But many of the Twins' impressions of the new south Bronx palace seemed to be shaped by comparisons to the soon-to-be-bulldozed museum piece that still slouches across the street. "It's easier to move around. More room, no (low) ceiling like before," Carlos Gomez said. "Players (lounge) used to be one table. Now it's big room."

That visitors' clubhouse, a crowded, claustrophobic room that looked its age, was a common complaint. "We go from the little place where the floors were bent," said manager Ron Gardenhire, making a rolling-wave motion to illustrate his point, "to this. It's a big change."

It is. The Twins' clubhouse is twice the size of the old one (and close to twice as large as their Metrodome locker room), with a coaches' room worthy of the name, and a lounge with the service of a pricey hotel. "They make whatever you want -- pizza, burgers, sandwiches, rice and beans, chicken, steak," Gomez said, sounding hungry. "It's good for players."

All the upgrades, however, couldn't buy one thing. "There's not quite as much character," relief pitcher Jesse Crain said. "It's modern. It's a great, new ballpark. But it's not unique like the other one."

The well-publicized price tag, along with the exorbitant ticket prices, seemed to raise expectations among the players of a Baseball palace built by Cartier, with gold floors and emerald fixtures. And by the standards of a mansion, Yankee Stadium is, well, a ballpark.

"It's new, but it just seems like a lot of new stadiums," said Redmond, who won a World Series ring in 2003 across the street while with Florida. "I like it, I like new parks. But it's just like another stadium, it's not anything special."

The home facilities are much more plush, the grand-hall entryways are mammoth and memorable, and the suites are worthy of the millions spent to rent them, at least to the people who pay the bills. The part the players see, though, is a lot more standard. The dugouts are still equipped with simple wooden benches. The players sit on basic folding chairs at their lockers.

For the money spent, Crain said, "you expect to see your names in digital lights or something in your locker," although each locker is equipped with a safe for valuables, a first for the major leagues. "Don't get me wrong, I'm not complaining," Crain added. "It's definitely nice, but not spectacular. ... I think Seattle's nicer than this. And Pittsburgh, maybe Milwaukee."

Crain quoted fellow pitcher Kevin Slowey's first impression: "It's a little underwhelming."

The field is the most important part, the Twins agree, and the efforts to replicate the old place have paid off there. "You walk out there and it looks like Yankee Stadium," Gardenhire said. "A few things are a little different, but it looks, walking out of the tunnel, just like it used to."

And it stokes the Twins' growing anticipation for a new home of their own. Target Field is less than a year away, "and I think about that a lot," Crain said. "Everything I've seen back home, they're doing it right."

In fact, he figures, the Twins might be getting a Yankee Stadium-type home at a bargain price. "I think our stadium might (cost) like a billion dollars here, because I can't imagine this being three times as expensive as our stadium," he said. "It's nice, but I feel like ours will probably be just as nice. A billion and a half? That's ridiculous."