All About Target Field

Fun Facts: Baseball teams and new ballparks

Twenty Major League Baseball teams have moved into new ballparks since the Minnesota Twins opened the Metrodome in 1982. (We're not counting expansion teams.) Did you know...?

• Only nine of those teams won their first game in their new ballpark.
• Two of the past four World Series have been won by teams playing their first year in a new ballpark: The 2009 New York Yankees and the 2006 St. Louis Cardinals.
• The worst opening day attendance was at the new Busch Stadium in St. Louis in 2006: 41,938 fans attended, only 89 percent of the ballpark's capacity.
• The longest inaugural game for a ballpark lasted 4:49, when Colorado debuted Coors Field with a 14 inning, 11-9 win over the Mets on April 26, 1995.
• The shortest inaugural game for a ballpark lasted 2:22, when Washington debuted Nationals Park with a 3-2 win over the Braves on March 30, 2008.
• The most lopsided inaugural game for a ballpark happened on April 18, 1991, when the Chicago White Sox opened new Comiskey Park with a 16-0 loss to the Tigers.
• Only once has a ballpark been debuted with an inter-league game: The Seattle Mariners opened SAFECO Field on July 15, 1999 with a 3-2 loss to the San Diego Padres.
• The Twins opened the Metrodome on May 6, 1982 with a crowd of 52,279 on hand (112 percent of capacity). No new stadium since then has drawn that large of a crowd for its inaugural game.
• Even with the new ballpark, the 1982 Twins still had the lowest attendance in the American League, likely the result of the team's dismal record of 60-102. Seven Metrodome games in September and October of 1982 drew fewer than 4,000 fans and after opening day, the team never drew more than 27,000 fans to a game.
• During the first year in their new ballpark, the 1982 Twins went 60-102. The only team with a worse record in its first year in a new ballpark was the 2008 Washington Nationals, who went 59-102.
• The Twins also had a losing record the year they debuted Met Stadium in 1961 (70-90).