What can I say about the 2010 Minnesota Twins season? With the opening of Target Field, this will be a season of baseball that I will never forget. I never could have imagined that I would go see 57 games at Target Field this season, but with finally being able to see baseball played in a proper setting I just couldn’t get enough of it. From the first time I stepped inside Target Field during the season ticket holder open house in late March, I knew from that point that I would do everything I could to witness as many special moments that would happen inside that stadium as I could.
The two exhibition games against the St. Louis Cardinals only wet my appetite for the day I had been waiting 4 years to be a part of: Opening Day at Target Field on April 12, 2010. I’ll always remember how the weather forecast had been predicting rain for that historic day and even up until that morning it appeared that getting wet would be inevitable. As if by some miracle though, the rain clouds that appeared destined for us somehow split right around downtown Minneapolis saving the game from getting rain. What resulted was a perfect day for baseball and some historic Twins moments. From the stunning Star Spangled Banner anthem to kick things off to Carl Pavano’s first official Target Field pitch to Jason Kubel’s first official Target Field homerun, it will be a day that I’ll never forget.
Over the course of the season I was lucky enough to witness first hand many special moments. There was the first ever Target Field walk-off Twins victory against the Detroit Tigers on May 4th that came on a wild pitch allowing J.J. Hardy to steal home. Then there was the night Jason Kubel hit two homeruns against the Yankees to lead the Twins to a victory. The 4th of July weekend was really something special at Target Field as the outdoor ballpark allowed the Twins to put on a fantastic fireworks display after the game. With downtown Minneapolis for a backdrop, it certainly provided some spectacular photo opportunities.
More memorable moments were Jim Thome’s extra-inning, come-from-behind, walk-off homerun against our White Sox rivals, the Legend’s Game where I was sitting front row witnessing Twins greatness from an arm’s length away, Jim Thome hitting Target Field’s longest homerun off the top of the American flag pole in right field, Ron Gardenhire’s 800th career victory the night the Twins clinched the Central Division, and Target Field’s first ever playoff games against the Yankees.
Before the season started I figured it would be fun to get a few pictures at games from time to time, but what I didn’t anticipate was how I would come to enjoy it so much that I was finding myself in constant pursuit of great seats from which to photograph the game. I certainly had my share of great seats for games from time to time and it makes me happy that I’ll always be able to look back on these pictures to remember this season. I think I really learned a lot this season about photography and it definitely made me a much better photographer in my opinion. Even though it was a ton of work last season to photograph so many games and get the pictures worthy of sharing, it was a lot of fun and I hope I’m able to do it all over again next season.
As a way to look back over the course of the season, I created a video slideshow of my favorite photos I took. If you’d rather take your time to look through the photos, I created a gallery of all the photos that can be found here: 2010 Minnesota Twins Season Photo Gallery
Note:
Give the video some time to load completely before viewing to avoid pauses during playback. Press play and then pause it to allow the video to load. The bar near the play button will be red to show how much has loaded.