23 down, 7 to go. (Busch Stadium).

Well I failed miserably in my quest to post over the off-season, but here I am, back again by popular demand! *Crickets*

:) This summer I went on a really cool and relaxing Midwest ballpark tour. My first stop was St. Louis. I had never been, and I was surprised by what a cool, laid back city it was. I was worried about the weather forecasts the whole time I was there, and there were multiple delays with sideways rain, but they ultimately got the whole game in, because they knew I was there to watch, of course.

While you're in the ballpark, you really feel like you're in the middle of Cardinals nation. You're surrounded by red seats, Big Mac Land, and the Gateway Arch just down the road. This may be flyover land to a lot of people, but to these people, it's home. Just standing outside the park before the gates opened, you could look around and see the passion these people have for baseball. It is truly infectious and I'm glad I stopped by.

22 down, 8 to go. (Fenway Park)

Ok ladies and gents, time to finish up the trip report. After NYC, I hopped in the rental and drove to Boston. I had never been before so I took in all the sights, (and some pubs.) It's an awesome and fun city. I had kind of a less than favorable impression of Red Sox fans from my travels, but once visiting the home crowd my opinion has changed, everyone was nice and helpful and you can't be mad when taking in the uniqueness that is Fenway Park.

Say what you want about it, there is only one in the world. Even though I sat in a hardwood seat from what seemed like the 40s, partially obstructed by a pole, I still enjoyed the game. Looking out at the scoreboard you start to think about all the tens of thousands of scores that thing has held, and the list of signatures on the inside, a who's who of baseball history.

Sadly I neglected to get a Fenway Frank while there, I know, terrible oversight. I had some semblance of a chicken sandwich, it wasn't that great but I can't blame Fenway for my poor choice in food.

The next day I checked out of the hotel and made a mad dash back to Philly to catch my flight, and back to the grind. Right now I'm enjoying the playoffs, the ALCS is awesome and I'm happy to see some new blood in the playoffs.

I can't believe I only have 8 more to go...I've gotten around quite a bit since I started this blog! I can't wait to see where next year may take me. I'll make sure to post during the long, cold, offseason. Happy October baseball fans!

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.