Barnes Field

All photos of Barnes Field available on Flickr.

Following the Auggies game, I headed about 10 minutes east to the Hamline-Midway area of St. Paul for a Concordia St. Paul Golden Bears game.  Unlike Augsburg University that plays offsite, the Golden Bears actually play on campus, and they are a level up in Division II, so even despite the beauty of Parade Stadium, I was expecting Barnes Field to be an upgrade.  I could not have been more wrong.  

I arrived to the right field parking lot between games 1 and 2 of their doubleheader to find students tailgating.  At first this seemed like a promising indicator of a fun ballpark, but I came to realize they were tailgating out of necessity.  Barnes Field is barely above the threshold of what I would even constitute as a ballpark, and might have been the worst park I've ever been to.  These students were probably sitting out there in lawn chairs because the only ways to get to the seating area from the parking lot are to either walk through the visitors bullpen, or to walk down an offramp that has no sidewalk - and I don't mean either of those things figuratively.  The park is about as shoehorned as you can possibly get into a site and there's literally nowhere to even fit an entry point.  The field is oriented facing northeast.  To the south along the right field line, there is about 20 feet of green space between the dugout and the sidewalk, which is where the visitor bullpens reside.  To the west, there are a couple sections of bleachers wedged into maybe a 15-foot area between the backstop and another building.  Beyond those bleachers down the left field line are the Concordia bullpens and some batting cages, and beyond that is another parking lot.  Those who park in that other lot would have to walk through that bullpen to get to the bleachers just as I did from the other side.  The outfield fence directly abuts a softball diamond in left, an arena in left-center, and a parking lot in right field.  Given the tight site, this park is understandably known as a bandbox, and any homers directly land onto one of those three things in the outfield.  Normally the ballparks that have such a unique site are enjoyable and have a lot of character, but it is not functional whatsoever, and there is no space to surround the field with anything more than just a chain link fence.  When I finally made my way "inside," there was a group of team moms feeding the players between games, which would have been a really nice gesture if they weren't forced onto a gravel loading zone with extension cords and crock pots because there was not one inch of room for them within the confines of the park.  Go ahead and search "Bob Barnes Field Concordia St. Paul" on Google Maps for yourself; the aerial view will do a way better job of describing this architectural marvel than I can with words.

I watched the team rake the infield between games and I saw about an inning of Game 2 before I couldn't take it anymore.  There's no way I could have known it would be this bad until I went, so I can't say I regret going, but I did not feel guilty at all about leaving so quickly, especially considering I just looked at the box score and this ended up being a 4+ hour 14-inning game.  I briefly contemplated just going back to the Augsburg game, but when I noticed the St. Paul Saints were also in town, I figured this might be my only chance to attend parts of three games in one day.  I got to CHS Field in the 3rd inning, just in time to see former Brewer Orlando Arcia lace a 3-run triple.  In total, I only saw about 8 innings of ball, but it was a very memorable day.

park rankings and statistics:

aesthetics - 0
views from park - 4
view to field - 3
surrounding area - 3 (campus and residential)
food variety - n/a
nachos - n/a
beer - n/a
vendor price - n/a
ticket price - 10 (free)
atmosphere - 1
walk to park - 1
parking price/proximity - 6 (adjacent free lot but points deducted for no way to get from lot to park)
concourses - 0
team shop - n/a

kids area - n/a

best food - n/a
most unique stadium feature - extremely tight site
best jumbotron feature - n/a

best between-inning feature - visiting players dominate the spread from CSP moms during doubleheader

field dimensions - none listed

starters - Carson Zimmel (NS) v. Tyus Smith (CSP)
opponent - Northern State Wolves
time of game - 4:12
attendance - box score says 215 but there's no way that many people even fit...I counted about 30
score - 7-6 W (14)

Brewers score that day - 5-3 L

Parade Stadium

All photos of Parade Stadium and Walker Sculpture Garden available on Flickr.

Sometimes I seek out items on my baseball bucket list, and sometimes an unexpected one finds me.  Yesterday I went to my first ever tripleheader, which was (mostly) unplanned.  I woke up on Friday thinking I was going to be seeing two entirely different games on an entirely different day, but with college baseball in Minnesota, you have to be prepared for the weather to change your itinerary at a moment's notice.  After a few postponements and cancellations, I shuffled the deck for a Sunday outing, which afforded me the opportunity to see portions of 3 games in one afternoon if the timing worked out perfectly.  The main ballpark I wanted to see and one that always remained a part of my plans was Parade Stadium, and I started my afternoon there.

If you don't know the history of the stadium or anything about Minneapolis geography, Parade Stadium probably doesn't seem worth a visit on its surface.  It's about 35 years old and is nothing more than an ivy-swarmed chain link fence, three sections of metal bleachers that seat about 1,000 fans, and a wood shanty press box, all nestled within a city park.  But it's the history of that park and its location that make Parade Stadium so locally renowned.  Formerly known simply as "The Parade," the park dates back to the turn of the 20th century and used to host everything from concerts, NFL football games, festivals, tennis, and even a campaign speech by Woodrow Wilson according to Wikipedia.  And it's a Minnesota park, so there is of course an ice rink component as well, on which part of the original Mighty Ducks movie was filmed.  A lot has changed on the site in the last century-plus, including the replacement of the football field with what the site is most well-known for today - the Walker Art Center Sculpture Garden.  If you've ever seen or heard of that statue of a giant cherry sitting on spoon, that's the Walker Sculpture Garden.  Thousands of visitors flood this site every year just to see that, but on this day, I was obviously also there for baseball.  When the sculpture garden was commissioned, it displaced a lot of the old playing fields that were there, but one of the ones that got rebuilt was a baseball diamond which Augsburg University has called home since the 1990s.  I spent about 20 minutes walking through the garden before the game, and even more amazing than the art was the gorgeous backdrop of the Minneapolis skyline and St. Mary's Basilica, which is the other thing that Parade Stadium is famous for.  It's not hyperbole to say that this tiny ballfield that cost under a million dollars to build boasts the best view of any ballpark in Minnesota.  I chose to sit along the 1st base line so that I could be in the sun on the 45° day, but I found myself craning my neck to the right between almost every pitch to take in the view and to remind myself what tall buildings look like.

A trip to this park solely for the art and the panorama will not disappoint and is a great way to spend an afternoon, and the baseball was really just the cherry on top (pun intended).  I saw the first 3 innings of what would be Augsburg's 5th win of the season, in game 1 of a doubleheader they swept against Concordia Moorhead.  In the brief time I was there, I saw the Auggies score three runs on two errors including a 2-run bunt.  They would go on to tack on one more and win by a 4-1 score in 7 innings.  Looks like both starters went 6 innings and the Auggies starter Austin Lang threw an astounding 121 pitches.  You'd think a 7-inning game with only 3 total pitchers would go really fast but it was still nearly 2 hours.  I was impressed with the quality of the playing surface and the care taken with the deep outfield ivy fence, and it was one of my better D3 experiences.  My favorite part of the ballpark besides the view was the bathroom/locker room building that was just a simple rectangular box clad in shiny reflective metal panels on all sides with no openings, almost to become sort of a sculpture of its own adjacent to the garden.

Children aside, there are very few acceptable reasons that Erik and I will allow for leaving a game early, but leaving to get to another game is one of those reasons.  I left about 1:45pm for game #2 of the day - to be continued on my next post.

park rankings and statistics:

aesthetics - 4
views from park - 10
view to field - 5 (fence instead of nets)
surrounding area - 9 (Parade Park + Walker Sculpture Garden)
food variety - n/a
nachos - n/a
beer - n/a
vendor price - n/a
ticket price - 10 (free)
atmosphere - 4
walk to park - 8 (through garden)
parking price/proximity - 7 (adjacent city lot $5)
concourses - 1
team shop - n/a

kids area - 3 (if you count the surrounding park as such)

best food - n/a
most unique stadium feature - view, adjacent sculpture garden
best jumbotron feature - n/a

best between-inning feature - fans invited to express themselves however they choose for National Anthem in acknowledgement of inequality

field dimensions - 336/422/340

starters - Brayden Wolfgram (CM) v. Austin Lang (AUG)
opponent - Concordia Moorhead Cobbers
time of game - 1:54
attendance - about 100
score - 4-1 W

Brewers score that day - 5-3 L

STANDINGS AND UPCOMING SERIES AS OF 4/20/26:

Brewers 12-9; 3 @ Tigers, 3 v. Pirates, 3 v. Diamondbacks, 3 @ Nationals

Twins 11-11; 3 @ Mets, 3 @ Rays, 3 v. Mariners, 4 v. Blue Jays

2026 GAMES ATTENDED:

Erik - 1
Peter - 4

A Memorable Twins Home Opener

All photos of 2026 Twins Home Opener available on Flickr.

Megan and I continued our annual tradition/requirement of attending an MLB home opener when we made it to the Twins-Rays matinee in Minneapolis on Good Friday.  The weather was near identical to the home opener we attended last year - low 40s and overcast - but that was where the similarities ended.  First and foremost, the lineup the Twins trotted out there on Friday was a mere shell of the version we saw in 2025 that once held a lot of promise.  The Twins infamously sold off about half their team at the trade deadline last year, and in the process broke an MLB record for most players traded from an active roster in one week with 11.  This was clearly a cost-saving measure by the Pohlad family, who briefly entertained selling the team last year, but then quickly realized "hey, if we just get rid of all our long term contracts and spend nothing, we're going to pocket a lot of coin."  Yes, the Twins do have a lot of debt (or they did at the time), so it's fair to want to trim some fat, especially for a smaller market team not poised to make the playoffs.  But to lie to the fans and say they are still fielding a competitive team is just a big slap in the face.  Just call it a rebuild or "tanking" or however you want to phrase it and let's be adults about it.  There was a even an organized effort from a group to chant "POHLADS SUCK" during the 3rd inning of the game, which I think will be just the start of tensions boiling over for fans.  The announced attendance was just over 36,000 and I fully expect that to be the high water mark for the entire season.

Anybody who's been to a lot of MLB games knows that announced attendance is always way more than actual butts in the seats, and that could not have been more evident at this particular game due to the most memorable part of the day - a power outage at the stadium!  As Megan and I were walking out of the parking garage around 1:45pm, the lights went out.  We didn't think much of it at the time, as they were the old high pressure sodium variety of lights.  There was also a long line at the gate when we emerged from the parking garage, and again we didn't think anything of that because it's Opening Day.  But then after waiting for a few minutes and not moving an inch, the front gate staff alerted the crowd to what was going on.  Megan and I scoured Reddit and found that Xcel was estimating a restored service time of 3:15pm - which was after scheduled first pitch - so we promptly walked in the direction of the working street lights across the street and killed some time at an Irish pub, while all the other morons stood in a pointless line in the cold rain.  The outage lasted about an hour which pushed first pitch back an hour, and we finally got into the park a little after 3:00.  At first, we were pretty upset that the power went out just before we got inside, but in hindsight we were in a very fortunate window of time.  Had we arrived 5 minutes earlier, we would have been trapped inside the stadium with no power, no heat, no concessions, and no entertainment, with only Happy Hour hot dogs being given away for free to subside the angry mob.  And had we arrived 5 minutes later, we would have been stuck in miles of traffic unable to enter the parking garage.  So we ended up being pretty lucky and making the best of it, like we always do.  Once inside Target Field, the scene was quite reminiscent of a Covid-era supply chain log jam.  Waves of people stormed the gates and immediately made a bee-line for either a bathroom, food, or a beer, and the lines were all insane.  All of the $2 dogs were gone, and even though the $2 beer happy hour was extended to the 2nd inning, the lines were struggling to catch up the entire game and we were never able to procure one.  I didn't understand why a line for a stand that sold a single item for $2 went so slow, but I chose not to dwell on it.  It took us about a half hour to pee and get a beer and as a result, we weren't able to get our usual great spots by the Surfside Bar in left, but we did find a decent alternative in center field under some heat lamps, with a bar rail in front of us, and the smell of fried chicken wafting from behind us.  We settled out there for most of the game, and ended the last two innings in the Truly Deck in right field as an intense rain began to fall.

The power outage and the overall sentiment towards the team ownership both cast a palpable shadow over the day.  We tried not to let it dampen our mood, and the good part was it distracted us from the crummy Minnesota spring weather.  The bad part was that we were really looking forward to this happy hour that ended up being a dud.  You can't fault the team entirely for it (unless the Pohlads forgot to pay the electric bill), but power outage aside, the Twins were also clearly unprepared for the popularity of this promotion on the busiest day of the year.  We hope that by the time we return for another Friday happy hour game next month that they've got all of the kinks worked out.  Because of all the delays, we also didn't really get a ton of time to walk around the stadium and to look for the new featured concessions items.  We did wolf down some Buffalo Chicken Poutine in the 8th inning, which was divine, but other than that I did not see any of the other new featured items.  I did notice there were a few "value stands" added this year, which Erik and I saw implemented in Seattle and SF on our last couple trips, and these seem to be becoming a welcome trend.  Having stands where a family can get a "cheap" dog, soda, beer, or popcorn, and gouging everyone for the specialty items, is the right way to do it if I was running a team.  I appreciated this gesture along with the concept of the happy hour given how horrendous the team will be this year; both just need the details worked out a bit more to be successful.

Despite their best effort, the Twins did actually manage to win the game by a score of 10-4.  Bailey Ober got the start for the Twins, following a delegation of Minnesota Winter Olympians throwing out the ceremonial first pitches.  The former 12th round pick gave up 3 runs over 4 innings on the afternoon.  One of the few remaining stars on the team - Byron Buxton - went 0-3 and had his usual exit from injury, but returned to the lineup Sunday and seems like he'll be ok (for now).  Matt Wallner was 0-5 with 5 strikeouts, which I don't even know what that's called - a Platinum Sombrero?  The Twins were tied 3-3 heading into their half of the 7th and put up a 7-spot that was capped off by Tristan Gray's grand slam just over the wall in right.  Gray was a whisper away from being cut out of camp and even contemplated retirement, so it was a pretty great redemption story, even if just for the day.  Joe Boyle gave up 3 runs over 5.1 for the visiting Rays and took a no-decision in the loss.

On our way home, Megan and I toggled through some of our most memorable Opening Days, and given the circumstances, I think looking back this one will definitely be right up there for games we'll never forget.  In closing, I'm looking through my blog archives here, and it seems like I've somehow not updated my Target Field rankings since my very first visit in August 2010, so those are long overdue for a refresh and listed below.

park rankings and statistics

(see original rankings from 8/3/10):

aesthetics - 9
views from park - 8
view to field - 7
surrounding area - 8
food variety - 9
nachos - 8
beer - decreases to 6
vendor price - improves to 6 (added "value stands" and happy hours, but everything else still pricy)
ticket price - 8
atmosphere - 9
walk to park - 8
parking price/proximity - 6
concourses - 4
team shop - improves to 9 (one of the larger ones in MLB)

kids area - 4 (new category since last rankings - the area itself is kind of lame but it's a great location in entry plaza.  overall it's not a super kid friendly stadium)

best food - still the Tony O cuban pork sandwich!
most unique stadium feature - site, standing room areas
best jumbotron feature - the funniest player facts in the league

best between-inning feature - Race to Target Field with Minnesotan mascots

field dimensions - 339/403/328

starters - Joe Boyle (TB) v. Bailey Ober (MIN)
opponent - Tampa Bay Rays
time of game - 3:07 (0:57 delay)
attendance - 36042
score - 10-4 W

Brewers score that day - PPD

STANDINGS AND UPCOMING SERIES AS OF 4/6/26:

Brewers 7-2; 3 @ Red Sox, 3 v. Nationals, 3 v. Blue Jays, 3 @ Marlins

Twins 3-6; 4 v. Tigers, 3 @ Blue Jays, 3 v. Red Sox, 3 v. Reds

2026 GAMES ATTENDED:

Erik - 1
Peter - 1