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A cover-up at the Met
By Rebecca Toov
You are listening to U of M Radio on your Historic Dial!
From 1938-1979, the Minnesota School of the Air brought educational programs into the classrooms of Minnesota and beyond over radio airwaves and through tape transcription. During the 1977-1978 season, School of the Air produced a series of radio “field trips” called Look What We Found, a program that introduced students to people and places in Minnesota. Join us this season as we revisit these radio field trips. Today’s episode takes listeners to Metropolitan Stadium to learn how to stay dry on a rainy day.
Season 2: Episode 6. A Cover-up at the Met.
You are listening to U of M Radio on your Historic Dial podcast. Welcome to Season 2: Episode 5.
Hi, this is Rebecca from University Archives. The title for the April 13, 1978 broadcast of Look What We Found is “A Cover-up at the Met.” Met is a nickname for Metropolitan Stadium, the former home to Minnesota’s professional sports teams. The stadium opened in 1956 and was demolished in 1985. It’s where Harmon Killebrew hit home runs for the Twins, and where Fran Tarkenton threw touchdown passes for the Vikings. The Kicks, a professional soccer team, also played in the stadium from 1976-1981.
The introduction to this program in the Teacher’s Guide states, “When a Carew homer whizzes across the diamond at Met Stadium and into the stands, not many fans are thinking about why the field looks such a brilliant green under the lights. Likewise, when some fancy footwork by the Vikings or the Kicks throws up patches of sod, who puts the field back together? One thing fans probably have noticed is the enormous protective tarp that covers the field when it rains. Those are the groundskeepers who pull that out.”
On today’s historic broadcast of Look What We Found, you’ll hear from Dick Erickson, the stadium supervisor at the Met. He described the difficulties of rearranging the field to accommodate three different professional sports.
Metropolitan Stadium was built before Minnesota had any professional sports teams. In the 1950s, a Metropolitan Sports Area Commission was created to oversee the construction and operation of a stadium with the potential to accommodate professional teams. A local fundraising campaign was initiated to secure the funds. Farmland was purchased in the city of Bloomington, south of Minneapolis, as the site for the stadium.
On opening day, April 24, 1956, it was the Minneapolis Millers minor league baseball team that took to the field. However, Minnesotans only had to wait a few more years for professional teams to come. The Vikings played their opening game on September 17, 1961 and pulled off a victory against the Chicago Bears 37-13. The Twins lost their home opener on April 21, 1961 5-3.
Within a year after this program aired on KUOM, construction began on a new indoor domed stadium in downtown Minneapolis. The Kicks, Vikings, and Twins all played final games at Metropolitan Stadium in 1981.
The stadium was demolished in 1985 and the site was replaced by the Mall of America, which opened in 1992. A Metropolitan Stadium home plate marker was placed in the flooring of the mall’s amusement park to mark the spot of the original home plate.
Now, let’s travel back to the stadium in 1978 and listen to “A Cover-Up at the Met.”
Broadcast Transcript
[Music]
Various voices: I don’t believe it. Hahaha! Wow! Psyched out!
[Group exclamation] Look what we found!
Announcer: Come on you’ve been sitting there far too long. Join the Minnesota School of the Air as we take a field trip in sound to someplace you’ve probably never been, somewhere in and around the Twin Cities. And here to go with you are your hosts Walter, Patty, and Bill.
Walter: Bill,
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By Read This Book!
5
11 ratings
By Rebecca Toov
You are listening to U of M Radio on your Historic Dial!
From 1938-1979, the Minnesota School of the Air brought educational programs into the classrooms of Minnesota and beyond over radio airwaves and through tape transcription. During the 1977-1978 season, School of the Air produced a series of radio “field trips” called Look What We Found, a program that introduced students to people and places in Minnesota. Join us this season as we revisit these radio field trips. Today’s episode takes listeners to Metropolitan Stadium to learn how to stay dry on a rainy day.
Season 2: Episode 6. A Cover-up at the Met.
You are listening to U of M Radio on your Historic Dial podcast. Welcome to Season 2: Episode 5.
Hi, this is Rebecca from University Archives. The title for the April 13, 1978 broadcast of Look What We Found is “A Cover-up at the Met.” Met is a nickname for Metropolitan Stadium, the former home to Minnesota’s professional sports teams. The stadium opened in 1956 and was demolished in 1985. It’s where Harmon Killebrew hit home runs for the Twins, and where Fran Tarkenton threw touchdown passes for the Vikings. The Kicks, a professional soccer team, also played in the stadium from 1976-1981.
The introduction to this program in the Teacher’s Guide states, “When a Carew homer whizzes across the diamond at Met Stadium and into the stands, not many fans are thinking about why the field looks such a brilliant green under the lights. Likewise, when some fancy footwork by the Vikings or the Kicks throws up patches of sod, who puts the field back together? One thing fans probably have noticed is the enormous protective tarp that covers the field when it rains. Those are the groundskeepers who pull that out.”
On today’s historic broadcast of Look What We Found, you’ll hear from Dick Erickson, the stadium supervisor at the Met. He described the difficulties of rearranging the field to accommodate three different professional sports.
Metropolitan Stadium was built before Minnesota had any professional sports teams. In the 1950s, a Metropolitan Sports Area Commission was created to oversee the construction and operation of a stadium with the potential to accommodate professional teams. A local fundraising campaign was initiated to secure the funds. Farmland was purchased in the city of Bloomington, south of Minneapolis, as the site for the stadium.
On opening day, April 24, 1956, it was the Minneapolis Millers minor league baseball team that took to the field. However, Minnesotans only had to wait a few more years for professional teams to come. The Vikings played their opening game on September 17, 1961 and pulled off a victory against the Chicago Bears 37-13. The Twins lost their home opener on April 21, 1961 5-3.
Within a year after this program aired on KUOM, construction began on a new indoor domed stadium in downtown Minneapolis. The Kicks, Vikings, and Twins all played final games at Metropolitan Stadium in 1981.
The stadium was demolished in 1985 and the site was replaced by the Mall of America, which opened in 1992. A Metropolitan Stadium home plate marker was placed in the flooring of the mall’s amusement park to mark the spot of the original home plate.
Now, let’s travel back to the stadium in 1978 and listen to “A Cover-Up at the Met.”
Broadcast Transcript
[Music]
Various voices: I don’t believe it. Hahaha! Wow! Psyched out!
[Group exclamation] Look what we found!
Announcer: Come on you’ve been sitting there far too long. Join the Minnesota School of the Air as we take a field trip in sound to someplace you’ve probably never been, somewhere in and around the Twin Cities. And here to go with you are your hosts Walter, Patty, and Bill.
Walter: Bill,