Minnesota Twins Stadium Literature, Past & Present

The Twins rolled out this promotional guide in the winter of 2009-10, aimed at creating buzz among corporate and civic groups to purchase tickets.  A Slick, idyllic production....

  As opposed to St. Louis' Busch Stadium (where a walk through the concourse gives little hint of the great Cardinal heritage), the Twins invoked their greats of the past to accompany and enrich the new aesthetic of Target Field.

Pictured is the canopy over the right field foul territory and
the Metropolitan Club, from the vantage point of North 7th Street.

Now, check out this informational booklet distributed in 1956, with the opening of Metropolitan Stadium.  A super publication it is, laying out construction phases in photos, paying homage to bondholders who helped bankroll the project.

Screaming "vintage," this lush cover is conterpointed by the inside's basic text, some black and white photos of the Met's construction phases, and sudden swooshes of red type. See a favorite below:

For whatever reason, this page gives me a kind of "Back To The Future" vibe, flashing back to 1955.  You could forgive the natives of Bloomington, Minnesota and the entire Metro area for going overboard giddy at the prospect of big time baseball coming, first in the form of the minor league Minneapolis Millers in 1956.


Contrast the above layouts with the back cover of this 1982 booklet published by the Minneapolis Star Tribune, to commemorate the history of the Met, and the Metrodome's inaugural year:

Tree-lined boulevards around Kirby Pucket Place, neat, clean adjacent commercial real estate - it was supposed to embody a kind of utopian paradise. Did Ward Cleaver or Mike Brady design this blueprint? The reality was quite different, (of course) with little development around the Dome, greenery, or inviting vistas in general.

I may decide to add further photos from any one or all of these booklets in series.  I like the art that goes into these projects, and how it lends a view to the mindset of the developers of these different time periods of Twins history.

May Your Taters Fly Far!

TT

Yeah, I've got a Killebrew '55 rookie card. What's it to ya?