubt improve significantly. With that being said, I'm going to focus on a different baseball topic today, ballparks.

Target Field - The new home to the Minnesota Twins.

Tomorrow is the inaugural game of Target Field in Minneapolis! After 28 seasons in the Metrodome, the Twins are moving back into an open-air ballpark for the first time since 1981 when they still played at Metropolitan Stadium in the Minneapolis suburb of Bloomington.

Metropolitan Stadium - Home of the Minnesota Twins from 1961-1981.

HHH Metrodome - The home of the Minnesota Twins from 1982 - 2009.

I like to consider myself a "baseball traditionalist" and am a full believer that the game was meant to be played outdoors. The Twins have been getting criticized for not installing a retractable roof on their new half a billion dollar ballpark, but I for one am a fan of the current version of the ballpark without the roof. I feel that these new "retro" style stadiums with roofs are excellent places to watch the game, and the roof is very convenient when the weather is poor, but once you've gone to Fenway or Wrigley, you still get the feeling that you're in an arena when the roof is closed. Safeco Field has been praised because even though it has a retractable roof, it still has an open-air environment when the roof is closed. Whereas Miller Park in Milwaukee, Chase Field in Arizona, and Minute Maid Park in Houston become nearly completely enclosed when the roof is closed, leaving you with that "arena" feel. So in my opinion, Safeco Field, although a beautiful baseball park with excellent views, amenities, and baseball atmosphere will never be able to be completely compared to the "pure" parks without roofs.

Safeco Field with its hideous roof looming in the background.

At this point you might be starting to ask yourself, "Yea but they need a roof in Seattle, I mean lets be serious here, Seattle is the rainiest city in the country!" False. Seattle actually gets less rain than cities with ballparks without roofs like Miami, Boston, and New York. Also, most of Seattle's rain comes during the winter months. During the summer, Seattle is drier than nearly all cities east of the Mississippi. Watching a game in Seattle without a roof might be miserable at times in April, May, and even as late as June when you get that persistent light drizzle with temperatures in the 50s, but for the most part it would work in Seattle because the rain is light and showery, rarely intense enough during the summer months to cancel a game. Outdoor baseball has worked in Seattle for decades when the Seattle Rainiers and the infamous "one and done" Seattle Pilots played at Sicks Stadium.

Sicks Stadium - Home to the Seattle Rainiers and Seattle Pilots from 1938-1976.

Congratulations to the Minnesota Twins for opening a ballpark without a roof in a city with a dedicated fan base. I'm sure Target Field will be an amazing place to watch a baseball game for decades to come, even though perhaps a few games every couple of years might be cancelled due to snow in April, but hey, that's baseball.

Snow cancels baseball at Progressive Field in Cleveland - April 2007.