Progressive Field

Next up... Cleveland. This time I found myself with four days off and I wanted to see four different ball parks during that time. I've traveled alone several times before and found it to be less than the greatest of times. I decided that I would explore each city as much as possible to keep myself busy. In Cleveland that meant the rock and roll hall of fame and the water front of Lake Erie. Luckily the HOF is on the water.

As I walked out of the airport I was excited for my first visit to Cleveland. There is inexpensive train service from the airport to the downtown area which is always a HUGE plus. After a short ride the train deposited me into an area of town that gave me a very uncomfortable feeling. I put my camera in my pocket, pulled my hat low and headed for the hall of fame.

I made a detour to a pier on the lake to take some pictures of the skyline. From there I went into the back door of the museum and saw a few promising exhibits that convinced me I should indeed check this place out. Walked to the front desk to purchase my ticket. $37!?!?!?! To see a sweaty, fat Elvis costume and Bon Jovi's old Reebok's? No thanks! Just next door was the city science museum with a very cool renewable energy exhibit. Beyond that was the football stadium and an area called the flats that I'd heard good things about so I decided to do a little urban hiking. Cleveland was not making a good impression to this point. The city was dirty, run down, unfriendly, down right sketchy at times. Quick bite to eat and I headed for the park.

There's no such thing as a bad ball park unless it's in the Bronx, but this one was not very impressive. The Cavaliers were in town for the playoffs and that arena is across the street from the ballpark so that made for an exciting environment. I made it in plenty of time to watch batting practice which has become my favorite part of any game. Sitting in direct sunlight, several miles of walking, the quiet hush of a mostly empty park had me slightly dozing off until I was nearly killed by a ball hit 15 rows deep in center field where I was sitting. It bounced off the seat in front of me and straight into my hand. My first big league ball ever... no big deal. That coupled with a perfect game thrown through six innings helped Cleveland recover nicely. Not a bad town.

Busch Stadium

Next on the list was Busch Stadium in St. Louis. First Coors, now Busch. If I did Miller Park in Milwaukee I'd have the beer trifecta! I had one day off of work and no plans so I thought I'd head to the "lou" for a day. I work with a guy that is from there, and he looks like he came straight out of a Nelly video. Talks like it too ya dig? I asked him if he could eat just one meal from back home what would it be? He didn't take 2 seconds to tell me, "Pappy's BBQ". That's settled then. I'd been to St. Louis before and I'm quite fond of the place. The people are extremely friendly and they love their baseball. At the Rockies game there were twice as many empty purple seats as there were people filling them. That was at a night game on a Friday. Tuesday afternoon game in St. Louis was damn near sold out. I asked for a $20 ticket and was told the cheapest they had left was $21. No problem, should be a decent seat. Negative... second to last row of the entire stadium. I had a better view of the train station I arrived at than I did of the players. Still this is a great place to enjoy a ball game.

Pappy's was amazing by the way. As I walked towards it I saw an ambulance parked near the entrance. I knew the pulled pork sandwich I was about to eat would likely choke my arteries, but this place was serious.

Coors Field

My first game of the year was at Coors Field in Denver. I wanted to save this park for later in the season because it's probably the easiest one for me to get to. The idea was to get some of the harder to reach parks crossed off first and save the easy ones for last. The season was almost a month old and with no parks under my belt and a rare night off for my friend Jason and I, we decided to check out a game. The Rockies have a section of bleacher seats in center field that they call the "rock pile". At $4 a ticket the sting of $7 beers isn't quite so bad. We stood in the box office line for most of the first inning hoping the rock pile seats weren't sold out. Not only were there tickets left, but it was their "guys night out" promotion. Rock pile seats were only $1. No joke, a ball game for a buck. Not a bad way to start my adventure. The game was mediocre, nothing too exciting happened. The two things that stand out about the stadium are the wonderful views of the rocky mountain range and that Coors Field sells Budweiser...

Summer of Dreams

Some time ago I decided that I would like to watch a baseball game in every major league ballpark our country has to offer... In one summer. Since the Blue Jays are still considered a major league team I will include Toronto in my travels as well. During the summer of 2009 I made a feeble attempt at this goal, falling far short at about 15 stadiums. So far through the summer of 2010 I have accomplished even less, but the season is only nearing it's half way point and I have plenty of time... I hope. Please follow along as I pass my time with America's past time.