Target Field

[JimR]

Hey, somebody here came to the May series. I am here now for three days. Please tell me what to do to eat and drink around the ballpark. Thanks!

[WVastro]

 It terribly close to the ballpark but Surly Brewery was my favorite spot all week hands down.

[WVastro]

It terribly close to the ballpark but Surly Brewery was my favorite spot all week hands down.

Wow. What a mistype...  I'm not sure how "it's not terribly close" turned into "it terribly close". Sorry...?

[Bench]

You should go to Kramarczuk's which is just across the Mississippi from the stadium.  They sell Kramarczuk sausages at the ballpark, but going to the source for some eastern European food and sausages is fantastic.  There's also a great wall of local beer selections in the ballpark.

[AstroFrog]

Hey, somebody here came to the May series. I am here now for three days. Please tell me what to do to eat and drink around the ballpark. Thanks!

That was me.

For seriously good restaurants, 112 Eatery, Bachelor Farmer, and Butcher & the Boar are three celebrated restuarants within walking distance of the park.

Down the scale, Red Cow Burgers, Smack Shack (known for Lobster Rolls), and Black Sheep (coal-fired pizza) are popular.

Fulton Brewery's taproom is the most convenient to Target Field.  Brit's Pub is one of the most well-known bars in town, with a great rooftop area.  Smaller than Brit's is The Local,  a typical Irish pub in many respects but very well-regarded.

If you are going to venture beyond what you can walk to from the ballpark, the list becomes different.  I can add more if that is the case.

[Duman]

If you are staying downtown, there is a wonderful assortment of food trucks on 6th ave S / Marquette that I enjoyed while I was at a conference there last year.  The close off two blocks at lunch time for the trucks. 

Also ate at Hell's Kitchen which has a good burger and bar area.  Not upscale at all. 

[JimR]

We wandered into Loons to get out of a rainstorm and Met Tim, the owner, who is big time connected with the team. We will go back tonight after the game and to get a hookup for tickets tomorrow. Maybe 112 tomorrow.

Thanks!

[drew corleone]

Great ballpark! The one time I went I really didn't get a chance to do much outside of the park, because it was delayed by rain and I didn't want to Uber all the way into town and it get called, but I loved almost everything about the place. Plus it was the cheapest good ticket I've ever bought... $28 for four rows off the field on the 1st base side, about midway from the dugout to the fence.

My only complaints were (minor) the hot dog was lousy, and (not as minor) I could not fathom why they chose to not put a roof on it. It was 42 degrees and after about 4-5 innings we relocated to the heated open bar above the left field corner. That was a great vantage point though, and they had a lot of taps. I do want to go back when it's warmer.

[JimR]

Great ballpark! The one time I went I really didn't get a chance to do much outside of the park, because it was delayed by rain and I didn't want to Uber all the way into town and it get called, but I loved almost everything about the place. Plus it was the cheapest good ticket I've ever bought... $28 for four rows off the field on the 1st base side, about midway from the dugout to the fence.

My only complaints were (minor) the hot dog was lousy, and (not as minor) I could not fathom why they chose to not put a roof on it. It was 42 degrees and after about 4-5 innings we relocated to the heated open bar above the left field corner. That was a great vantage point though, and they had a lot of taps. I do want to go back when it's warmer.

Nice, intimate park, but of the four my friend and I have seen together, I rank it #4.

[hostros7]

Nice, intimate park, but of the four my friend and I have seen together, I rank it #4.

What are the other three?


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[JimR]

What are the other three?


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1. Baltimore
2. Pittsburgh
3. St. Louis
4. Minneapolis

[MusicMan]

The sight lines at Camden are flawless.


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[JimR]

The sight lines at Camden are flawless.


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the park and the setting are gorgeous.

[BizidyDizidy]

I'll be there for the game Sunday - looking forward to it.

[das]

The sight lines at Camden are flawless.

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To date, still my favorite MLB park. For the actual park and for where it is in town.

[BUWebguy]

To date, still my favorite MLB park. For the actual park and for where it is in town.

I need to see another game in Baltimore. I went once, 10 or 12 years ago, with high expectations. I came away unimpressed and underwhelmed.

[drew corleone]

1. Baltimore
2. Pittsburgh
3. St. Louis
4. Minneapolis

I haven't been to those other 3, though I hope to at some point (and in the order you mentioned).

[chuck]

The sight lines at Camden are flawless.

It's funny you should say that. Back when the park opened a guy I worked with bought a ticket package, 20-games over the course of the year, something like that.  The seats were on the lowest level, but about as far back as you could get, which put you under the section above and made it completely impossible to follow the trajectory of any ball hit in the air. About like this:

https://aviewfrommyseat.com/wallpaper/mooneywjp-20120624125317.jpg

But worse. I mean, it's not Wrigley or Fenway where you're likely to have a column or a post or who knows what directly in front of you. But it was annoying as hell. Now that I think about it, I had a vendor or a client or someone with tickets in the right field section (not the bleachers) of the old Yankee Stadium that were literally right behind a giant cement column. It was comical.

I went to Camden Yards at least twice that first season using Denny's tickets. I went with my friend Marc both times. Marc and I seemed to bring out the worst in each other, but in a genial sort of way. The first time we went was a night game in April. Marc, from New England, shows up looking like he's going on an arctic expedition. By the fourth or fifth inning I knew why. The second time we went was a day game against the A's. I'd long since decided that I was not going to sit in those seats again so when we got to the park I started dealing with everyone who was loitering around looking to buy or sell. We sold our seats pretty quickly and then found a guy who was going in with a group that for some reason had a pair of tickets somewhere else that they weren't going to use. They're supposed to be pretty good, he told me. I looked at them and saw that they were lower level and that the row didn't resemble anything like the row we'd just evacuated so I though, Well, how bad could they be? Turns out they were literally on the front row directly next to the visiting dugout. Row AAA I think it was.

That reminds me, did any fan of The Wire notice that when Bunk and McNutty went to the game the O's were playing the White Sox and we get to see an at bat by Carlos Lee?

[AstroFrog]

1. Baltimore
2. Pittsburgh
3. St. Louis
4. Minneapolis

No shame in being fourth among this group.  Baltimore and Pittsburgh are consensus "top ballparks" according to anyone I have ever met who has seen them (I have not).  I've been outside the St. Louis park, and I have to say it did not do much for me, but I am sure that town would be damn sure to build a great park (BFiB, and all that).

I think the Twins did a nice job with Target Field.  The way it is nestled into the infrastructure surrounding it - parking ramps, an interstate highway - makes it a very fan friendly destination.  I do think it is noticible in the "trim" that they were a bit more economical with the budget than some other new parks.  The cost of $555 million is less than parks that opened around the same time Marlins Park ($634 million), Nationals Park ($693 million), or Yankee Stadium ($2.3 billion....sheesh).

Perhaps as a nod to the reality of not having a roof at this latitude, the Twins are most liberal about scheduling day games.  Typically both the Saturday and Sunday games of a weekend series will be during the day, and often the getaway game of a mid-week series will start at 12:10.

[jwhudson]

Coach, where does Minute Maid fit on your list?

[JimR]

Coach, where does Minute Maid fit on your list?

High on my list

Target Field food and amenities are mediocre at best. It has the intimate field of a small ballpark, and I liked the voluminous information the scoreboard and other screens provide.

[Mr. Happy]

By far, my favorite park is AT&T Park.

[roadrunner]

It's so hard to compare parks these days.  They're almost all great, and a lot of times it feels like nitpicking trying to find differences.  I usually group my ballparks and rank within groups:

Classics
Wrigley/Fenway tied
Dodger Stadium
old Yankee Stadium

New Classics
AT&T
Camden Yards (it has been years, so my memory is fading a bit)
Minute Maid
Petco
Marlins Park (surprisingly impressive, but definitely has flaws)

New Cookie Cutter; Never Need to Go Back
new Busch Field
Nationals Park
whatever Rangers Stadium is called now
Turner Field

Parks I Want to See
PNC
Safeco
Target Field
Skydome

[BudGirl]

Rogers Centre was interesting.  I didn't have time to walk around and check it out because we got there late,  But what I did see was cool.  The upper level seats had railing on every row.  Really kind of odd since that has been the only stadium I've ever seen that.

[Navin R Johnson]

I liked Petco every bit as much as I did AT&T.

[BizidyDizidy]

AT&T mu favorite as well. Petco also great, really enjoyed Coors Field as well (including for the area round the park). New Yankee Stadium is completely mediocre, Citi Field is ok.

[MRaup]

I don't get the love for Wrigley. The place is a dump full of dumpy ass people.

ETA: Fenway, on the other hand, is amazing. TINY, but amazing.

[WVastro]

I don't get the love for Wrigley. The place is a dump full of dumpy ass people.

ETA: Fenway, on the other hand, is amazing. TINY, but amazing.

I had the exact same experience at both parks. Wrigley can be imploded for all I care. Fenway was a baseball lifetime memory.

[JimR]

I don't get the love for Wrigley. The place is a dump full of dumpy ass people.

ETA: Fenway, on the other hand, is amazing. TINY, but amazing.

This

[HudsonHawk]

I really appreciated the history of Fenway. You really feel like you're at the ol' ballyard.

I liked Coors, though I discovered that rain in Colorado is fucking cold, even on an otherwise 80-degree July day.

Whatever they're calling that dump in Oakland is just that, a dump. But the food there was really pretty good.

Really want to go to PNC...tailgates a Steelers game there once, and I wanted to go inside so bad it wa ps killing me. And I really thought the town of Pittsburgh was great. Really pretty in the fall, very nice people, and pretty good meatballs.

Tropicana is the worst park. Ever. It's really a shame because the whole Tampa Bay Area is otherwise a terrific baseball area. They just can't seem to find the right formula.

[AstroFrog]

Target Field food and amenities are mediocre at best.

Ouch.  Food is one area where Target Field is supposed to shine. It is a hobbyhorse for cynical Twins fans in light of the team's general ineptitude since the park opened in 2010 (only two winning seasons and one playoff berth during that span).  I'm wondering what you had, because in my view the food options at the park are pretty great.  Minute Maid really lagged behind in this area prior to the CF renovation, IMO.

[Nate in IA]

Wholeheartedly agree that Wrigley is a dump.   And drunk CubFan is an asshole. 

I loved my time at Coors Field.   Only place I've ever been snowed out of a May game.   But the buffalo burgers they used to serve at the top of the stadium were excellent and the park has great sight lines.     Disclaimer that I was part of a group that had season tickets so had 8 games a year up in Denver.

I enjoyed my time at Target Field, but really should have been able to stay another day and shouldn't have driven all the way up there.

The BOB in Phoenix looks to be a good park but I've only seen it in the dark so to speak when the party was in the outfield.

I've seen a game and played a game at Minute Maid Park

When New Comisky was built had a technical tour of it.   Haven't ever seen a game there.

Clearly it's time to go on a tour of the MLB parks....

[Navin R Johnson]

MMP Food has been good for about 5 years now, basically since Reid Ryan came in and started bringing in things like El REal and Jacskon St BBQ, etc....  The CF stuff, is pretty meh to me, but to each his own.   

I've been to Target Field once, and to the Twin Cities a bunch for work.   I love that city, one of the more underrated big cities in the states.   But Im with Jim and others, the food was blah.   What specifically is so outstanding there, I'd be glad to try next time.

[JimR]

Ouch.  Food is one area where Target Field is supposed to shine. It is a hobbyhorse for cynical Twins fans in light of the team's general ineptitude since the park opened in 2010 (only two winning seasons and one playoff berth during that span).  I'm wondering what you had, because in my view the food options at the park are pretty great.  Minute Maid really lagged behind in this area prior to the CF renovation, IMO.

Tell me the great options. I walked all around the park for three days and saw nothing unique unless you count cheese curds.

[AstroFrog]

Tell me the great options. I walked all around the park for three days and saw nothing unique unless you count cheese curds.

Perhaps the distinction here is between 'unique' and 'quality.' Maybe you will not find truly unique ballpark items at Target Field, because, generally speaking, the home cuisine of Minnesota/the Midwest is basically straight-up American cuisine.  They aren't doing 'hot dish' at the ballpark, at least not yet.

On the other hand, what impresses me is the quality of meal I can have there from recognized Twin Cities restaurants, not a made-up ballpark branded concession stand.  So, the best options include:

1) Burgers from Red Cow (especially the Turkey Burger)
2) Pizza from Pizza Luce
3) Korean Fried Chicken Sandwich from Zimmern's Canteen
4) Brat or Pork Sausage from Kramarczuk’s
5) Izzy's Ice Cream

[Bench]

Tell me the great options. I walked all around the park for three days and saw nothing unique unless you count cheese curds.

I've already stumped for Kramarczuk sausages and a good variety of local beer.  The two times I've been, those did the trick for me. 

[JimR]

I've already stumped for Kramarczuk sausages and a good variety of local beer.  The two times I've been, those did the trick for me.

I usually do not drink at games, but I drank local beer at every place we went. It was good.

[BlownRanger]

Throughout this discussion, no one has mentioned Kauffman Stadium.  The civic leaders in Kansas City in the early 1970s deserve a ton of credit for having the foresight to build separate stadiums when everyone else was building round, cookie-cutter, multi-purpose mausoleums.  Royals Stadium and Arrowhead Stadium opened in 1973, and both are still considered "modern" stadiums and neither franchise has ever expressed the slightest interest in a new home.  The only thing they didn't anticipate was the need for a lot of suites (Royals Stadium had four when it opened, including the owner's), but that has since been remedied.

[NeilT]

I liked the Eskay crab-dip gourmet hot dog at Camden Yard.  After that I was too gob-smacked to notice the rest of the place. 

Actually, the field it reminded me most of physically was Dallas ballpark of all Texans in Arlington, only a bit more open.  I thought the upper decks were further from the field of play than MMPUS, and less steep (which was not a good thing).  Pretty place, good location. 

[Lefty]

Really want to go to PNC...tailgates a Steelers game there once, and I wanted to go inside so bad it wa ps killing me. And I really thought the town of Pittsburgh was great. Really pretty in the fall, very nice people, and pretty good meatballs.

Pittsburgh is an incredibly underrated place.  Really nice people, great Polish/Czech/Italian, and like you said a surprisingly pretty city.  The daytrips from there are great if you're there for longer than a couple of days.  I've also never been in the dead of winter or summer.

[Bench]

Pittsburgh is an incredibly underrated place.  Really nice people, great Polish/Czech/Italian, and like you said a surprisingly pretty city.  The daytrips from there are great if you're there for longer than a couple of days.  I've also never been in the dead of winter or summer.

Terrific museums and historical sights as well, but they've got to stop sticking french fries in sandwiches and salads.

[BudGirl]

Terrific museums and historical sights as well, but they've got to stop sticking french fries in sandwiches and salads.

Screw you, I like Primanti's.

But Carnegie did some nice things in that city.

[Lefty]

Terrific museums and historical sights as well, but they've got to stop sticking french fries in sandwiches and salads.

Sticking a few fries into a layer of my burger has been a go-to of mine since middle school.  Just don't let them do it for you, they have to be crisp.

Primanti's is amazing, BG.  I wish I remembered the name of a couple of the neighborhood places I hit up, one was B&D or something similar.

[BudGirl]

Sticking a few fries into a layer of my burger has been a go-to of mine since middle school.  Just don't let them do it for you, they have to be crisp.

Primanti's is amazing, BG.  I wish I remembered the name of a couple of the neighborhood places I hit up, one was B&D or something similar.

There is a place under a bridge that has great periogis.  I liked Pittsburgh.  I had a really good time there, from what I remember.

Lydia's is good too. 

[HudsonHawk]

Primanti's is amazing, BG.  I wish I remembered the name of a couple of the neighborhood places I hit up, one was B&D or something similar.

Primanti's was incredibly disappointing to me.  Amazingly underwhelming is all I could say. It was my least favorite place in all of Pittsburgh. There was a place that served seafood on a paper plate that was pretty good though.

[Lefty]

Primanti's was incredibly disappointing to me.  Amazingly underwhelming is all I could say. It was my least favorite place in all of Pittsburgh. There was a place that served seafood on a paper plate that was pretty good though.

I had and italian beef dip type sammich there that was enlightening.  That's all I can vouch for.

[JimR]

Pittsburgh is an incredibly underrated place.  Really nice people, great Polish/Czech/Italian, and like you said a surprisingly pretty city.  The daytrips from there are great if you're there for longer than a couple of days.  I've also never been in the dead of winter or summer.

I agree with all of this. Best place we have been on our ballpark trips, all things considered.

[AstroFrog]

Throughout this discussion, no one has mentioned Kauffman Stadium.  The civic leaders in Kansas City in the early 1970s deserve a ton of credit for having the foresight to build separate stadiums when everyone else was building round, cookie-cutter, multi-purpose mausoleums.  Royals Stadium and Arrowhead Stadium opened in 1973, and both are still considered "modern" stadiums and neither franchise has ever expressed the slightest interest in a new home.  The only thing they didn't anticipate was the need for a lot of suites (Royals Stadium had four when it opened, including the owner's), but that has since been remedied.

Kaufmann is very well-built and great for watching baseball.  I bet they would like a do-over on the location, though.  Stadiums that are beside interstates and moated by parking lots are a tough sell unless your team happens to very good.  I had a similar feeling about Miller Park in Milwaukee.  No matter that it was a nice park, I hated the process of getting to it so much that it sullied my mood.  How kick-ass would that place be if it were on Milwaukee's lakefront or at least the Milwaukee River?

The Anaheim stadium's location also seems garbage.  Philadelphia as well.

[NeilT]

Kaufmann is very well-built and great for watching baseball.  I bet they would like a do-over on the location, though.  Stadiums that are beside interstates and moated by parking lots are a tough sell unless your team happens to very good.  I had a similar feeling about Miller Park in Milwaukee.  No matter that it was a nice park, I hated the process of getting to it so much that it sullied my mood.  How kick-ass would that place be if it were on Milwaukee's lakefront or at least the Milwaukee River?

The Anaheim stadium's location also seems garbage.  Philadelphia as well.

I was at Kuaffman in high summer, and it was brutally, horribly hot.  And humid.  And hotter than you can imagine.  And more humid.  And I live in Houston.

It's a beautiful stadium though.  The other surviving stadium from the era, Dodger, is equally pretty.  I like mid-century modern architecture, and they're both gems.

Kauffman sure can get hot though. 

[BlownRanger]

I was at Kuaffman in high summer, and it was brutally, horribly hot.  And humid.  And hotter than you can imagine.  And more humid.  And I live in Houston.

It's a beautiful stadium though.  The other surviving stadium from the era, Dodger, is equally pretty.  I like mid-century modern architecture, and they're both gems.

Kauffman sure can get hot though.

It was hilarious when I moved to Austin.  So many people said things like "The weather in Kansas City must be great.  I bet it never gets too hot or too cold there!".

If you check out the July 4th entry in Jim Bouton's BALL FOUR, he talks about few places being as hot as Kansas City on Indepenence Day.  I think it was a doubleheader.

[Bench]

I had a similar feeling about Miller Park in Milwaukee.  No matter that it was a nice park, I hated the process of getting to it so much that it sullied my mood.  How kick-ass would that place be if it were on Milwaukee's lakefront or at least the Milwaukee River?

Oddly enough Miller Park was intentionally built that way in order to satisfy the Wisconsinite penchant for tailgating.   

[AstroFrog]

Oddly enough Miller Park was intentionally built that way in order to satisfy the Wisconsinite penchant for tailgating.

Yes, I went to a game in the third week of September.  The mediocre Brewers were hosting the mediocre Reds on a Monday or Tuesday night.  And still there were people tailgating.