End of an Era

It has finally hit me.

Tonight Bert Blyleven unveiled the #28 prior to the 6th inning in tonight’s Twins game. It meant there were only 28 Twins games remaining in the Dome before the team moves to Target Field. Has it gone that fast??? I remember the beginning of the 2008 season and the number 162 was changed to 161. It really didn’t have any significance.

I even remember my first day working at the Metrodome. I started off rolling kegs with a college buddy, Rod Hegerle. I don’t know where Hegs is today as he quit working at the Dome shortly after I started, but I cannot imagine where I would be now if he had not introduced me to this unique “Part Time” job that has dominated my life.

I am 41 years old and have climbed stairs and sold beer at the Dome for almost half my life.

Since my first day at the Dome (3-15-89), I have:

- Graduated from college
- Worked for 5 different school districts
- Changed careers and worked for 2 different paint companies
- Got married
- Had 2 children
- Purchased 7 vehicles
- Worked over 900 Twins Games

900 games... What are the statistics.

Let’s just say that in an average Twins game I sell 8 cases of beer. It might be an understatement, but it’s a good place to start. 8 cases of beer is 196 beers.

- Average that out over 900 games, and that is 176,400 beers to Twins fans.
- Each beer weighs approximately 1 pound. 176,400 beers is approximately 88 tons of beer.

Let’s say that in an average game I work 30 aisles. There are an average of 70 stairs in each section of the Dome. That equals 2100 steps per game… Times 800 games… 1 million, 680 thousand stairs over 20 years. As strange as this sounds, that doesn’t seem like a lot to me. No wonder my knees pop every time I take a step.

Beer was $2.25 when I first started… It is now $6.75. I actually sold soda in 1990 and the price of a soda was $1.50. Now pop is $4.

With only 28 games left in my Twins career at the Dome, something needs to be written. Maybe not for anyone to read, but for me to record.

This is one of those times in my life that I wish I had kept a diary of everything that happened to me over 20 years as a Beer Vendor. Too bad I could not see into the future and realize someday that everything might come to an end and I should have kept a record of it all. There have been some great stories. Some crazy stories, and several unbelievable stories. Oh, well… better late than never.

This truly is the end of an era for me.

The stories to follow are the “cliff notes” from half my life. I don’t know where to begin, and honestly don’t know why I am even starting this project.