By Adam Conn, Founder Home Field Advantage In the 13th inning of a the Twins-Devil Rays matchup on May 1, Carl Crawford and Rocco Baldelli sent up a May Day signal of their own. They lost a fairly easy fly ball against the backdrop of the Metrodome roof. The ball bounced between them and out over the fence for a ground-rule double. Christan Guzman's follow-up hit drove Jacque Jones in from second, ballgame Twins. This isn't the first time the roof at the Metrodome has played havoc on opposing players. Throughout the 20 year history of the third major league dome, the best of outfielders have lost contact against the off-white background of the roof. It's been further testament to Torii Hunter's gold glove performances, not just for making the spectacular "over-the-baggie" catches, but making the routine fly balls just that — routine. The Twins have been pushing for a new publically-financed stadium to separate themselves from the multi-use dome. The new facility would be an open-air stadium. Fortuntely for the Twins, the state budget crunch and soft economy have postponed state financing of construction, effectively killing the stadium for now. While the Metrodome is another architectural disaster, born of the ill-fitting multi-purpose drive of the 70s, moving the Twins out of their stadium would remove a tremendous home field advantage. The Twins should learn from their neighbors, the Green Bay Packers. The Packers recently renovated Lambeau Field, increasing seating and fan facilities tremendously, but making the mistake of improvements in the field beginning in 1997, culminating in 2002. The Packers have had the "frozen field" advantage from 1957 through the completion of the redevelopment. Noone had ever marched into Green Bay in January and won a game — until January 4, 2003. Most famous among these post-season battles was the 1967 Ice Bowl, when the brand-new Soil Warming System failed. But what folks fail to realize is that over 30 years, several of the coils would fail consistently. The Packer coaches, and more importantly Packers receivers and Brett Favre, knew which coils weren't working properly and how to run alongside the frozen spots. Defenders would either slip or lose a step due to the difference in turf. In the pros, that's all you need... just that little bit of separation. The Packers replaced these coils, starting in 1997, and completely changed the turf in May 2002. The improvements resulted in a more even playing field that doesn't freeze over with the heavy frosts and drains properly during bad weather. They've literally leveled the playing field. Imagine Michael Vick hitting a frozen patch — once bitten, twice shy, and he begins to worry when he's on the run. I envision the Twins, if they ever do build a new ballpark, will replace the Hefty bag outfield wall with true padded walls, real grass, and no domed roof (or the newly popular retractable one). Perhaps there will be new advantages built into the ballpark, such as learning to play in 34 degree/30 mile per hour wind April games and 98 degree/98% humidity July games, but none will be as huge as the white dome of the Hubert H. Humphrey Metrodome at 34 Kirby Puckett Place. File last modified May 15, 2011

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