Opening up the floor, does anyone else have baseball road trip stories?

Some friends of mine and I go on minor league baseball tours every couple of years or so. (Hi, Harry, if you're reading this!) In 1997, we went on a tour of New England; in 1999, it was Maryland and Pennsylvania; and in 2001, we went to the southeastern U.S.

We have endured heat, cold, bugs, crappy food, a lightning strike, and innumerable Dizzy Bat Races. And we've had fun. If you can take a week out of your life to do one of these, I recommend it.

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When I was 15, my family went on a small trip, and we saw games in Cleveland, Chicago (both Comiskey and Wrigley), and Milwaukee. Unfortunately the night before we left, I broke two toes fouling off a pitch, so I was hobbling around a bit the whole time. Still had a blast, though.

The game I remember most was Cleveland 8, Texas 6, since Nolan Ryan was starting for the Rangers. My eleven year old sister and I snuck down to the first row, just behind first base, and she started trash-talking Ryan. One of the funniest things I've ever seen or heard, since her idea of taunts were "You're not very good!", "You're older than my Dad!" and "Do you like fishing?". The first base coach for the Indians couldn't stop laughing. It was quite a sight!

Cheers,

Mike

The first time my brother went to Brazil my parents felt bad I couldn't go so my dad and I planned a baseball road trip (that totally made up for me not getting to go to Brazil...Except he got to go again and 3 years later they still haven't compensated me ;-)...We started off in Detroit at Comerica and then, in an order I can't remember, visited NYY (got on SportsCenter), Pirates (Three Rivers), Cleveland, Boston and finished it off with a visit to Cooperstown. It was a blast and if I can get out of working every day this summer, I'd love to do it again.

The first time I saw a game at Wrigley (and only the second time I visited Chicago) was in May of 1998. They were hosting the Phillies, and I was with a girlfriend of my sister's, whom I had never met before. After 4 innings, the Cubs were up 7-3, and I my attentioned wavered from watching the game to chatting up Natalie. Of course, ovewr time, 7-3 became 7-4, then 7-5, then in a display that surely must rank in the Annals of Cub futility, the Phillies took an 8-7 lerad in the top of the 9th. Perhaps Phillie broadcaster (and "The Voice of God" in NFL Films Harry Kalas) singing "Take Me Out to the Ball Game" in the 7th inning stretch had something to do with it. Then-Closer Rod Beck faiiling to cover first on an infied grounder led to the go-ahead run. Still, of course, there was the 9th. I'm not sure how Sammy reached first - either walk or hit, I would imagine. Anyways, the next batter (Grace?) hit a line drive down into the right-field corner. As Sammy headed towards third, the 3rd-base coach frantically signalled for him to stop. Nope. Sammy chugged on through, got to within about 70 feet oh the plate, and realized he was dead to rights if he kept on going. He stopped and tried to retreat back to third, only to fall down and suffer some sort of injury that necessitated his removal from the game (and a possible DL stint, or at least a few missed starts). Tagged out, and shortly after that, game over. As I marveled in the ups and downs inherent within a game at Wrigley, one thought kept rining through my head - "Everything I ahve ever heard about the CUbs is true".

Next day, Cubs-Braves, this time with my sister herself. It was Kerry Wood's first start at home since his legendary 20-K performance vs. Houston a few weeks earlier, and the fans were out in force (Fortunately, my tickets had been ordered during the winter, when I finalized my family visit). I was most impressed with the "Who needs Viagra? We Got Wood" T-Shirts that some intrepid capitalist had introduced. Naturally, sisters being what they are, we didn't arrive in time for the first pitch. As we snaked through the masses a large roar came from the stadium. "What's that cheer for?" my sister asked, to which I replied, "Kerry Wood just struck someone out." No sooner had the words escaped my larynx when a HUGE roar burst forth from the Friendly Confines. "So what was that for," she wondered aloud. "Ok, this time Kerry just struck someone out" and waited to see if a third, earthshaking roar was forthcoming. Nope. We made it to our seats before the top of the first ened, and sat through an electric 11-inning game. Every Time Wood reached two striked on a hitter, the sold-out crowd rose to its feet, cheering lustily as hr punched out 123 in 7 innings (exactly two in each inning, until he could only manage one in the 7th. Must have been tiring, as he was pulled after that). The late, lamented Walter Payton led the 7th inning chorus, and eventual playoff goat Brant Brown hit a 2-run shot in the bottom of the 11th (or was it just the 10th?) to win it for the Fuzzies.

Mike, I have since managed to acquire temporary residence in Chicago - if you'd like to get together beofre one of your game, COMN to send me an e-mail. I may even regale you with my first-ever Comiskey story (which happened the night before the Cubs-Phils event)

Last spring I received a bus tour catalog in the mail, addressed to the previous owners of our house who were seniors. I made some jokes about the Blue-Haired Express, but when I looked through it, I saw a few interesting trips.
We ended up booking a short trip to Detroit to see the Jays play the Tigers on Canada Day.
About a month beforehand, the company called to say the trip had been cancelled due to extreme lack of interest.
I designed my own trip, taking Via Rail to Windsor and staying in a Windsor hotel.
The game stunk, as Lurch had a poor outing and the Tiger pitcher stymied the Jays hitters. To make matters worse, there were quite a few punks making SARS comments, hoping, I think, for a fight.
I did enjoy Comerica Park and I enjoyed the tour of Ford Field we took on the following morning.
I notice that this year's catalog has a number of Jays trips, none of them to Detroit.

this isn't as epic as the trips mentioned above but last summer a friend of mine and i took a train to montreal to catch a few expos games. it was expos/phillies. we were expecting typically small montreal crowds but the first night was $5 ticket game with $1 hot dogs. it was their best home attendence in like a decade. turned out there was something like 35000+ there. we were sitting in the first row of the RF bleechers. we immediately began to heckle bobby abreu. he looked back a few times and sneered at us. by the later innings we were slightly drunk and our taunts were becoming increasingly offensive. in 7th or 8th inning bobby had to run to the wall to retrieve a ball. on his way back to his regular position he gave us the finger behind his back. it was a heck of a game by the way. it went into extra innings and montreal won it in the tenth on a homer by wil cordero (i think). the expos ended up winning the next day's game as well. it was quite an experience.

I should have added one of the bigger highlights: I was 15 and an avid autograph collector...managed to snag Curt Schilling just before the Phillies played the Pirates at Three Rivers.

I've written about my spring training journeys somewhere on Da Box, but I'd like to re-iterate my thesis from that piece: get to Florida or Arizona in March at least once before thou perish. It's the best way to see the players, to see minor-league prospects -- and to see a game, period. You are RIGHT there on the field, and during the week the games aren't as crowded, so you can pretty much choose where you want to sit. But there's not a bad seat in the house, as the saying goes.

Enjoy your trip, Mike -- and if anyone from Da Box makes it to Seattle, give me a hollar. Safeco is a beautiful park, particularly if the roof is open.

Just last year a friend and I drove from Fairfield CT to Cleveland & Detroit for a 5 days of Indians, Tigers and Royals, oh my.

Just some of the random things that stand out:

1. Seeing the fastest game in the history of Jacobs Field.
2. Banging on the drum in the CF bleachers
3. Sitting in the front row in the outfield and really giving Alex Sanchez a hard time for bunting so much.
4. I had a few too many beers one night and really gave it to Steve Avery as he warmed up in the bullpen at Jacobs where you can lean in and give them hell.
5. Talking for about 3 minutes with Jose Lima when we got to Comerica as he stood and signed for about 30 minutes before one of the games.
6. The Beef Jerky Outlet on the way home in Michigan www.beefjerkyoutlet.org

March 15th we head to check out Cactus league action for 5 days, then this summer 2 separate trips. The first is Cinci, Cleveland & Pittsburgh, the second to Toronto to see the Indians at Skydome (I think early August off the top of my head).

My dad and I went to see Tiger stadium in its last year. The first game we saw, there was a storm that delayed the game that reminded me of the tornado in "The Wizard of Oz". Trot Nixon also looked like Babe Ruth that series. I love those road trips and Detroit, Montreal, Pittsburgh, and Cleveland are all pretty close to Toronto.

We're heading to New Brunswick for a friend's wedding in early June, and rather than simply zip out there and then zip back home, we're going to drive out and then after the wedding take a road trip down to Boston to visit family and catch the Red Sox vs the Dodgers, which should be fun. I've been to Boston before, but never to that much-storied ballpark.

http://www.baseballroadtrip.net
Here's to all of you that want to go on a baseball road trip. My wife and I are visiting every Single A through Major League baseball field in the US and Canada. We started in 2002, continued last year, and will finish this year. Check out the website at www.baseballroadtrip.net to see where we have been and where we will go starting in May of this year to finish the Ultimate Baseball Road Trip.

http://www.baseballroadtrip.net
Here's to all of you that want to go on a baseball road trip. My wife and I are visiting every Single A through Major League baseball field in the US and Canada. We started in 2002, continued last year, and will finish this year. Check out the website at www.baseballroadtrip.net to see where we have been and where we will go starting in May of this year to finish the Ultimate Baseball Road Trip.

Wow, that's impressive, Jim. I don't have anything comparable to anything posted here, but I am on a mission to see a Jays road game every year until we've covered every single big league stadium. We've only just started, so far we've gotten to Detroit, Boston and Cleveland. Cleveland was last year, and that was fun. For a Sunday game at the beginning of September, we had decent seats behind first base from which we could see all too well the blue jays' defense (led by the Cat not being able to throw from first to home, and Cash throwing a ball into center field) blow the game in the bottom of the ninth. They had won the Saturday game though, so i guess it all worked out. I had a similar experience to Gabriel the first year we tried the little road trip thing, we went to Detroit in Comerica's first year, and we had enough time to decide that it was a beautiful new ballpark when the torrents took over. We had booked a train from Windsor to Toronto at something like 5:30, figuring that a 1:30 game would be over well before then. It was not to be, and I listened to the last 3 innings on a portable radio headset. So for our Boston and Cleveland trips we learned our lesson, and booked two games for the weekend. The most memorable thing about the Boston trip was the ride....15 hours on the bus from Toronto to Boston, 27 hours and two baseball games in Boston, and another 13-hour bus ride home (and my Grade 12 drama teacher asked me the next Monday morning why I hadn't done any homework on the weekend! lol). If I remember correctly, it was Hendrickson's first big league start, and he beat Casey Fossum, in the first game, and the Jays lost the second courtesy of Scott Cassidy. My memory's a little foggy though.

I've taken a few day trips to New York to see the Yanks and Mets, a few dozen trips to Baltimore and two trips to Boston (including the BoSox-Yanks series last Labor Day Weekend). Earlier this year, I was able to go to Spring Training and watched the Phils play the Twins in their new digs in Clearwater. Absolutely AWESOME!! I bought a bucket of beer at the Tiki Bar in left field and was allowed to bring them back to my seat.

However, I have never been on a "road trip" that involved more than one stadium at a time. I have it on my to do list though.

Last year, a friend and I drove the 6 hours to Pittsburgh to catch the Phils at PNC Park. After the Phils lost and the fireworks celebration was over, we headed back home to Philly because I had to go watch the Eagles play the Patriots in Philly the next day. Talk about a long day. PNC Park was unbelievable!! Nothing else going on in Pittsburgh, but if you get a chance to attend a baseball game by all means take advantage of the opportunity.

With all of that said, Philly has a new park this year and I'll be at a lot of games this year. I drove by the stadium the other day and it looks phenomenal!!

Actually, a question. My buddy and I have five days (Mon-Fri) and we roadtripped to Pittsburgh, Charleston WV, Cincy and Cleveland. This year we want to see the Expos, before it's too late. What other three or four parks (major or Minor would be fine!) and drive no more than mmmm 300 miles a day

Thanks

Kibby