Viking Update: Metropolitan Stadium "Old Met"
Metropolitan
Stadium
"Old Met"
Met Facts
HHH Metrodome
Metropolitan Stadium was
built on a farm in 1956 for the American Association Minneapolis Millers. It
originally consisted of a curved triple-decker grandstand that ran from first
base to third base. The owner of the New York Giants (the parent team of the
Millers) was quoted as saying that the Met "is the finest minor league park
in the country, and there are not two in the majors that are better." 
In
1961, when the Washington Senators moved in and became the Twins, permanent
bleachers were added along the left field line, a temporary bleacher was installed
in left field and the first and second decks were extended down the right field
line. The Vikings replaced the temporary left field bleacher with a double-decked
left field pavilion in 1965. In 1982, the Twins and Vikings moved into the Metrodome
in downtown Minneapolis. Metropolitan Stadium was demolished and the Mall of
America now occupies the site. There is a plate marking the spot where the Met's
home plate was in Camp Snoopy, a theme park in the Mall.
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- Tenants:
Minnesota
Twins (AL); Minnesota Vikings (NFL)
- Location:
Bloomington,
Minnesota
- Opened:
April 24,
1956
- Demolished:
1985
- Surface:
Grass
- Capacity:
18,200
(1956); 30,637 (1961); 40,000 (1964); 45,919 (1975)
- The 330-foot marker
was curiously far away from the foul pole in right, raising the distinct
possibility that the distance to right was significantly less.
- A bomb scare delayed
the August 25, 1970 Twins-Red Sox game as 17,967 fans filed calmly into
the outfield and parking lots.
- It was by far the
most poorly maintained park in the Majors. In 1981, broken railings on
the third deck overlooking the left field bleachers created a safety hazard.
- When the Hubert H.
Humphrey Metrodome was finished, the Met became the first modern park
to be abandoned.
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