Metropolitan Stadium
Metropolitan Stadium | |
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The Met | |
Location | 8000 Cedar Ave. South Bloomington, Minnesota (now demolished) |
Broke ground | June, 1955 |
Opened | April 24, 1956 |
Closed | December 20, 1981 |
Demolished | January 28, 1985 |
Owner | City of Minneapolis |
Surface | Grass |
Construction cost | $8.5 million |
Architect | Osborn Engineering |
Tenants | |
Minneapolis Millers (AA) (1956-1960) Minnesota Twins (MLB) (1961-1981) Minnesota Vikings (NFL) (1961-1981) Minnesota Kicks (NASL) (1976-1981) |
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Capacity | |
Baseball:18,200 (1956); 30,637 (1961); 40,000 (1964); 45,919 (1975) Football: 48,446 |
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Dimensions | |
Left Field - 343 ft (105 m) Left-Center - 365 ft (117 m) Center Field - 402 ft Right-Center - 370 ft Right Field - 330 ft Backstop - 60 ft Wall - 8 feet |
Metropolitan Stadium (often referred to as "the Met") was a sports stadium that once stood in Bloomington, Minnesota, just outside Minneapolis.
It opened in 1956 as the home of a minor league baseball team, the Minneapolis Millers of the American Association, replacing ancient Nicollet Park and built to major league specifications. Although located in Bloomington, the stadium was paid for by the city of Minneapolis. It sat in the middle of a 161-acre plot located in a cornfield, with all excess land set aside for parking. It originally seated 18,000, and would have seated more if not for an explosion and two fires. It was expanded to 22,000 in 1959.
In the 1950s, major league owners Calvin Griffith and Horace Stoneham called the stadium the finest facility in the minors; Stoneham added that it was better than all but two major league stadiums of the time. Indeed, the Met's primary purpose was to attract a big-league team to the area. The NFL was also interested in placing a team at the Met. The Chicago Cardinals moved two of their home games against the New York Giants and Philadelphia Eagles to Bloomington for the 1959 NFL season.
The Millers were then the top farm team of Stoneham's New York Giants, and there was some hope or expectation that the Giants might relocate there. Under major league rules of the time, the Giants had priority rights to a major league team in the Twin Cities. The Cleveland Indians, Philadelphia Athletics and Washington Senators also seriously considered moving there. However, the Giants chose to follow the Brooklyn Dodgers to the west coast. San Francisco had long been home to the Pacific Coast League's San Francisco Seals, the top farm team of the Boston Red Sox. As part of the deal, the Millers' parent team then became the Red Sox. The Red Sox were certainly not planning to move anywhere, but another American League entry, the Washington Senators did, in 1961, to become the Minnesota Twins. The Millers and their perennial crosstown rival St. Paul Saints were then promptly folded by Major League Baseball. The Twins were joined that fall by an NFL expansion team, the Minnesota Vikings.
The Twins and the Vikings then played at the "Met" from 1961 to 1981. The NASL soccer team Minnesota Kicks also played there from 1976 to 1981.
The Met was expanded several times through the years. During the summer of 1961, the first two tiers of the triple-deck stand were extended down the first base side, just past the right field corner, increasing capacity to 30,637. This was largely to the benefit of the Vikings. For 1965, a large double-decked grandstand, paid for by the Vikings, was installed in left field. This left the Met with the unique configuration of a double deck in left field, and bleachers behind third base. The big left field stand was originally planned to be capable of sliding toward or away from the gridiron (as Denver's Mile High Stadium later would be), but that part of the project was never realized.
The park had a skeletal feel, and it was obvious that it had once been a minor league baseball stadium. Unlike most multipurpose stadiums built during this time, there were very few bad seats for baseball.
In 1965, both the Baseball All-Star Game and the World Series were played at the Met, one of the few times that coincidence has happened since that game was inaugurated in 1933. The Vikings hosted the 1969 NFL championship game at the Met.
The Met was not well maintained; there were many broken railings in the third deck by the late 1970s. In addition, its relatively small capacity for football (just under 48,500) accelerated the push for construction of a new stadium, the Hubert H. Humphrey Metrodome, which was completed in 1981. The Twins played their last game at the Met on Sept 30, 1981 losing to Kansas City 5-2 on a rainy afternoon. The Vikings played their last game on Dec 20, 1981, dropping a 10-6 decision to the Kansas City Chiefs, the same team that topped the Vikings in Super Bowl IV, the first of four Super Bowl failures for the team. Met Stadium was officially abandoned when the Vikings and the Twins moved to the Metrodome in January 1982 and the Kicks folded after 1981 soccer season. For the next three years, Met Stadium sat there being unused, decaying and was highly vandalized. Demolition kickoff for Metropolitan Stadium started on Jan 28, 1985 and continued for the next four months. After the rubble was cleared, the lot sat vacant for several years, although the nearby Met Center, which had opened in 1967 just north of the Met, continued to provide entertainment for hockey fans.
After the Met
The Mall of America, which opened in 1992, stands on the site of what is now nostalgically called "the Old Met." A brass plaque in the shape of home plate, embedded in the floor in the northwest corner of The Park at MOA, commemorates the site's days as a sports venue. Near the opposite corner, mounted high on the wall, is a red stadium chair denoting the approximate landing spot of Harmon Killebrew's longest home run, a blast to the upper deck in deep left-center field on June 3, 1967.
Quote
"There is not a finer facility in all of minor league baseball, and not two better in the Majors." - Calvin Griffith, 1959
External links
Preceded by Nicollet Park 1896–1955 |
Home of the Minneapolis Millers 1956–1960 |
Succeeded by none |
Preceded by Griffith Stadium 1911–1960 |
Home of the Minnesota Twins 1961–1981 |
Succeeded by Hubert H. Humphrey Metrodome 1982–present |
Preceded by First stadium |
Home of the Minnesota Vikings 1961–1981 |
Succeeded by Hubert H. Humphrey Metrodome 1982–present |
Preceded by Shea Stadium |
Host of the All-Star Game 1965 |
Succeeded by Busch Memorial Stadium |
Minnesota Vikings
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Franchise • History • Players • Quarterbacks • Seasons • Statistics Stadiums – Metropolitan Stadium • Hubert H. Humphrey Metrodome • New Vikings Stadium Super Bowl Appearances – IV • VIII • IX • XI Culture – Purple People Eaters • "Skol, Vikings"
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