Tag: Met Stadium

Watching the Game or Being Seen? How Modern Baseball Rewrote the Fan Experience

“Fans mingling at Target Field during a modern MLB game”

For years I tracked Minnesota Twins ticket prices the way some people track the weather. From 1961 forward, I kept a running log of what it actually cost to walk through the turnstiles. It was a simple project with a simple goal: show how the average ticket price crept upward, year after year, era after era, from Met Stadium bleachers to Target Field club seats.

Then baseball changed the rules.

Dynamic ticket pricing arrived, and suddenly the idea of an “average ticket price” became as outdated as a paper scorecard. Teams stopped setting one price for the season and started treating every game — and every seat — like a miniature stock market. Prices rise, fall, and rise again depending on demand, opponent, weather, promotions, and even what’s happening on the resale market. A Tuesday night against a last place club might be cheaper than yesterday, while a weekend series against a contender can jump before you finish typing your credit card number.

Trying to calculate an average in that environment is like trying to nail Jell-O to the outfield wall.

So the article I set out to write — a clean, historical comparison of ticket prices across Twins history — became something else entirely. Because the more I looked at the numbers, the more obvious it became that the real story isn’t just how teams price tickets. It’s how fans use them.

Continue reading Watching the Game or Being Seen? How Modern Baseball Rewrote the Fan Experience

Former Twins Reliever Bill Pleis Dies at 88

William “Bill” Pleis III, the left-handed reliever who earned the Minnesota Twins’ first-ever win at Metropolitan Stadium and helped anchor the bullpen of the 1965 pennant-winning team, passed away on October 17, 2025. He was 88.

Bill Pleis

Pleis debuted with the Twins in 1961, the franchise’s inaugural season after relocating from Washington. On April 22 of that year, he recorded the first official win by a Twins pitcher at Metropolitan Stadium, a milestone that still resonates with longtime fans and marks a foundational moment in team history.

Over six seasons with the Twins (1961–1966), Pleis appeared in 190 games, nearly all in relief. He posted a career record of 21–16 with 13 saves and a 4.07 ERA. His steady presence was especially vital during the club’s historic 1965 campaign, when Minnesota captured its first American League pennant. Pleis pitched in 41 games that season and appeared in the World Series against the Los Angeles Dodgers, contributing to the franchise’s first Fall Classic appearance since its Washington Senators days.

Known affectionately as “Shorty” by teammates, Pleis embodied the grit and humility of the early Twins era. In 1967, the Twins reacquired him briefly to ensure he qualified for his pension—a gesture that reflected the respect he’d earned within the organization.

After retiring from playing in 1968, Pleis transitioned into scouting, beginning with the Houston Astros and later spending decades with the Los Angeles Dodgers. Pleis did not win a World Series as a player. In fact, he made just one postseason appearance in his career and gave up a home run. However, the Dodgers won two World Series during his time as a scout. His eye for talent and deep love for the game extended the Twins’ legacy through the players he helped discover and mentor.

He is survived by his wife of 66 years, Susan Haddock Pleis, and their three children—Scott, Steve, and Stacey—each of whom carried forward his passion for sport. Scott followed in his footsteps as a professional scout and executive, Steve pursued a career in professional golf, and Stacey built a successful gymnastics business in Wentzville, Missouri. Bill and Sue were well known in the Lake St. Louis, MO community, where they raised their family. Bill, a founding member of the Lake Forest Country Club, was known to be a scratch golfer. Legend has it that Bill once shot even par right handed and followed up on a bet to prove a point the next day beating the same guy, but this time left handed.

For Minnesota Twins fans and historians, Pleis remains a symbol of the team’s earliest triumphs and enduring spirit. His contributions helped shape the identity of a franchise finding its footing in a new home, and his memory lives on in the stories of the 1965 Twins—a team that brought October baseball to the North Star State for the first time. A SABR BIO on Bill Pleis written by Joe Rippel is a fun and interesting read.

We at Twinstrivia.com would like to pass on our condolences to the Bill Pleis family, friends and fans of Minnesota Twins baseball. Thank you for the memories.

William Pleis, III Obituary

There are just five players still alive that managed, coached or played for the Minnesota Twins in 1961 and they are all pitchers, Jim Kaat, Don Lee, Camilo Pascual, Pedro Ramos, and Gerry Arrigo.

Twins Tickets Then and Now: A Journey from the Met to Target Field

Back in 1961, when the Twins first started playing ball in Minnesota, catching a game at Metropolitan Stadium was a straightforward affair. You had three ticket options: a “general admission” ticket for $1.50, a “reserved grandstand” ticket for $2.50, or a “box seat” for $3.00. No extra fees, no hidden costs. Just imagine it—$3.00 back then is roughly $31.67 in today’s money. Now, take a trip to Target Field today and see what kind of ticket that $31.67 will get you after all the fees and extra charges.

Those early Twins ticket prices stayed the same for seven years while the team played in Bloomington. And they had some great teams during that time, including the 1965 squad that won the American League Pennant, only to lose the World Series in a nail-biting seven games against the Los Angeles Dodgers. Fun fact: The Twins were considered to have one of the highest payrolls in baseball back then! Calvin Griffith, the owner, is often remembered as a cheapskate today, but things were quite different.

Fast forward to 1981, the last year the Twins played at Met Stadium, and they still kept things simple with just four ticket categories: general admission, unreserved grandstand, reserved grandstand, and box seats. General admission went for $3, and box seats were $7. It wasn’t until 1988, seven years into their stint at the Metrodome, that the first double-digit ticket price of $10 appeared for a lower deck reserved seat. And by 1992, after winning the World Series twice, the $3.00 general admission ticket was gone for good. Can you think of anything you can get today for the same price you could 30 years ago? It’s a tough one!

Things took a real turn in 2006 when the Twins introduced dynamic ticket pricing. It was a game-changer, literally. Now, the price you paid depended on the ticket demand for that game. The person sitting next to you might have paid more or less than you. Ticket prices could go up but rarely went down, since they couldn’t dip below what a season ticket holder paid. It was a win for the team but a bit of a kicker for fans, as ticket prices soared with increasing demand.

The screws tightened further on dynamic pricing, and by 2024, all Twins tickets were dynamically priced from the get-go, whereas before, there had been a base price for a short period. When I couldn’t figure out Twins ticket prices anymore, I reached out to Eddie Eixenberger, the Twins VP of Ticket Sales and Strategy. We had what seemed like a pleasant chat, and he promised to get back to me with some data. But he never did, and my follow-up attempts were unsuccessful. It became pretty clear that the Twins, under Dave St. Peter, had no interest in sharing information about ticket pricing or numbers.

In the past, the Twins made base season ticket numbers available to the public, and local newspapers often wrote about them. Recently, though, when I asked Dave St. Peter for this data, he made it clear that they wouldn’t provide it anymore—at least to me. What’s the big secret? Why shouldn’t the fans have access to this data? The only reason I can think of is that the Twins might be embarrassed by the numbers.

That’s why I didn’t publish Twins ticket price info for 2024 on this site. Imagine my surprise when the Twins rolled out their 2025 ticket plan. It’s a tangled web of rewards and pricing that you practically need a lawyer to navigate. Apparently, the Twins haven’t heard of the KISS principle—Keep It Simple, Stupid!

Twins ticket price history

Former Twin Mike ‘Cubby’ Cubbage dies at 74

Mike Cubbage

Michael Lee Cubbage, was born July 21, 1950, in Charlottesville, Virginia and passed away on August 10, 2024 after a near year-long battle with cancer, his wife, Jan, confirmed Sunday night, August 11. Cubbage was 74 years old.

Affectionately called “Cubby” by friends, family, players and coaches, Cubbage was a former Major League Baseball player and a pro baseball manager. He retired a couple of years ago after serving as one of the top scouts for the Washington Nationals.

He was a three-sport star at Charlottesville’s Lane High School, standing out in football, basketball and baseball before moving on to become a two-sport star at the University of Virginia, playing quarterback on the football team and becoming an All-ACC selection in baseball. Cubbage came from a baseball family that included cousins Larry Haney and Chris Haney, both major leaguer’s.

Continue reading Former Twin Mike ‘Cubby’ Cubbage dies at 74

Top 10 offensive seasons by a Twins position player

Rod Carew’s .388 batting average in 1977 was the highest in baseball since Ted Williams in 1957. (National Baseball Hall of Fame)

It is always interesting to look back over the years and try to determine who has had the best offensive season for your favorite team. In the case of the Minnesota Twins I think that is a pretty easy answer, Rod Carew in 1977 and his run at hitting .400. I was lucky that I was able to witness that season as I was able to get out to Met Stadium and see a number of his games in person. Here is a short 3 minute video (don’t forget to turn on the sound) for you to watch about Rod. An interesting point is that none have taken place at Target Field.

But the Twins have had many great offensive seasons by their players and today we going to provide a list of the top 10 (actually 11) for you. All the players on this list have a WAR of 7.0 or above. As you go down the list you can picture the player in your mind or if you weren’t around or didn’t follow the Twins back then this website will hopefully learn more about that player and his contribution to Minnesota Twins history. As always we are going to use Baseball-Reference.com and their nifty tool “Stathead” to help us identify the players for this list by rating them using WAR.

Twins top 10 offensive seasons by a Twins player

Over the years, there have been 141 players with a WAR of 9.0 or more in a season, here is the list. Any surprises? Feel free to leave your comments.

Babe Ruth

List of 141 MLB players with WAR of 9.0 or higher

Some of the best Twins we saw at Metropolitan Stadium

Minnesota Twins home from 1961-1981

Baseball was fun to watch at Metropolitan Stadium from 1961-1981 and a lot of MLB and Minnesota Twins “greats” played there. Here is a short list of some of the Twins leaders in some hitting and pitching categories. Keep in mind these are stats accumulated only while playing at Met Stadium.

Games played – Harmon Killebrew-963, Tony Oliva-842, Rod Carew-817

Hits – Rod Carew-1,046, Tony Oliva-935, Harmon Killebrew-844

Continue reading Some of the best Twins we saw at Metropolitan Stadium

Twins Switch Hitters

Eddie Murray

In baseball, a switch hitter is a player who bats both right-handed and left-handed, usually right-handed against left-handed pitchers and left-handed against right-handed pitchers, although there are some exceptions. Is it beneficial to be a switch hitter? Left-handed batters get a better jump out of the batter’s box to first base. This means the left-handed batter will get more infield hits. Hitting the ball to the first base side of the field has many built-in advantages for his team (such as hitting behind the runner), so he becomes a more valuable hitter.

If you look at position players only, then about 13% are switch hitters, 54% right-handed and 33% left-handed hitters. I believe that at last count there have been 20 switch hitters elected into the Hall of Fame. Many consider Mickey Mantle the greatest switch hitter of all time while others might tell you that it was Pete Rose but that is a whole different story. The switch hitter in the HOF with the most hits is Eddie Murray and the only HOF switch hitting player with more home runs than Murray (504) is Mickey Mantle with 536. So a case can certainly be made for Eddie Murray being the best switch hitter in MLB history.

Read more: Twins Switch Hitters
Roy Smalley

The Minnesota Twins have had their fair share of switch hitters over the years. Who was their best switch hitter? That would depend on what you are looking for in a hitter but you have to start with Roy Smalley. Up until this past season Roy Smalley led Twins switch hitters with 110 career home runs in a Twins uniform but this past season in 2023 Jorge Polanco took over the team lead in switch hitter home runs with 112. Lets take a look at the Twins switch hitters from 1961 to 2023 at https://stathead.com/tiny/hYPg4. The list shows us the Twins have had 77 switch hitters (both position players and pitchers) over the years but only 68 of them had a plate appearance and 66 of them had at least one hit while 44 of them slugged at least one home run.

Cy Young winner Jim Perry was the Twins best switch hitting pitcher hitting 5 home runs and getting 46 RBI with 117 hits and hitting .191 in 613 AB’s over 380 games in his Twins career. Pitcher Pedro Ramos was no slouch with the stick for Minnesota as he hit three home runs in his one season (1961) pitching for Minnesota in just 93 AB’s. Ramos was the Minnesota Twins very first switch hitter to appear in a game and get a hit with two RBI off future Hall of Famer Whitey Ford when he batted on Opening Day in 1961 at Yankee Stadium. He also became the first Twins switch hitter to hit a home run when he hit one out on May 12 at Met Stadium against the Los Angeles Angels pitcher Eli Grba in a 5-4 Twins victory.

Jim Perry
Pedro Ramos

I have written some previous articles about Twins switch hitters that you can check out at Twins switch-hitters and Twins switch-hitters from 1961-2015

Twins Milestone Home Runs from 1961-2021

Over the years the Minnesota Twins have hit 8,591 home runs since they started play in 1961 through the 2021 season. Let’s take a look at some milestone home runs, who hit them and where did they hit them. You might want to take note that the Minnesota Twins won 10 of these 12 games.

#1 was hit by Bob Allison on 4-11-61 at Yankee Stadium off Whitey Ford in a Twins 6-0 win in the first game they ever played.

#100 was hit by Bob Allison on 7-19-61 at Wrigley Field off the Angels Ron Kline in a 6-0 Twins win in game one of a DH.

Continue reading Twins Milestone Home Runs from 1961-2021

Another occurrence of strange but true

Ryan Harper

This past Thursday Ryne Harper pitched 3.1 innings of solid relief against the Toronto Blue Jays at Target Field giving his team a chance to come back and win the game. The Twins didn’t come back to win the game but the 31-year-old rookie pitcher did his share. 

Twins relief pitchers have pitched 3 or more innings in a game 1,787 times since 1961. From 1961-1969 Twins relievers did it 282 times, in the 70’s they did it 475 times, in the 80’s they did it 388 times, in the 90’s they did it 358 times, in the 2000’s Twins relievers did it 161 times and from 2010 through yesterday it has been done 123 times and to be fair, some of these occurrences starting in 2018 are “primary pitchers” following an “opener”. 

Ray Corbin

The longest Twins relief appearance took place back on May 25, 1975 when Ray Corbin relieved Vic Albury after just two outs when the Detroit Tigers jumped on Albury for three first inning runs at Metropolitan Stadium and manager Frank Quilici had seen enough. Corbin pitched the next 10.1 innings allowing just two runs (one earned) on seven hits and four walks along with four strikeouts. The game was tied at 4-4 after five innings until the Tigers scored an unearned run off Corbin (Corbin’s error) in the top of the 11th inning to take a 5-4 lead. In the bottom of the 11th Tiger pitcher John Hiller walked Steve Brye and Larry Hisle followed with a two-run home run and the Twins walked off the Tigers 6-5 with Ray Corbin getting the well deserved win. Just four days earlier Corbin had pitched 6.1 innings of relief.

Vic Albury

As irony would have it, just over a month later on June 30th the Twins were facing the California Angels at the Met and the Twins started Ray Corbin. Before Corbin could retire a single Angel batter he gave up five straight singles and John Doherty followed with a three-run homer, the only home run he would hit that season and the Angels were up 6-0 and Twins skipper Frank Quilici sent Corbin to the showers and called for Vic Albury. Albury held the Angels scoreless for 8 innings before running into trouble in the ninth when he gave up four runs but only one earned run on three hits and an error. Albury pitched 9 innings of relief allowing the one earned run on six hits and seven walks while striking out four batters and ended up with a no decision for his days work as the Angels beat the Twins 10-3.

Twins relievers have pitched seven or more innings in a game a total of 33 times. Ray Corbin and Tom Burgmeier each did it on three occasions. It has been a long time since it was done last, 34 years ago Dennis Burtt was the last Twins pitcher to pitch seven or more innings of relief when he did it in October of 1985 in a 8-6 Twins loss to the Indians at the Metrodome.

Here is a list of games in which a Minnesota Twins reliever pitched seven or more innings.

It appears that it is just not starting pitchers that are pitching fewer innings in each start, it looks like relievers don’t stay in games as long either.

Baseball and the Tomato

Just makes my mouth water looking at these.

I love baseball and I love gardening. There is nothing in this world that tastes better than a freshly picked tomato off the vine on a warm summer day. There was a lot of fun at Met Stadium back in the early 60’s and some of it was not on the diamond. In today’s world we take too many things too seriously and neglect to stop and smell the roses tomato’s. We forget sometimes that baseball was meant to be a game but over the years it became a business. We don’t have the “characters” in baseball anymore like we once had and players work at the game year-around. I miss the game of baseball the way it used to be but baseball is still a great game no matter what. Here is a fun column by Dick Cullum about the Metropolitan Stadium tomato growing contest. Maybe they should come up with something similar now that the Twins are playing outdoors again. Sounds like a great marketing gimmick to me.

This clipping is from the June 24, 1964 Star Tribune.

Here is what Amanda Fiegl wrote on Smithsonian.com back in March of 2008 in her article called “Tomatoes in the Bullpen”. Obviously she never heard of what went on at Met Stadium.

Greenest Bullpen
Shea Stadium, Queens, NY: Home of the Mets
Shea is a place of many firsts. When it opened in 1964, it was the first stadium capable of hosting both baseball and football events. The Jets stopped using it in 1984, and soon the Mets will too, with the new Citi Field set to open next year.

Shea was the site of the longest extra-inning doubleheader in baseball history (10 hours and 32 innings, against the San Francisco Giants) in May 1964, and hosted the Beatles’ first U.S. outdoor stadium show a year later. It also hosts some uninvited guests–The New York Times reported in 2007 that a colony of several dozen feral cats lives at the stadium, sometimes making surprise appearances on camera. In the one YouTube-celebrated instance last season, a startled kitten popped out of a tarp being unfurled by and even more startled groundskeeper.

But Shea has another unique claim to fame as well–the majors’ first bullpen vegetable garden. The tradition is said to have started with a few tomatoes planted by bullpen coach Joe Pignatano in 1969, which groundskeepers turned into a full-fledged garden in later years. By 1997, the corn and sunflowers in the Mets’ bullpen grew so high that the visiting Phillies actually complained that the greenery obstructed their view of warm-ups. Now, teams including the Red Sox, Braves and Detroit Tigers also have bullpen gardens.