Mini Met - Jordan, Minn.

The Mini Met in Jordan, Minn. is a stellar example of how important "Town Baseball" is to Minnesotans.
Photo courtesy of Digitalballparks.com / Eric Pastore
Midwestern charm and quirky design only tell half the story of why the Mini Met is so cool. It's part of a bigger picture: Town Baseball. It's a Minnesota and Wisconsin tradition where towns have these classic wood ballparks and teams of all ages share the facility. Town Baseball was mentioned in the Top 10 of the Ultimate Baseball Experiences according to ESPN's Jim Caple
in a 2007 piece.
Local look: "Minnesota baseball fans get to experience something that much of the rest of this country doesn't: 'Town Baseball.' Town baseball has been played in Single-A Minor League-sized wooden ballparks, throughout almost every major town in Minnesota and Wisconsin since the 1930s and before. Many of the ballparks that are still standing in the largest towns in these parts, have been gobbled up by the Northwoods League… a collegiate baseball league that showcases America's next great talents in a Minor League styled system that has drawn a tremendous amount of fans over the years and taken amateur baseball to a new level.
"The interior of this grandstand is reminiscent of a log cabin, with its wooden post and beam construction. It has been the jewel of Jordan since it was built in the mid-1930's. Jordan's main grandstand is not located behind home plate like in most other ballparks. The primary seating area is a long singular wooden roofed section that stretches down the third base line. There is very little seating (if any) down the first base line, which is odd considering that this is where most of the action occurs. The Mini-Met however was built to fit into this little basin and most of the room for the facility was on the third base line, so that is where the grandstand was built. The Mini-Met is certainly a little quirky in that way, which makes it well… special."
- Eric Pastore, Digitalballparks.com
The Mini Met from above.
Photo courtesy of City of Jordan