Tickets, please

Back in my Life-in-the-Big-Apple Days — and the 1991-1995 era does indeed seem like another lifetime entirely — going to a Major League Baseball game was almost like going to a movie.

I remember it not being uncommon to take the train to Shea Stadium on a sunny summer Sunday afternoon, purchasing a $7.50 ticket at the gate and catching a Mets game in spur-of-the-moment fashion. And, discounting the couple of bucks in subway fare, the ticket price was the same as a movie price.

Boy, has that ever changed. Take a visit to the websites for New York’s two new MLB parks — Yankee Stadium and Citi Field — and prepare to be blown away by some of the costs for tickets. The most expensive seats at Yankee Stadium can run $1,250 (they were once twice that before a fan revolt), for pity’s sake.

Conversely, I recall moving to Worthington in 2001 and going to my first Twins game at the Metrodome a few short months later. Granted, a buddy from NoDak out visiting found some sort of discount deal somewhere, but it seems to me that we got our seats, a pop, a hot dog and a Dairy Queen treat for something like 75 cents. I’m exaggerating, obviously, but it seemed like an afternoon of baseball action and baseball food was virtually handed to us. And even for my last trip to the Dome — 2009 — it still was an incredible bargain to see what by this point had become my favorite team play in person.

Nowadays, I go to a pro baseball game once every few years, compared to the days when one every couple of weeks wasn’t atypical. Not only do tickets cost more and the distance is greater than a mere mass transit ride, but I’ve got a family with young children who probably wouldn’t be able to sit still for two innings, never mind nine. So, when I got word that an old friend was going to be in Minneapolis over the weekend — and I saw the Twins were going to be at home — I knew I had to be there. It would be a great time with a buddy I hadn’t seen since my wedding nearly eight years ago, and a chance to catch my first game at Target Field.

Target Field — I don’t have to tell you — is wonderful. Even if the weather happens to be cruddy — and it was for Saturday afternoon’s game against the Toronto Blue Jays — baseball simply belongs outdoors (though a retractable roof wouldn’t have been a horrible thing). Too bad the Twins aren’t having the kind of season that comes close to matching the elegance of their stadium.

Saturday’s game started out as a sloppy affair, with both teams scoring in the first inning thanks in large part to shabby fielding. Then, with the home team up 2-1 in the second, Toronto catcher JP Arencibia hit a majestic home run into the second deck in left field to tie the score. The affair would remain deadlocked until the sixth, when the Twins’ Michael Cuddyer blasted a solo homer of his own to make it a 3-2 game.

Meanwhile, Minnesota pitcher Nick Blackburn was cruising, eventually retiring 17 consecutive batters until the Jays’ Yunel Escobar legged out the equivalent of a swinging bunt with two out in the eighth. The next batter, Corey Patterson, drilled a long drive into right-center field that barely eluded Twins center fielder Denard Span and went for a game-tying triple. Reliever Matt Capps prohibited any further damage, but the Minnesota bats by now were in a deep slumber and Toronto later put the game away in an ugly, ugly 11th. Final score: Blue Jays 9, Twins 3.

Still, it was a great day with a good friend … and we wound up with pretty good seats all things considered. I went on the StubHub website early Saturday morning and found two seats on the lower level for 24 bucks a pop — significantly lower than their normal asking price, I believe. The seats were also far back enough that we were under an overhang that protected us from a steady late-inning drizzle.

Twenty-four bucks was the most I’ve ever paid for a big-league ticket — and I still think I got a great deal. Granted, there was no hot dog, ice cream or pop thrown in, but in this day and age there’s no reason to complain. It definitely beats Yankee Stadium, that’s for sure.