Target Field: Home of the Minnesota Twins
Target Field is one of the better MLB ballparks and the ballpark tour is worth every penny you spend.
Depending on the day, tours will start from one or two places. As is the usual case, I opted for a non-gameday tour, which starts at Gate 29 adjacent to Target Plaza. The plaza is home to Minnesota Twins Hall of Fame and a number of statues: Carl and Eloise Pohlad, T.C. Rod Carew, Kirby Puckett, Harmon Killebrew, and Tom Kelly. Because of timing, I didn’t make it to the Kent Hrbek statue at home plate, the Tony Oliva statue in left field, or the statue of Bullseye the Target dog sitting opposite Target Field Station. That being said, one can view scale models of the statues if they have tickets to the Thomson Reuters Champions Club.
Tours are offered twice daily, depending on day games. Tours cost $20 for adults, $10 for children (5 and under do not require tickets), $16 for seniors, and then both military and students are $15.
My tour featured a few special treats. One was that Nick Gordon was taking batting practice as he works to get back from injury. This didn’t stop us from being able to step foot within the visitor’s dugout. The other was that a Twins employee was on the tour with his children so we made a pit stop at the Gameday Presentations booth between tour stops. All in all, the 90-minute tour features about a mile in walking. Throw in the weather and timing and it was impossible to walk all the way around the stadium. Don’t forget that they built Target Field from the inside out and had to get special permission to build over the interstate.
Because of a business luncheon taking place, we were unable to stop by Truly on Deck in right field.
One of the first stops on the tour was an area outside the Delta SKY360° Club. It’s home to a number of Target Field artifacts and discusses the history of the ballpark. Per the tour guide, anyone attending a game is free to stop by. As for the Club itself, the interior is climate-controlled and very spacious. Anyone with Club tickets can watch from the padded seats outside or dine inside the Carew Atrium, Puckett Atrium or Club 573. There are various player and concert artifacts spread throughout the Club.
The Club is so spacious that we were able to stop by Herb Carneal Press Box before getting back to the walking through the rest of the Club.
Our next stop was the Private Luxury Suite Level. The suites are “named” after the many lakes in Minnesota but if there’s a famous jersey number, it could be referred to by the player’s name. For instance, we stopped in Suite 34, which is the Puckett suite. It offers a nice view of the stadium.
From there, we went to the Budweiser Roof Deck. You don’t just get an amazing view of the game but you get some beautiful views of the Minneapolis skyline.
We took a peak in one of the keg rooms before seeing the Twins organ and gameday presentation booth. From there, it was down to the service level, where we stepped inside the visiting clubhouse and saw the batting cage, too. More often than not, the home team clubhouse is off limits on tours. There are some tours that don’t even include any stop at the clubhouse.
One of the major attractions of any ballpark tour, really, is to step foot in the dugout. While the clubs and suites may be clime-controlled, stepping foot inside the dugout will always be the headlining event of any ballpark tour whether it’s the home or visitor’s dugout. It was a special treat that my visit came while Nick Gordon and another player were taking batting practice.
Our last stop was the Thomson Reuters Champions Club. The front row is closer to home plate than the pitcher’s mound! It offers the closest view to home plate than anywhere else in the stadium. Tickets include complimentary fine dining and the ultimate entertainment experience per the Twins website. However, the limited seating means that they are sold out each season—which means people are spending anywhere from $19K to $28-K! Fans with tickets get valet parking and their own special entrance.
Rather than upload all the statue photos, you can view them on my Instagram page. The only statue that didn’t make it into the upload is T.C.
If you’re ever in the Twin Cities, I highly recommend stopping by Target Field for a ballpark tour.