So Long, and Thanks for all the Outfield Flies
And so, with yesterday’s disheartening loss to the Yankees, the Hubert H. Humphrey Metrodome’s days as a ballpark have come to an end. Next season, the Twins move outdoors to their new home, Target Field. I didn’t get to pay a farewell visit this season to what’s been my baseball homepark for the past quarter century.
It’s a melancholic moment for me. I attended a game or two in the Dome’s first two seasons, 1982 and 1983, but it was in 1984 that I fell in love with that improbable ballpark. Those were the days of Puckett, Hrbek, Viola, Brunansky (and Faedo, Jimenez, Laudner….). I went to twenty or thirty games that year and had my heart broken when the team collapsed the last two weeks of the season, including a world historical 11-10 loss to the Cleveland Indians in a game that saw Minnesota with a 10-0 lead in the third inning.
I even tried to write a novel about those 1984 Twins. I tinkered away on it for years, and every once in a while I still go back to it and tinker some more. A few sections of it were published here and there over the years. In honor of the Metrodome’s last game, let me post one of those here. “Sister Carrie” originally appeared as a short story in Elysian Fields Quarterly back in 1998. I was a shy lad back then and so published it under a pen name, Kevin Michaels. As you’ll see, the story revolves around the quirks of the Metrodome–the crazy turf they used the first few years, the weird air pressure system that holds up the roof, etc. Oddly enough, Chicago plays a big role in the story as well. Enjoy:
When Steve pushed through the revolving doors and into the lobby of the Metrodome, he felt his ears pop. Carrie was already inside, standing in an open doorway across the concourse, her back to him. She was gazing down through the door at the green baseball field below, her hands gracefully folded together behind her. It was a sign that their argument had at last flickered out. Steve approached her cautiously. He looked over her shoulder at the players warming up down on the field below.
(Continue reading “Sister Carrie” here)
