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A World Series conspiracy theory: Did the 1987 Twins pump noise into the Metrodome?

Did the 1987 Twins pump noise into the Metrodome?

With the NFL's Atlanta Falcons in the news for admitting they pumped in artificial noise at their home games at the Georgia Dome, longtime broadcaster Al Michaels shared his belief the Twins used artificial noise at the Metrodome during the 1987 World Series.

Michaels, appearing on Pro Football Talk Live on NBC Sports Radio on Wednesday, served as the primary broadcaster for ABC that series and said he's always believed the sounds in the Metrodome weren't fully natural.

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"Minnesota's in the World Series against St. Louis, and it was ridiculously loud," Michaels said, according to a transcript in the St. Paul Pioneer Press. "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.' Nobody is screaming like this when the fifth inning starts. ... To me, there was no question."

The Twins, however, have long denied those accusations and so has Bill Lester, who was the head of the Metropolitan Sports Facilities Commission at the time. The Twins played in the Metrodome from 1982-2009 before moving into Target Field.

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"There were a few urban myths," Lester said in a 2013 interview with Sports Business Journal. "They didn't pump anything extra in."

Twins president Dave St. Peter got in on the fun late Wednesday, tweeting that Michaels is a "grassy knoll" kind of guy, referring to the famous conspiracy theory about John F. Kennedy's assassination. St. Peter has been with the organization since 1990.

Rhett Bollinger is a reporter for MLB.com. Read his blog, Bollinger Beat, and follow him on Twitter @RhettBollinger.

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