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Week Six

DETROIT - -- This is the sixth installment of a weekly series charting the cross-country journey of four baseball enthusiasts as they attempt the become the first group to watch games in each of thirty Major League Baseball parks. This week we follow Mike, Calvin, Jason and Matt through Philadelphia, Pittsburgh and Detroit.

Reports from the homefront indicate that an archenemy exists! Parents have reported seeing a group of youngsters displaying a poster reading "Every Single ballPark in the Nation" on ESPN's Wednesday Night Baseball. So somebody else had the same idea, huh? In that case, we're gonna try and finish the expedition first, and apply for the Guinness Book upon our triumpant return. Modifications to our schedule are due, and the results have us cutting a week off the trip's end while still seeing every ballpark.

FORMER SCHEDULE from August 6 on:
August 6: Seattle at DETROIT
August 7: Oakland at TORONTO
August 9: Arizona at MONTREAL
August 11: Kansas City at BOSTON
August 12: Texas at CLEVELAND
August 15: Montreal at CINCINNATI
August 16: Seattle at CHISOX
August 19: St. Louis at CHICUBS
August 20: Cincinnati at MILWAUKEE
August 25: Florida at ST. LOUIS
September 1: Toronto at KANSAS CITY
September 3: Tampa Bay at MINNESOTA

NEW SCHEDULE (* indicates change):
August 6: Seattle at DETROIT
August 7: Oakland at TORONTO
August 9: Arizona at MONTREAL
August 11: Kansas City at BOSTON
August 12: Texas at CLEVELAND
August 14: Montreal at CINCINNATI*
August 16: Seattle at CHISOX
August 19: St. Louis at CHICUBS
August 20: Boston at KANSAS CITY*
August 22: Boston at MINNESOTA*
August 24: San Diego at MILWAUKEE*
August 25: Florida at ST. LOUIS

Los Angeles 3, at Philadelphia 1. Welcome to cookie-cutter Veteran Stadium, home to the Philadelphia Phillies (and NFL Eagles). A quick glance-over reveals faded football gridlines beneath the baseball field paint, as well as a JumboTron that turns real-life images into ones from the 1970's. Needless to say, we were not impressed with the general atmosphere, and were further offended by the service we received at The Vet. For starters, when we asked the woman in the ticket booth for a seating chart, she denied us and promptly said "Get general admission seats; you can sit anywhere with them." Shocked, we responded with "Anywhere in the stadium for $5?" "Anywhere," was her response. We followed with, "Cool, let's do it," and proceeded into The Vet.

As the Dodgers took batting practice, Calvin wandered over to the first-base line, where somebody in a Phillies uniform was signing autographs. Meanwhile, the rest of the fellas were being booted from their third-row-behind-home-plate seats and sent upstairs to the third deck (with the rest of the general admin ticket holders) by scrooges disguised as ushers. Turns out the Philly signing autographs was only the coach, and Calvin skipped over him in hopes that Scott Rolen might make an appearance. As gametime approached, only one other Phillie came out to sign -- rookie starting pitcher Carlton Loewer. Luckily, Calvin is a big fan of Carlton, getting Loewer to sign his batting practice ball (from Los Angeles) as well as taking a picture with him.

It didn't help that no home runs were hit that evening. Our streak of homers in every game watched was over, and we took in a pitcher's dual between Korean sensation Chan Ho Park (2 hits over 8 innings) and Matt Beech (double-digit strikeouts) of the Phillies. Turns out the Dodger fans were louder than the Philly "phans", even though 22,000 of them showed up to cheer on a team in hot pursuit of the wild-card berth. We want our readers to know that general admission gets you any seat in the upper third deck. Concessions sellers didn't even dare to venture up to the 600's. No joke.

While at the home of Brian and Annette Cozzens, the group got interviewed by the local Elizabethtown, PA, paper. Unfortunately, the reporter was unable to swing them free passes for that evening's Pirates game. So, it was on to Pittsburgh for a match with the Houston Astros.

Houston 7, at Pittsburgh 4. Fans really make a difference, you know? We get to Three Rivers Stadium right at game time, and there is a traffic jam on the freeway offramp due to the game! How can this be? The Pirates are in the cellar of the NL East, without a prayer for a wild card, and yet 31,000 people decide to come out to the ballgame. Three Rivers is similar to The Vet in that it is also home to a football team, but different and better thanks to stronger fan support and a beautiful location on the Allegheny River. This time, $5 general admission got us second-row seats in centerfield, minus the pestering ushers.

With batters making good contact on first pitches, the game moved right along through seven innings. Owners of the National League's best offense, Houston chased Pirates starter Francisco Cordova 5-1 and forced early pitching changes, thus slowing the game to a snail's pace. But excitement still lingered in the air as the home team attemped a comeback on the shoulders of first baseman Kevin Young, who hit a towering shot to the third deck above left field. Hooray! Home runs had returned to the Great American Baseball Trip!

That was fun, but the best part of the game came when Calvin told the three third-graders in front of him to "pay close attention, because Jeff Bagwell is going to hit a home run right to us." He was kidding around, trying to get the hyperactive children to relax and taunt the Astros, rather than themselves. The kids did as told, and on the very next pitch.....BOO-YOW! Astros slugger Bagwell drove one straight to centerfield. Back, back, back!!! WHAM! Right into the concrete in front of the kids. They all turned around in awe of the fact that Kuo had not only called the home run, but also that it would come straight for them. Later that evening, the four rejoiced as they got a glimpse of themselves on a brief SportsCenter highlight.

Mike's buddy, Howie Manns III, joined us for the game and the beverages following, and was kind enough to put us up for the evening. The next five days were off days, so we took in a couple movies in peaceful Grand Rapids, Michigan -- home to Bruce and Gail Hagelstein. We highly recommend "There's Something About Mary" for nonstop laughs, and "Saving Private Ryan" for very mature audiences. Jason and Calvin also managed to hit a couple dingers out during Homerun Derby, Part Two, at the local high school field. Mike had "Tad Sogge" warning-track power, but no dingers that day.

Before we knew it, Thursday had rolled around and it was time to go watch the Detroit Tigers take on the Seattle Mariners. Mother Nature had a different idea, though.

Seattle at Detroit, PPD (rain). Detroit was mired in a drizzle when we pulled into Tiger Stadium, but we kept faith that the teams would go the minimum five innings before calling it. As an extra hour of rollarcoaster rain passed, Kuo made his way towards the Tiger dugout and managed to get his Homerun Derby II homer-ball signed by designated hitter Geronimo Berroa. Meanwhile, the others laughed as an impatient fan ran out onto the raintarp, waited for security to come after her, and chuckled as the guard slipped on the wet grass right when he went to grab her arm. The crowd's roars turned to boos, though, when the public announcer declared the game cancelled right as the downpour was letting up. As a result, we will be including a Tigers-Mariners doubleheader in next week's report from Cincinnati. Be sure to tune in next week for Detroit, Toronto, Montreal, Boston, and Cleveland.

Week Five

PHILADELPHIA - Week five already? Wow, we’ve passed the half-way point on our trip and had an opportunity to see some great cities and ballparks. This week’s story will take you through our journey in D.C., Baltimore, and New York.

OK, so after a long two-day drive up from Florida we ended up in Washington D.C. with about three hours to spare -- not nearly enough time to see everything. We did the super-fast tour hitting the White House, Washington Monument, Lincoln Memorial, and all the other famous stuff you hear about. Whoa, we got a lot of exercise that day. We ended up at the Capitol building where we discovered just a few hours earlier a gunman had gone crazy, killing two Capitol policemen and severely injuring an innocent bystander. Yikes, good thing we didn’t visit any earlier. That night we had our first home cooked meal in several days thanks to Tsaun-Wan and Mei-Ying Wu, Calvin’s father’s friends.

Next, we cruised up to Baltimore for an afternoon game with the Mariners. Camden Yards was great. Everything was brick and had a great old feel to it. It was family day at the park so all the Oriole players had all their wives and kids out on the field playing a little game. That was neat for the players, and for the fans to watch.

The first thing we noticed about the park was the food. They had the best concessions we’ve seen so far. You can get BBQ anything out at Boog’s BBQ in centerfield. Plus, instead of normal hot dogs they have all kinds of sausage dogs: Italian, chorizo, and all kinds. They top each one with onions and green peppers too. Mmmm, sausage dogs. Add fresh-cut fries and microbrew and you’ve got a great ballpark meal. The fans at Baltimore must love to eat there because all the lines were huge.

Speaking of the fans, they were awesome. True baseball fans. Not only would they cheer loudly everytime a decent Oriole player got up to bat, but they were constantly doing that “charge!” cheer during the Orioles turn at bat. The park was almost sold out and in the seventh inning the entire crowd was on its feet cheering on Cal Ripken Jr. to get a two-out RBI and spark a comeback. Also, Baltimore definitely has the best mascot as the Oriole is always up on the dugout or outfield walls getting the crowd riled up. Overall, Camden Yards is a great park and a must see for anyone who wants to see a game played in a great baseball atmosphere.

After the game we drove up to New York City for another afternoon game the next day at Yankee stadium. We took the subway to the game and sat in the bleachers like true New Yorkers. About the bleachers: if you have young children, don’t sit in the bleachers. However, if you want constant entertainment throughout the game, that’s the place to be. More bleacher tips: don’t wear a cap or shirt with another baseball team’s logo on it. At best you will just be taunted by jeers of “Mets suck!” or whatever team you happen to be supporting. At worse, you could be pelted with beer or food all game. Tip number two is don’t sit near anyone who fits the above criteria because New Yorkers don’t have the best aim.

We chose the bleachers and even after Baltimore, we think the Yankees have the best fans in baseball. The bleacher bums start off the game by chanting every player’s name until they get a nod or wave. Even the pitcher, David Wells, gave a little nod our way right before his wind-up. Once the game got going there was constant heckling and jeering of all the outfielders from the White Sox. The centerfielder Mike Cameron got it really bad after he struck out looking twice. Not all the cheering was bad because they really cheered on the Yanks. For example, they stood up and cheered for a strikeout everytime Wells had two strikes going. Also, if a Yankee hitter did anything good during the last inning, he would get a hero’s welcome when he took the field. It was great, new heros every few innings.

The park was awsome baby! There was almost zero foul ground and the seats were arranged without bad seats. Each deck is stacked on top of each other and the slope of the first two decks are really flat. Thus, the third deck is really low. For those who don’t want to try the bleachers, go for the third deck right behind home plate. Oh, and don’t forget to see monument park in centerfield. This is another park to put on the must-see list. Especially since Steinbrenner is trying to get a new park from the city. Catch it before it’s gone!

New York city is really pretty cool. On our off day we cruised around Manhattan through Central Park, Times Square, and the Empire State Building. The highlight was scoring some half price tickets to the broadway show Miss Saigon from this little ticket booth in the middle of Times Square. Before the show we cruised down to Little Italy and got some great Italian cuisine from some random restaurant. I think we’ve seen more of Manhattan than most New Yorkers have because over the next two days we did a ton of walking downtown. You see, those subway maps make everything look so close. Well, after an hour of walking you realize you should have just paid the $1.50 and taken the subway. Speaking of subways, they are great. Unless, of course, you don’t notice the signs that tell you the route changes late at night. Once, we were in the first car and after the train stopped the driver/engineer just walked out of the driver’s area and out of the subway! Hmm, we were about 130 blocks from where we wanted to be. After a few minutes of panic we figured out that we got on the wrong train and hit the end of the line. Luckily, the train turned around and we went to the next stop and got on the right train.

By the time we needed to get to the Mets game we had the subway system figured out pretty well. Shea Stadium was huge, especially after Yankee Stadium. Actually, it wasn’t much bigger than San Diego, Candlestick, or some of the bigger parks in baseball. One nice thing that Shea has that Yankee Stadium doesn’t is parking. Shea is really easy to get to by car or subway. However, it’s not very unique at all. The huge scoreboard in right-centerfield pretty cool and the JumboTron is nice, but it’s nothing too great. The fans are good, as seems to be the norm here on the East coast. A couple things I didn’t like are the high prices for all concessions and the lack of seats in the outfield. There was a small set of bleachers or something but the outfield consists of mostly bullpens and other grassy areas. Anyways, it was a nice place to watch a game but nothing special.

Well, that’s it for this week. Stay tuned next week as we hit Philly, Pittsburg, Detroit, and Toronto.

Week Four

We arrived in Arlington and were amazed by the heat and humidity. The Ballpark at Arlington is a really neat looking place. On the outside, it is set up to look like a medieval castle. It is new and is rather nice to look at, surrounded by not just parking lots, but also by some lawns and some nice trees.

The game was nearly sold out, so we had to get separate seats. Jason, Mike and I were in the bleachers, and ended up sitting next to each other, though in different rows. Calvin, on the other hand, had a seat along the first base side.

When we got our tickets, we were told that Batting Practice started at 4:30pm. When we got in, Jason and Calvin got into a line for autographs. It turned out that they were waiting for Cal Ripken, but after two long hours of waiting, he never showed. Meanwhile, Mike and I worked on our tans as we watched batting practice. It was a good thing that the sun was just about down when the game started, because it sure was hot! The ballpark had a great atmosphere to watch baseball. For example, it had a classic Detroit Stadium style home run porch in right field. Put this one on your list of must sees.

After the game we traveled to Houston and stayed the evening with Bennie Bendel, a former roommate of Calvin and Jason. We met Calvin's uncle Mike Kuo, who gave us a tour of his workplace, the NASA Space Center! We saw the astronaut training facilities and the space design and testing labs. Also, we went to the IMAX theater and watched a movie on the Space Station Mir. However, after two straight hours of Jason saying "Houston, we have a problem," NASA security asked us to leave.

The next day the four of us and everyone we knew in Houston, went to the game at the Astrodome. Bennie and Jason arrived earlier than the rest of the crew, so while they we waiting they scored two free tickets! Two guys had been given four complimentary tickets from Marvin Bernard, a San Francisco player, and found it in their heart to donate them to our cause. The tickets were about 20 rows back on the 3rd base side! The entire section contained friends of the Giant players. Coincidentally, the three girls sitting behind got comp tickets from a pitcher named Brock, who made his major league debut that evening.

Mike Kuo, Alan, Faux, Calvin, and I were in the rightfield bleachers. The dome is dark, though not as dark as the Kingdome, and definitely felt very old. The seats are the same colors from the first time I saw them on TV in the 80's. (Remember the 80's uniforms?) However, possibly the best thing about the dome were the nice theater-style padded seats. Another nice thing was that the Dome had three Jumbotron screens installed. The Astros had this great set-up on the Jumbotron that showed all the pitch locations, types, and speeds (Neat stuff for us baseball buffs). The game ended in a 10 - 7 victory for Houston.

Our journey to Atlanta included a stop in New Orleans. We wandered Bourbon Street, experiencing authentic Cajun recipes and a Mardi Gras-like atmosphere on a random summer weekday. (we all agreed that we need to travel back for Marti Gras).

Turner Field (The "Ted") was fun to be at, especially if you're a little kid. This ball park had tons of great things for children, like a recreation room and an arcade. It had a lot of shops and a nice plaza for hanging out. They even had a live band performing before the game! One negative thing about the ballpark was that we were constantly bombarded with advertisements. Not only on the big screen, but over the speakers as well.

This was the hottest game we'd been to thus far. Jason was sweating like a hog by the middle by the first inning, which resulted in periodic trips to the centerfield bar. The game was rather long, and I saw that many people were leaving throughout the game, including an umpire who had to bow out due to heat exhaustion.

After the game, we went looking for some authentic barbecue and found it in Olympic Park, where the National Black Arts Festival was in full swing. We gobbled down the barbecued chicken, ribs and hot dogs. Mmmm. From there we crashed with Alison Chen, a friend of Calvin's.

In Miami, we encountered a minor hurricane that figured to cancel our ball game. Being unsure whether or not it would continue to rain, we got seats in a covered section. Jason and Calvin managed to sneak in right behind home plate, second level, while Mike and I were escorted out of the section and sat in our seats in right field. The game ended with a 6-4 Milwaukee victory. It's obvious this stadium was originally built for football because the seats were pretty far away. The next morning's box score reported 15,000 fans, but we know the truth: only 2000 of our closest Floridian friends made it to this one.

We spent the evening at John and Sue Vitello's. John is the brother of Chris Vitello, neighbor of Jason's parents in Corvallis. We got up the next morning and traveled back to Tampa Bay. We showed up at Tropicana Field just as the first pitch was being thrown. The field has an odd feel, with its plastic seats, temporary-looking bleachers, and a tilted roof. Most of the neat things about the park were in the hallways: a climbing wall for kids, video arcade, and a rockin' sports bar. The bar was packed by the 7th and when the Devil Rays scored four runs to take the lead -- the place when absolutely nuts! Tampa Bay ended up defeating Randy Johnson and the Seattle Mariners 7-5.

Look's like that's it for now. Join us next week as we visit Camden Yards, Yankee Stadium, Shea Stadium, and Veteran Stadium. Till then!