Ballpark Travel

It has been a while since my last blog entry, since the last time I wrote, I have crossed off many new baseball stadiums and am down to the last few to see before making trips back to see repeat teams with new stadiums. What got me thinking about writing again was this weekend's trip to Denver, Colorado. This experience was so incredible that it needed to be written about. Over the course of three days, I saw Coors Field, crossed off a new state to visit (Wyoming), visited three of over one hundred local breweries and spent a day in one of the most amazing and unique tourism spots that I have ever seen - Rocky Mountain National Park. While planning various trips to MLB stadiums across the country, Denver was never high on my list. Turns out, Denver may end up near the top because of the other activities that I was able to experience while in the area. Amazingly, I learned that Coors Field, built in 1995, is the third oldest stadium  of all National League teams. Only the Chicago ...

I sit here on Wednesday night, in the wake of Major League Baseball's second ever post-season no hitter and I just know that it is just beginning. When I look at the teams that made it this season, there is one juggernaut (Philadelphia) and seven others that are hungry for playoff success. Here is what I am thinking about each team starting the playoffs: Philadelphia (97-65): The Phillies had a dominant September. They have an American League offense, the big three and their closer is back and pitching lights out. When I see this team, it is going to take a lot of heart to uproot the team that has played in each of the last two World Series. They are deep in pitching, deep in hitting and have a serviceable bench. They are going to have to get in their own way to get knocked out before the World Series, if they do that -- is it poor defense? is it Lidge reverting to his erratic self because of Manuel's overuse? I know what it won't be -- this team is cool and collected, th...

· Has one steal ever meant more to baseball than Dave Robert’s steal of second in the 2004 ALCS Game 4 (Rickey Henderson picking up the bag at third, not even close). · When talking about Barry Bonds, the five minutes of discussion about Bobby Bonds and Willie Mays was a little excessive, but did really open up a little bit about his personality (Pirate Hats in the 1980’s were so awesome). · Where does Ken Griffey Jr. fit between steroids, corked bats, amphetamines and then steroids again? · Jason Grimsley is Spideman and apparently the hero of the players for replacing Albert Belle’s corked bats with a untainted bat (I bet the steroid allegations he made at the end of his career weren’t very well received). · Performance enhancing culture, it’s about time that it was said (Didn’t need to think about Cialis or Viagra, but it hit it home)! · Never remember seeing the Joe Torre scene crying before the 1996 World Series. I must admit, that r...

As Buck Showalter and the Orioles discuss the future of the Orioles behind closed doors, it is time to wonder what happened to the team that was supposed to compete this season and be a difference maker between the big three in the AL East. In looking at this team, the Orioles are loaded with strong young talent, coming into the season, it was said that they had the best young outfield in baseball with Adam Jones, Nick Markakis and Nolan Reimold. Jones started the season off cold, coming around recently, Markakis needs to have some of his doubles (25) turn into homers (4) to be a middle of the order threat and Reimold is hitting .212 at AAA Norfolk after a .205 start in the majors this season. The arrival of Jake Fox this week and Matt Wieters completes their core of young offensive talent. Looking at the Orioles reserves for the players at these positions, their fourth outfielder is Corey Patterson, Julio Lugo is their infield backup and Craig Tatum backs up Matt Wieters. While Patter...

Little did I know when I moved to Atlanta in 2008 that a retro baseball oasis was just two hours away in Birmingham, Alabama. On June 2 nd , 2010, the Birmingham Barons and Tennessee Smokies matched up for a game at Rickwood Field to honor its 100 th year of having professional baseball played at the stadium. This stadium is the oldest professional stadium, older than both Fenway Park and Wrigley Field with a similar rich history. Far away from manufactured crowd noise, sausage races and peanut butter jelly time, 9,400 fans took a mid-week afternoon to take in a baseball game. Walking through the parking lot, my Connecticut license plate was a badge of honor shared by many other out of state cars that day. Truly, people came from all over for this game and once inside the gate, it was incredibly obvious as to why this was. A retro-styled game program was available at the gate, there were hundreds of people in the concourse trying to garner refreshments from the 95 degree heat from t...

So, it is two months into the season and I am pretty disgusted with the All-Star voting (as usual through the first count) so I figured I would make my All-Star selections public through the first two months of the season. National League - Visitor C - Rod Barajas , NYM (Where did that power come from; Ivan Rodriguez was my choice prior to the injury, leadership and a .340 batting average speak volumes) 1B - Albert Pujols , STL (Rival to Miguel Cabrera) 2B - Martin Prado, ATL (Hitting .330 and found a home in the leadoff position on the hottest team in baseball, one is fueling the other there. Lots of other solid choices, Utley , Brandon Phillips, Kelly Johnson in that order) 3B - Ryan Zimmerman, WAS (Great batting average this season with same power numbers and leading the surprise Nationals. Jorge Cantu was a close second) SS - Hanley Ramirez, FLA (Pure talent, having another great season, not even close here) LF - Ryan Braun , MIL (Easy choice) CF - Andrew McCutchen , PIT (Dyn...

Sunday afternoon while driving from Florida to Georgia, I received a text message from a baseball mind that I highly respect wishing me a happy opening night. As always, I tried to come up with a clever response and eventually it hit me...Happy New Year. Baseball is back and stadiums across the country are full of optimism and excitement as we work our way through the first series of 2010. Just like the millions of people that celebrate New Years eve, people are excited to see a new season because the slate is clean and there is a chance to start anew and maybe, just maybe, win a World Series. Hope is spreading across baseball fans(even in Washington) today and that is a reason to celebrate spring! Some brief predictions are: The Tampa Bay Rays will return to the playoffs this season, meaning that one of the Yankees or Red Sox will not. While the Rays are not flashy, they are solid across the diamond and are developing offensively on a daily basis. The addition of Rafael Soriano wi...