The Taj MaTwins

Like it or not, baseball is the most religious of games, and, in spite of my friend Chris Scharen’s threat to set up an alternative Church of Joe Mauer across the street, the new Target Field really is a marvel.  My son, Tanner, and I had the pleasure of taking in a game there on Sunday.  The Twins lost, but it mattered little, as it was a perfectly beautiful day.

Built on a postage-stamp-sized lot, it has about the same footprint and number of seats as Fenway Park.  Being nestled in downtown Minneapolis, parking can be a pain — especially for weekday games — but it is right on the Hiawatha Light Rail Line and is also connected to Minneapolis’s excellent system of bike paths (in other words, there’s inherent reward for taking public transportation or biking.

But, as a former umpire, my favorite part of the Twins’ new home is how close every seat is to the action.  When Ron Gardenhire came out in the bottom of the ninth to argue a bad call, Tanner got his first chance to see a major league brouhaha.  That was awesome.

I won’t stretch the analogy to comparing Target Field to a church or anything like that.  But I will say this: I don’t miss the Metrodome, and I haven’t gone to see an NFL game in years, but when someone offers me tickets to see the Twins at home, you can bet that I’ll make that pilgrimage again!