At long last, we made our stop at Wrigley Field. This was one of the most anticipated stops of the trip, as this is one of baseball’s most iconic venues. The new parks can put in their club levels, their restaurants, their padded seating, their wide concourses, and all of the other new amenities we’ve seen; but they can’t insert the historic feel that Wrigley Field possesses.

I got tickets to the game a few hours before walking down to the park which put us in between 3rd base and left field. Wrigley Field is so small; there truly isn’t a seat in the entire place where you feel like you are far from the action. We then walked to the park about 2 hours before first pitch and picked up our tickets. The atmosphere outside of Wrigley Field is perfect in nearly every way. The stadium sits right in the middle of a neighborhood (Wriggleyville) and there are more then a dozen bars and restaurants just steps away from the entrance. I felt bad seeing all of these loyal Cubs fans who continue to show up at the park even though its been over 100 years since the Cubs have last won a World Series. After taking in the ambiance outside the park, I then proceeded to enter the 94 year old ballpark.

I originally went in the bleacher entrance and got a wrist band symbolizing I was over 21 and could consume alcoholic beverages. But, once I got my wristband, I was denied access to the bleachers because I did not have a bleacher ticket. This was somewhat understandable because unlike the White Sox rule, this one did make sense. The bleachers are almost always full and letting all fans get into the bleacher area would overpopulate the area and cause major havoc. So I went to the next gate and entered near left field. Walking through the concourse gave me the same feeling I get walking through the Fenway concourses which I have done so many times. The area is small, it is old, and you can almost feel the history with every step. There were no video game lounges, playgrounds or club levels; just simply the vendors and some promotion tables set up which is how it should be at Wrigley. I did walk around to the front entrance and found the Captain Morgan club which was a very cool indoor/outdoor bar area where Cubs fans were enjoying some drinks before the game. The setup was great where you did not need a ticket to the game to get into this area and any fan in the neighborhood could just come here to enjoy a few drinks and then watch the game. Other then this there wasn’t too much to report on. I saw a photo booth offering free pictures, and a few lottery tables setup. I did find the Sheffield Grill which is like a small diner built into Wrigley Field which had a mix of ballpark and diner food. In the upper deck of Wrigley there was a patio, known as the Smirnoff Patio, where there were just a few vendors and some tables set up. This place is very small so there is not a lot of room to put anything too luxurious inside, but the atmosphere at the park was unrivaled. One other cool note to mention would be the Wrigley Rooftops which sit across the street and look into the park. Most of these are privately owned by people in the neighborhood who have bleacher type seats that sit on top of the buildings and provide great views of Wrigley Field. It sounded as if they have to pay royalties to the Cubs for allowing people to see the game, but it still must be a great venture. I don’t think any of the new cathedrals that have been built could offer something like this.

The game didn’t go so well for the Cubbies. And that may be the understatement of the blog. They were beaten 18-1 by the Brewers and Cubs pitching allowed an astounding 26 hits during a 9 inning game. The crowd was enthusiastic and cheerful for the first few innings but there was very little to cheer about as the game moved along and by the end, the Cubs faithful were forced to sit in dismay as they saw an absolute pounding of their team. However, as bad as the score was, they still all stood up, and sang Take Me Out To The Ballgame with Illinois head coach Ron Zook which continues to be a great Wrigley tradition.

The food at the game was almost all of your typical ballpark food. Did not find too many special vendors which again is apart of the tradition as Wrigley. I got a hot dog, peanuts, and a beer to try and be as traditional as possible. The hot dog was decent, far from the best, but not terrible either.

We left Wrigley Field with the rest of the loyal Cubs fans and walked back to our Chicago accommodation (which was only about a 15 minute walk from the park). We are here until tomorrow morning (Friday) and then we are off to Milwaukee to see Miller Park. The past few days have been really relaxing and we’ve gotten to catch our breaths here in Chicago. I also got to meet up with Kevin Saghy, the PR and Marketing Specialist with the Cubs. We had a great talk about social media and what the Cubs are doing to try and connect with their fans. A special thank you to Kevin for taking some time to speak with me on the topic.

It has been great to see more family here in the city and a special thanks to Kenny and Jana for letting us stay in there place all week and for an excellent All-you-can-eat sushi dinner (Thanks a lot, we loved our stay here). And I must mention the tour of Chicago I received today from a local Chicagoan and one of my personal favorites (shout out Lanie). Saw some of the local parks, the downtown area, and got to hang in the city. It was a great way to wrap up the week of Chicago and we are now ready to kick the baseball back into gear this weekend.

21 Stadiums down. 9 to go.

Wrigley Field done. On to the next one…

Let’s pick it up Sunday morning where we made a very early arrival in the windy city. We left Minneapolis after the Twins game Sat night and made a late night stop in Madison, Wisconsin on our way to Chicago. I don’t think I could have planned it any better then to see Madison at 2am on a Saturday night. We got a bite to eat at Ian’s Pizza (where we were the only 2 sober kids in line) and continued onward to Chicago. We got to our accommodation here in Chi town around sunrise Sunday morning and got to rest a few hours before heading to the south side to see those other Sox. Before we went to the game, we had a nice brunch with some more of our extended family (Thanks Tannenbaums and Levys). We then took the train from the north side to the south side en route to U.S. Cellular Field to watch the White Sox and A’s play baseball.

After struggling to get Twins tickets the day before, I bought our 2 tickets before getting to the game for this one (just to be sure). We got off the train, walked a block to the park, and started to walk around the outside of the stadium. I saw the TBD Sports Garden which was an ok little beer garden with tents, beer, and lots of White Sox fans. The outside of the park also featured live music and a moon bounce for kids. It was at least an effort to provide some outside-the-park entertainment for fans before they entered the stadium. I then went inside the stadium where I attempted to do my walk around inside the park. Much to my disappointment, I was denied access to the main level of the stadium because I did not have a ticket for the lower level. Are you kidding me? Anyone with a 500 level ticket can not enter the lower concourse? That seems un-American. The White Sox need to change this rule; I don’t see how it makes any sense. There are already ushers at every section making sure people don’t sneak down to good seats, but what is the point of keeping fans out of the lower level concourse! After learning this, I decided I’d walk around the upper level first where there was not too much happening. The park did have a kids area which you could access from the upper level but I was again denied access because I did not have a child under 14 with me. At this point, I was frustrated and decided I’d have to get creative to see this park. So, I went back down to the lower level, had my notebook out, and told the guy that I worked for MLB and was assigned to take notes on all 30 stadiums. He didn’t question me too much, and let me pass into the lower concourse where I could finally roam freely.

Once I made it down, the stadium was pretty nice. The outfield concourse was big and has some nice standing areas where you can watch the game. Out here was the Old Comiskey shower where fans were taking turns cooling themselves off from the hot sun. There was also a speed pitch and a rain room where fans could also cool down under sprinkler heads. This was U.S. Cellular Field so of course there was a section of the stadium sponsored by U.S. Cellular with their gear for sale. I then made it to the lower level of the kids area known here as the ‘Fundamentals Deck’. It literally is a deck with a few different levels. I made it in here by following a kid and his dad and pretended to be the big brother trailing behind. It worked and I got to tour the area. I’m glad I did because it was a cool kids area with a lot of different activities set up. The kids could race Scott Podsednik (who no longer plays for the White Sox), hit in the batting cages or training cages, take grounders on the mini field, or play video games in the Xfinity lounge. There was also an area called Aparacio’s Alley where there was an artist drawing caricatures of fans. Once I left this area, I continued walking around the park. I then came across a table sponsored by the aquarium where it looked like a live iguana was on display for fans to wait in line and pet. Certainly won’t see that at every park. Once I felt like I had covered the lower deck, I went down a ramp labeled the Bullpen Bar. It was here where I found a huge bar that sits out in right field just off the visitor’s bullpen. It is practically in the visitors bullpen as you can stare at the opposing relievers through the glass like you would do at an aquarium (I was looking for a sign that said ‘Don’t tap the glass, the relievers don’t like that’). There was also a patio where fans could sit outside in home run territory and enjoy some food and drinks. I thought it was a cool bar, it just seemed like many people would never know about it.

The rest of the food here was pretty standard. I think I got the wrong hot dog as I saw signs for the Comiskey Dog which I missed out on and settled on the regular beef hot dog which was only ok. I expected a lot being that this was a Chicago hot dog but was disappointed. The rest of the park had things like corn on the cob, tex-mex stands, a few specialty beers, and a ton of other ballpark favorites. I also found another Cuban sandwich here which looked good.

The game saw nobody reach base until the 5th inning (both pitchers were perfect heading into the 5th) but then the White Sox got the bats going as they rallied for 3 off of A’s southpaw Gio Gonzalez. Sox hurler Gavin Floyd was terrific, and would pick up the win as the Sox would take care of the A’s 4-1. The crowd was pretty solid; the park was nearly full and they were loud and supportive throughout the game.

That was pretty much The Cell. A nice place to watch a game on a Sunday afternoon. Someone just needs to tell the Sox to allow all of their fans access to the 1st level. Other then that, not too many complaints about the park.

From here, we had Wrigley Field on our platter for Monday night. We went back to our place and got some much needed sleep after the overnight driving.

To this point…

20 Stadiums down. 10 to go.

U.S. Cellular Field done. On to the next one…

We drove overnight from St. Louis to Minneapolis which put is in the western Twin City around 10am Saturday morning. Once again, I was lucky to have a contact in the area where we could rest before the game Saturday night. My former boss and fellow Syracuse alumn Jonathan, had a place right by Target Field which was very convenient with our trip. He and his wife were kind enough to let us spend the morning and afternoon there before heading to the game which allowed us some time to rest before continuing on the journey (Thanks Jonathan and Kristen). After getting a quick tour of Minneapolis, we made our way to the brand new Target Field.

Before the trip began, I had casually looked into ticket prices and availability for the games we would be attending. Obviously, I knew some would be more difficult then others and Target Field was one of the parks in which I knew tickets would be somewhat hard to get being that this is the inaugural season. With that said, I never imagined what the scene looked like outside of the stadium for the hour leading up to the game. There were hundreds of Twins fans searching for tickets and only a limited number of tickets being sold. That meant that ticket prices were unconscionably high and put us in a tough spot. I thought waiting until after the game started may help, but it did not, and once I realized prices were not going to drop, we found the cheapest tickets possible ($60) which gave us standing room access to the field. It was a Saturday night, there was great weather, and it was a brand new park, but I was still amazed that tickets would be so scarce in Minnesota for a Twins – Mariners game in July. However, it was what it was, and we still made it inside by the 2nd inning.

Target Field in Minneapolis is the newest of the 30 baseball stadiums which means it is as modern as modern gets. There was a giant grand entrance known as Target Plaza just outside of the park which provided a great atmosphere walking into the park. The inside of the stadium was designed similarly to some of the other new parks that have been built with the concourse giving a view of the field. The outfield concourse was not quite as big here at Target Field and there was not a giant entertainment or kid’s area out here like there has been with many of the new parks. The concourse was very wide and there were plenty of food stands, but due to the fact that there was a sellout crowd, the lines were very long. At most of the parks, the upper deck concourse only has a few of the basic food stands and usually doesn’t have anything more the that, but here at Target Field the upper deck had all kinds of unique food stands and even had a bar area for the fans. Of course, there was no kind of air conditioner to be found in here and it wasn’t a VIP club, but for public access and being on the highest level of the field, it was a nice addition for the place. There were plenty of VIP club areas here at Target Field as well. The Captains Deck, the Delta 360 Club, the Metropolitan club were just some of the areas that provided special access for fans who were willing to pay for it. I took the elevator up and down the different levels which was not well marked, but was a fast and efficient method to go from level to level. I liked the look of the park and thought it provided a great atmosphere for baseball.

The game was sold out and because the Twins are vying for a division title, the crowd was really into the game. Kevin Slowey outpitched Felix Hernandez for a 4-0 Twins victory which sent the fans home happy. The game was played in just over 2 hours which meant nobody left early and kept the fans cheering throughout the game.

There was a lot of great food here and a lot of different kinds of food to choose from. The brats and sausages were prevalent throughout the park and there were a few stands called State Fair Classics which had some really interesting choices. These ranged from a Walleye to the many different things you could get on a stick (porkchops, shrimp). They also had turkey legs, corn on the cob and a bunch of other state fair kind of foods. The park also had a Tony O’s which had Cuban sandwiches and espresso/bakery stands which looked to be popular. I found mini donuts buried in one corner as well which looked to be a tasty dessert to choose from. Hrbeks bar was a nice bar area near home plate which had many fans enjoying drinks and watching the game on TV. The Twins had some of their local brews on tap which I saw at a few different stands. All of these are just some of the options that Target Field offered. On top of that, I found my new favorite hot dog here at Target Field. The Twins dog was giant and the best tasting hot dog I’ve eaten and will take over the #1 spot.

We left Target Field after a nice evening at the park, and prepared for another overnight drive to Chicago.

Up to this point…

19 Stadiums down. 11 to go.

Target Field done. On to the next one…

We have made it to Chicago but the blog has fallen behind a bit so we will retro back to Friday night where we made our stop in St. Louis.

We left KC Friday afternoon en route for St. Louis. The drive was about 4 hours which put us at Busch Stadium about an hour before the game. After passing the famous arch on the way to the park, we scalped for tickets outside the stadium and then made our way into this enormous venue.

The atmosphere walking into the game was outstanding. Everyone was wearing Cardinals gear and they were all talking about the game. Just in the short time I was outside the park I got a great vibe from the fans. Once I got inside the stadium, I had a lot of walking to do as Busch Stadium was gigantic. The lower concourse is mostly indoors with a roof overhead and no view of the field. This was unusual as most of the new parks are designed so that as you walk around the concourse you can see game and this provides loads of standing room only spots for fans to watch the action. But, here at Busch, it is more old fashioned where the concourse is shielded. In this lower concourse area I saw a Cardinals Build A Bear shop, a giant old fashioned scoreboard that kept track of the ongoing Cards game, a Coca Cola patio where fans could sit and eat and drink, and tons of sponsors and promotional offerings. Once I got towards the outfield the park opens up a bit and there is no longer a roof overhead. Out here there was an area that had a hard floored diamond which I was told is where former Cardinals players sit to sign autographs before the game. Then I cane across the Ford Plaza which is where the U.S. Cellular Family Pavilion stood. In this area, there was a 2K10 Sports lounge, a kids patio where they could eat and drink, batting cages, a speed pitch, and other kids related activities. The park also has a deck known as the Coca Cola Rooftop deck, which I was not granted access to, but it looked to be a cool place to watch the game. I kept walking around and then went up the stairs to the club levels. It was hard to keep track of all of the different clubs at this park. It was like a caste system of fans or rather a system to differentiate the fans based on their wallet size. To the best of my knowledge, the most expensive club level was called the Champions Club, which featured all inclusive food and drink and ran somewhere around $175 a ticket. The next level was the Bank of America club which was less money but still all inclusive. Then there was the Red Bird club which did not include food and drink with the ticket, but had plenty of options inside of it and looked to be the biggest of the 3 clubs. All 3 were not far apart from each other and provide very nice views of the field.

The food at the park was good. There were a lot of bar areas as well where many fans were throughout the game with views of the field. The Casino Queen Blackjack bar sat out in left field and was a great looking bar with plenty of room to move around and also had tables that faced the field. There was also the Bud Light bar that was in centerfield which was open aired and also provided a view of the park. The stadium also had a Hardees, a Ben and Jerry’s, Broadway BBQ, and a few specialty stands that had foods like stuffed potatoes and fried ravioli. The hot dog at the park was pretty good, we’ll have to see where it lands on the list. There were tons of stands and different ballpark foods to choose from throughout the park.

I was looking forward to seeing how the Cardinals fans were during the game, but unfortunately we had to sit through a 2.5 hour rain delay before the first pitch was thrown which kind of took away from the atmosphere. There were still a lot of fans who stayed, but there were also plenty of empty seats from people who did not want to be at the park until after midnight. This was somewhat disappointing, but I still got a good feel from the fans that were there. Chris Carpenter and Jeff Karstens were the 2 starting pitchers and both were fantastic keeping the opposition off the board inning after inning.
The game was scoreless through regulation, and it was not until the bottom of the 10th when the Cardinals would finally score the games first and only run on an infield single that would be the game winner. Final score Cardinals 1 Pirates 0.

Overall, I really liked our short stay in St. Louis. The park was nice and the fans lived up to their high expectations. Obviously, I can’t tell you that there the best fans in baseball being from Boston, but they certainly know their baseball in St. Louis. And they now have a great park to watch their Cardinals play baseball (as long as they don’t get lost inside)

After St. Louis, we drove to Minneapolis to see the brand new Target Field.

At this point…

18 stadiums down. 12 to go.

Busch Stadium done. On to the next one…

For their ballpark. Feel pity for the fans who have to endure year after year of sub .500 Royal teams.

Back in Central Time as I write to you from the great Midwest. Just came back from Kauffman Stadium, or ‘The K’, as it is sometimes referred to here in Kansas City. We arrived here late last night (Weds night) after a 10 hour voyage from Denver. We again are lucky to have family here in KC who are kind enough to let us spend a few nights with them while we knock out another park (Thank you Bush Family). Before heading to the stadium tonight we got to see a thrilling U-14 girl’s tennis tournament, where our cousin Becca did her best Serena Williams impression (minus the tantrum) and killed it out on the courts. Also want to say good luck to her brother J.B. as he goes out and competes in the Maccabi Games next week. And the entire family accompanied us to Kauffman Stadium tonight to see the Royals and Orioles square off in a race to see who could avoid being the American League’s worst team.

We arrived early to the park in anticipation of meeting Joel Goldberg, one of the anchors of Fox Sports Kansas City. At the time, I really just thought we would say hello and be able to watch the pregame show. But, they had more in store for us and had planned to do a feature piece on our trip that would air on the pre-game show. This was one of the coolest parts of the trip thus far as we got to be interviewed by the station and then we were able to watch it unfold onto the show. I’d like to thank Mr. Goldberg (the host) for setting this up and hope we made for a somewhat compelling story. After all of this fun, I was able to take in Kauffman Stadium:

I had been to Kauffman roughly 10 years ago and remembered it being somewhat of a typical ballpark. Of course it is known for the waterfalls in the outfield which are somewhat symbolic to this park, but other then that I really did not have the highest of expectations coming into tonight. But, once again, I was in for a surprise as I saw another gem of a stadium here in Kansas City. The stadium has been recently renovated (completed for start of 2009 season) and because of this, it has the feel of a new modern park. While I was in my seat tonight, I remember thinking that it looked like Dodger Stadium with a facelift as the new renovations have combined somewhat of that old time baseball feel with new features that bring the stadium to life. I saw what the park looked like before and after the renovations and truthfully I thought it looked ok beforehand, but now it really sticks out as a true beauty. I think because it is a mix of old and new, it has a different look to it then many of the parks we have been to thus far and that was a nice change. There is very little outfield seating and the capacity of the entire stadium is only about 39,000. This also means that there really isn’t a bad seat in the house, and some of the seats they have added in the outfield looked to provide a great view of the field (you just need to stay dry from the waterfalls in the Dry Duck seats). And as amazing as the waterfalls appear on TV, they are even cooler in person. The entire outfield is full of these big waterfalls that shoot up in between innings and during pitching changes. When the sun goes down and it becomes dark, they light up and provide an incredible backdrop for the stadium. I was marveling at these for much of the game and thought how nice everything looked at the park.

The rest of the stadium had plenty to offer as well. As I previously stated, the park was recently re-done so the outfield concourse takes after many of the modern parks. But, Kauffman Stadium did have a unique feature to it which is the first that I have seen, and that is a mini-golf course behind center field. I counted 5 full size holes which were titled Sluggers Mini Golf after the Royals mascot. This area was where much of the kids action was happening as it had many activities for them to participate in. The area was massive out here in centerfield which consisted of a big jungle gym, a carousel, a batting cage, a 2k10 video game lounge, a kids souvenir store, kids food, and then ‘The Little K’. It is funny that it was called the Little K because it actually was a giant mini baseball field for kids to play ball (oxymoron alert). It was designed for little kids to play baseball and it looked to be one of the better fields I have come across in a stadium. If you walked a little farther there was something for big kids and adults as the Royals Hall of Fame sits out in left field. This was another great addition to the park and is a must stop for any Royals fan. I thought the Royals had done a great job in what they have done from an entertainment standpoint.

The food here was good again and provided many choices for the fans. It was $1 night at the park tonight so hot dogs, peanuts, twinkies (yes twinkies) and a few other items were only $1. The hot dog was pretty solid and probably the best of the $1 hot dogs I have had. Out in right field was Rivals Sports Bar, which was a full sized bar/restaurant which had a nice menu and provided a great view of the field. I passed a Sheridan’s Frozen Custard shop which looked to have great frozen drinks and treats. There was a Strouds Chicken stand which looked to have some good chicken options and then a few specialty hot dog stands serving many different kinds of dogs. And then the Diamond Club had its usual nice looking buffet behind home plate as many of the stadiums have done the same. There were a few BBQ options and then a slew of other good ballpark foods stemming from nachos to funnel cakes.

And for it being a Royals – Orioles game, it was somewhat exciting. The Royals fell behind 3-0 early but battled back to take a 5-3 lead. They would however blow that lead late in the game which meant we got to see bonus baseball at ‘The K’. Unfortunately for the loyal Royals fans who I give credit to for still coming to watch, the Royals would go on to lose 6-5 in 11 innings. I was somewhat amazed and impressed with the amount of fans who looked really dejected about the loss as well. I know nobody likes to lose, but I would think that once losing becomes the norm, like it has become in KC for a long time, people would get used to it. But, I give credit to all of the Royals fans who continue to support their club through these difficult times. The atmosphere at the park was pretty good and the crowd was better then I expected. They seemed like very knowledgeable fans and I can only hope that the Royals turn it around soon and give them a winning product to cheer for.

Well I’m now back at the house, writing this piece, and preparing for a big weekend. Driving to St. Louis tomorrow, Minneapolis on Saturday, and then to Chicago Sunday. I will probably be posting the next few stadiums over the next week due to the quick turnarounds we have to make. So long for now…

17 Stadiums down. 13 to go.

Kauffman Stadium done. On to the next one…

Hello from Boulder, Colorado. Just came back from Coors Field to kick off the 2nd half of the stadium tour. I last left you from Seattle after that wild game from Safeco Field. Since then, we walked around Seattle (saw Marco Scutaro in the downtown district), saw the Pike St fish market where the employees throw the fish around, went to another Red Sox game at Safeco on Friday night (Red Sox won 2-1), then we drove overnight to Montana. We arrived in Helena, Montana on Saturday morning after about a 10 hour drive to meet up with the famed sports reporter A.J. Donatoni. We were lucky enough to be filmed and interviewed for Montana television by Mr. Donatoni and the piece on our trip will be airing soon. I don’t think I’ll ever have to buy my own drink in the state of Montana ever again. From Montana, we continued on to Colorado and finally made it to Boulder about 24 hours after leaving Seattle.

I’ve been in Boulder for the past couple days waiting for the Rockies to get here. It has been great to see some old friends from High School (big ups to Robbie, Adele and Torie) and I have experienced some great hospitality while here. They have made this one of the best stops of the trip. I’ve done plenty of walking over the past few days and got to see much of this cool city. We even got to meet up with my grandparents for a wonderful dinner on Pearl St (great timing to have the grandparents visit Denver the same time as us…Thanks!) And to top it off, the Framingham crew even came to Coors Field with us tonight to watch the Rockies and Pirates game. And here’s what I got from Coors Field:

We arrived at the park about 2.5 hours prior to the game starting in an attempt to buy tickets known as Rockpile Tickets. These are the Rockies $4 tickets which lets its patrons sit out in center field for a great price. I was amazed that there was a long line outside the gate 2.5 hours before the game began to buy these tickets. And after talking with a Rockies employee, he told me that this was not out of the norm. I was shocked, this was a Tuesday night game against the Pirates in Denver, not a mid – September pennant race game between the Red Sox and Yankees. So anyways, the tickets sold out before we got to the front of the line and we were forced to buy the next cheapest tickets which were a ******** $11. So we had our tickets, went to a local sports bar nearby, and enjoyed a few adult beverages before the game. We then made it inside the stadium:

Coors Field was another modern stadium built in the 90′s. It has that same feel to it and looked similar to many of the other parks built during that time. Obviously the uniqueness about Coors Field were the Rocky Mountains that sit in the backdrop of the stadium, making for a very picturesque setting. I liked Coors Field but I wouldn’t say I loved it. It had many similar features as some of the other parks we have seen, it had the virtual batting cages (both regular and a junior version for younger kids), a speed pitch, tee-ball, and what stood out the most to me was the Fantasy Broadcast booth. For $8 / half inning, you get the chance to broadcast the Rockies game. This was the fist time I had seen something like this, and I know that if I were a regular at Coors Field, I would be doing this all the time. They put the recording on a DVD and then let you take it home as a great souvenir. I thought this was a great attraction. The park also had its patios and picnic areas for fans to enjoy some food and drinks before and during the game. Another cool feature about Coors Field was the purple line of seats that sit near the top which marks the 1 mile from sea level point of the stadium. And I should also mention the shirt in the Rockies Team Store that had a recycling symbol on it with the Rockies logo present, symbolizing the Go Green movement that is so attached to the Denver/Boulder area.

The food here was pretty standard for the modern parks. The Rocky Dog was average, probably will be in the lower half of hot dogs. The outfield concourse had some good choices as it featured Helton’s Burger Shack, Famous Dave’s BBQ, and a few other stands that were only found out in this area. There were healthy options here as well as I noticed a few delis and a stand called Infield Greens which featured salads and healthy ballpark choices. Coors Field also featured a giant nut stand called Go Nuts which looked to have at least 5 or 6 different kind of nuts. Again I noticed stands called Beers of the World which had more upscale beers then the usual choices. But, because I was at COORS Field, I had to get a Coors Light to accompany my hot dog. I also noticed the smokehouse which looked like a mini restaurant that sat in one part of the concourse. I felt that there were plenty of good choices to choose from here, not the most and not the least, kind of like the stadium, not the best but certainly not the worst.

As far as the game and atmosphere, I was probably more impressed here then any other stadium thus far. Maybe it was because I expected a scattered 18 thousand and a weak atmosphere that made me so impressed, but what a crowd I was greeted with here at Coors Field on a Tuesday night against the last place Pirates. The crowd was announced at 46,000 and change which completely blew my mind. The place was nearly sold out which says a lot for the Rockies and the excitement they are bringing to the Denver community. The crowd itself was fairly vocal too, cheering on Tulo and the rest of the Rockies. The Rockies lost 4-2 to the lowly Pirates on this night, but the game was still very enjoyable due to the atmosphere and having additional company at the game.

That pretty much sums up Coors Field and the Denver leg of the trip. Another great stop, another good stadium, and the 2nd half of the trip is officially under way. We now have one of the tougher legs of the trip ahead; Kansas City Thursday, St Louis Friday, Minnesota Saturday, Chicago (White Sox) Sunday, Chicago (Cubs) Monday. So it is time to get ready for a lot more driving and a lot more baseball. Waking up early in the morning tomorrow to drive to KC, and I’m hoping to be able to post again after Kaufman Stadium late Thursday night.

Until then

16 Stadiums down. 14 to go.

Coors Field done. On to the next one…

There is an old baseball saying that goes something like ‘when you go to the ballpark, you just never know what your going to see.’ Never has that been more true then tonight. On a night when we visited our 15th stadium of the trip and hit the halfway mark, we witnessed one of the craziest baseball games of the season. What seemed to be a night where the Red Sox would cruise to a win, turned into a wild night at Safeco Field. The storyline was John Lackey for the majority of the game; who had a no hitter going into the 8th inning. The bid was broken up with 2 outs in the 8th by Mariners catcher Josh Bard and history would not be seen on this night. But the Sox were still up 6-1 and the game still seemed like it was over. However, that was not the case. The Mariners would rally for 5 in the 9th and tie the score at 6 (thanks to a slew of hits and some brutal Red Sox defense). The Red Sox were able to get out of the inning and we saw another extra inning game. The Mariners would threaten again in the 12th when they loaded the bases with 1 out, but Hideki Okajima was able to wiggle his way out of trouble and sent it to the 13th. That is when the Sox would capitalize as Eric Patterson had a huge 2 out, 2 RBI double to propel the Red Sox to a crazy 8-6 victory. What a game.

I really try not to put too many game details in the blog and focus more on the stadiums, but this one was too good not to talk about. But I don’t want the game to stand in the way of the stadium, because that was also too good not to talk about. Safeco Field is another one that people always mention as one of baseballs best stadiums, so again I had high hopes coming here. And once again, I was not disappointed. Safeco Field was everything it was talked up to be and more. Here’s what I got from the place:

After a long walk to get into the place I finally got my first glance of Safeco Field. Another beauty. Opened back in 1999, it was designed similarly to many of the other newer parks. The open concourses here were great and you could see the field from almost anywhere in the park. The outfield concourse was where most of the action took place. There was a speed pitch here that seemed a little out of place; it just sat in the middle of the concourse which was a little odd. The kids jungle gym was behind centerfield and sponsored by Seattle’s Childrens Hospital. It was large and many kids were playing there before the game. Right next to this was a store dedicated to children’s apparel which seemed like a smart idea. And not too far away was the Moose’s den, which is where kids can take there picture with the Mariners Moose during the indicated innings. The rest of the stadium had some interesting features as well. The Mariners Hall of Fame was closer to the home plate concourse and was a pretty cool section of the stadium. A few plaques and memorabilia sat back here and at the end was a giant life sized wall that looked to be a replica of an on-field wall which kids could climb and pretend to rob home runs. The stadium also featured a Sanyo room, where everything from massage chairs to flat screen tv’s were being advertised and sold by Sanyo. I also noticed how much of the stadium was Japanese influenced and there were even signs in the stadium that were in Japanese. (Besides Ichiro being a staple here the past decade, the Mariners have had an abundance of Japanese players come through Seattle and now have a large Japanese fan base).

The food at the park was also tremendous. Again, I saw the Japanese influence from many of the stands as there were a few sushi stands (one called Ichiroll) which served many Japanese favorites including sake. There was also a Thai stand called Thai Ginger, a Mexican stand called Tortilla Junction, a stand with vegetarian friendly foods, an Auntie Annies cart, Big Reds Buffalo Wings, Dixi’s BBQ, Porters Place, seafood stands, a mini candy store called the Sweet Spot, and many many more choices. There were garlic fries, burgers, and all of the other ballpark favorites that are found at almost every stadium these days. Some of the more unique restaurant type choices here at Safeco were the Bullpen Pub, the Hit it Here café (which sat above right field and gave fans a great view of the field along with restaurant food), a private patio out in left field, and then there was the Terrace Club which sat in the 2nd level and stretched roughly from 1st base to 3rd base. Many of the parks have something similar to this, it is kind of an affordable VIP area for fans to enjoy the game while having the luxury of a full service bar and many high end foods. It is kind of the middle ground between the private boxes and the regular seats. The tickets that have Terrace Club access are usually similar in price to the field level seats and give fans a different view of the field. This area looked to be top class here at Safeco. And finally, another very good hot dog here. However, I was not a big fan of the bun so we’ll see where this dog lands on the list.

And once again, it was hard to judge the game atmosphere on this night because of the large influx of Red Sox fans at the game. They skew the crowd so much that it would be hard to know what the Mariners fans would be like for any other game. I thought the crowd was fairly involved tonight, certainly not the best crowd but certainly not the worst. I give them credit for coming out to the park being that they are a last place team. But when your city has a park as nice as Safeco Field, it really is not too surprising why people show up.

It’s finally bed time here on the west coast (don’t want to be sleepless in Seattle) and I need to get ready for a big day tomorrow. We will be spending the day in downtown Seattle, going back to Safeco at night for the game, and then driving to Montana overnight on our way to Denver. I will probably check back in late Tuesday night after the Rockies and Pirates game from Coors Field.

15 stadiums down. 15 to go. (Halfway there)

Safeco Field done. On to the next one…

What a mouthful that was. I think it’s safe to refer to it simply as the Coliseum here in Oakland being that Rome is pretty far away. But whatever the name may be, the actual facility is a giant concrete piece of trash!

Just got home from game 2 of the Red Sox and A’s series, where the Red Sox blew an early 4-0 lead to lose 5-4 in extras. The Sox left the bases loaded in both the 5th and 6th and just could not break the game open. It was painful. But I will be back tomorrow afternoon for the rubber game.

Anyways, I last left you from AT&T Park in San Fran where we saw the Giants and Mets on Sunday. Since then, we have been enjoying our time in the Bay area (went to Fishermans Wharf today, saw the cable cars, and drove around San Francisco) and have been going to the Oakland Alameda County Coliseum to watch the Sox (Monday and Tuesday). As great as AT&T Park was, that may be as awful as the Oakland Coliseum is. The place is a pure dump and is in strong contention for worst MLB stadium.

Where to begin. Well, there was pretty much nothing happening outside the park. Part of what makes so many of the stadiums so great is the outdoor atmosphere and entertainment that they provide. Here in Oakland, there was pretty much zero happening. I saw one promotion tent set up for Chevy with a giveway but that was it. No food, no music, no anything. Just a giant parking lot with a few people enjoying some adult beverages. And because the Sox were in town, there were hundreds of Sox fans lined up waiting to enter the stadium when the gates opened… So then lets take you inside the stadium. There still wasn’t much. To be honest, when we went on Monday, I did my walkthrough of the stadium and literally found nothing. But then when we went back tonight, I found at least something to write about. On the second level behind home plate there was some form of entertainment. The signage to get here was awful, and if I wasnt sitting near the area I may never have found this, but luckily I did. I found the Stomper Fun Zone which was the A’s version of a kids zone. They had a speed pitch, batting cages, a soccer shot (which was unique), a playhouse, tattoo stands, and a very small playground (I think there was 1 slide and maybe a see-saw). It was weak, but at least it was something. Not too far from this nook of the park was the one highlight of the stadium. There was a very nice bar/restaruant called the West Side Club which sat on the 2nd deck behind home plate. I was shocked to find this area because it looked like it did not belong in this pit of a stadium. But this was a very nice bar and was in a huge room with many tables and had a nice view of the field as well. There was a big sign that said ‘Open to the Public’ right outside, I just don’t know why there were no signs or ad’s anywhere else in the stadium telling people to go here. Lets see what else. There was a BBQ pit out in left field for private functions. A private patio on the west side of the stadium which I was told is filled for only some of the A’s home games. I found a value stand selling A’s gear for 50% off in the outfield. The problem was, nothing else was out there and it was completely bare. It looked like this area was only used for Raiders games (the A’s and Raiders share this stadium). I would like to come back here for a Raiders game to see how the entire stadium is used.

I will say that the food here was not too bad and the beer selection may have been the best of any park. I could not even count how many unique beer stands and offerings this park had. Right near the front entrance was ‘The Field’ which was a nice little Irish pub with food and a full bar. There were a few different BBQ options (Kinders and Ribs n Things), a fish n chips / shrimp n chips stand, a nice Mexican place called Rosa’s, and many other fine selections. The hot dog was pretty good, it may have been the biggest one I’ve eaten yet, and will probably land in the middle of the pack.

It was hard to gauge the atmosphere at the park because I know it was skewed due to the fact that the Red Sox were in town. I would say the crowd was roughly 50-50 with A’s fans and Sox fans which didn’t really surprise me. Because of this, there was pretty good life in the crowd for both games. When the A’s did something good, there fans would want to let the Sox fans here it and vise versa so either way the crowd was pretty involved and making noise throughout the game. The ‘Lets Go Red Sox’ vs ‘Lets Go Oakland’ chants would go on back and forth. On Monday night, the Red Sox won 2-1 behind a fine outing from Dice-K Matsuzaka and a solo shot from Adrian Beltre. Then tonight, like I mentioned earlier, the A’s were victorious 5-4 in 10 innings. With 2 outs and 2 on in the 10th, it was Kevin Kouzmanoff who had the walk off single to win it for Oakland. We’ve seen 2 pretty good games and tomorrow we will head back again to see which team can take the series.

That’s pretty much Oakland. Unless your favorite team is playing or you are an A’s fan, there is no other reason to come to this park. It offers very little and has almost nothing stand out as an attraction.

We will be going back to the Coliseum tomorrow morning and then driving to Seattle after the game. I’m not 100% when I will have internet again so I can’t be certain when I will be able to post the Safeco Field entry. But fear not, it will be up soon enough.

We are also 30 days into the trip and have 30 days left to go. Which means, ‘whooahh, we’re half way there’ (thank you Bon Jovi).

14 Stadiums down. 16 to go.

Oakland Alameda County Coliseum done. On to the next one…

Ladies and Gentlemen. Boys and Girls. I think we may have a winner. AT&T Park in San Francisco just may be the stadium of all stadiums….

We made it up the coast of Cali to arrive in San Francisco on Sat night. We’re staying just outside of San Fran in San Mateo with family friends (thanks Tom and Shari). We got some sleep Sat night, and then it was off to AT&T Park Sunday morning to make it in time for the Giants – Mets afternoon bout. We took the train in to the game and arrived at the park early, got our tickets, and then started walking around one of the most spectacular sporting venues I’ve ever come across.

AT&T Park is another one of the newer stadiums in baseball. I had never been to Candlestick but I heard the place was a real dump. Well times have changed in the Bay area. Giants fans are truly lucky that they are able to watch their boys play in such a picturesque setting. The stadium was built right on the water and the ocean is the backdrop for the stadium. Known as McCoveys Cove out in right field, left handed power hitters swing for the ocean as they try and land home run balls out in this area named for Giants great Willy McCovey. I was able to stand out here during batting practice and saw some of the people who sit in kayaks and canoes waiting for home run balls to land in the water. It is such a cool feature of the ballpark and was designed brilliantly. As I continued onward, I came across the giant outdoor concourse behind center field. Out in this area, there was a large audience gathered watching a man perform stand-up comedy as they ate some of the many choices the park had to offer. The place was packed with people on this warm Sunday afternoon and why not. This ballpark would make anybody happy on a summer day. There were hundreds of boats lined up behind center field as well to add to the setting. If you continue on towards left field, you would find the giant Coke bottle and giant replica glove that are somewhat staples to this park. Little did I know that the coke bottle also serves as part of the CocaCola Fan Lot portion of the park which is apart of the kids area. Inside the coke bottle were slides that many kids were enjoying before the game began. I should mention that many kids (and even some adults) were wearing panda hats for Pablo Sandoval (nicknamed Kung-Fu Panda). And just as there have been with many of the newer parks, there was a mini ballfield for kids to play out in this area as well. The entire outfield concourse was outstanding and well worth the price of admission.

The rest of the park was very nice as well. The one complaint I would make about the park would be the crowded concourse. I haven’t noticed much of this at many of the newer parks, and even though it is somewhat of a wide concourse here at AT&T, there was still a lot of congestion due to the food lines being way to wide. The food lines took up almost half of the concourse. But that is nitpicking a bit as there really are few bad things one could say about this park. Some other things that were featured were a silent auction, a PS3 console with MLB The Show (which is interesting because almost every other ballpark has MLB 2K10 featured), an AT&T wall with different products featured, a Build a Bear shop, and then all of your normal food and merchandise vendors.

Of course there were plenty of unique food options here at AT&T Park. Some included Crazy Crab’z out in center field, Murphy’s Clubhouse which was an Irish pub, Gilroy’s Garlic Fries which also noted how this park prided itself on Going Green, Hebrew National hotdogs which were very good, Orlando’s Caribbean BBQ, and then a slew of other food stands selling all kinds of ballpark food. There was even a Ghiradelli vendor walking around with a picture of an ice cream sundae in which you could order from your seat and have it brought to you. And this is for the general public! Not just the VIP seating.

The crowd at the game was excellent. Almost a packed house, granted it was a Sunday afternoon against Johan Santana and the Mets, but nevertheless, the fans were in the seats. And I thought there was a constant vibe in the crowd and they certainly knew the right times to make noise. There were even chants and cheers made on their own, and not just from the scoreboard saying ‘GET LOUD’. I was impressed with the San Fran crowd. It was also the most exciting game we’ve seen on the trip. Trailing 3-1 going into the bottom of the 9th, the Giants rallied for 2 off of K-Rod with the big hit coming from Travis Ishikawa. He then scored what should have been the game winning run but was called out on a horrendous call by home plate umpire Phil Cuzzi. From my vantage point watching the game live, I thought there was no way he was out, but then seeing the replay made the call look even worse. It would prove to be costly as the Giants were unable to score another run and then Ike Davis hit a big 2 out RBI double in the 10th to give the Mets a 4-3 lead which they would not relinquish. The crowd was upset, as they should have been, as they were robbed of a win and a clean 4 game sweep of the Mets. But thats baseball. Its not always fair.

We left the park, took the train back home, and rested for the night. I left thinking that this was surely the nicest park I had ever seen. Baseball fan or not, I highly recommend coming to San Fran to see this place.

And now it is Monday and I’m ready for what will probably be my favorite week of the trip. I scheduled this week to see the Red Sox play 5 times (3 in Oakland and 2 in Seattle). It has been difficult to only follow them through my phone and not be able to see any live action, so I cant wait to see them play all week while I’m out here on the west coast (even if about a 1/3 of these guys are fill-ins).

And that is where stand now. Waiting to go to Oakland for the Sox – A’s game tonight.

13 Stadiums down. 17 to go.

AT&T Park Done. On to the next one…

After a good week in LA, we made it south to San Diego to see one of baseballs newest stadiums in PETCO Park. We arrived late Thursday night and found our San Diego accommodation with ease (Thanks to Peter and Lynn for letting us stay with them while here). Slept in late Friday morning and then kicked off the day in San Diego. We went over to Balboa Park to try and see the San Diego sports museum but it was closed for a private function. This Balboa Park area was a really nice section of San Diego with at least 10 different museums featured and the famed San Diego Zoo as the main attraction. We only had a couple of hours before the game so we left and drove a few miles to the harbor and saw downtown San Diego. We ate lunch downtown and then went over to the 93.3 studios to see Frankie V. Out here, almost everyone would know who Frankie V is being the nighttime voice on 93.3 in San Diego. He is also my former basketball coach (shout out for all the TBA legends out there) and the brother of my future roommate Mikey V (who also runs his own show on 95.5 in Ithaca). It was good to see Frankie out here and he gave us a tour of his studio. From here it was off to PETCO Park.

I had heard a lot of great things about PETCO Park since it opened a few years ago and I’d say it lived up to the hype. The concourse felt very futuristic and if possible, even more modern then any of the previous parks we had seen. But before getting to the concourse, I would have to start by talking about what I can only describe as the ‘Park within the Park’. This would be referencing the giant park area that sits behind the outfield. This is truly unlike anything at any of the previous ballparks; there is a giant area that is designed like a park you would find in the middle of a neighborhood. You can gain admission to the park by buying a ticket called a ‘park pass’ which is sold for $5. This area had to of been designed for families, as there is everything from a playground for little kids, a mini ballpark where at least 50 kids were playing on this mini field with a Padres employee pitching, and a giant open grass area where fathers were playing catch with their sons. You could also see the real field from this area and many families had blankets set up on the grass to watch the Padres game. Right in front of this stood the bleachers, which was also designed for families as a sand pit sits at the bottom. There were kids playing in the sand the entire game. The area also had live music which many of the fans were enjoying before the game started. The Padres certainly would rank right at the top of the list for family friendly environments.

We were happy that the ticketing agent told us about the family environment in the bleachers so we didn’t buy tickets there. There is a limited view of the field and it’s almost designed with baseball as an afterthought. We bought tickets in the front row of the left field reserve section and then made our trek around the park. The stadium had many unique features about it which made walking around enjoyable. For one, there was a wall dedicated to the history of both Padres baseball and then a wall dedicated to the history of baseball in San Diego. There was also an interactive area set up which featured both a virtual batting cage and a pitching cage that had a life-size batter and catcher to which you could throw to. One thing I noticed that the Padres emphasized more then any other club was there dedication to the military. I was asked when buying a ticket if I was in the military, then before the game there was an announcement over the PA for all active and retired military personnel to stand up and receive and ovation, and finally there was a section of the stadium dedicated the U.S. armed forces. A glass display with old military planes could be seen near the interactive area along with a wall that listed all the MLB players who one time served the country. I thought the Padres certainly wanted it to be known that they recognize and appreciate everything that those brave men and women have done, are doing, and will do in the future.

The food here was good and had plenty of choices. Like the other So Cal stadiums, there were outdoor food courts set up and a ton of different foods to choose from. A Randy Jones BBQ, a Deli, and Mexican inspired stands were just some of the many options fans could choose to eat. Similar to Angel Stadium, there was a VIP buffet behind home plate which here was called the Omni Hotels Premier Club. The hot dog here was excellent. It will rank somewhere near the top on the next rankings list.

The game was a bit of a sleeper. Adrian Gonzales did homer and he is basically God in the San Diego area. The Padres smoked the Diamondbacks 12-1 on this night. Somehow, the Padres continue to win games with a very average lineup. It just proves that solid starting pitching and a good bullpen is enough to win you a division. The atmosphere at the park was pretty much what I expected. A decent crowd filled up the stands but they were pretty quiet and mellow. Just your typical laid back San Diego cheers during the 11 run rout on a Friday night. It continues to amaze me that the loudest these parks get are when they are throwing out free t-shirts. One would think there are hundred dollar bills attached to these shirts the way people yell and scream to get one. But people love free stuff.

That was PETCO Park. Another gem of a ballpark and another stadium checked off the list. We went back to our SD house to sleep and then prepared for the drive up to San Francisco on Saturday.

12 Stadiums down. 18 to go.

PETCO Park done. And it was on to the next one…