21 down, 9 to go. (Citi Field)

Continuing on my northeast baseball trip of epicness, I made the quick 4 hour jaunt from Cooperstown to NYC. The first thing I did when I got into town after a long, exhausting drive? Grabbed a slice, of course.

 

I took the 7 train from Midtown all the way to Flushing, it's a nice ride (relatively) and deposits you right at the stadium gates, pretty much. Inside, there is a rotunda reminiscent of Ebbets Field. I made my way up to the cheap seats and had a burger and shake from Shake Shack, which was ok but not world changing. It was a cool, misty game, since we had just dodged some Tropical Storm or another. It was also July 4th, so there were awesome fireworks after the game. Oh right, that stupid apple is out there too. (Little of the Marlins fan in me coming out there.)

I definitely recommend the ballpark if you're in town. This is more of a functional ballpark (still nice) as opposed to the billion dollar palace that is Yankee Stadium, but the game is just the same. 

Cooperstown Dreams.

Good evening all! After a small hiatus it's time to continue reporting on Baseball Tour 2014. After Baltimore, I made the scenic 4 1/2 hour drive to Cooperstown. I wasn't sure what to expect when I got there, but it is about what you'd expect. It's a giant shrine to the way baseball is envisioned in the minds of old-timers everywhere, a bucolic slice of heaven, served up Field of Dreams style.

I love baseball. I love it so much it hurts, but I am unique among my friends in that sentiment. I love it so much that it makes me sad what is happening to it. By any measure baseball has gone from the most popular sport in America to the 3rd most popular. Today, with the 1st week of NFL starting, is a good day to make this point. Most people have gravitated to football and basketball, sports that have a clock, sports that offer instant gratification and high scoring. Most importantly, sports that change their rules every year to make their game more exciting to the fans and market their stars amazingly well.

Mike Trout might end up being one of the top 3 players to ever play the game, but most people outside of LA have never heard of him. Giancarlo Stanton is blossoming before my eyes, but not many others. In the NFL and NBA, players like this would be on soup cans and billboards everywhere before you knew it.

I'm not saying that I want baseball to become some mutant version of itself to cater to the lowest common denominator. There still needs to be a place in our society for a game without a clock, a game outside of time, something that once you start, you might not know exactly when it will finish. But in today's society where someone can order dinner in 5 minutes on a mobile device and have it delivered to their door, no one is going to spend 3 1/2 to 4 hours on a game that moves at a snail's pace. I hope the new commissioner is going to enforce the time limit on pitches, and limit the number of mound visits per inning and per game, but I fear that Rob Manfred is just Bud Selig Jr.

Baseball is not the Field of Dreams anymore. The people that play it are just like the rest of us. They make mistakes. Some of them might bet on the game. Some of them might take a couple of pills to get through their 20th game in 20 days. That doesn't make it ok, just like our mistakes aren't ok, but that doesn't mean we should ignore them or pillory the people that make them.

Baseball wasn't invented by Abner Doubleday, and Joe DiMaggio is in the past. It's time for the people that run baseball to move away from the past and march confidently into the future while still acknowledging the great players who got us to this point. Move the Hall of Fame to a major city so more inner city kids have access to it. Make the story about PED's more than just a tiny flimsy plaque hidden in a dim corner. Maybe if we shine a light on how wonderful this game is, and start growing a new diverse generation of fans, the sport I love won't go the way of horse racing and boxing.

20 down, 10 to go. (Camden Yards)

The grand tour of the northeast continues! After Philadelphia and its wonderful history and myriad cheesesteaks, I got in the rental and headed south to Baltimore and the birthplace of Babe Ruth and the land of the crab cakes. I had the best crab cake I've ever had in my life from Faidley's, if you are ever in town and don't go there you are seriously short changing yourself.

Oh right, ballpark blog, right? Camden Yards kind of kicked off the whole rebuilding trend, away from the cookie cutter stadiums and back to the retro themed ballparks. In retrospect, I am glad that I'm not doing this tour in the 70s, because as historical as they were, I would think it would be pretty boring to go to Riverfront, the Vet, Three Rivers, and see pretty much the same thing over and over. (I'm not old enough to have seen those parks). One great thing about that rebuilding trend is that there's a different style and different architectural statements going on in pretty much every city.

It was awesome to sit in the ballpark and see the warehouse that Ken Griffey Jr. hit, and that they hung the 2131 sign from when Cal Ripken passed Lou Gehrig. Even though it's barely 20 years old, there is still history here. I'll let the pictures tell the rest of the story. Crab cakes!

19 down, 11 to go. (Citizens Bank Park)

Back and better than ever! Welcome to another year of ballpark touring fun, i.e. eating my way across the country and seeing ball games. Rough life, right? Earlier this summer I did a grand tour of the Northeast which I am excited about sharing with the internets. It started in Philadelphia at Citizens Bank Park. I had my fill of cheesesteaks by the time of the game so no food pics, sadly. The park is really cool, it has that old timey feel and it pays homage to the Phillies of old with statues and history of the franchise. And who can forget, the best mascot in sports, the Phanatic.

Spring Training 2014 has sprung.

Happy 2014 Baseball fans! Baseball season is finally here. Not one moment too soon for me, it was a long, lonely winter. I can't say cold, because I live in South Florida, but you get the drift. 

Last week I took a mini-tour of Spring Training sites down here in Florida. I've never really had a goal to visit all of them, but after going to see a game at Osceola County Stadium and Joker Marchant Stadium I'm halfway through all of the active stadiums (stadia?) in Florida, and some inactive ones.  

Osceola County Stadium is your basic two tier stadium, and has recently been upgraded. It's a good outing for the kids, as Orbit the mascot roams the crowd posing for pictures, and they have plenty of giveaways, including an Astros towel that fell at my feet as I was doping around on my phone lol. "Deep in the heart of Texas" plays every 7th inning, and the crowd gets pretty into it. 

Joker Marchant, established 1966, was awesome, probably the best spring training stadium I have been to. A lot of them are kind of cookie cutter, metallic orbs, but Joker Marchant has soul. A lot of the people there have been religiously attending games for decades, and they love their Tigers. It's a lot like Comerica Park, it may not have the most recent and glitziest scoreboard, but when you get into that place you can feel the history and how much the people love their team. There were two replay reviews during this game, they went pretty fast. And hey, you can't halt the train of progress. 

I have no comment on either ballpark's food because I was somewhat funds challenged at the time. :)

Well happy 2014 everyone. It's funny when I started this blog in 2009 I had seen 3 ballparks, and now I'm up to 18 major league parks and 7 spring training sites. Stay tuned, I have some cool stuff planned for this summer. Until next time, enjoy the road, but remember to make the turn for home. 

18 down, 12 to go. (Miller Park)

I'm back with another post, only 12 to go! They are coming fast and furious now. Even Vin Diesel would be jealous.

Ok, I'm firing my joke writer.

Recently I went to Milwaukee and took in a game at Miller Park. It was a beautiful place to see a game, and I have never seen so many people grilling and playing cornhole in one place. The brat-to-person ratio had to be something like 10 to 1.

Once inside, there was no shortage of food and camaraderie. The roof was open on the day I went and I actually got a little sunburnt, enjoyed a beer and brat, and had a great time at the game. Bernie Brewer did not get to slide in this game, alas as the Brewers went down to defeat at the hands of the Pirates. There were a lot of activities for the kids at the park too, so a great place to take the family as well.

A blog post about Miller Park couldn't pass by without mention of the (in)famous racing sausages. Yes, it's corny, but awesome in its own way. Not quite up to par with the running of the bulls, but you have to admit your heart races a bit when you see chorizo come around the bend with a chance to pass Italian.

I'll let the pictures tell the rest of the story.