Aug 18, 2006 6:01 pm US/Central
Twins Get Plenty Of Advice On New Ballpark
Minneapolis (AP) ―
Provide more leg room. Plant pine trees in the shape of a Twins logo beyond the center field wall. Buy a '65 Mustang convertible to ferry relief pitchers from the bullpen to the mound. Name the stadium after Kirby Puckett.
Fans are flooding the Minnesota Twins with design ideas and special features for the team's new ballpark. More than 2,500 suggestions have poured in since the end of June, when the team began collecting input on its Web site, Twins president Dave St. Peter said Friday.
"Everybody has an idea about what defines a great ballpark," St. Peter said.
St. Peter offered the Minnesota Ballpark Authority a sampling of the ideas, which have come in from fans as far away as Arizona.
"To honor both Kirby Puckett and the high baggy wall in right field at the Metrodome, the new stadium should have a 34-foot high right field wall," suggested one fan from Macedon, N.Y.
The new ballpark will be the focus of the Twins' booth at the State Fair, giving visitors a chance to leave give their two-cents worth.
Armchair architects will have to wait awhile to see if their ideas make the cut. Twins officials don't expect to have a design on paper until next year. The open-air stadium on the edge of downtown Minneapolis won't be ready for games until the 2010 season, if everything stays on schedule.
The Twins are working with the five-member Ballpark Authority and officials in Hennepin County on the project, although the Twins get to pick the design firm and a construction manager.
"We have to guard against too many people holding the architect's elbow," said Ballpark Authority chairman Steve Cramer.
Fans aren't not stopping with the walls, seats and other permanent fixtures of the ballpark. Some are offering ideas about in-game features, like having snow fall when Twins players hit home runs. One suggested the grass -- something the Twins haven't had to worry about since they started playing on artificial turf in 1982 -- should be cut in a checkerboard pattern. Concessions advice is popular, too.
St. Peter said he's heard "everything from walleye on a stick to Kent Hrbek's barbecue," referring to the retired first baseman.
The $522 million ballpark was approved by state lawmakers in May. Much of it will be paid for through a higher sales tax in Hennepin County.
The finance package didn't include money for a retractable roof, but that hasn't stopped fans from requesting one.
"How about a roof? It IS Minnesnowta after all," wrote a resident of Afton.
Many fans give their favorite ballpark as a model the Twins should follow.
St. Peter shared his personal favorites with the authority: Pittsburgh's PNC Park, San Francisco's AT&T Park and Philadelphia's Citizens Bank Park, all of which are six or fewer years old.
St. Peter was noncommittal about the frequent suggestion that the Twins ballpark be named after Puckett, the iconic center fielder who died of a stroke this winter.
"Harmon Killebrew was Kirby Pucket to a different generation of fans," he said.
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The Metropolitan Sports Facilities Commission owns The Metrodome.
(© 2009 CBS Broadcasting Inc. All Rights Reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed. The Associated Press contributed to this report.)
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