Play Ball! (almost)

I'm in a baseball mood! Maybe it's from watching a thrilling 12-inning game last night (inside the park 3-run homerun in the bottom of the 9th!!! Are you kidding me Delmon??? Get your head in the game!) Maybe it's because it's spring/summer (all 3 months we get here in MN) and that always puts me in a baseball mood. In any case, I want to blog about the future of Twins baseball today. No, not the future pitcher down in AA or who we should draft. Heck, I don't know anything about that. But I do know WHERE the Twins will be playing in 2 years.

A couple weeks ago I was fortunate enough to get a tour of the new Twins stadium under construction. It's a fascinating site, and they are literally shoe-horning that stadium in there between 2 bridges, a freeway, a coal rail line, 2 future rail lines (Northstar and LRT), a waterbody (Bassett Creek) and the Target Center. The constraints on this construction site probably make it one of the most challenging buildings ever built in Minnesota. They are cantilevering the stands over a railway, building the stadium from the inside out so that heavy machinery never rests on top of the future field, and building the stadium OVER a 20-foot span over the aforementioned Bassett Creek which is now in box culverts deep underground.

The location is really superb. It has great access to all the municipal ramps, 2 rail transit lines, multiple freeways and all the restaurants and amenities of the Warehouse District around the Target Center. You may have your opinions on whether this is an appropriate use of public funds (as I have strong opinions too), but it's hard to not get excited about the future of baseball in Minnesota after seeing this site. I'll let the photos speak for themselves.

The view from around 3rd base

View of stadium from new plaza near Target Center