Great American Baseball Adventure, Week 3: April 19th-25th, 2010

Here's the third installment of the craziest baseball trip known to man - GABA 2010, the quest to see every full-season major and minor league baseball team in one season. In week 3, we'd be heading through upstate New York and seeing the only out-of-country game in the entire trip.

Monday, April 19^th:

Buffalo, NY (94 miles from Erie)

Buffalo Bisons (AAA Mets) vs. Scranton-Wilkes Barre Yankees (AAA Yankees)

Yes, it’ll probably still be 10 below zero in mid-April in Buffalo. But the Bisons play at a field that was actually a fore-runner of Camden Yards, Coca-Cola Field, built in 1988 but all retro and city-fied. And where else can you see Mets and Yankees players duke it out without playing $12,000 for a ticket and a hot dog? Maybe all those injured Mets from 2009 will be on rehab when we’re there. OK, that was just a low blow. Sorry.

Tuesday, April 20^th:

Toronto, Ontario, Canada (99 miles from Buffalo)

Toronto Blue Jays vs. Kansas City Royals

Our only game outside the United States. I’m thinking center-field hotel room at Rogers Centre. My wife and I can have a nice romantic dinner of peanuts and Cracker Jack, take in some Canadian baseball, then play games like “Guess The Kansas City Royal Player”, all while “Rush’s Greatest Hits” plays on the speaker at the hotel. Great idea, eh?

Wednesday, April 21^st:

Travel day. Except we’ll probably stay in Toronto and soak up the city… that is, if we’re not dead tired after 14 straight days of baseball.

Thursday, April 22^nd:

Rochester, NY (169 miles from Toronto)

Rochester Red Wings (AAA Twins) vs. Buffalo Bisons (AAA Mets)

Rochester boasts the oldest and longest-running minor league franchise in pro sports. They’ve been around so long that they retired the jersey number 8,222 (true story). Before the game, Twins officials will reportedly thank the Mets organization for the 56 prospects they got in the Johan Santana deal.

Friday, April 23^rd:

Syracuse, NY (87 miles from Rochester)

Syracuse Chiefs (AAA Nationals) vs. Rochester Red Wings (AAA Twins)

The Bisons followed us from Buffalo to Rochester, so why not have the Wings follow us from Rochester to the ‘Cuse? I’ll admit, I’m a little worried about this one. I always joke that the Nationals are a AAA team playing in the majors, so what does that make their actual AAA team? Can my wife and I play the middle infield at some point this night?

Saturday, April 24^th:

Binghamton, NY (74 miles from Syracuse)

Binghamton Mets (AA Mets) vs. New Hampshire Fisher Cats (AA Blue Jays)

It strikes me I should’ve worked in an extra day to visit the Hall of Fame somewhere near here. Instead, we’re going to see Mets prospects three times in one week, although this may be another food-focused night. The B-Mets feature a ‘chicken spiedie’ - cubes of chicken, marinated overnight, grilled, and served on a submarine roll, skewer included. You can also get a ribeye steak sandwich. It’ll be a great time to eat for the first time since ingesting that Fifth Third Burger 11 days earlier in Michigan.

Sunday, April 25^th:

Moosic, PA (68 miles from Binghamton)

Scranton/Wilkes-Barre Yankees (AAA Yankees) vs. Lehigh Valley IronPigs (AAA Phillies)

Madonna once said Moosic makes the people come together, and we’ll be playing that funky Moosic on a Sunday afternoon in the hills of Pennsylvania. I’m fully expecting the Yankees to have Joba Chamberlain start this game, call him up in the 4^th, send him back down in the 7^th and make him pitch the 8^th and 9^th, but not on a high pitch count. Loser of this game has to play in the Little League World Series in Williamsport.