Great American Baseball Adventure, Week 22: August 30th-September 6th, 2010

It's the end of the minor league season as we know it, and I feel fine! Or so exhausted I don't know any better. Week 22 (with Labor Day thrown in as a bonus)finishes out the meat of the trip, and by the time the last pitch is thrown in Des Moines, we'll be at 137 games and closing in on our ultimate goal. Or a hospital visit, one of the two. Week 22:


Monday, August 30th:
Davenport, IA (98 miles from Peoria)
Quad Cities River Bandits (A Cardinals) vs. Cedar Rapids Kernels (A Angels)

The last week of the minor league season is all about Iowa corn. We’ve actually been to Modern Woodmen Park, a renovated old gem on the banks of the Mississippi, back in 2005 when the team was called The Swing of the Quad Cities. They took some key strikes in the late innings, so we called them The Take of the Quad Cities.


Tuesday, August 31st:
Omaha, NE (307 miles from Davenport)
Omaha Royals (AAA Royals) vs. Round Rock Express (AAA Astros)

Another cornerstone of the trip. This game is part of the final series ever played at Rosenblatt Stadium, the yard made famous every June by the College World Series. It’s the largest non-MLB stadium in the country, and it still uses a live organist. I’d be shocked if this game isn’t in our top 5 when the GABA is over.


Wednesday, September 1st:
Cedar Rapids, IA (266 miles from Omaha)
Cedar Rapids Kernels (A Angels) vs. Burlington Bees (A Royals)

Welcome to September… in northern Iowa. I’m thinking a game-time temperature in the 30s and a wind chill in some very non-baseball-friendly category. Maybe we should’ve done the Midwest in June. But with free parking and first-row seats for $10, we’ll just spend the extra money on hot chocolate.


Thursday, September 2nd:
Clinton, IA (84 miles from Cedar Rapids)
Clinton LumberKings (A Mariners) vs. Beloit Snappers (A Twins)

If you build it, we will come. OK, I had to drop that line for one rural Iowa team. Alliant Energy Field is more than 70 years old, and the team has put 200 players in the big leagues through the years. It’ll be classic, old-school, traditional baseball… at least as traditional as a man with a crown and a wooden stick chasing around a snapping turtle can be.


Friday, September 3rd:
Geneva, IL (108 miles from Clinton)
Kane County Cougars (A Athletics) vs. Peoria Chiefs (A Cubs)

I was on board with minor league baseball in the Chicago megalopolis ‘burbs. The Cougars did it long before the Frisco Melts, I mean, RoughRiders. But a farm team in the Second City’s backyard, associated with the Oakland A’s?! Something’s rotten in the state of Illinois. The Cougs have some lottery-like promotions… if the 4th batter of the last inning hits a walk-off grand slam, a fan wins $100,000! If the batter crosses home plate dancing on his head while yodeling in Swedish, the prize reportedly triples.


Saturday, September 4th:
Chicago, IL (43 miles from Geneva)
Chicago Cubs vs. New York Mets

Here’s a Wrigley Field plot-spoiler: the first time you see the stadium from the outside, you’ll be horrified and disgusted. You’ll wonder how the hell they don’t tear the thing down. The first time you see the stadium from the inside, you will almost instantly fall in love. It’s our first MLB game in more than a month, and yet we’ll probably be seeing September minor league call-ups for two teams playing out the string.


Sunday, September 5th:
Burlington, IA (241 miles from Chicago)
Burlington Bees (A Royals) vs. Clinton LumberKings (A Mariners)

Anytime you can trace your city’s baseball history back to 1889, you know you’ve got tradition. The 1889 Burlington Babies played in the Central Interstate League, twenty years before the Model T was invented. I’d like to see those throwbacks in Burlington on this random Sunday afternoon.


Monday, September 6th:
Des Moines, IA (188 miles from Clinton)
Iowa Cubs (AAA Cubs) vs. Memphis Redbirds (AAA Cardinals)

Our 120th and final minor league baseball stop. In five months, we’ve seen minor league farmhands in 38 states. We’ve seen the Loons and Lugnuts, Curve and Drive, 51s and 66ers, and every other full-season farm team in between. The trip still has a few weeks to go, but the every-day grind ends in Des Moines, where my wife will use what’s left of her voice to cheer on her baby Cardinals against their baby rivals. Never in our lives have we worked this hard to get to Labor Day.