Wakefield Daily Item sports contributor Stephen Martellucci recently visited the sports scene in Minnesota. The following is a recap of his visit.
By STEPHEN MARTELLUCCI
MINNEAPOLIS, MN — After going to Kansas City last year to see the Red Sox on the road, I ended up going to Minnesota a few weeks ago for this year’s trip.
This was my first time ever going to Minnesota, The games were Monday and Tuesday nights with a day game on Wednesday.
I ended up staying in Bloomington, which is about 12 miles south of Minneapolis.
The Twins home stadium in Minneapolis is Target Field which opened back in 2010 and seats 38,544.
The ballpark has the smallest footprint in all of Major League Baseball and is located in downtown right next to the Target Center, the home arena for the NBA’s Minnesota Timberwolves.
The Target Center is just behind the right field entrance gate.
Target Field features four levels of seating and is very steep. The second level is the club seating that goes from four pole to foul pole. The third deck has a lower level and a higher level.
My first game there on Monday I drove in. I took Interstate 394 and went to one of its several parking garages at the end of the road. Parking was $25.
The good news is that the park entrance is right there.
I sat in the third level in left field for the first night and paid $25 for my ticket, which the Red Sox lost, 5-4, as after a rain delay for over an hour, the Twins plated two runs in the bottom of the ninth.
The next night, I took the Metro Train from the Mall of America which is lees than seven miles from my hotel. The ride is about 35 minutes and the final stop is at Target Field. The train ticket both ways is only $2.
I sat on the lower level by third base for this game that the Red Sox won 8-5. My ticket was $30 as I found a good seat instead of where my ticketed seat was located.
On Wednesday, it was a high-noon start and there were several youth groups in the upper deck. Again, I took the Metro and bought a $25 ticket and sat in the same area I did on Tuesday night.
This game was a blowout as the Sox won 13-1.
Food at the park is standard fare (they have some restaurants at the park that I did not go to) and they had $1 hot dogs on Tuesday night.
Target Field is clean and comfortable with cup holders for all of the seats.
Along with the baseball games I also golfed twice and took a tour of the Vikings stadium, US Bank Stadium that is located just a mile away from Target Field and is also on the Metro Line.
The indoor stadium, which I went to on Friday of that week, sits 66.860 for football and has a regular roof half of the stadium with a glass roof over the other half to allow sunlight to come through.
The tour lasted two hours and you get to see the luxury suits, club areas and the Vikings locker room. At the end of the tour you get to go on the field and I even kicked a few field goals as they provide footballs.
The tour cost around $40 and was well worth it.
I also golfed two very nice courses. The first day I was there on Monday, I played at Braemar Golf Course with was a couple of miles away from my hotel in the affluent town of Edina.
It was $70 with a cart and its signature hole is the Par 3 13th hole that features an 80 foot drop.from the tee. They have five different tees for players of all abilities.
On Thursday, I played Baker National which is 25 miles west of Bloomington in Medina The course is in the middle of the Baker Park Reserve. The course is also an Audubon Cooperative Sanctuary and is located right on Spurzem Lake. For nature lovers it is an ideal location.
The greens fee was also $70 with a cart just like Braemar.
Although the land of 10,000 lakes is known for its hunting and fishing it also has a surprising number of golf courses.
Minnesota actually has more golfers per capita than any other state in the US.
I also went to the Mall of America which is the biggest mall in the country. and is three levels high. It has over 600 stores including restaurants and has a theme park in the middle that includes a roller coaster. It also has an Aquarium.
For any baseball fan a trip to Minnesota is definitely worth it but your best bet is to wait until June to enjoy the good weather.
