By Brian Ojanpa
The Free Press
April 08, 2007 12:58 am
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“It’s one of the greatest things to happen in Minnesota. We cannot play night baseball in this state until the end of May because of the weather.”
That was late Minnesota Twins owner Calvin Griffith talking in 1981 about how excited he was to be moving his team into the Metrodome — and ragging about how inhospitable Minnesota weather is early in the season.
He was using hyperbole, of course. May in Minnesota is just fine, and even a couple of weeks into April, outdoor baseball is mostly doable.
In other words, all the angst registered this past week over cold-weather games being played and postponed — and how that’s going to make a mockery of the Twins open-air ballpark come 2010 — smacks more of Chicken Little than tempered thought.
Is baseball meant to be played in 30-something temperatures? Of course not. But as we tritely say in Minnesota, if you don’t like the weather, wait a minute.
The cold-plagued games this past week in Chicago, Detroit and elsewhere in northern climes isn’t so much the fault of nature as it is of man.
Bonehead scheduling had northern teams opening seasons at home when they should have been on the road.
We’ll give the schedulers a pass this time. They screwed up. We trust it will be back to normal next year — normal being northern teams playing the first week of the season in warmer locales.
That always was the case when the Twins called Metropolitan Stadium home. Granted, the weather could still be frigid when they finally did open in Bloomington, but by then the weather percentages were starting to skew their way.
They also played day games early in the season. This only made sense, unlike now, when the dictates of TV usually stipulates that teams play at night.
While folks gnash their teeth about the new Twins park not having a retractable roof, it’s instructive to remember a couple of things: Baseball is a very long season and cold days are minimal within that context, and Minnesota’s weather scantly differs from other roofless-ballpark cities.
Some stats:
The average high temperature in Minneapolis during April is 56. In Boston it’s also 56. In Detroit and Cleveland it’s 58, and in Chicago it’s 59.
Peas in a pod. Yet you don’t hear moaning about having no roofs in those cities. Sure, they’d be a nice amenity, but on the whole those teams’ seasons play out just fine, and the Twins will do likewise in their new stadium because of another informative stat.
The number of games postponed by inclement weather over an entire season: Chicago 3, Boston and Cleveland 2, Detroit 1 (2004 figures).
Unseasonably cold out now? No doubt. But like a bad burrito, it passes quickly.
Brian Ojanpa is a Free Press staff writer. Call him at 344-6316 or e-mail bojanpa@mankatofreepress.com.
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