Goodbye To The Metrodome?

Goodbyes are never easy, especially when they come after 27 years together. So maybe that's why the Minnesota Twins and the Metrodome are having such a difficult time letting go. They were supposed to go their separate ways after Sunday's game, but then the Twins went and forced a 163rd game, and came crawling back, begging the Dome to open its doors once more.

And so, for at least one last game, the Metrodome, complete with its fake grass, white ceiling and baggie in right field, will play home to a Minnesota Twins baseball game. A romantic ending to the 2009 season, maybe, but for Joe Posnanski, it reminds him of a killer in a horror movie: no matter how many times to kill, it just keeps getting up. "The place won't die."

That’s the Metrodome. You think you’ve killed it, but no, it will not die. It will keep coming back, again and again, shoving itself into the limelight like a frustrated chorus girl. The last game in the Metrodome was supposed to be Sunday. The touching eulogies were written — yes, even the villains get touching eulogies. But the old barn had one more glorious day — deafening noise, twirling hankies, a big home victory. Now, today, we get a one-game playoff — Twins vs. Tigers — and once again it could be the last day of baggie baseball. But don’t bet on it. The creepy music plays. The phone lines have been disconnected. The Metrodome is looking like it might stick around for a while.

There have been other grim ballparks, of course. Grim ballparks are a part of baseball. Jarry Park Stadium in Montreal — Stade Parc Jarry — was by all accounts a dismal place where the sun would blind first basemen and a cold wind would pour in from all directions. Ron Hunt got hit by 54 pitches there. Cleveland Municipal Stadium was famously awful for baseball — metal beams blocked the field from every vantage point, and the infield featured mounds that suggested hastily buried bodies. Shea Stadium had the look and feel of a long-abandoned amusement park that wasn’t all that great in the first place. The Kingdome had its charms but it never felt entirely study. Tropicana Field feels plenty sturdy, but it has never had many charms. The multi-use stadiums in Philadelphia and Cincinnati, especially at the end, seemed a lot like really big eight-track tapes.