Dedication Plaques - Volume 3 - Target Field

Target Field Dedication Plaque
I took a great trip to Minnesota late this summer to visit the one year old Target Field. Its a great ballpark and a HUGE upgrade from the Metrodome. The Twins really paid alot of attention to little details which made nice park a great one.

This plaque, dedicated to the people of Minnesota, is located on the main entrance plaza. Its near the ticket windows to the right of the "Gate 29" entrance. As usual, the plaque lists the owners of the Twins, various local politicians that made financing possible and the designers and builders of the stadium. (I believe this is the first major league ballpark that uses the new Populous name. Citi Field's plaque lists "HOK Sport" as the architect.)

An interesting touch is the laser engraved image of Target Field itself. I've never seen something like that on a dedication plaque. The plaque seems to be made of regular sheet metal with all of the names/images engraved on it. Teams seem to be getting away from the heavy brass plaques that older parks had and are now going with ones of this type of metal and plastic like at Citi Field.

You can check out all of my photos from Target Field at StadiumPage.com.

Stadium Remains- Part Seven - Metropolitan Stadium

Metropolitan Stadium
Metropolitan Stadium was home of the Minnesota Twins from their inception in 1961 through the end of the 1981 season. At that point the Twins (and the NFL Vikings) moved to the Metrodome. The stadium was abandoned for a few years before its demolition in 1985. The site of the stadium remained an unmarked vacant lot until 1992 when the massive Mall of America opened.

Home Plate Marker
As I always do when visiting MLB cities, I try to find the remains and/or historic markers of old ballparks. This one was actually quite easy to find as its in the middle of the largest shopping mall in the country. The home plate marker (pictured above) is located inside of an indoor amusement park called "Nickelodeon Universe".

"Log Flume" Ride with Old Stadium Seat
Located 520 feet from the home plate marker is the Log Flume ride. Up on the wall beyond the ride is a seat from the old stadium.

Metropolitan Stadium Seat with Killebrew banner
The seat represents the longest home run in the history of the Met. Hit by Harmon Killebrew on June 3, 1957, the home run traveled 520 feet into the far reaches of the stadium's bleachers. There is also a small plaque detailing Killebrew's achievements at the Log Flume.

Nickelodeon Universe Map with location of the Seat and Home Plate
This is probably the easiest stadium marker to visit. It is located just off the main north/south highway only a few miles south of Minneapolis. The theme park does not charge admission to enter and is located in the center of the gigantic shopping mall.

To see other images of the Met markers click HERE.

Check out images of Metropolitan Stadium before demolition at The Stadium Graveyard.

Figural Row Ends - Volume 2 - AL Central

Continuing the "Figural Row Ends" series, next profiled is the American League Central. All five parks were either built or renovated since 1994 and all have figural row ends.


Target Field

The new home of the AL Central champions is Target Field. The seat posts are of the same model as Citi Field, and as such have "sticker" logos. As you can see in this picture, the Twins installed wooden seats in some of the club areas. An interesting throwback to ballparks of the past. The only other current parks with any wooden seats are Fenway Park and Dodger Stadium.


Comerica Park

Comerica Park, home of the Detroit Tigers, also has an interesting row end setup. They depict a tiger in a batting stance. This is actually a throwback to the original row ends at Tiger Stadium (then known as Briggs Stadium). Its a really nice touch that appears on every seat row in the ballpark.


US Cellular Field

US Cellular Field was renovated in parts throughout the 2000's. The park opened with non-descript blue seat posts which had no figural row ends. (At right in the above image.) After the renovations, all rows in the park now are dark green with various White Sox logos. The above picture features the 80's "Sox" logo.


Progressive Field

The row ends at Progressive Field in Cleveland have an outline of the field's dimensions with the silhouette of a batter mid swing.


Kauffman Stadium

With Kauffman Stadium's recent renovation which was completed for opening Day 2009, all seats now are blue with a painted on Royals logo.

Check out these and thousands of other photos at StadiumPage.com.