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Bill's Journal Special Entry
Trip Summary
I still can’t believe I pulled it off!
No rain-outs, no players strike, no vehicular breakdowns, nothing at all
messed up my attempt at all thirty!
In addition to tons of memories from a summer of a
lifetime, and my journal and photos, I also came away with the collection of
team baseball caps that I acquired at each stadium, the bat I had engraved to
commemorate the trip, and the foul ball I caught in Denver (the only one of the
balls I got that I haven’t given away or made plans to do so).
I found some very nice cap racks on the web, and I have mounted
everything on a wall of my house in a very nice display—check out the
photo!
Well, I guess it’s now time to answer some of the most
frequently asked questions I’ve heard along the way. So here goes—
Most important tip
for people who want to do this themselves:
Do your homework! A
little effort up front will make your trip much more enjoyable!
This includes the obvious things, such as hotel reservations and
obtaining tickets—a couple tips for which I mentioned in my introduction.
But just as important is to know a few things about each stadium before
you visit. This will help you make
sure you don’t miss the ‘important’ things, and that you see everything
you want to see. By far, the best
resource I found for doing this is the book “Joe
Mock’s Ballpark Guide”. I
purchased the book and had used it heavily long before I had even heard of this
website, or talked to Joe. After my
travels this summer, my copy of the book has been used enough that it is a
warped, dog-eared, highlighted, scribbled-up mess.
If I had checked it out of a library, there is no chance it would ever be
accepted back. It simply saw that
much use and proved that valuable. And
the best part is that if there are any questions you have that this book
doesn’t answer (and trust me, there aren’t many that fall in this category),
you can write to Joe right through this website, and ask him yourself! All in all, it was a simply invaluable resource!
If you’re interested in learning more, click
here!
Major League cities
I could see myself living in long term:
Part of the reason for this trip was not just to see the stadiums, but
the cities that call them home. I
am currently between jobs, about to begin searching in earnest for new
employment, and so I wanted to see what areas of the country I might be
interested in moving to if the opportunity arose.
I saw many places I think I’d really enjoy calling home, but a few
stood out:
1.
San Diego
2.
Tampa/St. Petersburg
3.
Seattle
4.
Denver
5.
Phoenix
This list doesn’t include the Twin Cities, where I
currently live, and which is the most likely location for me to end up.
It definitely ranks high as well, in part for the familiarity I already
have with it.
Major League cities
I definitely want to visit again, for non-baseball reasons:
I enjoyed my time in nearly every city I visited—but a
few stood out from the crowd here as well as ones I’d like to visit again:
New York City in
the spring
San Francisco in
the summer
Montreal in the
fall
Tampa/St. Petersburg
in the winter
My stadium rankings,
1 through 30. OK, just so I
don’t get a ton of people questioning the following list, I feel it necessary
to throw out a couple disclaimers here. First,
let me point out that when I was writing the list, I wasn’t referencing my
previous reviews at all. This means
that, for example, I may have some occurrences where a stadium that got a C+ in
the review may be ranked higher here than a stadium that previously received a
B-. Also, all of these are based on
my take of the stadium on the day that I visited it, and in some cases, this
probably had a significant impact. For
example, the Rocky Mountains beyond Coors Field were obscured by forest fire
smoke when I visited, and I suspect that this dropped that park a few notches.
Another example that influenced some parks was the crowd size and
enthusiasm—which most definitely helped parks that had large crowds the day I
was there (for example, Anaheim and Minnesota), while hurting ones that had
small ones (like Shea and Pro Player). Also,
I don’t know if this is just coincidence, or if there’s actually something
to this, but at all of my top four parks (and six of my top seven), the games I
saw took place in the afternoon. This
ranking was definitely only accurate at the moment I wrote it—there are a
number of stadiums whose rankings I vacillate on rather regularly.
And finally, it’s just my opinion, not yours, so don’t bother trying
to convince me that it’s somehow ‘wrong’ in some way.
So, now that all of the disclaimers are out of the way, here goes…
Better than 1. National
Baseball Hall of Fame and Museum, Cooperstown, New York
1.
Pacific Bell Park, San
Francisco—Simply the best around.
2.
PNC Park, Pittsburgh—A
surprisingly close second.
3.
Wrigley Field, Chicago
4.
Fenway Park, Boston
5.
Jacobs Field, Cleveland
6.
Kauffman Stadium, Kansas City
7.
Dodger Stadium, Los Angeles
8.
Coors Field, Denver
9.
Oriole Park at Camden Yards, Baltimore
10.
Safeco Field, Seattle—Far
and away the best ‘roofed’ park.
11.
Edison Field, Anaheim
12.
Comerica Park, Detroit
13.
The Ballpark at Arlington,
Texas (Arlington)
14.
Yankee Stadium, New York
15.
Turner Field, Atlanta
16.
Miller Park, Milwaukee
17.
Enron Field/Astros Field/Minute
Maid Field, Houston
18.
Busch Stadium, St. Louis
19.
Bank One Ballpark, Arizona
(Phoenix)
20.
Comiskey Park, Chicago
21.
SkyDome, Toronto
22.
Veterans Stadium, Philadelphia
23.
HHH Metrodome, Minnesota
(Minneapolis)
24.
Shea Stadium, New York
25.
Qualcomm Stadium, San Diego
26.
Tropicana Field, Tampa Bay
(St. Petersburg)
27.
Network Associates Coliseum, Oakland
28.
Cinergy Field, Cincinnati—Good
bye, and good riddance.
29.
Pro Player Stadium, Florida
(Miami)
30.
Stade Olympique (Olympic Stadium),
Montreal—but Pro Player made a legitimate challenge for this spot.
Future Plans:
So what’s next for me? Well,
in the immediate future, I need to find a job.
Taking a summer off courtesy of a severance package was great, but it
won’t last forever. With regards
to baseball, well, the immediate future holds the continuation of the Twins
playoff run. As I write this, the
Twins and Angels are tied, one game a piece, in the American League Championship
Series. However far the Twins go,
I’ll be at all their home games—so let’s keep winning, Twins!
Next year, in all likelihood, there will be a trip to Cincinnati to see
their new stadium as it opens, as will there be trips to Philadelphia and San
Diego the year after that. And
somewhere in the not too distant future, I’d like to get to Rosenblatt Stadium
in Omaha during the College World Series, as well as spend some time at the
Little League World Series in Williamsport, Pennsylvania.
If this journal is still on the web when I get to any of those, there
will likely be additional entries made. But
for right now, it’s time for October playoff baseball, and it’s time to get
to work..
Special Thanks:
Finally, I need to express my appreciation to several people who assisted
me along the way. I know, as I try to think back through the summer and
remember everyone, I’m bound to miss someone, so if I do miss someone, please
accept my sincerest apologies and appreciation.
Joe
Mock—for putting my journal on the www.baseballparks.com
site, and for answering questions along the way.
Mike Nadeau,
Al Utke, Marv Verkuilen, Matt Glover, Cathy and Todd Hein, Cyndy and Matt
Miklasz, Karla Eggen, Bob Brown, and Bruce and Scott Gebbie—for joining me
for a day (or several) at the ballpark.
Mike,
Jeannine, and Michelle Nadeau, Todd and Cathy Hein, and Roy and Rica Verkuilen—for
loaning out your sofas or guest rooms for a night or two of my travels.
Karla
and Anna Eggen—for your expertise in cat-sitting.
Boston
Scientific Corporation—for laying my @$$ off, without which I would have
been unable to do something like this.
Susan
Shelso—for multiple trips to the airport, and other general support.
Every
baseball player, coach, umpire, stadium designer, mascot, groundskeeper,
concession stand worker, scoreboard operator, and any other person having
anything to do with baseball, ever—for making this game what it is today.
(Exceptions to this group—Bud Selig and Don Fehr.)
And Marv
Verkuilen—for getting me interested in this crazy game.
That’s
pretty much it! However much of my
journal you read, I hope you enjoyed it!
…Buy
me some peanuts and Crackerjack, I don’t care if I never get back…
--
Bill Verkuilen biggbill@hotmail.com
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