In April, 2007, I was preparing to leave my job at HAL, Inc, and I wanted to take some time off before looking for my next job. It had been a while since I had taken a major trip. My last trip was a weekend flight for my cousin's wedding in Bozemam, MT, and the last major trip was probably when I did a conference/baseball trip in 1999.

The major league baseball season had also just started. Looking at the schedule, I was able to put together 12 games over a period of 18 days. The route would also take me to see family in Dallas, Wichita, St Louis, & Chicago.

The first game of the trip was in Houston's Minute Maid Park, April 27. For the last three years, co-workers at HAL had attended several Coka-Cola Value Night games. For $60, you get 4 mezzanine seats, 4 hot dogs, 4 soft drinks, 2 Astro hats, and also see a firework show after the game. A total of 12 people attended.

The following Tuesday, I left Houston for Arlington. After a very stormy drive, I met up with my cousin Tonya. We took in a game at Ameriquest Field, where the Rangers suffered a no hitter into the 8th inning against the Yankees.

The next day I went Wichita for a few days, to see my parents & my sister Pam. There I got to meet Monty, Pam's new puppy. While there, my parents and I went shopping for a camera for the trip. I had gotten pictures from friends at the Astros game, and Tonya's roommate had loaned us her camera for the night. However, most of the games I was going to, I would be alone, and the camera on my Treo 650 was getting antiquated. I settled on a Kodak V803 camera, a 2GB SD card, a belt case, and a spare battery.

On Friday afternoon, I left for Kansas City. When I arrived at Kaufman stadium, I found that my camera screen had cracked, and displayed no image. It had been in perfect working order when I used it that morning in Wichita. Everything else seem to be working. I decided to go ahead and take pictures blindly, and also took pictures with the phone's camera, just in case. When I checked the pictures the next day, they had mostly turned out fine. My Royals lost to the Tigers, but saw a nice fireworks display after the game

Right after the Royals game, I started out for Wentsville, MO, just west of St Louis, arriving just before 2 o'clock in the morning. While planning the trip, my brother-in-law Jeff and I had entered into a conspiracy to surprise my sister Mary. Her birthday is the 6th of May, and mine is the 7th. I wanted to surprise her, and still insure that everyone was available to go to a game. I arrived at their apartment in Clayton, MO around 8:30am on Saturday, and everything went as planned. Jeff and I went to replace my camera, then we all took the train to St Louis, and attended a game at Busch Stadium. Busch was the first of the stadiums that I had not visited before, and it was not a disappointment. There, my nieces got free commemorative bats of the Cardinals World Series win last year. We enjoyed hot dogs, cokes, and cotton candy, but did not enjoy the 13-0 Astro's win. The Cardinal just did not show up to play that day. After the game, we got to have a picnic with several of Mary & Jeff's neighbors.

  

The next day, I left for Plainfield, IL, where my Aunt Holly and Uncle Donovan live. There I helped with some minor landscaping, and also helped Donovan move some heavy items for his daughter. Also got to hold Roger a lot, Holly's dog, as he had just had back surgery, and Holly didn't want him to move around much. Later they treated me to supper at Applebee's.

Monday, I said goodbye to Holly and Donovan, and left for my next game. It was my birthday, and I had originally wanted to see my Cubs. However, thought they had played the night before, and would again on Tuesday, I was disappointed to find they had a scheduled day off on Monday. Instead I went to Milwaukee, and saw the Brewers beat the Nationals at their new Miller Park. Miller is only 1 of 2 stadium on the trip that have a dome, the other being Minute Maid Park in Houston. The weather turned out great, in spite of the forecast, and the dome remained open for the entire game.

From there, it was on to Chicago, and the "friendly confines" of Wrigley Field, the last of the parks I had previously visited. Even though I've been a long time Cubs fan, this was only my second trip to Wrigley. If you've never been to there, you simply don't know what your missing. When ever the game gets boring, the fans get interesting. The Cubs lost to the Pittsburg Pirates after 15 innings of play, but there never was a dull moment the whole game. My seat was right next to the visitors bullpen. The fans around me spent most of the day heckling the players. They would change their tune when the concession stands were closed after the ninth inning. Then they started to offer the Pirate pitchers money for sunflower seeds. However, the late playing time started what was to become the most demanding three days of my schedule.

I didn't get to my motel in Portage, IN, until 1am. I did get to sleep in some, but that turned out to be a mistake as I had forgotten that I would loose an hour in my trip to Detroit. I hurried as much as I dared across Michigan, only to find rain when I arrived in town. The game was delayed and hour and a half. This did give me time to really explore Comerica Park. I found it to be the best of the new stadiums on my trip. It has history islands stationed all around the main concourse depicting each decade of the franchise, and a huge food court with plenty of choices. They only thing lacking was a roof. The grounds crew was also impressive as they were able to uncover and prepare the field during a short pause in the rain, quickly cover it up for another 20 minute shower, then uncover to immediately start the game. However, the Mariners handily beat the Tiger, 9-2. And the rain delay caused me to get to my hotel late once again, this time getting their at midnight.

To compound matters after two late games, my next game in Cincinatti was to start at noon the next day. On top of that, their was heavy fog from Detroit to Columbus, OH, forcing me to slow down. However, I was still able to make it in time for the game at Great American Ballpark. During the game, Ken Griffey, Jr. hit a home run that hit two rows behind my seat, then bounced and landed in the hands of a kid sitting two rows in front of me. This started what was a lively game, with the Reds beating the Astros, 9-5. After the game, I retired to my motel, where I immediately took a much needed nap. The next day, after a very good night sleep at what was probably the best motel of the trip, I left for Pittsburgh.

PNC Park is probably the most uniquely located stadium in the country. It is built next to the Allegheny River, which separates it from downtown Pittsburgh, where most of the parking is located. To get to the park you have to cross the Roberto Clemente bridge. This makes for the most scenic view from a ballpark of the trip. However, the stadium interior seamed a bit bear compared to most of the parks on the trip. The game was average, as the Braves beat the Pirates, 4-1.

The journey to Philidelphia was defiantly the most arduous of the trip. I-76 is littered with construction zones, most lasting about twenty miles each, and each about twenty miles apart. The most aggravating part is that you see almost no road construction in any of them, making you wonder what the point of it all was. Then to top that off, I got caught in a traffic jam for 45 minutes in the center of Philidelphia. Even with those problems, I still enjoyed the game at Citzens Bank Park, as my Cubs were in town to play the Phillies. And a lively game is was. The Cubs, behind 5-1 after 6 innings, tied it up in the top of the 7th on some very timely hitting. Before the inning could be completed, the game was delayed for an hour by a suprise rain storm that was not in forecast for that day. However, this did not dampen the Cubs offense as they scored 2 more runs to complete their half of the 7th inning. Unfortunately, it did dampen the Cubs pitchers as they allowed the Phillies to get back all 6 runs in the bottom of the 7th. Not only would the game end with a Cubs loss, but the rain would start up again for the final outs. This would make for a soggy trip to my motel across the Delaware River into New Jersey.

Sunday was an off day. I decided on a whim to go see the Liberty Bell. I found out that I should have planned a little better, as I got stuck trying to find a parking spot due to my unfamiliarity with the area. The closest I got to it was driving by the building that houses the bell. I gave up after 45 minutes, then took an additional 30 minutes to find my way out of there. I made it into the DC area around 5pm, and spent the rest of the day researching what I was going to do the next day.

The next day, I had gotten my act together. After having breakfast near my motel, I took the train to the National Mall in the heart of Washington DC. There, I spent the late morning & afternoon just walking around and seeing the sight. The train deposits you in the center of the mall where you can see both the Capital building at one end, and the Washington Monument at the other. I went to the capital first, then made my way to the Washington Monument, World War II museum, Lincoln Memorial, Vietnam War Memorial, and finally the White House. After that I decided to explore the many Smithsonian museums that line the sides of the Mall. However, I did not realize that all the museums there close at 5:30. I only got to go to the Air & Space Museum, which I found a bit lacking as it seam to primarily cover the NASA's hey day, and most modern and non-NASA related subjects were sparse.

      

But the closing time did alert me to my original purpose for being in town, and I immediately got back on the train and head for RFK Memorial Stadium. RFK Memeorial was not one of the most exciting facilities. It is 46 years old, but compared to Wrigley which is twice the age but still in great condition, RFK looks moderately run down. A new stadium is expected to be finished before the start of next season, and will be located near the Capital. The game though was very exciting, as the Nationals pitcher took a no hitter into the 8th inning, and the crowd on hand was psyched. The Nationals beat the Braves 2-1. The great game was tempered a bit as I accidentally took the train in the wrong direction. Then I had trouble with the parking lot's their credit card reader was not working, and the attendant was not allowed take cash. I ended up spending an extra $5 for transport pass at the station to get my car out of the lot, arriving at the motel shortly before midnight. So much for planning ahead of time.

I headed for the final game of the tour in Clevelend the next day. Jacobs Field did a nice job melding the newer amenities you see in modern parks, but still had a more comfortable lived in feeling to it. I especially enjoyed Heritage Park, a walk-in monument of the team's history located behind center field. It was also dollar hot dog night, but they were not very good and left a odd taste in my mouth. It was very offensive game as the Indians beat the Twins 15-7, including several home runs.

Originally, I had planed to return to Chicago to see US Cellular Field. However, I was growing tired of the traveling, and I had already been there when it was called New Cominsky Park. I instead decided to start back a day early, and stayed the night at my sister's place in St Louis, where we had dinner and stopped for yogurt.

I did add one last destination to my trip. During the trip, both Kaufman Stadium & Miller Park had small Negro League memorials, both behind the stadiums home plate area. Kansas City is the home of Negro League Baseball Museum, so since it was on the way home, I decided to stop and take a look. It was a little smaller than I had expected, but it is packed memorabilia. It took me almost three hours to view and read everything they had to offer. The museum is the primarily the work of Buck O'Neil, a former player for the Negro League's Kansas City Monarchs. Sadly, it may be the thing that cost Buck an induction into the hall of fame, as Major League Baseball had opposed it's creation, preferring Cooperstown be the only one. However, when I visited Cooperstown 9 years earlier, the only display they had on the subject was a small corridor on the top floor. Buck's museum is proof that this deserves its own venue. Its Baseball's Hall Of Fame's loss for not accepting Buck, not the other way around.

This trip was the result of a lot of good timing, and luck. It is probably something I will never get the opportunity to do again. As of this writing, there are 9 stadiums left that I have not attended (Miami, Tampa Bay, Atlanta, Toronto, Denver, Arizona, San Diego, Los Angeles, and Seattle) and next year, DC will add a tenth. Given the more spread out locations of these parks, I doubt I'll do them all in a single trip. So I am thankful for the opportunity I had to see these fields. As you can imagine, I will never forget it.