Al Michaels says Twins faked crowd noise in 1987 World Series

Turns out football isn’t the only sport that can stir up a controversy about the authenticity of a crowd’s cry. Baseball’s just comes almost three decades after the fact.

The Metrodome, home to the Minnesota Twins from 1982 to 2009, was widely regarded as the loudest park in the major leagues. So loud in fact, that legendary sports broadcaster Al Michaels is certain that the Twins faithful were getting some help.

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Here’s Michaels’ take via twincities.com, recalling his experience calling the 1987 World Series at the Dome:

“Minnesota’s in the World Series against St. Louis, and it was ridiculously loud,” Michaels said Wednesday during an interview on Pro Football Talk Live on NBC Sports Radio. “I’ll never forget Scott Ostler was writing for the L.A. Times, and he described the (Metrodome) crowd as 54,223 Scandinavian James Browns.

“I’m going, wait a minute. This is a baseball game,” Michaels told the host, NBC colleague Mike Florio. “Nobody is screaming like this when the fifth inning starts. … To me, there was no question” that the crowd noise was not natural.

Michaels recalled how ABC’s attempt to gauge the noise level resulted in a broken sound meter.

“The decibel level had gotten higher than a runway at Minneapolis-St. Paul airport,” Michaels said.

The Twins won the World Series that year, beating the Cardinals in an epic seven-game thriller, and went on to win the title again in 1991. Over both appearances in the Fall Classic, Minnesota was a perfect 8-0 at home.

Of course, the organization and stadium operators have repeatedly rejected claims that there was anything nefarious going on to pump up the noise. The NFL’s Minnesota Vikings, co-tenants with the Twins, were also suspected of foul play when it came to stadium sound.

The Metrodome may be no more but thanks to Michaels’ latest assertion, its mythology continues to grow.

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Israel Fehr is a writer for the Yahoo Sports blogs. Have a tip? Email him at [email protected] or follow him on Twitter. Follow @israelfehr