Mr. Ballparks
I knew I would
find him eventually. There had to be somebody out there who'd gone to more
ballparks than me. I was taking some photos
at Tinker Field in Orlando. Hey, you never know when your Web site might
need a shot of the park where the Class AA Orlando Rays used to
play! So there I was at the stadium that was once the spring home of Major
League teams and the summer home of the local Minor League franchise. As I
was leaving the facility, a fellow stopped me. I guess it was a little
unusual for someone to want to take pictures of a vacant baseball park, and I
had attracted his attention.  My first
inclination was to brush him off with a quick, "Hi, how ya' doin'?" so
I could hurry off to see a Spring Training game in Kissimmee. However,
as I started to chat with this unusual character, I forgot all about rushing off
to see that exhibition contest.
His
name is Harvey Biggs, and his home is in Pennsylvania . . . except he estimates
that he's "home" only about 28 nights a year. Where is he the
rest of the time? Seeing baseball. And he's
not just traveling around the Eastern U.S. seeking out games, either. He
travels the world in search of the game he loves -- Japan, Canada, the Caribbean,
you name it, he's been there -- seeing amateur, semi-pro, Minor League, Major
League, developmental leagues and winter leagues. "Over
the last 30 years, I've been to over 4,200 games," Harvey told me.
"And the only souvenir I save is my ticket stub. "If
you count just the pro parks, I've been to games at over 280," the retired Merchant
Marine said. I felt a little embarrassed that I had thought my total of
about 140 pro-baseball stadiums was an accomplishment! "If anybody
claims that they've seen more ballparks than me, well, just by talkin' to them
for a few minutes, I can figure out that they haven't." He'd
come to Tinker Field that day in hopes of seeing Central Florida University's
team play. He'd just found out that the team had gotten snowed in up north
the night before -- so no baseball at Tinker for Harvey that day.
"I'll just have to find another game somewhere." I
suddenly thought of a thousand questions I wanted to ask him. He was more
than happy to answer them all:
- What's the nicest ballpark -- at any
level? "That one in Lake Elsinore in California.
That's about the nicest I've seen."
- What's your favorite Major League ballpark?
"I guess Yankee Stadium. I especially like the bleachers
there. I'm really just a bleacher bum. I suppose the bleachers
at Wrigley are all right, but they really crowd you in there. It's
really easier to get a box seat for a Cub game than a bleacher seat,
anyway."
- What park has the nicest view? "That one
in Salt Lake City has the best stuff (note: the Wasatch Mountains) to
look at."
- What level of baseball do you enjoy the most?
"Ya' know, I'd really rather go to a Minor League game or one in a
foreign country than one in the Majors. And ya' know what? I'd
rather go to the Caribbean World Series than the American World Series.
There's just more pageantry and love for the game."
- Do you have a goal of how many parks you want to
see? "Yeah, I'd like to get to 500 pro parks. The way they
keep openin' up new ones, I've always got more to go see. But I do
hate the way they give the new parks those commercial names!"
- What's your biggest baseball thrill?
"Well, I was there on April 8, 1974 when Hank Aaron beat Babe Ruth's
record. I was there when a guy who could hardly walk or swing a bat
hit a home run. It was 1988 in Game One of the World Series, and the
guy was Kirk Gibson. And I was there when the big comeback happened
and Bill Buckner let the ball go past him. That was in 1986."
I guess you know he was talking about the World Series.
"And 100% of the time," he added with
pride, "I never, ever
leave a game early. You never know what might happen at the end." Harvey
summed it up by noting, "I love this game as much as anyone who ever played
it or anyone who ever saw a game." It's hard to argue with him. And
with as many ballparks as I go to, the only surprise is that it took me this
long to run into him.
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