Mik’s Mini Bat Collection: HHH Metrodome 1982-2009

Mik had already got his mini bat at the game, but when we went to the Dome Shop across the street from the Metrodome to hunt down a logo only sticker for the car Dad found a HHH Metrodome 1982-2009 mini bat that we just had to get for Mik. He was actually quite excited with this find and even posed with this bat happily.

The bat has the logo for the farewell season like my baseball, although it does not exactly outright state farewell season on it. It has a cool background with little Twins logos all over in the blue part. Definitely a cool bat for his collection considering it is one of the few ballpark bats he has (only other one I know he has for sure is a Nationals Inaugural Game one I got him last year and he might have a Farewell Season or Breaking Ground type one for the current Busch Stadium as I vaguely remember him getting one like that when we saw the previous Busch Stadium in its last year).

Kj’s Baseball Collection: Farewell Season HHH Metrodome Ball 2 of 3

With it being the final season for the Twins at the Hubert H. Humphrey Metrodome there was several special commemorative balls. This included a set of three that were each a limited edition of 600 and two other ones that were not limited edition. They all seemed to have pretty much the same design with the background color being the main difference between the two. I decided to get one of the limited edition ones and choose the dark blue one since it is a team color, I like blue, and it goes well with the colors in my room my baseballs are all going.

The Farewell Season HHH Metrodome Ball 2 of 3 has that statement on one side. Next to that on the right side it has a logo honoring the 1991 World Series win by the Twins. On the left side of the statement is a similar logo commemorating their World Series win in 1987 (hence another great reason to get this ball, as that occurred not long after I was born). On the other side it has sentences about the two Game 7 World Series wins (1987 and 1991) that occurred at the Metrodome. The side opposite the sentences has a HHH Metrodome Logo with the years it has been used by the Twins (1982-2009) and says Limited Edition of 600 underneath.

Mik’s Mini Bat Collection: Silver Twins

The mini bat selection at the souvenir kiosks at the Metrodome was not too bad. They only had the one Twins word logo design, but they had it in about six colors, which is about normal for mini bats. Mik ended up choosing the silver one because the silver color seemed to contrast and show off the logo the best.

Car Stickers Update: Minnesota Twins

The souvenir kiosks in the Metrodome only had stickers with players on them. We got one, but after the game we headed across the street to the Dome Souvenirs and ended up getting a logo set of stickers much like we got at the Padres. Now the American League one has one not quite entirely circular with the Twins one having crossed bats over the circle ball with the Twins logo.

Day 16: Mall of America and the Ballpark Connection

You know no trip to Minneapolis is complete without a trip to Mall of America. Perhaps you thought that there was no way we would work it into our ballpark trip without it being a non-baseball sightseeing stop. Well, it is a baseball sightseeing spot and even a ballpark one. That is because the Mall of America is built where the Metropolitan Stadium once stood, which is where the Twins played until the Metrodome was built.

In what used to be the Camp Snoopy Amusement Park and is now a Nickelodeon themed park in the middle of the mall there are two things to search out related to the Metropolitan Stadium. One is the original red seat up on the wall near the Log Ride. This seat is where the longest home run in the stadium was hit. The other thing is a plaque commemorating where the home plate used to be. Unfortunately, rides block the view of the seat from home plate and make it hard to notice how far that homer was actually hit.

This was a fun stop in my opinion even though it was only a half hour stop. Mik hated it because he just wanted to get on the road after the Twins game and get to Chicago as soon as possible, but if we gave into his every complaint then we would see nothing. Dad seemed to think it was a worthwhile stop like I thought, so two out of three is not bad considering Mik’s lack of wanting to enjoy anything beyond the mini bats and food.

Baseball Museum 4: Dome Souvenirs Plus Baseball Museum

The Dome Souvenirs Plus is a souvenir shop with mostly Viking and Twins merchandise. It is located across the street (sort of) from the Gate A entrance to the Metrodome. Inside it is a small one room baseball museum (also called Classic Sports Museum on one part of the shop’s entrance). The museum is sort of a way of getting people into the shop, but it is pretty interesting.

The museum is a one room one, but it is jam packed with cases of memorabilia to the point it was a tight squeeze for Mik to get through it. The memorabilia is mostly Twins related, but also includes a lot of stuff from random other MLB teams. The displays include signed baseballs, Twins World Series memorabilia, old programs, and classic ball caps. It is not exactly enough to go out of your way to stop here, but it is more than the minimal reason we next ended up at the Mall of America. Also, if you want Twins souvenirs at least until the new Target Field opens this is the place to get them, as the inside the Metrodome shops stink.

Accessibility Review: Hubert H. Humphrey Metrodome

Overall I did not find the Metrodome too bad of a place to watch baseball, however, it does have some unique accessibility things to note. Let’s start with parking since that is the first thing we do at a ballpark. We found parking right across the street in the Dome Parking garage. However, there we got the last of two handicap spots that were on level one. Perhaps there were more on the second level, but boy was that a surprisingly few amount. At least it was convenient to the park and it had a large elevator.

Next going into the park is pretty easy to figure out as the gate for wheelchairs to enter is clearly marked. However, actually getting into the park is not as easy as it seems. You would think I could just open the door next to the revolving door and Dad push Mik through while I held it open, but no the usher insists you go through this odd set of doors. We go through the first set of automatic doors and then stand between the two yellow lines while the first set closes and then you can push the button to open the second set, but be careful and listen to the instructions or you end up being the idiot (DAD!!!!) that pushes the button that reopens the doors you just came through. Thus you then have to again wait for those to close and then finally end up with the correct button pushed and the doors in front of you opening, so you can finally five to ten minutes later finally end up in the park.

After that thankfully it was very straightforward to find the elevator to get up to the level we had seats on and there we had a friendly elevator operator. Then we found our section right after we got off the elevator. We get to the seats and they seem fine with them being in front of the section and the bar in front being in an okay position that does not block the sight much. Mik even got excited that the wheelchair spots have cup holders and me and dad in the regular seats have no cup holders, as you only get them in the regular seats if you are behind a row of seats since the cups are attached to the backs of seats only.

Mik soon ended up getting really obnoxious and pissed because another wheelchair arrives and sits in the spot next to him. He felt crowded, as this was the first time he had a stranger sitting next to him and similar to the annoyance of the standing people crowding him at the Dodger game. Such is the luxury he has had so far in the handicap section with at least always having one of us on each side and not having to sit next to a stranger until now, but that is no excuse for his rude behavior.

Now having someone next to him is not something I consider an issue in most cases, however, in the end it actually was an issue because in order for Mik to leave his spot the person had to move and then some musical chair sort of movements had to be orchestrated for Mik to escape to the concourse. This is what I found unacceptable about the accessible seating. At least the people with the lady were friendly about getting the lady and her wheelchair out of the way when necessary. I just do not think it is something either party should be inconvenienced with and it certainly could get annoying for either party or both if it had to take place during game play.

Let’s hope the seating situation is straight pull in at the new Target Field since that place was built for baseball. Also, not sure if this is how it is on the lower level, but honestly I only saw one little section of handicap seats on the lower level right down by the field, so almost all the handicap seating is like this in the upper level. It works if only one wheelchair is there, but since it was Strike Out Stroke Day almost ever section had two wheelchairs in each of the spots.

Now I do overall rate this the least accessible park so far, but I do not mean to say it is a bad experience, especially since there is lots of potential and hope for a Twins game to become a very accessibly enjoyable experience starting next season. I just think that without the thought of there for sure being a new stadium next season it would seem like a way worse situation that was not being dealt with.