The greatest weeks of my life

Well, maybe they're not the very greatest weeks of my life.  Those would really be reserved for the birth of my child or getting married to the most wonderful woman in the world (and I'll take credit for turning her into a baseball fan!).  But these are the best baseball weeks of my life:

March 2002

While on my book-signing tour of Florida, I was able to attend exhibition games in ten different parks in a seven-day span:

• March 2nd -- I started my baseball binge at the Royals' "Baseball City" complex, which was torn down as soon as spring training was completed, by watching Kansas City host the Astros.
• March 3rd -- They treated me great at the Blue Jays-Phillies exhibition in Dunedin.
• March 4th -- My first "day-night doubleheader" of the week, as I saw the Devil Rays play the Phils in St. Pete in the afternoon and the Reds battle the Pirates in frigid Sarasota that night.
• March 5th -- The Twins and Orioles at Ft. Myers in the afternoon (and I must have autographed at least 50 copies of my book at that game -- a great success!) and the Tigers hosted the Yanks that night in Lakeland.
• March 6th -- The Expos shut out the Phils in Jupiter
• March 7th -- The Orioles played the Red Sox that afternoon in rainy Ft. Lauderdale, and then I made a mad dash to Port St. Lucie to see the Mets play Montreal that night
• March 8th -- I was originally scheduled to do a book signing at the Dodgers' exhibition on this date, but the GM of the Vero Beach Dodgers (who was overseeing the spring operations for the "big" Dodgers) reneged on our agreement.  So I decided to skip Vero Beach altogether and saw the Marlins play the Expos in Viera instead.  I also swung by Daytona Beach to photograph 72-year-old Jackie Robinson Ballpark and meet legendary Minor League GM Buck Rogers

August 1997

By combining business and pleasure, I was able to make eight trips to ballparks in an eight day span.  Here's how it happened:

• Aug. 8th -- saw the Rockies host the Pirates.  My first look at Coors Field is indescribably positive!
• Aug. 9th and 10th -- saw my Orioles play two games against the Angles in Anaheim.  The park was in disarray since the remodeling was in high gear.
• Aug. 11th and 12th -- my first visit to Dodger Stadium (as they hosted the Cubs) was so thrilling that I re-arranged my schedule to come back for a second game the next day.
• Aug. 14th -- after a "travel day" coming back from the West Coast, I went to Camden Yards expecting to see Randy Johnson of the Mariners take on the O's.  One bank of lights wasn't working, so the game was postponed until the next afternoon.
• Aug. 15th -- so naturally I came back the next day.  The Orioles defeated The Big Unit -- as they did two more times in the post-season that year!  But that wasn't enough baseball for me, as I decided to take in a Bowie Bay Sox Eastern League game that night.  Eight trips to the ball yard in eight days . . . boy, was I tired after all that!

Our family vacation that year had a definite baseball flavor!

• June 20th and 21st -- we started our trek in Cooperstown with a thorough, two-day tour of the Hall Of Fame.  Of course, we scrutinized Doubleday Field, where (allegedly) Abner Doubleday "invented" baseball.
• June 22nd -- we take in a game at ancient Silver Stadium as the Rochester Red Wings hosted the Charlotte Knights in an International League contest.
• June 24th and 25th -- after a "travel day" getting to Toronto, we saw the defending-champion Blue Jays get beat by our Orioles in two straight games.  SkyDome is simply fabulous.  Because the game on the 25th was during the afternoon, we had time to get down to frigid Buffalo to take in the second game of a doubleheader between the Bisons and the Iowa Cubs.
• June 27th -- after a day taking in the sights of Niagara Falls, we followed the banks of Lake Erie around to Jacobs Field in Cleveland.  There we saw our Orioles come from behind to beat the Indians.

July 2001

A barnstorming tour of New England:

• July 3rd -- my first visit to Pawtucket's beautifully renovated (and jam-packed) McCoy Stadium.
• July 4th -- a great "Americana" way to spend the 4th was seeing ancient and lovely Vermont's Centennial Field.
• July 5th -- not the highlight of the trip!  I drove up to Montreal to see the Expos play at the "O".
• July 6th -- Another aging ballpark -- but a treasure nonetheless!  Pittsfield's Wahconah Park was noteworthy, as was its "sun delay."
• July 7th -- "Fenway Pahk" was as incredible as I'd remembered.
• July 8th -- Portland's Hadlock Field -- breezy and chilly -- was impressive.
• July 9th -- An unexpected pleasure was the always-sold-out LeLacheur Park in Lowell.

• May 16th -- I saw the Orioles host the expansion Devil Rays.
• May 18th -- I started a three-day business trip by going to Des Moines.  There I saw the Iowa Cubs beat Colorado Springs.  Isn't it funny that teams in places like Iowa are in the Pacific Coast League?
• May 19th -- after taking care of some business in Wisconsin, I watched the Brewers host the Giants.  It's a good thing there's a new park under construction, 'cause County Stadium is past its prime!!
• May 20th -- one of my great highlights of the season -- getting to visit the most beautiful place on earth, Wrigley Field.  The Cubs beat the Dodgers in this one.
• May 23rd and 24th -- after stopping by my house for 48 hours, it's off to Oakland to watch the Orioles take two from the A's.
• May 25th -- then it's up the coast to Seattle to see the O's get hammered by the Mariners.  Ugh!  The Kingdome is a dump!

• my Orioles beat the Mets in Ft. Lauderdale;
• the Phils edge the Bosox (in the bottom of the ninth) in Clearwater;
• in Bradenton, I saw two "small-market" teams face off when the Pirates defeated the Twins;
• and finally I saw two teams that are definitely not "small market" when the defending champion Yanks fell to the Astros at incredible Legends Field in Tampa.

In 2003, my family and I kicked off a vacation like this:

• July 19 -- in the afternoon, a guided tour of legendary Wrigley Field, then a White Sox night game at U.S. Cellular Field
• July 20 -- attended the largest exhibit of baseball memorabilia ever assembled outside of Cooperstown, at Chicago's Field Museum
• July 21 -- saw the South Bend Silver Hawks play at Stanley Covelesky Regional Stadium
• July 22 -- caught an afternoon game at Toledo's Fifth Third Field, and a night game at new Great American Ballpark in Cincinnati

In March of 2001, Florida was again the site of a spring-training-fest:

• the Indians hosted Griffey and the Reds in the first game of the spring;
• that evening, it was down to Ft. Myers to see Ramirez' first game in a Boston uniform;
• after visiting two spring-training complexes the next morning, it was up to Sarasota to see the Reds play Cleveland again.

And I enjoyed a similar baseball binge in March of 2000, this time in Arizona.  Here's what I attended:

• the Angels played the Brewers at Tempe Diablo Stadium;
• the next afternoon, I saw the Giants and Brewers play in absolutely beautiful Scottsdale Stadium;
• that same night, I saw the Cubs and A's play in Mesa;
• and I guess I must not have gotten my fill of the Brewers, because I saw them host the Padres at the lovely Maryvale Baseball Stadium the next afternoon.

Have you enjoyed similar periods of time with lots of baseball?  Let me know, and I'll share your experiences (see below).

Write us

Great site!!!  I did a ballpark tour the same week you were at Tiger stadium in 1997. Saw (of all things) an interleague game (NYM @ Det) a few days before your doubleheader. A thunder storm prompted an early exit on I-94 toward the Windy City . . . Wrigley is fabulous, everything as advertised, with a great hot dog place just outside the park (my intro to Wrigley was hearing the  Association's song "Windy" as I walked inside). Even the neighborhood is decent. A required trip for all baseball fans . . .  The same cannot be said for the new Comiskey (took in a game the next night). The neighborhood is actually worse than the Bronx!! (Hard to fathom, but been to both). The park has more concession stands and less atmosphere than any park I've seen -- utilitarian but dull. Didn't even get a chance to catch the fireworks as Aaron Sele pitched his once-a-decade complete game for the Red Sox, shutting down the Chisox, not allowing any longballs . . . From the lovely South Side, it was up I-90 to Milwaukee. County Stadium looks OK on TV -- in person, though, it's stark, dreary, with the least amount of concession stands I've seen (eveybody's out in the parking lot cooking on those hibachis...there was so much smoke...had to grab some Advils before I went in) . . . Didn't get a chance to get into Jacob's Field.  Figured I'd pay a scalper for a ticket, thought it was a night game. Was at a coin store about 20 miles out of Cleveland that afternoon (what's on the radio... what else, the ballgame...sigh) . . . Wrapped up the tour in the Bronx, an oasis in the desert (glad I didn't have to walk these streets at night!!).  There's no trace of the original Yankee Stadium that was visible, this park is clean, modern, and well-kept, throughout these hallowed grounds.  Saw an action-filled four-hour game, enjoyed it thoroughly.

In 1996, I did a CA ballparks tour...found SD the nicest, Oakland (with its ongoing construction) the worst, with Candlestick the most bizarre...was there on 7-4-96, a beautiful day in SF, light winds, temps in the 60s...then I got to Candlestick Point around 4:30...steady 40 mph winds (the only place in my whole tour where I was afraid to take any money out of my pockets...would have blown across the parking lot in seconds!!). Inside the Stick around 5:30, taking pictures of a sunny field with the shadows creeping over the infield, it was relatively calm ...as gametime approached, clouds started coming over the Point (back of 3rd base), then lowering and swirling over the park...by gametime it was actually cold and eerie (needed a hot cup of coffee in July!!).

A 1993 tour took me to Tiger Stadium, old Cleveland Stadium (filth at it's finest, but still enjoyable) and the Skydome (great facility, but an abomination as a MLB park).

Saving the best/worst for last.  Last  year I visited a great city, with the worst ballpark in the history of Western Civilization. I knew it going in, but with roof off creating a weird shadowy atmosphere on a July afternoon, I couldn't resist. Montreal's Olympic Stadium is baseball's answer to Pink Flamingos. First, and worst, is the artificial turf, after that...everything looks patched up and dirty. The hole in the roof shows an endless amount of cables, pallets (holding cameras??), and the ridiculous tilted structure that can be seen for miles (regrettably). Outside in Park Olympique, the cement is crumbling and some of the lights were destroyed and never fixed. If you go up, go during midweek, when there will be about 2,000 fans (forget what they post in the papers)...the park will be almost perfectly gloomy.

Your trip north  to Cooperstown, Toronto, etc. struck a chord--that was our vacation this past July.  We only spent one day in Cooperstown, but since it was during the week, on a day they were open late, we had the run of the museum--it was almost empty!  We saw the Yankees lose to the Jays at the SkyDome, and I thought it was bizarre that there were more Yankee fans than Blue Jay fans (or else, the local fans try to remain as quiet as possible), and since the Yanks were losing behind Andy Pettitte, the place was eerily quiet.  We saw the Falls, missed the Buffalo minor league park, but happened to get two tickets to see the Indians beat the Tigers with two out in the ninth!  Not as many games as your vacation, but it was lots of fun. 

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