The Great American Baseball Adventure

Welcome Back, Blogger... the triumphant return

2010-02-01T10:57:00.000-08:00

Where in the world did two months go?

The Great American Baseball Adventure did its best impression of a hibernating animal the last few months, dropping completely off the face of the Earth about the time the Milwaukee temps started their dive toward winter. We've spent the last two months (sandwiched between holidays) dealing with and adjusting to the new climate, producing a college basketball special, and mostly sleeping (I had no idea how much cold weather makes me want to stay in bed all day!) Anyways, with the faint heartbeat of spring training off in the distance, it's time to get the GABA and its blog ready for the 2010 baseball season. Wind sprints, anyone?

Obviously, a ton of transactions since the last entry. I won't bore you with them all... just suffice to say Halladay's a Phillie, Cliff Lee switched coasts, Jason Bay signed a Mets contract without getting hurt (a statement on the team, not Bay), and a couple of free agents have waited waaaaay too long (Jermaine Dye, Johnny Damon) and may still be hangin' around come March.

And yes, there were two Counting Crows references at the end of that last statement. I really do have some rust to shake off!

This morning, the A's continued their weirdest offseason in years by getting Willy Taveras from the Reds for Aaron Miles. Obviously, if this were a fantasy trade (or even something out of Strat-O-Matic), it would look lopsided in Oakland's favor. But this is real life, people, and...

Stop the presses! Breaking news! Twitter alerts are going off everywhere. Literally as I'm typing this, the A's have designated Taveras for assignment. The weird gets weirder... sort of. I was just about to launch a rant here, detailing the A's sudden glut of outfielders and how Billy Beane's 2010 entry should carry a giant, flashing neon sign saying "these players can be yours by July, if the price is right!"

But this changes a few things. These players, or at least Taveras, can be yours today. All you have to do is pony up $4 million and you too can have the one player who typifies the old baseball adage "you can't steal first".

The more likely scenario, as Rotoworld hit right on the head a few minutes ago, is that another trade is in the works. Beane's team is, as always, a work in progress. Shelling out $10 million for Ben Sheets is still a bit baffling for a team that lives (and dies, and dies, and dies) by Moneyball, but he does give the young pitchers a veteran presence... at least until the trade deadline. Maybe Beane's hope is to flip Taveras for another pitcher, or perhaps some infield help (Cliff Pennington's hardly a lock at SS after 6 errors in the team's last 11 games).

Or maybe Beane just wanted Aaron Miles off the roster. Can't really fault him there.

GABA update: baseball's greatest road trip will have to wait, at least for a little while. I've found gainful employment in Milwaukee (and not as a relief pitcher), meaning the plan to visit all 150 full-season teams' home stadiums will have to stay on the drawing board... for now. Putting the trip together was so much fun, though, that I'll still chronicle the games we were planning to see on this blog once the season starts.

That doesn't mean we won't be taking in lots and lots of baseball in 2010. There's already a Florida Spring Training trip planned for March... any ideas on the best teams to see this spring? The re-loaded Phillies? The (hopefully, for their sake) healthier Mets?

And as for the summer, our annual pilgrimage is on once again. It'll be the sixth summer of the GABA in its original form (packing several games and sightseeing into six summer days). Right now, we have two finalists for the summer trip:

1) Fenway, the two new stadiums in New York, and hopefully DC (haven't seen the new Nationals park yet)
2) Cubs, Tigers, Blue Jays, White Sox (all new parks for us except Wrigley)

Lemme know your thoughts. Which trip looks better? We'll be hitting up Target Field in Minnesota this year too, and of course, taking in plenty of mid-summer games at that stadium I see from the living room windows - Miller Park. And no, baseball fans, the Brewers are not, I repeat, NOT moving to Orlando. Don't even get me started on that rumor.

Good to be back, baseball fans. The 2010 season is right around the corner... the faster it gets here, the quicker this snow melts away...

Stating the obvious in Cincy, and open season on Halladay

2009-12-01T09:38:00.000-08:00

Somebody set the Hot Stove to preheat, and it's taking a while to get there. Fortunately, there are a few kernels popping in baseball's offseason Jiffy Pop... why am I suddenly hungry for popcorn?

- Buster Olney tweeted that other GMs believe the Reds (GABA '10 - April 7th) would prefer to trade Aaron Harang rather than Bronson Arroyo this offseason. I'll need a handiman immediately, because I've fallen out of my chair. (Is there an emoticon for sarcasm?) The Reds would rather move a guy who has 12 wins the last two seasons, and is gonna making $12.5 million next year, instead of a guy with 30 wins since the start of '08, who's making $11 million? No way! Maybe I shouldn't be so sarcastic about this though... there are teams out there who would see nothing wrong with moving Arroyo and proudly putting Harang back out there as an ace. OK, maybe stating the obvious is better than missing the obvious.

- Roy Halladay had his people give a message to some people to tell the Blue Jays (GABA '10 - April 20th) people he won't accept an in-season trade. In other words, it's open season on the Jays' longtime ace. I can appreciate Halladay's not wanting to switch clubhouses midseason, and I'm sure he wants the trade cloud lifted ASAP, but the ultimatum might actually slow things down, and hurt his value on the market.

The Jays know they have to trade him before Opening Day or they'll get nothing for him. Other teams know that too, and they can just wait out the Jays until, say, sometime in March when desperation starts setting in, then offer an inferior set of prospects for a guy who wants to throw 10 innings every time he's out there. (For more on playing the incessant waiting game, see Lackey, John.)

Halladay's ultimatum might stick him somewhere he doesn't want to be in 2010. In other words, somewhere just like Toronto.

- Dustin Pedroia at shortstop? I was always taught in blackjack that you don't mess with a winning hand. I'm not saying a move to SS won't work... I'm just saying why mess with something that's clearly working VERY well. Talk amongst yourselves.

For anybody in the Milwaukee area, listen in to AM 1250 WSSP this afternoon. I'll be dropping by The Big Show with Gary Ellerson, Sparky, and company from 3:00-3:30PM on location at Blaine's Farm and Fleet in Oak Creek. Better yet, drop by and bring a toy for their annual Holiday Toy Drive. And if you bring Rock Em Sock Em Robots, just leave that toy with me...

Back to business: the market for pitching

2009-11-29T19:03:00.000-08:00

Four weeks of non-stop planning, building and blogging - my office is a mess of papers, schedules and itineraries! But the GABA 2010 schedule is complete and out there for the world to see. And admire. And possibly question my sanity.

The GABA dream is alive; it's just not very likely to happen in 2010, since I'm entrenched in Milwaukee for now. But planning the trip was still more fun than a fantasy football win (they're sparse these days), and I fully intend on taking the trip at some point, something that should be made easier now that the concept's out there and no one's had me committed.

I'll revisit that monster trip throughout the offseason, but for now, it's time to get back to the other purpose of the GABA blog - analysis of the actual baseball world (the one I don't have to get in a car and drive to).

PITCHING MARKET:
I'm fascinated by how scared teams (and players' agents) are to make a move this offseason. No one wants to move a muscle until John Lackey dictates the pitching market, specifically the salary for a free-agent starting pitcher.

Lackey will unquestionably get the top dollar figure this offseason... and I guess other pitchers can then say "well, I'm 75% as good as he is, so I should get 75% of his money."

Let's get this overwith. The Yankees are busy celebrating title number 27, and the Red Sox are seething. They know they have to respond to New York's super-splash in the free agent market last winter. And the response HAS to start with John Lackey. Few other teams can cough up Lackey money, and none of those teams feel the pressure to make a statement like the boys in Beantown.

Point is, the Sox should get this deal done as soon as possible, for several reasons. First and foremost, the whole "counter-punch statement" will effectively be sent. And once the ink has dried in the 9-figure deal, the other dominoes (read: lucrative free-agent contracts) can fall into place; literally, the market will be set. And these other rumors (like Halladay to Boston) can fall by the wayside. Then we'd all have to figure out something else to over-analyze in the weeks leading up to spring training.

A note to mid-market teams waiting out the John Lackey effect: maybe now's the time to get aggressive on that hurler you've been coveting. See if somebody will budge in this frozen-over offseason market. Stop worrying about possibly overpaying a pitcher before the market gets set. This may sound like fiscal hogwash to the 21st century penny-pinchers in the front offices, but an early contract is just as likely to be an underpayment this time around. Why? Because the Red Sox almost have to overpay for Lackey, which will in turn inflate deals for the next 10-15 best free agent pitchers.

Isn't being a leader and innovator an integral part of organizational success? Didn't I read that in "MBA In A Box" or something? What better way to be a leader than to NOT let the Red Sox or Yankees dictate your payment scale, for once? Maybe then everyone won't be comparing themselves to a pitcher with a 3.81 career ERA (good, but not stellar by any means).

One final note about Halladay: anyone else find it interesting that the Sox and Yankees are balking at trading for one of baseball's most consistently dominant pitchers? Does it have anything to do with those 485 innings he's thrown the last two seasons? Yes, it's a consensus that Halladay has a rubber arm... right now. But weren't similar things said about Pedro Martinez right before the Mets sank their future into his right arm?

HARWELL'S LAST CALL:
Ernie Harwell is 91, has inoperable cancer, and is waiting for the end. In fact, Harwell says he doesn't think he'll be around to see another MLB game. He told Bob Costas he'd be happy to see his next birthday in late January.

Harwell has accepted the news fairly easily, all things considered. It will not be nearly that easy for the rest of the baseball world. Harwell's wealth of experience goes back so far, he delivered papers to Margaret Mitchell in his youth. He called Bobby Thomson's "shot heard round the world" for NBC television. Baseball has expanded by 14 teams since Harwell became the voice of the Tigers.

A loss of that large a piece of baseball history will be felt in all corners of the baseball world. Harwell is irreplaceable, but many of his calls are preserved in this era of digital audio and internet file sharing. Harwell's legendary voice will remain with us long after he's gone.

Maybe the great GM in the sky will let Ernie see one more Opening Day.

Great American Baseball Adventure: the rest of the 2010 season

2009-11-28T10:52:00.000-08:00

Six grueling months and 137 games later, the minor league season has ended. And just like two-thirds of MLB, the GABA's in September mop-up duty. We'll spend the last four weeks hitting up major league stadiums we couldn't fit in before, which explains the long layoffs and stupidly long distances between games. Sending off GABA 2010 in style:

Tuesday, September 7th:
Travel day. Lots of these coming in the near future. 13 MLB teams are all that’s left on the GABA docket. Of course, they’re spread across half the US, so we’ve got some mondo road trips in the final month.

Wednesday, September 8th:
Minneapolis, MN (245 miles from Des Moines)
Minnesota Twins vs. Kansas City Royals

With the Metrodome dead and gone, the Twins’ new outdoor yard will be a solid ice block by September. Maybe they’ll play hockey instead of baseball. Mauer’s from Minnesota, and Morneau’s Canadian; the Royals don’t stand a chance. So it really wouldn’t be that different from baseball.

Thursday, September 9th:
Travel day. How much cheese can we eat in one day while driving across Wisconsin? And how many metric tons will I weigh after five months of ballpark food? They’ll have to weigh me with the same scale they use for trucks at weigh stations.

Friday, September 10th:
Milwaukee, WI (337 miles from Minneapolis)
Milwaukee Brewers vs. Chicago Cubs

Milwaukee’s the town that saved my career and made this trip hypothetical instead of real. But when the day comes to actually take a GABA, Miller Park will hold a special place for us. We did this stadium as part of our first ever day-night doubleheader, a Wrigley Field-to-Miller Park jaunt in ’05. The blue-collar city of Milwaukee loves its beer and its Brewers. From Bernie’s Slide to the sausage race, the park’s memorable and unique. And fans actually tailgate like it’s a football game! A baseball lover’s must-do.

Saturday, September 11th:
Chicago, IL (94 miles from Milwaukee)
Chicago White Sox vs. Kansas City Royals

I knew all that body armor would come in handy one day. Bulletproof vests handed out to fans in the first 5 rows. I’m hoping for an epic Ozzie Guillen tirade when he realizes his team is only beating the Royals 7-0 after five innings. Game #140 on the trip… you can put it on the board… YES!

Sunday, September 12th:
Travel day. Hmm… coincidentally, I’ve given us a Sunday off in football season. Is it sacrilege to see a Bears (or Rams) game in the middle of baseball’s epic journey? Would the Rams be better if they actually tried to play a different sport, like baseball?

Monday, September 13th:
St. Louis, MO (295 miles from Chicago)
St. Louis Cardinals vs. Chicago Cubs

We’ve seen the Cubs at home and in Milwaukee, so why not follow them to the ‘Lou? My wife won’t be happy seeing this much Cubs baseball. The upside? This is her baseball Mecca. A very cool brick-laden yard that’s got the old warehouse/train station feel mixed with ultra-modern amenities. It’s a Midwestern AT&T Park. And there’s always the chance Albert Pujols will hit one to Iowa.

Tuesday, September 14th:
Kansas City, MO (249 miles from St. Louis)
Kansas City Royals vs. Oakland Athletics

OK, so I lied… there IS one more minor league baseball game on the schedule. It just involves two MLB teams. I’m actually excited about Kauffman Stadium, partially because it was baseball-only in an era where every other stadium known to man was multi-purpose and looked exactly the same. And partially because I could play center field for either – or both – of these teams.

Wednesday, September 15th:
Arlington, TX (559 miles from Kansas City)
Texas Rangers vs. Detroit Tigers

Even in September, we pin back our ears and go full-tilt. KC to Texas in a day is nuts, but we couldn’t do the Rangers or Astros the last time we came through Texas in August. The Ballpark/Ameriquest Field/Rangers Ballpark In Arlington was one of the first ultra-modern parks, and it’s held up well through 16 years (unlike the Rangers starting pitchers who’ve melted like snow cones in Texas heat by this point).

Thursday, September 16th:
Travel day. Wide open roads, since the entire state will be at Cowboys or Longhorns football practice.

Friday, September 17th:
Houston, TX (256 miles from Arlington)
Houston Astros vs. Cincinnati Reds

Ah, Houston. If you’ve ever wanted to know what it feels like to be stuck in a 2-hour traffic jam on the surface of the sun, this is your place. Actually, some of my best friends live in Houston (I hope they’re not reading this). Minute Maid Park is wonderful, although it feels like someone tried to build Miller Park or Chase Field on half the land. And don’t get me (or my H-town friends) started on that hill in center field.

Saturday, September 18th:
Travel day. Apparently I’m going to use September travel days as an excuse to squeeze every last mile out of our battered bodies and cars. Almost 1,500 miles in two days between games. It’s almost over… it’s almost over…

Sunday, September 19th:
Baltimore, MD (1448 miles from Houston)
Baltimore Orioles vs. New York Yankees

All those Oriole AA players we saw in Bowie should be settled in nicely as the Orioles’ September starting lineup. It won’t matter though – Camden Yards is a religious experience in baseball terms. Every stadium since owes a little something to Camden Yards. I hear Cal Ripken helped build the stadium on baseball’s off days, to stay busy.

Monday, September 20th:
Washington, DC (39 miles from Baltimore)
Washington Nationals vs. Houston Astros

I can already see a drawback to scheduling all these September MLB games: the potential for some very unexciting baseball. Maybe this will be the Nationals’ 100th loss. Or the Astros will score 100 runs. Apparently, when Nationals Park was being built, the bank wanted MLB to guarantee the rent would get paid in case of poor attendance. Really, I can’t make this stuff up.

Tuesday, September 21st:
Travel day. Actually, we plan on getting locked inside the Five Guys Burgers concession stand at Nationals Park overnight and eating ourselves into a food coma. It’s a short trip to Philly, after all.

Wednesday, September 22nd:
Philadelphia, PA (136 miles from Washington)
Philadelphia Phillies vs. Atlanta Braves

Two straight World Series appearances for the first time in franchise history. Wow, the oh-so-cordial Philly fans should be friendlier than ever. We’ll have to spend an entire day telling people they suck just for practice. All kidding aside, this is one of the better yards in baseball. Just don’t get hit with any batteries, rocks, or fists, and you’ll be fine.

Thursday, September 23rd thru Saturday, September 25th:
Travel days. Finally, for the first time in six months, we have consecutive off-days. Three of them. After 147 baseball games, this stretch is more like ‘detox’.

Sunday, September 26th:
Bronx, NY (113 miles from Philly)
New York Yankees vs. Boston Red Sox

For all the little towns and faceless stadiums and long stretches of desolate interstate, this will make it all worth it. Yankees-Red Sox, on a Sunday afternoon with a week to go in the season. Think there will be playoff implications? I put this one at the end because it might take from now until then to score two tickets to this game. Especially if they’re $15,000 a piece, or whatever Yankees tickets cost now.

Monday, September 27th:
Queens, NY (11 miles from the Bronx)
New York Mets vs. Milwaukee Brewers

Our shortest distance between two games all year, and it’ll still take three hours to get there. Citi Field is the stadium where fly balls go to die… in fact, I think I might be able to throw a few shutout innings there. And if the Mets keep getting hurt like they did last year, they might actually need me in the pen.

Tuesday, September 28th:
Travel day. One last road trip. Must… make… it… to… Deep… South…

Wednesday, September 29th:
Atlanta, GA (897 miles from Queens)
Atlanta Braves vs. Florida Marlins

The trip wraps up in my hometown, the city that brought us ostrich races and Ted Turner managing a game and Chief Noc-A-Homa. Oh, and 14 straight division titles… with one World Series win. 150 games, more than 27,000 miles… how appropriate that baseball’s ultimate road trip ends at home. Pass the fried okra! Come to think of it, don’t… I’m full.

Thursday, September 30th thru Sunday, October 3rd:
We actually finished this insane baseball journey four days early. So while baseball winds down its regular season, we’ll just reminisce. And sleep. I wonder if we’ll actually turn on the TV and watch any baseball…

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

2009-11-27T10:23:00.000-08:00

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.

Great American Baseball Adventure, Week 21: August 23rd-29th, 2010

2009-11-26T13:57:00.000-08:00

Last two weeks of the minor league season, and we've got some serious work left to do. Time to hit the Midwest for one last long stretch of games down on the farm. GABA Week 21:

Monday, August 23rd:
Indianapolis, IN (357 miles from Knoxville)
Indianapolis Indians (AAA Pirates) vs. Louisville Bats (AAA Reds)

Back in the Midwest for the end of the minor league season. It’s our International League finale, and our 4th time seeing Indy. Not the 1980s movie hero, the team… but how sweet would it be to see a team take the field in fedoras, wielding whips and pistols? OK, it has no basis in reality, but after more than 1,100 innings of baseball at this point, I’m game for anything.

Tuesday, August 24th:
Fort Wayne, IN (130 miles from Indianapolis)
Fort Wayne TinCaps (A Padres) vs. Lansing Lugnuts (A Blue Jays)

Remember, the Detroit Pistons got their start in Fort Wayne, so why can’t the TinCaps dream big? They’re named for Johnny Appleseed, who was one big guy if memory serves me right. Wait… crap, that was Paul Bunyan, who isn’t even real. OK, if planning this trip has affected my brain this much, I can’t imagine what actually taking the trip will do.

Wednesday, August 25th:
South Bend, IN (84 miles from Fort Wayne)
South Bend Silver Hawks (A D’Backs) vs. Dayton Dragons (A Reds)

This will be one of the few times to be ‘backstage’ pre-game, just to find out if there’s a sign in the Silver Hawks locker room that says ‘Play Like A Champion Today’. Or at least, a ‘Home Run Jesus’. I also thought about scheduling the Silver Hawks (named for a model of Studebaker) on a Saturday in football season opposite a Notre Dame home game, just to see if we would have the baseball game all to ourselves.

Thursday, August 26th:
Travel day. We have to drive across Chicago at this point, and it might actually take the entire day to do that.

Friday, August 27th:
Beloit, WI (190 miles from South Bend)
Beloit Snappers (A Twins) vs. Kane County Cougars (A Athletics)

A team named for one of the slowest mammals on the planet… Snappers reportedly just edged out “Beloit Bengie Molinas” in the team naming contest. Another all-you-can-eat affair – I’ll pack in as much as my gut can take for $25, then go buy stock in Maalox. There are rumors the Snappers will move to nearby Janesville, but I have a better solution – go 15 miles south to Rockford and change the name to the “Rockford Files”. Instant success!

Saturday, August 28th:
Grand Chute, WI (162 miles from Beloit)
Wisconsin Timber Rattlers (A Brewers) vs. Kane County Cougars (A Athletics)

Sorry, Kane County Cougars, but we trailed your team bus all the way here because we couldn’t find Grand Chute on the map. Seriously, the town of Grand Chute, Wisconsin is not in my Rand McNally Road Atlas (which, by the way, is in total disrepair after planning this GABA). Like the Green Bay Packers, the Timber Rattlers are publicly owned, which means we could buy a stake in the team! Oh, the possibilities…

Sunday, August 29th:
Peoria, IL (316 miles from Grand Chute)
Peoria Chiefs (A Cubs) vs. Clinton LumberKings (A Mariners)

We’ll be begging the Chiefs to make this a night game, since we’re driving 300+ miles after a Saturday night game in Grand Chute. The Chiefs have taken 21st century, everything’s-for-sale capitalism to a new level. You can buy naming rights on a game-by-game basis. Vienna beef Chicago-style hot dogs on a Sunday at “GABA 2010 Stadium” in Peoria? Better raise some more funds…

Great American Baseball Adventure, Week 20: August 16th-22nd, 2010

2009-11-25T10:38:00.000-08:00

Just three weeks left in the minor league season! GABA 2010 Week 20 spends some quality time in the Bluegrass State (Kentucky), the Volunteer State (Tennessee), and... uh... whatever West Virginia's nickname is. Week 20:

Monday, August 16th:
Bowling Green, KY (196 miles from Huntsville)
Bowling Green Hot Rods (A Rays) vs. Great Lakes Loons (A Dodgers)

Bowling Green is switching leagues in ’10 to cut down on travel expenses, yet they’re still nowhere near their new Midwest League opponents. I call it proof that Bowling Green might actually be the ‘middle of nowhere’. Plenty of minor league oddity here – a new stadium whose right-center field wall is concave (bends inward) because of a road behind it, plus a franchise once called the South Georgia Waves. Surf’s up in Albany, GA!

Tuesday, August 17th:
Nashville, TN (65 miles from Bowling Green)
Nashville Sounds (AAA Brewers) vs. Colorado Springs Sky Sox (AAA Rockies)

Speaking of misplaced references to water, Nashville’s in the Pacific Coast League, setting up those great geographic rivalries with teams like Tacoma and Portland. Nashville does have one of the coolest scoreboards in baseball, a 116-foot high monster shaped like a guitar with the line score on the neck. Rumor has it Elvis tried to eat this guitar in his later days in Vegas.

Wednesday, August 18th:
Louisville, KY (174 miles from Nashville)
Louisville Bats (AAA Reds) vs. Syracuse Chiefs (AAA Nationals)

Midway through month number five on this trip, it’s easy to forget the sanctity of America’s national pastime. Seeing a game at Louisville Slugger Field, on the site of an old train station, will serve as a nice reminder. Plus, America loves underdogs, and between them, the Reds and Nationals have enough underdogs to fill a kennel.

Thursday, August 19th:
Lexington, KY (80 miles from Louisville)
Lexington Legends (A Astros) vs. Greenville Drive (A Red Sox)

Thursday night showdown delayed by two hours after team officials accidentally leave the outfield gates open, allowing horses to come in and eat all the stadium’s grass. Game is played completely on dirt, which makes no difference to inebriated Thirsty Thursday crowd. Seriously, I wonder if Lexington does a ‘sausage-race’ type promotion with horses?

Friday, August 20th:
Charleston, WV (177 miles from Lexington)
West Virginia Power (A Pirates) vs. Asheville Tourists (A Rockies)

I see this team’s name, and I feel like I’m overdue on a $150.00 electric bill. Wait, I probably am. The Power have a fan who, after an opposing batter strikes out, yells “you are toast!” and starts throwing toasted bread to the fans around him. The team put an electrical outlet in the backstop to help with the toasting. Brilliant! (Insert all your West Virginia jokes here. Go ahead, get them all out…)

Saturday, August 21st:
Knoxville, TN (310 miles from Charleston)
Tennessee Smokies (AA Cubs) vs. Mississippi Braves (AA Braves)

This might be the strangest detour in the entire trip. We’re going from West Virginia to the Midwest, and we stop in… metro Knoxville? It’s the only day the Smokies’ home schedule meshes with the trip. Trust me, I didn’t lose my atlas or have a brain meltdown after more than 100 games. Since we’ll be in speed-driving mode, it’s a perfect night for speed-eating – Smokies Park has a $10 all-you-can-eat buffet that ends at first pitch. I’m bringing two bibs.

Sunday, August 22nd:
Travel day. Nothing like going back through two cities you just visited (Lexington and Louisville) to make you feel like an efficient scheduler. I’m not bitter about the Smokies, I promise…

Great American Baseball Adventure, Week 19: August 9th-15th, 2010

2009-11-24T09:25:00.000-08:00

18 weeks of baseball and, somehow, someway, the Great American Baseball Adventure's still going strong! One last swing through the Deep South for Week 19 - bring your appetite for grits and catfish...

Monday, August 9th:
Springdale, AR (110 miles from Tulsa)
Northwest Arkansas Naturals (AA Royals) vs. Arkansas Travelers (AA Angels)

The Battle of Arkansas, Part Deux. Keeping score of this game becomes incredibly confusing when every Naturals player changes his name to Robert Redford. It’s fun to play on the Nats’ nickname, but not nearly as fun as the second place finisher in the ‘name the team’ contest – Thunder Chickens. Oh, the jokes that could’ve been…

Tuesday, August 10th:
Travel day. My wife will visit family in Little Rock; I’ll spend the day writing down all my Thunder Chickens jokes. We’ve got a handful of Southern teams to go, and then it’s all Midwest, all the time for the rest of the minor league season.

Wednesday, August 11th:
Jackson, TN (412 miles from Springdale)
West Tenn Diamond Jaxx (AA Mariners) vs. Montgomery Biscuits (AA Rays)

You can’t have baseball without salty, fatty, disgusting, fantastic food. And a game at Pringles Park featuring the Biscuits has me in one serious artery-clogging mood. I’m parking myself down on the front row in Wink Martindale’s hometown and humming the Tic-Tac-Dough theme repeatedly while mowing down the peanuts and Cracker Jaxx. That was a long way to go for a joke, and I don’t apologize for it.

Thursday, August 12th:
Chattanooga, TN (262 miles from Jackson)
Chattanooga Lookouts (AA Dodgers) vs. Tennessee Smokies (AA Cubs)

The place now called Dodgertown, Tennessee is another promotion-rich environment; last year fans sang exactly half of “Take Me Out To The Ballgame” at the 3.5-inning stretch. Hey, the economy’s got everybody cutting back, right? And apparently, you can watch the game from a barber’s chair in left field while getting your mane trimmed. Which is good, since I didn’t build a lot of haircut time into the GABA.

Friday, August 13th:
Rome, GA (69 miles from Chattanooga)
Rome Braves (A Braves) vs. Augusta Greenjackets (A Giants)

Just another part of the Braves’ master plan to put each of their minor league teams within walking distance of the big league club. Rome ain’t suburban, but it ain’t far from the ATL. Since it’s Friday the 13th, we may decide to stay in our hotel room instead of looking for Romulus, Remus, or the Leasing Tower of Pisa.

Saturday, August 14th:
Lawrenceville, GA (89 miles from Rome)
Gwinnett Braves (AAA Braves) vs. Durham Bulls (AAA Rays)

Braves’ farmhands can literally take a cab ride to the big league ballpark from suburban Lawrenceville. Advantages to Gwinnett Stadium: it’s new, it’s suburban, and it’s actually the closest minor league park to the town where I grew up. Disadvantage: at the rate Atlanta’s growing, Lawrenceville will be annexed into downtown Atlanta by 2015.

Sunday, August 15th:
Huntsville, AL (236 miles from Lawrenceville)
Huntsville Stars (AA Brewers) vs. West Tenn Diamond Jaxx (AA Mariners)

One last swing through Alabama to reach for the Stars, aka the 2012 Milwaukee Brewers. Because once Ryan Braun and Prince Fielder leave for large market bucks, somebody’s gotta replace them, right? Joe Davis Stadium’s hosted monster truck rallies before; maybe we can get lucky and catch a two-fer. Or both events at the same time. After all, it is… SUNDAY SUNDAY SUNDAY!!!

Great American Baseball Adventure, Week 18: August 2nd-8th, 2010

2009-11-23T12:29:00.000-08:00

We're done California dreamin' ... time to hightail it across the desert Southwest and on to a whirlwind tour of Texas. Hanson even gets a shout out in Week 18 of GABA 2010:

Monday, August 2nd:
Phoenix, AZ (355 miles from San Diego)
Arizona Diamondbacks vs. Washington Nationals

Game time temperature: somewhere above water’s boiling point. Before the game, crowd is thrilled to hear the stadium will be cooled by Mark Reynolds’ swings and misses instead of traditional AC. In the 4th, Adam Dunn gives up and spends the next two innings in the right field pool. 10-year-old lucky fan wins a contest and pitches the 7th… for both teams.

Tuesday, August 3rd:
Travel day. Getting to 150 games in six months is the scheduling equivalent of a Rubik’s Cube - there’s at least one part that just doesn’t get solved. And this is that section of the trip. We have to squeeze in the four remaining Texas teams, plus Tulsa and Northwest Arkansas, in a six-day stretch. This is the point where I’m really happy my full-time employment has made this trip fictional.

Wednesday, August 4th:
Frisco, TX (1085 miles from Phoenix)
Frisco RoughRiders (AA Rangers) vs. Midland RockHounds (AA Athletics)

Rough Ride, indeed. We’re crossing half the country in two days, then hitting five Texas League games in six days (remember, Texas is one stupidly huge state). It’s our only time seeing the visiting RockHounds (our Midland trip was for the Texas League All-Star Game), and Dr. Pepper Ballpark’s village-like design sounds very cool. Wonder if they’ll let us sleep on the benches after all those hours in the car.

Thursday, August 5th:
Corpus Christi, TX (439 miles from Frisco)
Corpus Christi Hooks (AA Astros) vs. San Antonio Missions (AA Padres)

Nolan Ryan and his group own two of the best-run franchises in all of minor league baseball, the Hooks and the Round Rock Express. Whataburger Field has a great coastal location, a rock wall, a basketball court, and a pool. And hopefully they serve taquitos after 11PM (inside reference for you Whataburger fans out there – I miss that burger joint!)

Friday, August 6th:
San Antonio, TX (143 miles from Corpus Christi)
San Antonio Missions (AA Padres) vs. Frisco RoughRiders (AA Rangers)

Does the Texas League only have three teams? I did this park in 2007 and my greatest memory were the mascots, Ballapeno and Henry the Puffy Taco. After a few innings, Ballapeno and Henry got into a skirmish behind home plate and Ballapeno literally started ripping the “lettuce” stuffing out of poor, defenseless Henry. Kids were traumatized for life. I laughed (at the mascots). Does that make me a mean person?

Saturday, August 7th:
Round Rock, TX (98 miles from San Antonio)
Round Rock Express (AAA Astros) vs. Fresno Grizzlies (AAA Giants)

I can’t really talk about the Express and Dell Diamond without gushing. I worked in Austin for two years and had some of my favorite baseball moments at that park. I proposed to my wife during the 7th inning stretch at that park. The Dell (which we used to call The Mouse Pad) is across the street from train tracks, and every time a train goes by, they play Johnny Cash’s Folsom Prison Blues: “I hear the train a-comin’, it’s rollin’ round the bend…” One of the top franchises, best staffs, and best experiences in all of baseball. Period. Must... stop... gushing...

Sunday, August 8th:
Tulsa, OK (434 miles from Round Rock)
Tulsa Drillers (AA Rockies) vs. Springfield Cardinals (AA Cardinals)

Very few teams are switching stadiums in 2010 (the economy strikes again), but the Drillers have struck oil with the new ONEOK Field in Tulsa’s historic Greenwood District. I was hoping they’d go with MMMBOP Field in honor of Tulsa-based trio Hanson, but no one’s ever listened to me when naming stadiums before.

Great American Baseball Adventure, Week 17: July 26th-August 1st, 2010

2009-11-22T05:50:00.000-08:00

A couple nights in Vegas, the rest of the California League, and the prettiest park in all of baseball. Week 17 of the Great American Baseball Adventure, 2010:

Monday, July 26th:
Las Vegas, NV (221 miles from San Bernardino)
Las Vegas 51s (AAA Blue Jays) vs. Portland Beavers (AAA Padres)

Game #100! So the Blue Jays’ top farm team is named for a land area, has an alien for a mascot, and is 2,200 miles from Toronto. Did somebody take a wrong turn at Albuquerque? Rumors of Cashman Field adding video poker touch-screens on seat backs are untrue, but ‘Dress Like A Slot Machine’ Night would really push my buttons.

Tuesday, July 27th:
Travel day. Hmm… whatever could we do with an off day in Las Vegas?

Wednesday, July 28th:
Rancho Cucamonga, CA (224 miles from Las Vegas)
Rancho Cucamonga Quakes (A Angels) vs. San Jose Giants (A Giants)

Only an Angels farm team would play its home games at a stadium called the City of Rancho Cucamonga Epicenter Entertainment and Sports Complex. It’s Weenie Wednesday in the ‘burbs of LA… hot dogs for a buck, but only if you order the dog using an inordinate number of words. By the way, how does a 175,000-person suburb get built ON a fault line?

Thursday, July 29th:
Bakersfield, CA (147 miles from Rancho Cucamonga)
Bakersfield Blaze (A Rangers) vs. Modesto Nuts (A Rockies)

After more than a hundred games, you’d think the stadiums would start to run together in the mind. Not so for Sam Lynn Ballpark, the only stadium in pro baseball that faces west. Yes, west… right into the setting sun, meaning the Blaze have the latest summer start times in all of baseball. And the shortest center field, at 354 feet. Weird, quirky, and refreshingly fun.

Friday, July 30th:
Lancaster, CA (87 miles from Bakersfield)
Lancaster JetHawks (A Astros) vs. Bakersfield Blaze (A Rangers)

The Blaze apparently didn’t like their quirky home stadium, since they followed us out of town to Lancaster. Since it’s two Texas teams’ farmhands dueling in SoCal, they’ll be allowed to wear boots with spurs, fire six-shooters into the air when celebrating good plays, and brand the on-deck circles with outlines of the state of Texas. The only thing missing is the Visalia Rawhide. Or an ex-president named Bush.

Saturday, July 31st:
Adelanto, CA (58 miles from Lancaster)
High Desert Mavericks (A Mariners) vs. Rancho Cucamonga Quakes (A Angels)

OK, we’re reaching the point where the California town names are being made up. Seriously, Adelanto? Our California League finale features a Mavs team that nearly won the league title last year. And a Quakes team that we’ve seen 3 times in a week. Except I’m still not convinced Adelanto really exists.

Sunday, August 1st:
San Diego, CA (147 miles from "Adelanto")
San Diego Padres vs. Florida Marlins

We say goodbye to Cali in style, in what I think is the nicest ballpark in the country. Petco Park is like a Mediterranean social garden on the outside; it’s hard to tell it’s a ballpark from across the street. The inside view is great, and it’ll be fun to debate if the Padres and Marlins could combine forces to field a single, competitive MLB roster.

Great American Baseball Adventure, Week 16: July 19th-25th, 2010

2009-11-21T10:48:00.000-08:00

California dreaming hits its peak in Week 16. We'll see baseball at four different levels this week: MLB, AAA, A, and whatever it is the Oakland Athletics play. GABA 2010, Week 16:

Monday, July 19th:
Oakland, CA (12 miles from San Francisco)
Oakland Athletics vs. Boston Red Sox

Out of 30 MLB teams, somebody’s gotta have the worst stadium, and this is very likely the one. Understand, the A’s have been my team for many years, so I feel entitled to say the Coliseum looks like a construction crane threw up a bunch of concrete. The good news is we shouldn’t have any trouble getting first row seats right behind the dugouts. Or home plate. Or I might just ask to pitch an inning or two.

Tuesday, July 20th:
San Jose, CA (41 miles from Oakland)
San Jose Giants (A Giants) vs. Stockton Ports (A Athletics)

A ‘down-on-the-farm’ version of the Bay Series in another very cool setting. The stadium’s old-school, the Giants have won three California League titles in five years… but most importantly, if the San Jose pitcher strikes out the designated ‘beer batter’, beer’s half-price for the next 15 minutes. Can I vote Mark Reynolds to be the ‘beer batter’?

Wednesday, July 21st:
Fresno, CA (152 miles from San Jose)
Fresno Grizzlies (AAA Giants) vs. Salt Lake Bees (AAA Angels)

They know crazy promotions in Fresno, from K-Fed Night to As Seen On TV Night. The Grizzlies even have an offseason short series called “I Hate The Offseason”. Indeed. And thank goodness for the promotions, ‘cause I can’t think of a single other thing to say about Fresno.

Thursday, July 22nd:
Visalia, CA (44 miles from Fresno)
Visalia Rawhide (A D’Backs) vs. Lancaster JetHawks (A Astros)

A baseball team named for a Western that starred Clint Eastwood? Rawhide! I know the name is actually an homage to agriculture, but I’m going with the Western anyway. How about the San Francisco Gunsmoke? The Bakersfield Bonanza? The whole California league could go Old West! Go ahead, Cali League… make my day…

Friday, July 23rd:
Los Angeles, CA (188 miles from Visalia)
Los Angeles Dodgers vs. New York Mets

No exploding scoreboards, no sausage races, no “pin the tail on Kevin Federline” promotions. Just good baseball, good hot dogs, and good weather. It’s amazing how cool baseball really is with all the fluff stripped away. It’s funny, but Dodger Stadium might be the only thing about L.A. that isn’t chock full of fluff.

Saturday, July 24th:
Lake Elsinore, CA (69 miles from Los Angeles)
Lake Elsinore Storm (A Padres) vs. Bakersfield Blaze (A Rangers)

We have 21 hours between games for this 69-mile trek through L.A. traffic. I hope it’s enough time. Apparently there’s a city ordinance in Lake Elsinore that bans team nicknames ending in ‘s’. I always learned that water puts out fire; we’ll learn if that’s true this night.

Sunday, July 25th:
San Bernardino, CA (39 miles from Lake Elsinore)
Inland Empire 66ers (A Dodgers) vs. Rancho Cucamonga Quakes (A Angels)

The 66ers are named for Historic Route 66, but their full name is the “Inland Empire 66ers of San Bernardino”. Clearly a Dodger-created tongue-in-cheek shot at the Angels’ 78-word club name. Now, the Angels’ and Dodgers’ farmhands can duke out their frustrations in a “Sunday Game Of A Sport That Lasts Nine Innings And Features A Small White Ball With Stitches”.

Great American Baseball Adventure, Week 15: July 12th-18th, 2010

2009-11-20T09:25:00.000-08:00

One of my favorite weeks of GABA 2010 is Week 15. I must've rearranged the schedule ten times to get us to the All-Star Game on the 13th, but we also get a night in Reno and a weekend in San Francisco. Is the West Coast really the best coast? We'll find out in Week 15:

Monday, July 12th:
Modesto, CA (75 miles from Sacramento)
Modesto Nuts (A Rockies) vs. Stockton Ports (A Athletics)

Welcome to the California League, which we will see in its entirety in just 20 days. Some great promotions in Modesto, including a $10 All-You-Can-Eat night on Wednesdays and $2 tacos and Tecates on Tuesdays. On Mondays, you can donate two items to a local charity and get in free. I plan on donating two Oakland A’s relief pitchers.

Tuesday, July 13th:
Anaheim, CA (338 miles from Modesto)
The 81st Major League Baseball All-Star Game

I know, I know… I cheated again. We could’ve stayed in Northern Cali and gone to a hundred different places. But it’s the freakin’ All-Star Game! It could be the single greatest game of the entire trip… unless it ends in a tie. And if that happens, we’re calling the rest of the trip off. The baseball purist in my would like to proudly point out that this is the ONLY interleague MLB game scheduled for the entire trip, 0utside of the state of Florida. And let's face it, who's really watching baseball in Florida?

Wednesday, July 14th:
Travel day. Or, more appropriately, “soak-in-the-fact-that-we’ve-seen-90-plus-games-on-this-trip-including-the-freakin-All-Star-Game” Day. Great name. It would look nice on a banner.

Thursday, July 15th:
Reno, NV (544 miles from Anaheim)
Reno Aces (AAA D’Backs) vs. Tacoma Rainiers (AAA Mariners)

In 11 days, we’ve seen the Rainiers in 3 cities that are at least 500 miles apart. I swear, PCL teams travel enough to do a GABA every season. If only the Aces played the Clinton Lumber Kings. Aces and Kings… blackjack!

Friday, July 16th:
Stockton, CA (179 miles from Reno)
Stockton Ports (A Athletics) vs. Visalia Rawhide (A D’Backs)

We went three months without seeing anything related to the A’s; now we can’t seem to get away from them. The Ports’ Banner Island Ballpark isn’t actually on an island. And I was all ready to unleash a diatribe about a team called the Ports in a city that’s 75 miles inland, until I found out Stockton actually is an inland sea port. So I’m backing off, Stockton. I’m backing off.

Saturday, July 17th:
San Francisco, CA (83 miles from Stockton)
San Francisco Giants vs. New York Mets

Nothing like a baseball game on a mid-summer’s night that’s 45 degrees with a 30 mile an hour wind. Really, AT&T Park is like the city itself – beautiful and well-designed. Just bring a hoodie… or three. And don’t think I won’t adjust our trip to match this stadium with a Tim Lincecum start.

Sunday, July 18th:
Travel day. Oh, who am I kidding. If you plan a six-month long cross-country trip, you’d better build in a day for the Wharf, Golden Gate Park, Alcatraz, Lombard Street… really, we could spend a week there. Of course, by mid-July, we might want to just sleep for a week.

Great American Baseball Adventure, Week 14: July 5th-11th, 2010

2009-11-19T08:56:00.000-08:00

GABA 2010 started so innocently; blissful weeks in the Midwest and on the Eastern seaboard lulled us into believing this was easy. Well, this is the week we're proven wrong. Our goal is to see every full-season major and minor league stadium in baseball, and in Week 14, that means three trips of 500+ miles... in the same week. Can we get frequent flyer miles in a car?

Monday, July 5th:
Salt Lake City, UT (534 miles from Denver)
Salt Lake Bees (AAA Angels) vs. Tacoma Rainiers (AAA Mariners)

Another schedule must after Albuquerque-Colorado Springs-Denver is to hit the Beehive State. The Bees’ stadium is nicknamed ‘The Apiary’ (grab your nearest dictionary for that one). No promotion schedule is set, but I’m rooting for ‘Dress Like Your Favorite Osmond Night’.

Tuesday, July 6th:
Travel day. Two off days in a 3-day stretch? It’ll feel like a vacation… except we have almost 800 miles to cover before the next stop. By comparison, there’s a 10-day stretch in April where we don’t cover 800 miles total. If the GABA were a song, this is where it starts being “They’re Coming To Take Me Away”.

Wednesday, July 7th:
Portland, OR (4.7 million miles from Salt Lake City)
Portland Beavers (AAA Padres) vs. Las Vegas 51s (AAA Blue Jays)

It’s actually 767 miles from Mormon country to granola heaven. Portland’s the greenest city in the U.S. (environment, not Benjamins), so we’ll ride a Smart Car to PGE Park. Soy hot dogs and no-sugar-added Cracker Jack for everyone! Game is delayed 45 minutes when the Oregon State Beavers show up instead of the Padres farmhands.

Thursday, July 8th:
Tacoma, WA (143 miles from Portland)
Tacoma Rainiers (AAA Mariners) vs. Fresno Grizzlies (AAA Giants)

Years before it became chic to put your AAA club in your backyard, the Mariners sailed into Tacoma and claimed the Rainiers (chosen over other names like Cobains and Starbucks). Nick Lachey owns a stake in this team, so it’s time to bust out the Tony Romo jersey!

Friday, July 9th:
Seattle, WA (34 miles from Tacoma)
Seattle Mariners vs. New York Yankees

Before the game, Edgar Martinez and Ken Griffey Jr. will re-create “The Double”, Edgar’s 1995 ALDS-winning hit that saved baseball in Seattle. Griffey, now in his 40s, will need three times as long to round the bases, and will injure himself seven times along the way. Angered Yankee players will hit 20 home runs in the first inning, then try to sign Ichiro between innings.

Saturday, July 10th:
Travel day. We’re done with the Pacific Northwest (sorry, Northwest League – this GABA is for full-season teams only). It’s time to hop on Interstate 5, get behind the nearest cop, and book it for Cali.

Sunday, July 11th:
Sacramento, CA (752 miles from Seattle)
Sacramento River Cats (AAA Athletics) vs. Portland Beavers (AAA Padres)

It’s taken us almost 90 games to see our first Oakland Athletics farm team. Raley Field in Sacto is built ‘with expansion in mind’ in case a major league team wanted to relocate (hey Oakland – hint hint!). An annual attendance leader and two-time overall AAA champion, Sac-town might be the only place in the minors where players are actually upset when they’re called up to play for the major league A’s.

Great American Baseball Adventure, Week 13: June 28th-July 4th, 2010

2009-11-18T11:48:00.000-08:00

GABA 2010 zooms right into the heat of summer by hitting the high altitudes. Yes, believe it or not, New Mexico and Colorado are the keys to baseball bliss. Here's Week 13:

Monday, June 28th:
Oklahoma City, OK (286 miles from Springfield)
Oklahoma City RedHawks (AAA Rangers) vs. Omaha Royals (AAA Royals)

Buckle in… the miles are about to start really piling up. Monday’s the best day to plop down at Bricktown… every seat in the house is 7 bucks, and Choc beer is just a dollar. It was either that or the Hubba Bubba Bubblegum bubble blowing contest (a weekend RedHawks tradition), and in the rock-paper-scissors hierarchy of promotions, beer beats gum. Sorry, it just does.

Tuesday, June 29th:
Travel day. Priority one, sober up from all the Choc beer the night before. Priority two, get a gas card. The next two weeks of the GABA are going to make the first three months look like a walk to your neighborhood softball diamond. We’ll be taking donations for the “GABA Private Plane” for this section of the trip.

Wednesday, June 30th:
Midland, TX (434 miles from Oklahoma City)
Texas League All-Star Game

OK, I cheated. There, I said it. I got it off my chest. Midland is 2,000 light years from any other baseball-playing city on Earth, and we have to start heading west. And the Texas League clearly went along with the plan by scheduling its All-Star Game in Midland while we’re passing through. Sorry, RockHounds… we’ll see you in August in Frisco.

Thursday, July 1st:
Albuquerque, NM (433 miles from Midland)
Albuquerque Isotopes (AAA Dodgers) vs. Oklahoma City RedHawks (AAA Rangers)

Have you ever wanted to schedule your own GABA? Listen (or read) closely. These four words are the secret – Albuquerque, Colorado Springs, Denver. It’s one freakin’ huge country out there, and if you don’t catch those three teams at home on consecutive days, you’re gonna be doing some weird LA-to-Denver-to-Atlanta-in-three-days trip. The first three games I filled in for this insane baseball concoction were… repeat it, kids… Albuquerque, Colorado Springs, Denver. And yes, the Isotopes are named for the Simpsons episode where the Springfield Isotopes relocate to Albuquerque.

Friday, July 2nd:
Colorado Springs, CO (378 miles from Albuquerque)
Colorado Springs Sky Sox (AAA Rockies) vs. Salt Lake Bees (AAA Angels)

The GABA hits a Rocky Mountain high – more than 6,500 feet above sea level. The Sky Sox are the only AAA affiliate the Rockies have ever had. Honestly, I’d type more, but I’m feeling a little light headed from the altitude, and I can’t get John Denver out of my head right now.

Saturday, July 3rd:
Denver, CO (72 miles from Colorado Springs)
Colorado Rockies vs. San Francisco Giants

Let’s see… in the last two months, we’ve seen two MLB games, and calling the Marlins “MLB” might be a stretch. Our oasis in the MLB desert is Coors Field, amazingly the fourth-oldest stadium in the National League. Think about that. The NL's relics are now Wrigley Field, Dodger Stadium, and the two stadiums from the 1993 expansion (Marlins, Rockies).

Sunday, July 4th:
Travel day. Picture it - random service shop in Wyoming or Utah that’s actually open on the 4th. “Hi, our car needs an oil change, new tires, and about 300 other parts replaced.” “Why the overhaul, sir?” “Well, we’re gonna drive it 18,000 miles in the next three months to watch baseball games.” (Random service dude passes out.)

Great American Baseball Adventure, Week 12: June 21st-27th, 2010

2009-11-17T13:52:00.000-08:00

It's been all fun and games on GABA 2010 so far, but that's about to change. Well, not really... we will still be watching games and having fun; we're just going to put insane miles on the car in between those games. Hit the road, jack... we're racking up the miles in Week 12:

Monday, June 21st:
Travel day. And boy, are we gonna need it. The big trip west is looming, and our next ten games are in ten different states.

Tuesday, June 22nd:
Montgomery, AL (91 miles from Birmingham)
Montgomery Biscuits (AA Rays) vs. West Tenn Diamond Jaxx (AA Mariners)

No, the miles of travel and days in the sun aren’t playing tricks on our minds; the mascot in Montgomery really is a buttermilk biscuit. In fact, biscuits are shot from an air cannon into the stands during games (much like Lambert’s in Foley!). The stadium’s built into an old train station, and the Rays are a prospect-producing factory. So at least Montgomery has the baseball experience going for it.

Wednesday, June 23rd:
New Orleans, LA (311 miles from Montgomery)
New Orleans Zephyrs (AAA Marlins) vs. Oklahoma City RedHawks (AAA Rangers)

The longest distance between cities so far (but nowhere near the distances we’re about to travel out west). Muffulettas, po’ boys and jambalaya are all on the ballpark menu, and there’s a swimming pool to cool us off and two hot tubs to warm us up. Plus, I can’t imagine what else there is to do in The Big Easy after the game. With all these distractions, it’s easy to forget you’re watching Marlins prospects. Is there such a thing?

Thursday, June 24th:
Pearl, MS (189 miles from New Orleans)
Mississippi Braves (AA Braves) vs. Mobile BayBears (AA D’Backs)

From the sinful decadence of New Orleans, we head to Mississippi, a state that repealed prohibition 30 years after the rest of the country. Fortunately, the beer flows at Trustmark Park, even in the Farm Bureau Grill restaurant. And I’m sure Jeff Francoeur will be there, working on his swing… oh wait, he’s with the Mets now. Scratch that.

Friday, June 25th:
Memphis, TN (213 miles from Pearl)
Memphis Redbirds (AAA Cardinals) vs. Nashville Sounds (AAA Brewers)

Two Tennessee teams tangle in a Pacific Coast League showdown! ‘Cause when I wanna grab my sandals and board shorts and head for the coast, Memphis is the first place that comes to my mind… Seriously, though, this is a cornerstone game of the trip. My wife’s a lifelong Cardinal fan, and our first baseball game together was at this park back in 2000. The only minor league stadium I’ve seen that can rival AutoZone Park is Dell Diamond in Round Rock. It’ll be a nice stroll down memory lane, walking in Memphis…

Saturday, June 26th:
Little Rock, AR (136 miles from Memphis)
Arkansas Travelers (AA Angels) vs. Northwest Arkansas Naturals (AA Royals)

Another intra-state rivalry in my wife’s hometown, so with family, I’m thinking we’ll need 4,000 tickets to this one. The Travs have a speed-eater’s dream, a 90-minute All-You-Can-Eat Picnic. We’re talking admission, burgers and dogs, beans, chips, popcorn, and soda for $13.50 a person. I’ll have a doctor on standby to check vitals as I gorge.

Sunday, June 27th:
Springfield, MO (215 miles from Little Rock)
Springfield Cardinals (AA Cardinals) vs. Tulsa Drillers (AA Rockies)

It’s funny, I could swear Springfield’s team was named the Isotopes. Hammons Field was actually built before the Cards came to town, which means Missouri State had one helluva baseball facility all to itself for a season. My wife will smile and soak in another batch of Cardinal prospects… and I’ll spend the whole time humming the theme to The Simpsons.

Great American Baseball Adventure, Week 11: June 14th-20th, 2010

2009-11-16T11:31:00.000-08:00

Some unfinished business in Florida, food-gorging heaven on the Alabama coast (YES, there is actually coastline in Alabama), and Brett Favre's indecision crosses inter-sport lines. The GABA's in full swing with Week 11:

Monday, June 14th:
Jupiter, FL (111 miles from Viera)
Jupiter Hammerheads (A Marlins) vs. Charlotte Stone Crabs (A Rays)

Remember chase scenes from old cartoons, where the backdrop would start repeating itself? The Great American Baseball Adventure reaches that point on June 14th, when we visit Roger Dean Stadium… for the second time. The Hammerheads share the stadium with the Palm Beach Cardinals (June 8th). Now, if I see a sign near Jupiter that says ‘end of technicolor’, I’ll really get scared.

Tuesday, June 15th:
Miami Gardens, FL (75 miles from Jupiter)
Florida Marlins vs. Texas Rangers

Joe Robbie/Pro Player/Land Shark/Dorothy Zbornak-Rose Nylund Stadium has seen two World Series titles, but in between, it’s seen some of the worst baseball played this side of Nationals Park. It’s also a football stadium first, which is why it looks perpetually empty on TV (even when 50,000 show up, most of the outfield seating is closed). That doesn’t mean we won’t have fun playing games like ‘Spot the Native Floridian’ or ‘Guess Which Marlin Will Get Traded By The 6th Inning’.

Wednesday, June 16th:
Fort Myers, FL (145 miles from Miami Gardens)
Fort Myers Miracle (A Twins) vs. Palm Beach Cardinals (A Cardinals)

The ‘miracle’ here is that we haven’t passed out after 13 games in the Florida summer sun. Hammond Stadium is the Twins’ spring training home, and happens to be across the street from a ‘Citrus Center’ with the best orange ice cream I’ve ever had. But I digress. This game will be delayed for at least an hour while the two teams argue over which team’s home city has more palm trees.

Thursday, June 17th:
Bradenton, FL (89 miles from Fort Myers)
Bradenton TBA (A Pirates) vs. Jupiter Hammerheads (A Marlins)

Here’s a first – and only – on the 2010 GABA… seeing a brand new team! The Bradenton team was the Sarasota Reds before Cincy got all trendy and bolted for Arizona (how long before the Grapefruit league is just the Rays and Marlins playing each other over and over?). So the Pirates took over and moved the team a whopping 13 miles south to their spring home. Bradenton’s team is so new, it doesn’t even have a name yet. How catchy would the ‘Bradenton GABA’ sound? Ok, ok, moving on…

Friday, June 18th:
Clearwater, FL (45 miles from Bradenton)
Clearwater Threshers (A Phillies) vs. Tampa Yankees (A Yankees)

Get your fill of seafood, early bird specials and overpriced drinks… it’s our last night in Florida. By the way, a thresher is a type of shark. Or a machine that separates a grain stalk’s head from the straw. Since all farms in Clearwater are now condos with Spanish roofs, I’m going with the shark. I’m also predicting our first brawl here as lingering World Series tensions spill over into the minors.

Saturday, June 19th:
Mobile, AL (538 miles from Clearwater)
Mobile BayBears (AA D’Backs) vs. Tennessee Smokies (AA Cubs)

Two things will be on my mind as we pull into the Heart of Dixie. Lambert’s Café, the greatest restaurant in the known world, has a location in Foley. And Hank Aaron Stadium has luxury suites at field level, an incredibly original, novel idea that I’m shocked more teams don’t try. Not that we’ll have money for a suite after two and a half months on the road.

Sunday, June 20th:
Birmingham, AL (259 miles from Mobile)
Birmingham Barons (AA White Sox) vs. Jacksonville Suns (AA Marlins)

We’re a few weeks late for the Rickwood Classic, a AA-regulation game played in throwback jerseys at 100-year-old Rickwood Field on Birmingham’s West End. The annual game is June 2nd, and it’s a shame I couldn’t make the schedule work to get there. The Barons had Michael Jordan for a season, so maybe Brett Favre can don the Barons’ doubleknits while deciding if he’s coming back for a 316th NFL season.

Great American Baseball Adventure, Week 10: June 7th-13th, 2010

2009-11-15T08:46:00.000-08:00

Hanging chads, alligators, and Mickey Mouse... it must be Florida, Florida, Florida! GABA Week 10 criss-crosses the Sunshine State:

Monday, June 7th:
Port Charlotte, FL (105 miles from Dunedin)
Charlotte Stone Crabs (A Rays) vs. Clearwater Threshers (A Phillies)

A team called the ‘Stone Crabs’ managed by a guy named Jim Morrison? That’s just too easy and I’m not going there. The ex-Rangers spring home was gobbled up by the Rays in 2009 when they realized it’s a drag having Spring Training across the street from your regular season home. The GABA research staff is investigating what the hell a ‘Thresher’ really is.

Tuesday, June 8th:
Jupiter, FL (144 miles from Port Charlotte)
Palm Beach Cardinals (A Cardinals) vs. Daytona Cubs (A Cubs)

Now we’re really getting into the heart of the Sunshine State. Roger Dean Stadium is built into a planned, mixed-use community with business and apartments literally across the street. Gucci handbags and wallets are required to enter, and non-millionaires are banished to the bleacher seats.

Wednesday, June 9th:
Port St. Lucie, FL (33 miles from Jupiter)
St. Lucie Mets (A Mets) vs. Jupiter Hammerheads (A Marlins)

Our second (and not last) time seeing the Hammerheads on the road. Wednesday is Wii Wednesday at Tradition Field, where you can win the popular video game system by playing Wii Home Run Derby. And if you’ve never played it before, here’s a warning: two rounds of HR Derby and you won’t be able to move your upper body for a few days. Doesn’t mean I won’t play, though.

Thursday, June 10th:
Daytona Beach, FL (150 miles from Port St. Lucie)
Daytona Cubs (A Cubs) vs. Brevard County Manatees (A Brewers)

This was our nearest ballpark when we lived in Orlando, and home to some great memories. There are plaques all around the stadium commemorating Jackie Robinson, who was allowed to play at Daytona when other cities weren’t so tolerant. We’re missing Belly Buster Monday, maybe the best promotion in the minors (10 bucks for a seat and all-you-can-eat burgers, hot dogs, pizza, popcorn and peanuts), but Thirsty Thursday (dollar beers) is a close second. Blueberry beer, here we come!

Friday, June 11th:
St. Petersburg, FL (161 miles from Daytona Beach)
Tampa Bay Rays vs. Florida Marlins

The FSL is on All-Star break, so we’ll shoot across I-4 to Tropicana Field, which looks like a spaceship landed on its side. The two Florida MLB teams plan to get together and talk about how they’ve made 3 World Series in their combined 29 seasons. And somewhere, at that exact moment, Cubs players will get really, really jealous.

Saturday, June 12th:
Viera, FL (151 miles from Tampa)
Florida State League All-Star Game

Note to self: when planning future GABAs, don’t go to Florida in mid-June. It’s 150 degrees in the shade, plus the FSL goes on its All-Star break. So to make the schedule work, we have to go to an All-Star Game here, instead of a regular-season Brevard County Manatees game. Then again, I’ve always been confused by the Manatees, a Brewers farm team playing in the Nationals’ spring training home.

Sunday, June 13th:
Travel day. I’m making my wife sit through 150 baseball games in all corners of the globe, so she gets this day to ride every ride at every Disney park in Florida. Think we can convince Disney we’re still eligible for the Florida residents’ discount?

Great American Baseball Adventure, Week 9: May 31st-June 6th, 2010

2009-11-14T21:50:00.000-08:00

We're reaching the point in GABA 2010 where my wife reaches over and slaps me upside the head for scheduling games in the Deep South and Florida as the summer's heating up. Grab your beach sandals and bingo cards... we're heading south and into Florida for Week 9:

Monday, May 31^st:

Augusta, GA (192 miles from Kannapolis)

Augusta Greenjackets (A Giants) vs. Asheville Tourists (A Rockies)

We go from a racing hotbed to a team named after the prize for winning a golf tournament. Lake Olmstead Stadium doesn’t come with its own practice green, but it is next to an actual lake. No word if a homer hit into that lake means a one-stroke penalty. I might find out by the 7^th inning, since it’s two-for-one beer night.

Tuesday, June 1^st:

Charleston, SC (182 miles from Augusta)

Charleston RiverDogs (A Yankees) vs. Hickory Crawdads (A Rangers)

Charleston’s next on the GABA restraining order list - three RiverDogs games in six days in three different cities. I’m not sure what a RiverDog really is, and it’s even more confusing since Charleston’s near something much larger than a river. But I’ll bet vacationing celebs on the Carolina coast drop by. Snoop RiverDogg!

Wednesday, June 2^nd:

Savannah, GA (107 miles from Charleston)

Savannah Sand Gnats (A Mets) vs. Asheville Tourists (A Rockies)

We’re done with the Carolinas, and we’re heading toward Florida just as summer’s starting. Uh-oh… at least Savannah’s a cool town to visit. Borat once sang his national anthem at Grayson Stadium, billed as the oldest working minor-league park in America. Plus, seeing Tourists try to fend off Sand Gnats is a perfect metaphor for our trip at this point.

Thursday, June 3^rd:

Jacksonville, FL (140 miles from Savannah)

Jacksonville Suns (AA Marlins) vs. Carolina Mudcats (AA Reds)

Our first home-and-home! We saw these two teams in the Carolinas back on May 15^th. Now they’ll meet on the Suns’ turf, which is appropriate since we’ll be spending the next 15 days baking in the Florida sun. This stadium was actually our first as a married couple back in ‘07 – second row, next to the Suns’ dugout. Did my wife have any idea what she was getting into?

Friday, June 4^th:

Lakeland, FL (195 miles from Jacksonville)

Lakeland Flying Tigers (A Tigers) vs. Bradenton TBA (A Pirates)

The whirlwind Florida State League tour begins. People showing us pictures of their grandkids and driving 30 mph on interstates for two solid weeks. By the time it’s over, we’ll be eating supper at Morrison’s at 3PM every day and complaining that stuff costs more than it used to. I actually caught my first MLB foul ball at Joker Marchant Stadium in spring training, and to this day, I still don’t know who hit it. I was near the concession stand and this ball shot through some trees and rolled to me. All my blind luck gone in one shot.

Saturday, June 5^th:

Tampa, FL (35 miles from Lakeland)

Tampa Yankees (A Yankees) vs. Jupiter Hammerheads (A Cardinals)

Sharing a city with an MLB club? No worries for the Yanks. I’ll bet these single-A boys outdrew the Rays for the first 10 years of the MLB team’s existence. George Steinbrenner Field has a heavy Yankee Stadium influence, except seats behind home plate don’t cost seven months’ salary and Steinbrenner doesn’t come down to fire the manager between innings. Although that would be a great promotion…

Sunday, June 6^th:

Dunedin, FL (26 miles from Tampa)

Dunedin Blue Jays (A Blue Jays) vs. St. Lucie Mets (A Mets)

Dunedin Stadium gets high marks from SI as the Jays’ spring home, but I give it high marks for dropping corporatized-name Knology Park last year. True story: when MLB wanted to use scabs during the ’95 strike, the replacement Jays would’ve played their home games in Dunedin because of Ontario laws about replacement workers. And because the scabs didn’t want to play baseball anywhere it snows in May.

Great American Baseball Adventure, Week 8: May 24th-30th, 2010

2009-11-13T18:30:00.000-08:00

Durham Bulls, Asheville Tourists... they're not just in movies; they're real-life teams! GABA 2010, Week 8 chows down on some Carolina cookin'... just watch out for lugnuts in Kannapolis. They're not as crunchy as you think. Here's Week 8:

Monday, May 24^th:

Durham, NC (57 miles from Greensboro)

Durham Bulls (AAA Rays) vs. Pawtucket Red Sox (AAA Red Sox)

It’s hard to come up with a more classic minor league stop than this one. The old bull’s still hanging in the concourse of the Bulls’ new stadium. And at some point, Crash Davis will crouch behind home plate, get shaken off by Nuke LaLoosh, and tip off the next pitch that’s coming. The real-life Bulls are defending AAA champs, proof that ‘hit bull win steak’ really is a great life motto.

Tuesday, May 25^th:

Hickory, NC (151 miles from Durham)

Hickory Crawdads (A Rangers) vs. Delmarva Shorebirds (A Orioles)

I’ll get to spend birthday number 36 in a town started when a man built a tavern of logs under a hickory tree. I can’t make this stuff up. One night last August, the Crawdads let anyone with the first name ‘Michael’ or last name ‘Jackson’ into the stadium for free. And there isn’t a ticket in the stadium more than nine bucks. Classic GABA stuff!

Wednesday, May 26^th:

Asheville, NC (79 miles from Hickory)

Asheville Tourists (A Rockies) vs. Greensboro Grasshoppers (A Marlins)

Apparently the Rockies like their prospects to play in elevation as part of their training. McCormick Field’s no Biltmore House, but it’s 86 years old and Tourists’ manager Joe Mikulik once threw the best tirade in the history of tirades. Lou Piniella was seen blushing. I can identify with the Tourists, since that’s exactly what we’ve been for two months straight, and will be for four months to come.

Thursday, May 27^th:

Greenville, SC (63 miles from Asheville)

Greenville Drive (A Red Sox) vs. Charleston RiverDogs (A Yankees)

Red Sox. Yankees. Baseball’s fiercest, nastiest rivalry, a bitter conflict between two proud, sometimes obnoxious Northern cities, played out in… South Carolina?! Flour Field at the West End is even built like a mini-Fenway, Monstah and all. This might be a good game to stage a protest against singular nicknames… Greenville Drive is a street address, not a team name!

Friday, May 28^th:

Fort Mill, SC (103 miles from Greenville)

Charlotte Knights (AAA White Sox) vs. Indianapolis Indians (AAA Pirates)

You read that right. The Charlotte Knights don’t play in Charlotte… they don’t even play in North Carolina. Knights Stadium’s even built to MLB specs in case Charlotte lands an MLB franchise one day. Although a 10,000 seat stadium might still look empty if the Expos had moved there. This castle marks game #50 – 1/3 of the way through GABA 2010!

Saturday, May 29^th:

Kannapolis, NC (29 miles from Fort Mill)

Kannapolis Intimidators (A White Sox) vs. Charleston RiverDogs (A Yankees)

Baseball’s a little different in the heart of NASCAR country. Relief pitchers speed in from the bullpen in brand new Mustangs. Mound visits and stadium repairs must all be done in 14 seconds or less. Runners round the bases just inches from each other to help aerodynamics. And a prospect’s 95 mile an hour fastball is referred to as “2^nd gear”. And yes, number 3 is retired, in memory of the real Intimidator.

Sunday, May 30^th:

Travel day. I’m envisioning knocking on the doors of Roush Fenway Racing, Hendrick Motorsports, and all the other NASCAR outfits near Charlotte, begging for jobs as we realize that we will have no life to go to once this trip ends. This from a guy who once poured motor oil in the windshield wiper compartment of my car.

Great American Baseball Adventure, Week 7: May 17th-23rd, 2010

2009-11-12T14:43:00.000-08:00

GABA 2010, Week 7: All about the Eastern seaboard. We'll be knee-deep in Sally League and Carolina League action in a week long on Southern charm. Week 7, I declare!

Monday, May 17^th:

Kinston, NC (171 miles from Myrtle Beach)

Kinston Indians (A Indians) vs. Salem Red Sox (A Red Sox)

Can we just board the Salem team bus from Myrtle Beach to Kinston? Our 15^th stop in 15 days is chock full of Southern baseball history. Kinston’s now in its second century of minor league ball, and 60-year-old Grainger Stadium doesn’t have a seat farther than 53 feet from the action. Apparently, an old Kinston manager once got ejected, dressed up as the mascot, and went back to the Kinston dugout. This, folks, is a real-life “Bull Durham”.

Tuesday, May 18^th:

Travel day. Or we might just follow the Salem Red Sox around Kinston all day, just to keep the stalking theme going.

Wednesday, May 19^th:

Norfolk, VA (168 miles from Kinston)

Norfolk Tides (AAA Orioles) vs. Pawtucket Red Sox (AAA Red Sox)

The city that once tried to land the Expos is now home to the Orioles’ top farm team. 24 different Tides players from last year also played in the majors, which is a kind way of saying the Orioles needed a lot of help in 2009. This game will be stopped for 15 minutes as Norfolk fans laugh uncontrollably at Red Sox faithful trying to pronounce the Tides’ stadium, Harbor Park.

Thursday, May 20^th:

Lynchburg, VA (190 miles from Norfolk)

Lynchburg Hillcats (A Reds) vs. Wilmington Blue Rocks (A Royals)

What, a Carolina League game that doesn’t involve the Salem Red Sox? Blasphemy! Lynchburg did beat Salem for the League title in 2009 (maybe the last time the Pirates beat the Red Sox at anything) before switching affiliations for ‘10. The City of Seven Hills boasts a renovated, 70-year old stadium, and actor Skeet Ulrich. What else do you need, people?

Friday, May 21^st:

Salem, VA (68 miles from Lynchburg)

Salem Red Sox (A Red Sox) vs. Potomac Nationals (A Nationals)

I swear we don’t own any stock in the Salem Red Sox, although we might by this point. It’s our 4^th time to see Salem, but our first time checking out their home digs, and their mascots “Lefty” and “Righty” (two socks, distinctly marked with an “L” and an “R”). Word has it “Lefty” will be converted to a situational reliever for 2010.

Saturday, May 22^nd:

Winston-Salem, NC (140 miles from Salem)

Winston-Salem Dash (A White Sox) vs. Lynchburg Hillcats (A Reds)

What better way to start our mad “dash” through the Tar Heel State? The Dash move into a brand new park in ’10, complete with luxury suites. Yep, luxury suites… in a single-A park. For an extra few bucks, Ozzie Guillen will go off on random, highly amusing tirades on a TV monitor in your suite. Sweet!

Sunday, May 23^rd:

Greensboro, NC (29 miles from Winston-Salem)

Greensboro Grasshoppers (A Marlins) vs. Lexington Legends (A Astros)

The shortest trip all year between minor league parks, so there’ll be plenty of time to, uh, do whatever it is people do in the Triad. Sadly, Greensboro’s old World War Memorial Stadium gave way to a modern yard in 2005, but like Elton John, it’s still standing (yeah, yeah, yeah!). 8 Sally League games in 11 days, and I'm talking real, fried-okra-and-catfish South Atlantic, not that Lakewood New Jersey, how-did-we-get-stuck-in-this-league stuff.

Great American Baseball Adventure, Week 6: May 10th-16th, 2010

2009-11-09T16:54:00.000-08:00

Flying Squirrels, Mudcats, Pelicans, and Baysox... we must be hitting the nitty-gritty of the low minors. Seven games in five states in seven days... Week 6 of GABA 2010:

Monday, May 10th:
Altoona, PA (130 miles from Frederick)
Altoona Curve (AA Pirates) vs. Harrisburg Senators (AA Nationals)

We had to catch Frederick on the 9th because they were headed on the road, so now we retrace our steps back to the Keystone State. Altoona has one of the best-kept secrets in the minor leagues, Blair County Stadium - mountain views, and even a roller-coaster just outside the right field wall. So unlike the Curve’s big league club, there are highs to go with the lows in Altoona.

Tuesday, May 11th:
Woodbridge, VA (190 miles from Altoona)
Potomac Nationals (A Nationals) vs. Winston-Salem Dash (A White Sox)

Woodbridge is so close to DC, you can almost hear the bureaucracy. We’re in a stretch of seeing Nationals’ farm teams four times in five days, which brings an idea to my clearly idle mind. Maybe I can try out for one of these Nats’ minor league squads! I hear scouts stand around the ‘guess your speed’ booths, and immediately put a uniform on anyone who can throw over 75. Good news is, one of these games has to feature Stephen Strasburg, right?

Wednesday, May 12th:
Hagerstown, MD (85 miles from Woodbridge)
Hagerstown Suns (A Nationals) vs. West Virginia Power (A Pirates)

At this point, we’ll be starting to wonder if every minor league team is affiliated with either the Nationals or the Pirates. Municipal Stadium turns 80 in 2010, and it’s our only chance to see the Hagerstown franchise all year, so we’ll spend this night soaking up the Suns! Wow. An incredibly lame reference, but what do you expect after 35 baseball games in 38 days?

Thursday, May 13th:
Bowie, MD (81 miles from Hagerstown)
Bowie Baysox (AA Orioles) vs. Erie SeaWolves (AA Tigers)

The Mid-Atlantic section of the GABA is great because every team we see is about 7 city blocks from the one before it. Bowie’s Prince George’s Stadium used to play host to the U.S. Congressional Baseball Game, a summer tradition where Republicans and Democrats duke it out on the diamond. The world’s problems should be sorted out on a baseball diamond.

Friday, May 14th:
Richmond, VA (128 miles from Bowie)
Richmond Flying Squirrels (AA Giants) vs. Altoona Curve (AA Pirates)

The ex-Connecticut Defenders have moved south for 2010. Now, they’re transplanted Northerners, getting strange looks for their peculiar accents and for wearing shorts when it’s 45 degrees outside. The excitement of seeing baseball’s return to Richmond might be tainted when the town wakes up in the 5th inning and realizes that they really did name this team the Flying Squirrels.

Saturday, May 15th:
Zebulon, NC (149 miles from Richmond)
Carolina Mudcats (AA Reds) vs. Jacksonville Suns (AA Marlins)

Our first taste of Southern League baseball and the Tar Heel State (we’ll spend a solid week there later in the month). This is the 20th season of Carolina Mudcats baseball, which really makes me feel old since I remember when they left Columbus, Georgia. We can hang with Muddy the Mudcat, dine at Cattails Restaurant, and debate whether North Carolina should trade in its 4,000 minor league teams for a single MLB franchise.

Sunday, May 16th:
Myrtle Beach, SC (209 miles from Zebulon)
Myrtle Beach Pelicans (A Braves) vs. Salem Red Sox (A Red Sox)

Yes, they do allow baseball in South Carolina on Sundays! It’s our one chance to see the Pelicans, the only Braves minor league franchise not called ‘Braves’ or actually owned by the parent team. BB&T Coastal Park has been called one of the top single-A stadiums in the country. And yet, we’ll be tempted to drift off to the beautiful beach by the later innings. Ahh… what baseball trip? Ok, snap back, Holden, snap back!!

Great American Baseball Adventure, Week 5: May 3rd-9th, 2010

2009-11-09T16:49:00.000-08:00

Fenway Park, tax-free shopping in Delaware, and the legend of Milton Bradley in central Pennsylvania... GABA 2010 is officially in full-swing! Here's the Week 5 schedule:

Monday, May 3^rd:

Boston, MA (108 miles from Portland)

Boston Red Sox vs. Los Angeles Angels

Here’s something strange: this is the only time we’ll see the Los Angeles Angels of Anaheim of Southern California of the Known Baseball Universe (our Angel Stadium trip in July is for the MLB All-Star Game). Sox are starting an 11-game homestand after spending a week on the road. To get tickets for this game, I plan to take a time machine back to 2001 and steal them from a season-ticket holder. Pole-obstructed seats, here we come!

Tuesday, May 4^th:

Lakewood Township, NJ (283 miles from Boston)

Lakewood BlueClaws (A Phillies) vs. Charleston RiverDogs (A Yankees)

The GABA is done with New England, so it’s time to head south. So far south that we’re hitting the South Atlantic League… in New Jersey?! Can’t imagine BlueClaws fans have much in common with, say, Kannapolis Intimidators fans. Seniors eat free every Tuesday night at FirstEnergy Park. Time to don the Wilford Brimley mask!

Wednesday, May 5^th:

Salisbury, MD (194 miles from Lakewood Township)

Delmarva Shorebirds (A Orioles) vs. Savannah Sand Gnats (A Mets)

A little geography lesson here: Delmarva isn’t a failed ’80s big hair band, it’s the East Coast peninsula shared by Delaware, Maryland, and Virginia. So why isn’t it called the Delmarvir? Shorebirds and Sand Gnats… sounds a lot like a vacation in the Louisiana swamp.

Thursday, May 6^th:

Wilmington, DE (105 miles from Salisbury)

Wilmington Blue Rocks (A Royals) vs. Salem Red Sox (A Red Sox)

Our first look at the Carolina League, in the home of tax-free shopping, Delaware! Wilmington’s basically suburban Philly, and I-95 almost runs down the left field line, so it’s a surprise the Blue Rocks aren’t a Phillies affiliate. Just think, when the Royals trade away their best players for minor leaguers you’ve never heard of, this is where those minor leaguers come to play!

Friday, May 7^th:

Allentown, PA (81 miles from Wilmington)

Lehigh Valley IronPigs (AAA Phillies) vs. Columbus Clippers (AAA Nationals)

Well, we’re waiting here in Allentown… for the Philly cheese steak we never found… The IronPigs used to play in Ottawa, but the Phillies moved them south in ’07, meaning the “International League” has nothing but U.S. teams in it. Brilliant! Coca-Cola Field has a socializing/sud-guzzling place in right field called the Bud Light Trough. I’m not kidding. So if I scream “bacon!”, will it send IronPigs fans scurrying down the aisles?

Saturday, May 8^th:

Harrisburg, PA (87 miles from Allentown)

Harrisburg Senators (AA Nationals) vs. Richmond Flying Squirrels (AA Giants)

Milton Bradley once hit a championship-winning, walk-off grand slam as a Harrisburg Senator. No word on whether he then fought with, threw objects at, or spat in the face of any fans, umpires, or innocent bystanders. The Senators’ home is literally in an island on the Susquehanna River – scenic, plus for 10 bucks we can get front row seats and listen to the Harrisburg players pray to get traded out of the Nationals organization.

Sunday, May 9^th:

Frederick, MD (72 miles from Harrisburg)

Frederick Keys (A Orioles) vs. Wilmington Blue Rocks (A Royals)

Frederick Keys may sound like some Luther Vandross R&B clone, but it’s really a Carolina League team that’s a stone’s throw from its parent club in Maryland. Harry Grove Stadium is renovated and ready for 2010; in fact, you can go to the team’s website and see proudly displayed pictures of the newly-remodeled restrooms! If the Keys ever leave Frederick, they could move to Florida… and have a perfectly fitting name.

Great American Baseball Adventure, Week 4: April 26th-May 2nd, 2010

2009-11-09T16:37:00.000-08:00

The Great American Baseball Adventure has already seen three weeks and 19 games, but the party's just getting started! Bust out the clam chow-dah, cause we're headin' for a weekend in New England in Week 4 (cheesy Barry Manilow songs not included):

Monday, April 26^th:

Reading, PA (99 miles from Moosic)

Reading Phillies (AA Phillies) vs. Harrisburg Senators (AA Nationals)

Week four of the GABA has five Eastern League games in six days. Give the Phillies credit for having all their minor league teams are right in the big club’s backyard. Maybe that’s to get their players acclimated to the climate, or to Philly cheese steaks. Reading’s ‘Gluttony Night’ was one of the minors’ top promotions in 2009, with 40,000 food and soda items devoured. I’m hoping April 26^th, 2010 is “Gluttony Night 2, Electric Boogaloo.”

Tuesday, April 27^th:

Trenton, NJ (82 miles from Reading)

Trenton Thunder (AA Yankees) vs. New Hampshire Fisher Cats (AA Blue Jays)

We cross the Delaware River into New Jersey, home of… of… of… John Bon Jovi. And some really good minor league ball, apparently. The Thunder won back-to-back Eastern League titles in ’07 and ’08, and there’s always the chance Roger Clemens could be on rehab while plotting another comeback at age 68. No offense to Trenton, but we won’t be staying there overnight – we’ve got to cross through NYC, something best done really, really late at night. And preferably without stopping.

Wednesday, April 28^th:

New Britain, CT (179 miles from Trenton)

New Britain Rock Cats (AA Twins) vs. Richmond Flying Squirrels (AA Giants)

This was going to be a battle for Connecticut minor league baseball supremacy, but the Connecticut Defenders bolted for Richmond, leaving the Rock Cats as the only baseball entertainment for ESPN employees tucked away in nearby Bristol. That is, if you don’t count New York or Boston, but what do those places have on New Britain anyway? New Britain Stadium has the Sam Adams Bar & Grill, a surefire sign that the GABA has reached New England. Break out the chow-dah!

Thursday, April 29^th:

Pawtucket, RI (112 miles from New Britain)

Pawtucket Red Sox (AAA Red Sox) vs. Indianapolis Indians (AAA Pirates)

Ultra-modern, super-uber techonology filled stadiums with iPod charging stations and robots serving quiche are just fine. But I’m really hyped about McCoy Stadium, built during World War II and still going strong. Yes, it’s been renovated, but it’s still a throwback to much simpler days when a player’s contract, signing bonus, and agent’s name weren’t his most important stats. The seats are elevated off the field, so fans put items on makeshift ‘fishing poles’ to get autographs. Now that’s old school. No granite countertops, no stainless steel appliances. Sorry… slipped into HGTV mode there.

Friday, April 30^th:

Manchester, NH (94 miles from Pawtucket)

New Hampshire Fisher Cats (AA Blue Jays) vs. Reading Phillies (AA Phillies)

Add New Hampshire to the list of teams who’ll be filing a restraining order against us. Three Fisher Cats games in three different cities in less than a month. When the Fisher Cats moved to Manchester, they were supposed to be called the New Hampshire Primaries… and it’s a travesty that name didn’t hold up. Maybe we can vote in the 2012 Presidential election after this game.

Saturday, May 1^st:

Portland, ME (96 miles from Manchester)

Portland Sea Dogs (AA Red Sox) vs. New Britain Rock Cats (AA Twins)

Let’s see… a former high school field converted to a mini-Fenway, complete with a mini-Monstah in left field, and the chance to play “Which Celebrity’s On Vacation On The Maine Coast”? Wicked cool! Do they serve lobstah… I mean, lobster? The GABA isn’t even a month old and we’ve passed the 2,500 mile mark. Only 25,000 miles to go!

Sunday, May 2^nd:

Travel day. By New England law, the only activities allowed on Sundays are heaping praises on Tom Brady and Randy Moss, or dumping tea into harbors.

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

2009-11-08T15:22:00.000-08:00

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.

Great American Baseball Adventure, Week 2: April 12th-18th, 2010

2009-11-07T16:16:00.000-08:00

One week into 2010's Great American Baseball Adventure, and we've already seen six games in Pennsylvania, Ohio, and Michigan. We won't leave those three states in Week 2, but we will gain about 10 pounds thanks to one of baseball's ultimate food challenges... here's week 2 of GABA 2010:

Monday, April 12th:
Midland, MI (128 miles from Detroit)
Great Lakes Loons (A Dodgers) vs. Lansing Lugnuts (A Blue Jays)

The GABA is all about games like this. A team called the Loons versus a team called the Lugnuts, in a town I had to look up on Yahoo maps. It’s the second time in four days we’ll be watching the Lugnuts as the road team. I wonder if any Lugnut players will do a double-take: “Hey, isn’t that the same guy who was wearing armor in Dayton a few days ago?”

Tuesday, April 13th:
Comstock Park, MI (106 miles from Midland)
West Michigan Whitecaps (A Tigers) vs. Fort Wayne TinCaps (A Padres)

Nestled in the ‘burbs of Grand Rapids is… you guessed it… Fifth Third Ballpark (sheesh!). The Whitecaps are 5-time Midwest League Champs, but this night will be about food, specifically the most disgusting, most enticing delicacy in all of minor league sports – the Fifth Third Burger (there’s that annoying fraction again). Picture a 4 pound, 4,800 calorie artery-clogger so bad that doctors actually want the team to label it a ‘dietary disaster’. The Man vs. Food guy ate one in 2009, and I’ll be ready to tackle the 1.666 pounds of meat (5/3 pounds – get it?) and take home the T-shirt. Maybe we should build in an off-day for an EKG.

Wednesday, April 14th:
Lansing, MI (72 miles from Comstock Park)
Lansing Lugnuts (A Blue Jays) vs. Lake County Captains (A Indians)

It’s official. We’re stalking the Lansing Lugnuts in the opening weeks of GABA 2010. For the third time in six days, we’ll see the Lugnuts try to tighten down the opposition, except this time it’ll be at Lansing’s yard, Oldsmobile Park (hey, a stadium without Fifth or Third in the title!). We’ll have just missed Dollar Dog Tuesday, but I’m sure I’ll still be full from Tuesday’s burger-blitz. Which reminds me, how much weight can you gain eating ballpark food every night for 6 months? It’s like Jared in reverse!

Thursday, April 15th:
Cleveland, OH (233 miles from Lansing)
Cleveland Indians vs. Texas Rangers

No truth to the rumor that Progressive Field will be replaced in 2010 by a large, all-white room with an annoying, bubbly girl trying to sell car insurance. Gotta share one of my great ballpark tales here. Our only game in Cleveland was in 2008, with my Aunt Fran in attendance. Interleague game. Three hour rain delay. Chilly winds from the lake. Horrible relief pitching. And yet my Aunt (in her 70s) stuck through it all with us, saw the Indians win, and watched the fireworks show… at 1:30AM. My wife wants center-field seats this time. For some reason, she wants to sit directly behind Grady Sizemore. Hmm…

Friday, April 16th:
Akron, OH (40 miles from Cleveland)
Akron Aeros (AA Indians) vs. Bowie Baysox (AA Orioles)

It’s so close, we could actually swim down the Ohio and Erie Canal from Cleveland to this game. The Aeros won the Eastern League title in 2009. And the Goodyear plant is in Akron. And now I’ve run out of things to say about Akron.

Saturday, April 17th:
Eastlake, OH (48 miles from Akron)
Lake County Captains (A Indians) vs. Fort Wayne TinCaps (A Padres)

Back up to suburban Cleveland to see the Captains, who are switching to the Midwest League from the South Atlantic League. Seriously, the South Atlantic League? Nothing beats low-minor league road trips in a rickety old bus from northern Ohio to Augusta, Georgia. The teams are repeating themselves – we’ve seen both these teams within the previous week. Our 7th – and final – game in the state of Ohio, which means we’re headed east and about to starting rolling the odometer.

Sunday, April 18th:
Erie, PA (90 miles from Eastlake)
Erie SeaWolves (AA Tigers) vs. Altoona Curve (AA Pirates)

ESPN calls Erie’s Jerry Uht Park one of its top ten in the minors. And, while I’ve tried to keep it a secret all these years, Erie is actually where I was born. Again, I think the teams are mislabeled here – a ‘sea wolf’ is actually a pirate, isn’t it? And what in God’s name is a Curve (other than a pitch Barry Zito throws half the time)? We’ll find out on May 10th when we visit Altoona.

Great American Baseball Adventure, Week 1: April 5th-11th, 2010

2009-11-06T17:40:00.000-08:00

Baseball's ultimate road trip begins on an April Monday afternoon in Pittsburgh, then criss-crosses the state of Ohio as the minor league season gets underway. Presenting GABA 2010, Opening Week style...

Monday, April 5^th:

Pittsburgh, PA (trip begins)

Pittsburgh Pirates vs. Los Angeles Dodgers

It’s opening day (not including ESPN’s annoying single Sunday night game) and there’s no better place to spend it than at what might be the best-looking park in baseball, PNC Park in Pittsburgh. I can almost taste the pierogi now! Plus, we’re talking about the franchise with the pro sports record for most consecutive losing seasons (17). It’s better to see them early before they’re 20 games out and trading veterans for Cuban cigars.

Tuesday, April 6^th:

Travel day. MLB starts a few days before the minors, so it’s a great time to get positioned for 14 games in 14 days in the Midwest.

Wednesday, April 7^th:

Cincinnati, OH (291 miles from Pittsburgh)

Cincinnati Reds vs. St. Louis Cardinals

Four straight days in the Buckeye State starts at Great American Ballpark. Reds vs. Redbirds is a little confusing, but I’ll be too busy stuffing my face with Skyline Chili to care. Also, my wife’s a big Cardinal fan, so it’s a wise idea to get on her good side before taking her 27,000 miles around the country.

Thursday, April 8^th:

Columbus, OH (107 miles from Cincinnati)

Columbus Clippers (AAA Indians) vs. Indianapolis Indians (AAA Pirates)

Opening day in the minor leagues! Just like MLB, we’re starting off at what might be the best ballpark in the minors. Huntington Park was named ‘Ballpark of the Year’ by several publications. The Clippers were a Yankees farm team for years, but now they’re another ‘close to home’ minor league club for Cleveland. The team in this game named ‘Indians’ is NOT the Indians farm team. Bizarre.

Friday, April 9^th:

Dayton, OH (75 miles from Columbus)

Dayton Dragons (A Reds) vs. Lansing Lugnuts (A Blue Jays)

Dayton’s a tougher ticket than you might think – the Dragons have sold out every game at Fifth Third Field for nine straight seasons, and sold out all 2009 games before the season even started. All this after a fan was injured by a thrown ball during a 2008 brawl. We’ll buy scalped tickets if we have to, but maybe I’ll wear armor if we’re sitting close to the field.

Saturday, April 10^th:

Toledo, OH (150 miles from Dayton)

Toledo Mud Hens (AAA Tigers) vs. Louisville Bats (AAA Reds)

OK, let me get this straight. After checking out Fifth Third Field in Dayton, we’re driving to Toledo to see baseball at… Fifth Third Field?! This couldn’t possibly be confusing… no, not at all. Come to think of it, every MLB stadium should just be renamed Miller Park to make it easier. OK, I’ll get down off the stadium name soapbox. This is the only time we see the Mud Hens all season, so I’ll be like Corporal Klinger and wear my Mud Hens cap with pride

Sunday, April 11^th:

Detroit, MI (59 miles from Toledo)

Detroit Tigers vs. Cleveland Indians

And on the seventh day, we won’t rest… but at least it’s a short drive up from Toledo. The schedule worked out perfectly to get all four Michigan teams back to back. I’m hoping the Tigers will have recovered from their ’09 collapse (they’re the only team in MLB history to lose a three game lead with four games to play). Heard great things about Comerica Park… and I hear housing’s cheap in Detroit too.

The offseason fun begins - GABA 2010, Prologue

2009-11-06T17:06:00.000-08:00

It's done. The World Champion Yankees have thrown their $500 bills into the air in celebration (I know because I dislocated a knee trying to pick one of them up). The Royals, Nationals, and 12 other teams are wondering if their entire 2010 payroll will match A-Rod's salary (hint: probably not, unless the Brewers pull a Jedi mind trick and force the Royals to take on Jeff Suppan's contract).

Baseball season has officially ended. And yes, we'll spend the winter watching the John Lackey Sweepstakes or reading Stephen Strasburg's AFL pitching lines. But it's just not the same. I can't be satisfied eating peanuts and Cracker Jacks on the couch.

And here, baseball fans, is where the Great American Baseball Adventure comes in. On top of being the coolest idea since demolishing the Kingdome, it's also great off-season fodder.

For those of you not up to GABA speed yet, here's the primer. A few months ago, the economy ate my job in Florida (turns out the economy has big, nasty teeth and a total disregard for my budget.) I found myself at a career crossroads, digging deep to figure out what I wanted to do next (soup kitchens were NOT the answer).

That's when the dream portion of my brain (aka 'insanity') kicked in. I wanted to see baseball... and lots of it.

And so the Great American Baseball Adventure was born - a 2010 trip designed to go to every full-season major and minor league park in this great land of ours (plus Toronto, of course). 150 games in less than six months - an incessant maze of maps, small towns, Americana, and hopefully, the sponsorship to pull it all off.

The GABA even got some love from a few message boards (thank you, Astros fans and Houston Sports Talk radio).

But then, work called again. I jumped right back into the fray, loading up the truck and hauling it to Milwaukee. Yes, the land of cheese, beer, and frickin' freezing temperatures... a perfect fit for someone who hasn't lived north of Memphis in his conscious lifetime, don't you think? Actually, it's been great... but it's early November and the first snowfall hasn't even come. Ask me about this Milwaukee move again in January, and I may throw up all over myself.

Point is, work pays the bills a little better than my dreams do. So GABA 2010 goes the way of the Atari 2600 and the Montreal Expos.

Or does it?

The idea got such great reaction from friends and family, and I had already lost so much sleep trying to plan Albuquerque-to-Denver all-nighters, that I decided to plan it out anyway. At worst, it'll help pass the time til pitchers and catchers report. At best, maybe somebody with lots of time and money sees this and takes the trip. (If you're reading this and you have time and money in abundance, could you spare a little 'charity' for the trip organizer?)

GABA 2010 lives! Every day in November, I'll post the itinerary, week by week, with some details about each city and game. Remember, this thing's all about tons of baseball, and tons of fun.

So read it over, analyze, critique, and gimme some feedback. At least it'll keep your mind from wandering to nasty thoughts of watching hockey.

2009-11-01T09:27:00.001-08:00

Three games into the Series, and I'm starting to feel really bad for the Philadelphia Phillies. And mostly, that's because Joe Blanton vs. CC Sabathia isn't my idea of bringing my best fighter to the prize fight. Call me a sucker for pitchers who throw complete games and shut down offenses in October, but I think you've got to have Cliff Lee out there to trade punches with ChaChing Sabathia.

This could get ugly for Philly, very quickly. And I really don't want the offseason to get here any faster than it already is.

Why the GABA is starting to resemble the 2000 Presidential election

2009-10-04T21:16:00.000-07:00

I know, I know... I'm probably the only person on Earth right now who's checking websites for 2010 Texas League schedules. But, in my truly baseball-obsessed nature, I've been checking almost daily.

You see, Texas is a large state. VERY large. And to put together the Great American Baseball Adventure for 2010, you've got to know exactly which teams are at home, and when. Otherwise, it's a little difficult planning to go from Phoenix to New Orleans in a day.

Good news is, the Texas League schedules are on their teams' respective pages. You have to dig a bit (in fact, you might need a shovel or two - from most team pages, click on 'schedule', then on '2010', then on a month in which they might actually play baseball in 2010), but they're officially there. Maybe the Midland Rockhounds are reading this blog after all! (I'm not fooling myself into actually believing that.)

This leaves just the Florida State League. Ah yes... Florida. Remember it well. Lived there for two years, and never once did I see a hanging chad. And yet, the state seems to be weeks behind in reporting results of anything - elections, baseball schedules, profits from the local Morrison's early bird specials - anything!

Just kidding, Florida. You know I love ya. But you are now the only hole remaining in the GABA jigsaw puzzle.

The good news is, it's not a terribly large state (at least the part of it where minor league baseball is played), so I've already built the rest of the schedule and blocked off a couple of weeks to visit the FSL parks. June 3rd, the GABA would head to Jacksonville. Then the next 16 days would include soaking up beach sun, seafood, stories about the resident's grandkids, maybe a lap around Daytona International Speedway (one of the top sporting venues on the planet), and 14 more baseball games.

The Rays are at home June 8th-13th, and the Marlins (always making it tough) are home from the 15th-18th. Trouble is, the itinerary has us in Mobile on the 19th, so I don't see a Miami-to-Mobile-in-a-day trip.

Amazingly, the entire rest of the trip is set for 2010. And after spending all this time planning the GABA, I'm convinced it's too bad that we won't actually be taking the trip (a full-time job does pay the bills a bit better than a cross-country baseball trip). Just call it a practice run for some season down the road.

I'll post the full trip soon (maybe once the FSL schedules are posted, maybe sooner if I get antsy), but here are a few teasers: it starts in Pittsburgh and ends in Texas. Two of the games are All-Star Games (some might call that cheating, but I call it extra bang for the baseball buck!). There's a stretch where we take two separate 7-hour long trips, four days apart. There's another stretch (in May) with 15 games in 15 different cities in 15 days.

Maybe I should be some team's travelling secretary. Then again, I don't think the Red Sox would really like to go to 150 stadiums in six months. They'll probably just stick to the 14 AL parks, and an occasional NL stadium.

Anyway, the GABA 2010 schedule waits (im)patiently for the Florida State League...

The pieces start to come together...

2009-09-30T23:50:00.000-07:00

I'll admit, time is like starting pitching - it's at a premium lately.

The apartment's still stacked with boxes. We spent 10 minutes today looking for a screwdriver, only to find one in a plastic bag on the floor at our feet. I'm still learning names and faces at work.(I can tell you that Ichiro won the 2001 AL MVP, batting title, and a Gold Glove, but I can't remember the names of half of my new co-workers. Sad sad sad...)

But not to be lost in life's newest shuffle is the fact that I'm still a schemer. And that means I've been squeezing in every spare moment to put together the pieces for GABA 2010.

It's going to be a work in progress for some time. About 25 teams still haven't put out their 2010 schedules (c'mon, Florida State League!!), so some parts of the trip are still based on hoping certain teams will be home at certain times. Are you listening, Midland RockHounds?

I know this much - I've built a tentative plan for the toughest part of the trip. That would be the 27-team swing out West. That batch of games is absolutely crucial to making this trip work - you have to catch Colorado Springs and the Rockies (and probably Albuquerque) at home at the same time, 'cause it's not like you can just 'swing back' and pick one of those up later. And Seattle, Tacoma, and Portland (Oregon) are in the same boat - close to each other, but 5,000 light years away from anything else.

Point is, I've got the Western section of this trip tentatively planned. It would start around the first of July (with, of course, the Albuquerque-Colorado Springs-Denver run) and finish about a month later (San Diego and Phoenix the last two stops before the train barrels east, hopefully for Midland.) One of the crown jewels of the trip is buried deep beneath this West Coast swing - July 13th, the trip to Anaheim just happens to be for the All-Star Game. It's gonna take a helluva trip down from Seattle to get there in time, but anytime you can put MLB's biggest showcase in the middle of the Great American Baseball Adventure, you kinda don't have a choice.

I'll start posting parts of the GABA schedule as they get made. Next step is trying to start the trip in the Midwest, specifically to be at the new Target Field when the Twins play their first game there April 12th. This thing may start in Milwaukee (a nice tribute to the city that's kept my career alive), but that's still open to debate.

Anyway, it's all rambling from here. Just know that the pieces are slowly coming together, and I'll start showing you the completed sections as they get done.

Why all this excitement for a trip I won't be able to take? It's the challenge, the accomplishment of making this nearly impossible dream a reality. And then, maybe one day, putting one of these together and actually taking the trip.

For now, it's time to start putting together that Memphis-West Tenn-Nashville-Knoxville run...

The great reconnect...

2009-09-26T10:29:00.000-07:00

Hello Wisconsin!

After a week of being separated from my stuff, wandering the Eastern US in search of good Mexican food, I have arrived in Milwaukee with two ideas dominating my thinking:

First, I've got to do a better job searching for that Mexican food. And second, this new life is pretty damn cool so far.

I can see Miller Park from the living room windows. My wife and I actually went to Miller Park a few hours after getting the keys to the new place. Brewers fans tailgate for September baseball games! Phenomenal. Our 9th MLB stadium this season gave us the well-expected (Jeff Suppan imploding) and the unexpected (Chorizo won the sausage race!), and left us wishing the season wasn't almost over.

That's the bad news. The good news is, since I have my beloved World Wide Web again, I'm downloading schedules like a teenage girl who just found the Jonas Brothers mother lode on Frostwire. It's like putting 1,000 jigsaw puzzle pieces on the floor - right now it just looks like a big mess. But before long, you'll see the picture clearly - a trip to every full-season major and minor league stadium in the 2010 season!

Of course, I won't be able to actually take the trip, since I'll be spending 2010 plotting my way into a sausage race.

But anyone else with the spare money and time is welcome to embark on GABA 2010! (Plus it'll be great practice in case we're in a position to take GABA 2011 or 2012...)

For now, pass the custard, will ya?

The great disconnect...

2009-09-18T07:20:00.000-07:00

So this must be what it feels like to be Roy Oswalt, Rich Harden, Yovani Gallardo, or the hundred other starting pitchers in the same boat down the stretch in September.

Today is the day of The Great Disconnect. Movers are here, stuff is being loaded into the big truck, and in a matter of moments, they're going to realize that I'm hiding in the loft, banging out one final entry on the computer.

In a matter of seconds, I'm pulling the plug, and pulling over at a rest stop on the information superhighway.

See you all in Milwaukee late next week, and soon after, the baseball ramblings will begin again. For now, my kingdom for a 3G network!

MLB schedules are out!

2009-09-16T08:31:00.001-07:00

Don't worry folks... I haven't forgotten about you or about the soon-to-be greatest baseball blog on earth. I also haven't forgotten how to type in hyperbole.

It turns out that uprooting your life and moving halfway across the country takes a lot of your time, energy, and did I mention time?

Late next week, we'll be in a new home in a new city, working a new job in a career for which my passion runs deeper than ever. It's exciting, but it's certainly time consuming.

But don't think I won't find time to talk baseball, and the 2010 GABA, once we get settled in the Midwest. You know I will... baseball's been my obsession long before I entered the workforce.

The email notices from MLB teams started pouring in yesterday - the 2010 MLB schedules are out! That's right, it's time to start thinking about Manny coming to Boston, or how to work the Cubs and White Sox into the same weekend (or better yet, the same day).

And if I hadn't been lucky enough to find a job in this economy, I'd be buried in schedules today, building the Greatest American Baseball Adventure ever - 150 games in a single season. Every MLB, AAA, AA, and full season A team on the continent!

So here's a compromise - in the coming weeks, once I can see above the stack of boxes again, I'll print all the schedules and start mapping out what would've been GABA 2010. And part of this blog next year will be following those 150 games. I won't be able to attend them, but we can still take a virtual GABA next year.

I know it's sacrilege to talk about this while the 2009 season's still going on, but 2010 is right around the corner!

2009-09-03T22:12:00.000-07:00

For the last couple of months (really, ever since the GABA idea kernels stared popping in my mind's microwave) I've wondered if this day would come.

And it has. For better (my career) or worse (the immediate GABA plans), the day is here.

Somehow, despite an economy that's stalled like the White Sox in the summer swelter, I have found a job. A job that takes me back to exactly what I want to do in life (sports). A job in a new town, a new adventure, and a new experience with incredibly friendly people.

A job that will put GABA 2010 on hold... for now.

While we were getting the word out about the Great American Baseball Adventure, someone on an MLB team's fan blog site wrote that I should go get a paying job and forget about the dream of seeing every major and minor league team in a single season. Well, one of two ain't bad. I'm heading to Milwaukee to cover the Brewers, Packers, Bucks, Badgers and a myriad of other sports. And yes, I'll be back to living life the traditional way - go to work, earn paycheck, spend paycheck, repeat. No more thoughts about how to pay for that hotel in July in some random town in California.

I've learned a lot of lessons in my three month separation from the profession I love. And one of the main lessons runs a bit counter-intuitive to traditional thinking... I've learned that this wild GABA idea is one of the greatest concepts I've ever been associated with. And the coast-to-coast support reinforces the point.

There's no question that I want to pull off this trip. 150 games in a single season, experiencing America in the trenches, night after night, living out the baseball dream one town at a time.

And I believe, at some point, we'll turn this GABA dream into a reality. But, for now, that dream will have to be placed on hold - I've been called back to the sports battlefront, this time in Milwaukee.

There's still work to be done after all. What an uplifting, exhilirating relief.

Of course, this blog will live on. To everyone who has supported the blog to this point, you'll still get nearly daily doses of random baseball nuggets from this insane baseball nut. (I do promise to get back to daily blogging once this all calms down.)

But for now... Hello Wisconsin!

Take out the trash day (better late than never)...

2009-08-30T18:31:00.000-07:00

[Mock GABA 2009 update: we would've had a bonus Sunday, as the Trenton Thunder completed a suspended game from Saturday against New Britain, followed by Sunday's regularly scheduled full game. Bonus baseball! Monday's stop? Allentown, and the Lehigh Valley IronPigs. We'd be spending the day trying to find out exactly what an IronPig really is. Monday the 31st is Wall Calendar Night at the ballpark - just one week left in the minor league season!]

I swear I'm not falling down on the job. Well, I do have the balance of Gerald Ford, so I do trip and fall from time to time. It's just not captured by cameras coast-to-coast like Ford's were.

In this case, I'm talking about a dearth of blog entries of late. It's been a wild week, and the details will come soon enough, but in this economy, I still have to focus on Plan A (gainful employment) before Plan B (the 2010 GABA). There are many dreams to follow, and trust me... the GABA is anything but dead.

OK, quick reflection on the week that was:

- Suddenly, there's a horse running away with each of the three NL division races. You could write three teams on the NL playoff bracket in Cardinal red, Dodger blue, and Philly cheese sauce. (Suddenly, I want Tony Luke's. Bad. If I could click my heels and go back to the 2008 World Series, I'd run to Tony Luke's like Rocky in a training scene). The Rockies and Giants look like wild-card frontrunners, but neither team is all that complete. Which leads me to this... what if we just didn't have a wild card team in the NL this year? Phillies-Cardinals first round, and the Dodgers get a bye. I'm down... what do you think?

- I just got a call from the Big Apple. Seems they've slotted me into the 4th spot in the Mets rotation for the rest of the year. Considering I pitched my last competitive inning at age 14, the call was a shock. The bad news is, I think I injured my wrist putting the phone back in its charger. I'm out for the rest of the season.

- Speaking of injuries, rumors abound that Rich Harden may be heading to Minnesota after the Twins claimed him on waivers from the Cubs. The Twins hope Harden can show their other young pitchers how to spend extended time on the DL.

- Mark Reynolds has 40 homers. Carl Crawford and Jacoby Ellsbury have combined for 109 steals. And yet I find myself depending on Matt Diaz for those coveted last few runs and RBIs in fantasy this year. Matt Diaz and David DeJesus. Strange sport, this fantasy.

An open letter to a random Mets fan

2009-08-25T17:35:00.000-07:00

Dear Mets fan:

Please, please take a step back from the ledge.

I totally understand. It's late August 2009, and your season of dreams has turned into a six-month long nightmare. One injury was enough to take, but to see a veritable All-Star team of Metropolitans take up the trainers tables all summer has been too much to bear.

Reyes. Beltran. Delgado. One by one, they've become the boys of suffer. And you've spent the sweltering summer months watching Jeff Francoeur hit into three outs in a split second.

And now, the one anchor on a ship otherwise lost at sea has been pulled up. Johan Santana isn't starting Tuesday night, and depending on who you believe, he either needs rest or surgery.

Yes, it sucks. Yes, you've had to watch the Bandbox Bombers muscle their way to the top of the standings, all while finding yourselves closer to the last-place Nats than the first-place Phillies.

I know the desire is there to step in front of the next plane taking off from LaGuardia.

Don't.

There comes a point where the injuries and bad luck just becomes laughable. And that's all you can do sometimes... just laugh it off.

Pirates and Royals fans have to laugh every year, just to keep from crying.

You'll have your boys back and healthy in 2010. There isn't any reason to stress for another second about an absolute lost cause in 2009.

Waive the white flag. Let Fernando Tatis play a whole bunch of second base if he has to between now and the first of October. See what kind of talent's down in Buffalo and Binghamton.

Maybe, just maybe, you're getting all your bad luck out of the way in one season. The Red Sox only wish they'd had that happen to them over that little 86-year stretch.

Bruntlett's nanosecond in the spotlight

2009-08-24T09:32:00.000-07:00

Mock GABA 2009 update: Monday 8/24 would be a travel day. We'd be heading for New York state after watching the New Britain Rock Cats come from behind to beat the Reading Phillies 5-4. Tomorrow's stop would've been Binghamton, NY (Mets AA) and the start of one of the toughest stretches of the trip - 15 straight days in 15 different cities!

As tough as it is to admit, I do follow sports other than baseball. There, I said it... big exhale. This time of year, the crevices between baseball games are filled with fantasy football.

It may be blasphemous, but fantasy football is too much fun to pass up. The teams play once a week, and the positions are simple... it's a fun way to pass the time from the World Series to New Year's Day.

So I was in the middle of a fantasy football draft, debating between rookie wide receivers and their 40-yard-dash times from the combine, when the gamecast I was watching popped up this line:

"J Francoeur lined into triple play, to second, L Castillo out at second, D Murphy out at first."

First reaction: thank God I spot-started Pedro in my fantast baseball league.

Second reaction: holy bizarre endings, Batman! There is officially a black cloud hanging over the Mets' franchise.

Third reaction: certainly if that were an unassisted triple play, something would've been said about it on the Gamecast.

Upon further review (since it's almost football season), this is reason #467 why watching Gamecast just isn't a substitute for the real thing.

It WAS an unassisted triple play, the 15th ever seen in the history of Major League Baseball. The 2nd ever game-ending unassisted triple play, the first ever in the National League (134 seasons). The most unbelievable of plays - one defender is responsible for all three outs on a single play.

Baseball went 40 years without an unassisted triple play from the 1920s to the 1960s... but now we've seen three in three seasons. Are there steroids that help infielders turn triple plays? I would call for an asterisk here, but Barry Bonds has hoarded them all.

Truth is, it's just a freak play that needs a series of things to happen more than it needs a specific skill set. Runners at first and second, nobody out, probably a 3-2 count. Both runners stealing with the pitch, and a middle infielder is coming across to second base in case of a throw. Ball is lined right up the middle, right into the glove of said middle infielder, whose job from there is easier than homering off Oliver Perez - just step on the bag for the 2nd out, and tag the runner coming at you from first for the 3rd out.

It happens so fast, even hardcore baseball fans have to stop and re-count the outs.

It's one reason why random players are the ones that dot the unassisted triple-play list. Ron Hansen. Randy Velarde. Asdrubal Cabrera. That household name Bill Wambsganss, who pulled off his triple in a World Series game. (The baseball purist in me loves the fact that the only World Series triple play was unassisted, and the only World Series no hitter was a perfect game.)

Eric Bruntlett's the newest member of the 3-fastest-outs-in-baseball club. We're talking about a player with 11 career home runs, a guy who made an error in the same inning to set up his nanosecond in the history books.

Bruntlett is the latest exhibit of baseball's nearly perfect metaphor for life. Today's lesson? Sometimes, the greatest moments are nothing more than being in the right place at the right time.

Take out the trash day...

2009-08-23T07:54:00.000-07:00

2009 Mock GABA Update: if we were doing the Great American Baseball Adventure this year, we'd be taking a tour of Connecticut. Saturday night, Connecticut Defenders (Giants AA) third baseman Ramon Castro hit a walk-off home run in a 4-3 win over the Binghamton Mets. Castro had come in as part of a double-switch in the top of the inning. Sunday afternoon, we would be rocking out with the New Britain Rock Cats (Twins AA), hosting the Reading Phillies, 1:35 PM first pitch. It's Family Fun Day, and I would undoubetdly be kicked out for trying to run the bases post-game alongside the under-12 crowd.

- The NL Central has turned back into Comedy Central, with the Cubs now just one game over .500 after Saturday night's loss. The Cards could win this division with one hand tied behind Pujols' back the rest of the way. Only trouble is, Pujols looked like he was hitting with one hand Saturday night. 3 strikeouts in a game is rare for the baseball god-turned-human batter, and he looks like he's opening his stance to speed up his bat. No need to panic, but Tony LaRussa would be wise to give King Albert Sunday off (with Monday being a regular off-day).

- Mets owner Fred Wilpon has given Omar Minaya the old 'vote of confidence', saying Minaya will definitely be back in 2010. Minaya immediately injured himself sneezing, and was placed on the 60-day DL. (I've finally given up on Reyes and Delgado in fantasy circles, and Beltran's next on the 'see-ya' list. Maybe it's time for the Mets to do the same and just throw in the towel on 2009.)

- Maybe the Rays haven't run out of magic after all. Carlos Pena's walk-off hit Saturday kept Tampa three games off the AL wild-card pace. Wasn't it about this time last year when the Rays became possessed by the ghost of the '69 Mets?

- Yes, it's fantasy football drafting season (I have a mock draft starting in 5 minutes), but someone please tell the Yankees and Red Sox they don't have to put up football scores in every game this weekend. (Prediction: Doug Flutie puts on a Red Sox jersey Sunday and tries another one of those drop-kicks late in the game. MLB decides to count it.)

- I know it's way too late for this stat, but only two NL teams had double-digit interleague wins this season. NINE teams pulled off that feat in the AL. Is this another year of National League sacrificial lamb getting slaughtered in the Series?

- Runs, homers, and RBIs are like meat and potatoes of the fantasy baseball diet. And I'm starting to starve. My offense has turned into the San Diego Padres. What do you give a struggling offense in the post-steroid era? I should ask the Giants. I STILL can't name a hitter on that team other than Sandoval or Molina.

Old skool... with a 'k'

2009-08-21T22:57:00.000-07:00

Sometimes, those idle last 30 minutes of the work week are a gateway to pure fun. Or insanity.

So it's Friday night, and everything essential's on lockdown at the ol' jobby job. Just sticking around to make sure nothing blows up before it's clock-out time.

And then, an equally bored colleague mentions RBI Baseball. Someone grab Marty McFly, 'cause we're going back in time...

http://nintendo8.com/game/5/r.b.i._baseball_3/

Yes, I know... it's not the original RBI Baseball, which is to modern baseball games what Les Paul is to modern guitars. We're talking Founding Father here, with two capital Fs.

No, this isn't Bret Saberhagen throwing that damn drop ball to Mike Schmidt in the "Am" vs "Na" showdown, but it's close. And in some ways, better.

RBI 3 was an innovator of modern baseball gaming. There, I said it. I have branded myself as old school, and I don't even care. The ability to play as any "current" (1990) team, or past division champs? Instant replays? Home run distances? The Canadian National Anthem when a north-of-the-border team is playing???????

You've gotta be kidding me. In the early 90s, this was futuristic like a hover board. (two Back to the Future mentions in one blog post? It must be the weekend!) And there are so many hidden gems in this game. Clearly, the MLBPA wasn't interested in working with the fine folks at Tengen to get usage of some of the star players from past division champs. And how did our gaming forefathers deal with this?

They used the band names from Rush. That's right, Mike Schmidt is actually Alex Lifeson. And Steve Garvey (who ain't my Padre) goes by Neil Peart in RBI 3. That's it, I'm playing Fly By Night and 2112 all weekend...

Snap, back to reality and the final minutes of work Friday night. I'm playing a Nintendo baseball game, on a computer, using the Z and X keys along with Enter and Ctrl. And my colleague, who apparently has some Arch-sized chip on his shoulder about Jose DeLeon, wants me to play as the Cardinals.

The 1987 Cardinals. Coleman, McGee, artificial turf, and all the steals and sacrifices allowed by law. Yup, you can be that team in this game.

I did him one better. I played as the 1990 Cardinals. Yes, the much crappier version, the one with Todd Zeile hitting cleanup (if only players could get injured in these old games).

And I started Jose DeLeon. So while my buddy was behind me ranting like a Mets fan after yet another injury, I retired the 1990 Braves in order for two innings. Which is like taking candy from a baby for two innings straight.

And then it was quitting time.

My colleague still hates Jose DeLeon. I'm thinking about sending him to therapy. Right after I play as the '84 Padres. That's right, '84 Tigers, let's see how big and bad you are when you have to face Neil Peart!!!

Pine Tar visions dancing in my head

2009-08-20T05:11:00.000-07:00

(Note: Mock GABA 2009 would have had us in New Hampshire Wednesday to see the Connecticut Defenders score twice in the 9th, beating the NH Fisher Cats 5-3. Thursday's destination would be Portland Maine, 7PM first pitch against Reading. Tonight's entertainment provided by Christopher: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_wbBtBWUyY0)

Got wrapped up in another MLB Network replay yesterday. Actually, the replay happened several days ago, but thanks to the modern miracle called the DVR, I never watch TV as it happens. This from a guy who's been in TV news since he left college.

This one was the infamous Pine Tar Game. George Brett doing his best Billy Martin impersonation. Billy Martin also doing his best Billy Martin. Protests, screams, written affidavits by second base umpries... even Gaylord Perry got involved by hiding Brett's bat after the controversial home run!

In the light of the modern steroid era, strikes and all of baseball's other issues, the Pine Tar Game looks kind of funny and tame, like a brewing fight between 7th graders. But it's still a part of baseball's history - a game decided by a league president's ruling, and an anti-climactic finish, three weeks later, with Don Mattingly playing second base and 34 people in the stands.

Several years ago, I bought a DVD recorder to burn some of my personal work to DVD. Since it's from 2004, the DVD recorder looks an awful lot like the first VCR from the mid 70s - big and bulky and built strictly for function, not form. I feel like I should wear a brown '84 Padres road jersey every time I use it.

Anyway, there's smoke pouring out of that DVD recorder lately, and it's all MLB Network's fault. 1991 World Series, Games 6 and 7, my (at-the-time) beloved Braves floundering in the Hanky-Dome... The Pine Tar Game... and the 1978 All-Star Game/Hideous Uniform Showcase... the hits just keep on coming.

Just gotta make sure there's enough room on there for my wife to record Top Chef, The Bachelor(ette), and the occasional HGTV show, and there is peace in the home.

Pudge Fisk's 1975 World Series home run, anyone?

Smoltz as a Cardinal? A lot better than Favre as a Viking

2009-08-19T07:42:00.000-07:00

(Note: in the mock GABA for 2009, we would have seen Syracuse beat Buffalo 1-0 Tuesday night. Scoreless game for 8 1/2 innings before the Chiefs string together 4 straight hits in the 9th to win it. Daryle Ward was on base when the winning run scored. Yes, Daryle Ward still plays baseball. Wednesday's mock destination? Manchester, NH... New Hampshire Fisher Cats host Connecticut Defenders.)

So John Smoltz isn't done after all.

Really, we shouldn't be shocked. These days, being over (or near) 40 seems to give a pro athlete reason to think he can stay in the spotlight for five or ten more years. In some cases, it turns out like Steve Carlton (five teams over his last two full seasons) or Rickey Henderson (probably still playing at a semipro field near you). Other times, it's Curt Schilling or Randy Johnson, defying the laws of bodily breakdown well into their 40s.

To be honest, I was starting to see John Smoltz fall into that Carlton/Rickey/Joe Namath category. You know, the club that has Brett Favre pounding on the front door, begging to be let in?

But the more I stare at this picture, the better it starts to look.

Smoltz is expected to sign with the St. Louis Cardinals once he clears waivers around noon Eastern on Wednesday. This comes after Smoltz struggled through a month or so with the Boston Red Sox, trying to prove he could come back after a shoulder surgery and a one-year hiatus.

The memory that's going to stick out in fans' minds was the night we saw Smoltz implode against the Yankees, setting up the momentum for the Bombers' four-game sweep. And believe me, that wasn't the only subpar start Smoltz turned in for the boys from Beantown. But baseball experts, and even Smoltz's own coaches in Boston, said he had strong stuff throughout. The slider was vintage Smoltz. The fastball hit 93 on the gun, even if it was in the hitting zone far too often. And the strikeout totals were there.

I know this may feel like we're trying to pick out all the good parts in Gigli. (Oh wait, there were no good parts in Gigli.) But Smoltz may have something left in the tank after all, and the move to the 'Lou makes sense for a lot of reasons.

Smoltz will try to be the Redbirds' 5th starter, but that stay may be temporary. I live with a Cardinal fan, and when I ask her the one thing she's like to change the most about her beloved birds, she mumbles two words back to me: Jason Motte. Followed by several words I won't repeat on this blog.

So the scenario plays out like this: Smoltz gets a couple of starts under his belt, settles back into the National League. Then, Motte literally implodes on the diamond one night. After they clean up all the Jason Motte guts, Smoltz takes over 8th inning duties. He saves his arm, still throws good stuff one inning at a time (or even one time through the batting order), and preps himself for an October wearing white and red.

Ah yes, October. The month Smoltz owns and keeps on his mantle at the house. Smoltz is one of baseball's all-time best in October, and while it's not 1992 anymore, the adrenaline will still be pumping with the world's spotlight on the mound in St. Louis.

And that might be just enough to make Smoltz a valuable piece of the playoff puzzle. My wife would be thrilled. And I'm seeing a picture-in-picture image on my TV... Smoltz throwing Ks on one screen, and Favre throwing INTs on the other.

Changes brewing in the minors

2009-08-18T08:56:00.000-07:00

It's an annual tradition, just like Brett Favre's incessant summer indecision (he's changed his mind twice in the time it's taken me to type this sentence).

Changes in minor league baseball are an offseason regularity. Old stadiums get older, new stadiums are built, MLB teams change agreements, and minor league franchises move around like Reggie Sanders in his prime. (I may be generous to say Reggie had a 'prime'. And you know he's still playing somewhere, for one of those indy teams with some crazy name like the Omaha Mutuals or the Rockford Forest Citys.)

Most people don't follow the twists and turns of the minor league offseason soap opera. And I'll admit, I didn't either. That was, until the GABA dream started sprouting legs for 2010. Suddenly I'm following a whole new plotline of the baseball story.

Example: The Bakersfield Blaze have already announced they're leaving... not just the city; they're ditching the state and the entire California League. The Blaze franchise is moving cross-country to play '10 as a member of the Carolina League. (Note to Blaze staff that are making the move: prepare to replace your tofu with mustard-based barbecue. LOTS of barbecue.)

Big deal, you say. Franchises move all the time. But (see Brewers, 1998, and Jose Hernandez below) additions have to be made in pairs, because after all these years, it still takes two teams to play a baseball game. (A 9-team Carolina League leaves somebody watching from the bleachers every night.)

That means someone else has to move east with the Blaze. Another California League team has to uproot and take the longest drive across I-40. That means another sprawling Cali suburb is gonna lose its ball team. Rumors have it as the High Desert Mavericks. I'll avoid all the jokes that are coming to mind right now.

I'm also wondering where these teams will land in the Carolinas, mostly because that means changing two push-pins on the giant GABA strategy map. I'm guessing Columbia SC and Fayetteville NC, but then again, I'm new to this minor league relocation thing.

I'd say Richmond would make a great destination for one of the Cali teams, but Richmond was a AAA city all these years, and the AA Eastern League has promised Richmond a franchise for '10. All signs point to the Connecticut Defenders fleeing New England clam chowder for Southern sweet tea next year.

The Midwest League is going all Napoleon, annexing the Bowling Green KY and Eastlake OH franchises from the Sally League. Let me repeat that... there were South Atlantic League franchises in Kentucky and Ohio. On the logical scale, this one ranks right up there with finally getting the Braves and Reds out of the N.L. West when MLB went to three divisions. Thank you, Midwest League.

And the Las Vegas 51s are getting a new name next year. Ownership apparently isn't a big fan of the extra-terrestrial references, although I'm fascinated by the thought of E.T. floating around to greet kids who were born 20 years after the E.T. movie came out. Credit one of my co-workers for a great solution to this one - he wants to call them the Las Vegas 21s, as in the winning blackjack hand. The team logo could be an ace and a jack. The marketing possibilities are endless!

I'm sure we'll have more trading places in the minor league ranks in the months to come. And each one will change the path of the 2010 GABA.

It's a fun way to pass the time waiting for Doug Davis between pitches.

GABA dreaming, on such a summer's day

2009-08-17T08:06:00.000-07:00

It was an absolutely wonderful, made-to-order weekend, an off-time buffet of my favorite things in life - baseball (who would've guessed that?), Five Guys, Brusters Ice Cream (one of the greatest creations of the last 100 years!), Guitar Hero, and more baseball.

It's possible I may just forget I have a job to go back to. Hold on... I'm getting an email... it's a bill. Oh right, THAT'S why I work!

Well, at the very least, I'll be spending the first part of this week dreaming about GABA 2010. For those of you joining this blog in-progress, the GABA is my dream/insane lab-concocted plan to see every full season pro baseball team, major AND minor league, at home in 2010.

It's 150 games in less than 6 months. Yes, it's madness. Yes, it would require a lot of help from companies willing to sponsor the Great American Baseball Adventure.

But it's got me in full-blown dream mode... and you know how dangerous that can be.

There's a mock 2009 version of this trip in a previous blog entry. And if that mock trip were the real GABA, we would've just seen the Buffalo Bisons (Mets AAA) beat the Lehigh Valley IronPigs (Phillies AAA) 3-0, a five-hit shutout started by a 24-year-old, German-born right hander named Tobi Stoner. (Bisons coaches Carlos Garcia and Dave Hollins were inducted into the Buffalo Sports Hall of Fame, for those of you who love those obscure early 90s baseball names).

This morning, my wife and I would be settling into our seats in Rochester, NY to see the Red Wings (Twins AAA) rumble with the Syracuse Chiefs (Nationals AAA, although one could argue the Nats themselves are a AAA team). 12:05PM Eastern first pitch. We'd both have Red Schoendienst magnets, this afternoon's giveaway. And we'd probably both be really, really tired after seeing 100+ games already, but somehow, that wouldn't matter.

Syracuse would be tomorrow's stop, then New Hampshire, then Portland Maine, etc.

It's all still a dream right now. But with many minor league teams releasing 2010 schedules in the last few weeks, it's one step closer to reality.

Feliz Navidad comes early in Arlington

2009-08-16T07:15:00.000-07:00

That collective 'Yeehaw!' you hear from the Metroplex? No, the rodeo is not in town. And the state fair/UT-OU football game is still almost two months away.

The delight in Dallas is over the Texas Rangers (when could we ever say that in August?) and their two new young guns.

Derek Holland and Neftali Feliz got 26 of the 27 outs against the Red Sox Saturday night. (Sorry, Darren O'Day, you're not gonna get the props in this blog, even though the 1 out you got was a strikeout of the reigning A.L. MVP). And they did it looking like phenoms the entire way.

Holland's been just what the Rangers needed - a steady, young, fresh arm and an injection of life for a team that has a history of summer swoons. Let's face it, the Rangers invented the term 'fading down the stretch' over the last 15 years or so. The summer swelter hits triple digits, the arms wilt, and the minds of Texan sports fans wander to football training camp.

But Holland has Dallas' football faithful keeping at least one eye on The Ballpark/Ameriquest Field/Rangers Park/Nolan Ryan Stadium/Jim Sundberg Field in Arlington. He's 22, throws a mid 90s fastball, changes speeds well, and maybe best of all, he's left-handed.

Man, am I a sucker for a good left-handed pitcher. It's so bad, there's still a part of me that thinks Dontrelle Willis will be useful again in his MLB career. (Or, if not, I'll get to see him pitch in Lakeland 10 times a year.)

Neftali Feliz isn't left-handed, but it doesn't matter if he throws with his right foot... this kid is the real deal.

By now, you've probably heard the hype about Feliz. Just like you've heard the hype about a bunch of prospects before him. So far, with apologies to Public Enemy, Feliz is making us believe the hype.

8.2 innings, 2 hits, 16 strikeouts. Sounds like one of those stat lines from a Playstation video game with the setting on 'rookie'. But the line is real, and Feliz proudly owns it. His latest trick was finishing out the last two innings of the Rangers' win Saturday night, striking out 4 Red Sawx and hitting 100 mph on the gun. The curve buckled a few knees along the way, too.

Meanwhile, I think Frank Francisco still hasn't gotten out of Friday night's 9th inning.

I'm not calling Feliz the Rangers' new closer just yet. And even if he did take over that role, the extra pressure is a lot for a 20-year-old. Ask the first incarnation of Rick Ankiel.

But Feliz and Holland are bringing some gas to the pennant chasing party. And you know that's got Nolan Ryan smirking up in the luxury boxes.

P.S. - It's OK, Braves. Don't cry. Saltalamacchia, Andrus, and Feliz was a fine price to pay for a couple months of Mark Teixeira, I promise! (This is where I back out of the room, very very gingerly...)

Spring training to go international?

2009-08-14T09:19:00.000-07:00

The morning online surf's up, and when I came across this one, I thought I was still in a daze from watching Neftali Feliz make Indians hitters look like Little Leaguers last night.

http://www.springtrainingonline.com/200908061415/news/tucson-officials-court-japanese-team-for-spring-training.htm

Yes, this article has some age on it (8 days), but with Jamie Moyer and Pedro Martinez in the headlines, everything old really is new again! (Moyer and Pedro are Phillies, and Big Unit was a Giant until he got hurt... the N.L. really IS the 'Senior Circuit'!)

Let's hop in the fast-forward machine to March 2010. The Great American Baseball Adventure will (hopefully) be just a few weeks away. Tim Lincecum's hair will be glam-rock long. And from Tuscon Electric Park, we'll hear this:

"Welcome baseball fans! Another spring has sprung for America's National Pastime! Grab your peanuts and Cracker Jack, sit back, and enjoy this matchup between the Arizona Diamondbacks... and the Hirshioma Carp!!"

And the needle scratches right off the record.

Strange part about this is that I'm not totally disgusted by the idea of a Japanese team training in Arizona next year. Hey, it's an exhibition season, and we spent half of 2009's Spring Training watching the Netherlands play the Brewers, so why not have the Nippon Ham Fighters spend a month in triple-digit heat?

MLB teams might learn a few things from the disciplined training regimens of the Japanese teams. And please don't give me that "I don't wanna see Ryan Braun face a pitcher I don't know" treatment. In most March games, Braun gets two at-bats against pitchers you don't know, then waltzes down the right field line toward the clubhouse by the 4th inning.

It's actually a creative way to handle the scheduling oddity of having 15 teams in Arizona. Remember 1997, when baseball proudly announced it was expanding to Tampa Bay and Arizona? MLB pounded its own chest and boasted of six evenly matched divisions, all with five teams each. What parity!

And then someone figured out that 5x3=15 teams in each league. And, since it still takes two teams to play a baseball game, somebody was left either not playing or playing interleague... every single day of the season.

Bud Selig remembers. He had to fix the mess by having his own Brewers switch leagues, meaning we got to see Jose Hernandez strike out 200 times AND play the infield.

So give me a 16th Cactus League team from Japan. Heck, put a Cuban squad in Florida to make 16 teams there. While we're scouting out minor league prospects, we'll get a good first look at some international players too.

And if they're good enough, maybe one of those teams can switch places with the Kansas City Royals.

Welcome back, Pedro

2009-08-12T20:56:00.000-07:00

How many of you started reading box scores and game stories Wednesday night and thought you'd accessed a page from 1999 by accident?

You didn't. Pedro Martinez really did pitch five winning innings for the Philadelphia Phillies.

Yes, THAT Pedro Martinez. The one that hasn't pitched in the majors since 1988, or so it seems. The one that was baseball's dominant pitcher for years.

He's back, but before we start crowning the Phillies as back-to-back World Champions, it's time to take stock in the land of the cheese steak.

Pedro's 37, and that right arm's logged a ton of innings, recent off time aside. The last time he logged a respectable ERA in more than a handful of innings was 2005 - the year Freddy Garcia won the World Series clinching game for the White Sox. Over the Astros. Yes, that long ago.

Pedro's in the rotation, which means an unhappy Jamie Moyer heads down the foul line to the bullpen. Half of me really wants to see a normally calm Moyer freak out on that MLB Network reality show (if it happened, the network would edit that part out anyway). The other half wonders what will happen to the always-fragile chemistry of the staff, especially if Pedro's subsequent starts aren't so great and Moyer ends up bailing him out in relief.

Saying the word 'pitching' around a baseball fan is like saying the words 'health care' around almost anyone these days - say it, then duck... because a shoe will be flying your way. Pitching is in an incredibly sad state everywhere (Paul Byrd, anyone?), so it's only natural that someone would let Pedro try to push their playoff hopes over the top.

Just don't expect 1999 results.

P.S. - is it wrong of me to hope Pedro's Phillies rematch with Don Zimmer's Rays in the Series this October? (Don't know why I'm in a base-brawl mood lately...)

Lost and found... 25 years later

2009-08-11T22:03:00.000-07:00

Almost every baseball fan in America can point back to some defining childhood moment when their favorite team did something that sticks in their minds forever. World Series wins, no-hitters, game-winning blasts... almost everyone can recall at least one game that still elicits their deepest baseball passions, even decades later.

I'm in that same boat, too. Problem is, I grew up in Atlanta, back when the Braves were frighteningly bad. Bad enough that bumper stickers around town read "Go Braves! And take the Falcons with you!"

But despite a childhood marred by the 1980s version of the Washington Nationals, I still have a few great memories of those hapless teams. And one of the greatest just popped up on "the internets", which Homer Simpson says is available on computers now.

Mad props to Padres blog www.gaslampball.com for digging up one of the obscure greats - a 1984 game between the 'Dres and the wigwam-loving Bravos. A game I've craved for so long that I once convinced a buddy of mine (former Cartoon Network employee) to spend an afternoon searching Turner's archives for this baseball pot of gold.

It wasn't there. But now, it's been found.

http://www.gaslampball.com/2009/8/10/984036/1984-padres-brawl-video

14 ejections, 5 fans arrested, and more 80s fashion humor than a hundred episodes of Cheap Seats. And it all happened exactly 25 years ago, on a random Sunday afternoon in Dukes of Hazzard country. (I'm not proud of it, but I've learned to embrace it. Yes, some parts of that show were filmed in the county where I grew up.)

We're talking almost 30 minutes of video, but I'll give you the cliff's notes version:

Video 1:
Pascual Perez (nicknamed I-285 because he once drove around that highway for 3 hours looking for the stadium) hits Alan Wiggins with the first pitch of the game. Benches clear. You see the teepee in left field. John Sterling speaks, but refreshingly doesn't do that weird banchee-scream followed by 'Yankees win!'

Ed Whitson, upset that he's forced to wear that doo-doo brown road jersey, retaliates. Perez holds a bat while waiting for backup (his teammates were too busy dropping ground balls). Perez comes up again, gets three tight ones, and the ejections begin. Greg Booker takes just one pitch to plunk "I-285". See ya. Pads are on their 3rd pitcher and 3rd manager of the day.

Video 2:
Perez steps in against Greg Harris and bails on the first pitch, which is nowhere near him. Kurt Bevacqua starts giving lip, moreso to show off the great 80s 'stache. (this 'Dres team is LOADED with porn staches!)

6:30 - Craig Lefferts joins the plunk parade, and it's on like Donkey Kong (appropriate for 1984). 30 bodies on the field, including a festively plump umpire John McSherry getting horizontal to break it up. Champ Summers sprints to the Braves dugout for a chat with Perez. Atlanta fans end up on the field, clearly believing the Civil War has re-started. In restraining them, Bob Horner breaks his wrist for the 17th time.

Video 3:
Joe Torre tells umps he's tired of losing and will one day manage the Yankees to a few World Series titles. In the closing seconds, Donnie Moore sets off the best fireworks of the night with a beanball to Graig Nettles' backside.

Video 4:
The game has degenerated to a Jerry Springer episode. A shirtless Ed Whitson is ready to scale the dugout wall and rumble with a fan who reportedly called Ron Burgundy "classless".

Then, the best part of the whole day... at 4:10, a fan who tries to take advantage of the melee and grab a souvenir is pummeled by Jerry Royster. Just pause the video at 4:28 and check out the outfit. And know that, 25 years later, that fan is still hanging his head, knowing that his 15 seconds of fame consisted of being punched by a light-hitting middle infielder.

Absolutely amazing.

I'm not advocating base-brawls. A lot of baseball fights are nothing more than player A standing strategically behind player B, yelling 'if he wasn't stopping me, I'd...'

And I don't like to see baseball become professional wrestling, like it did on this day.

But this game, and this whole day, fascinated me. I woke up for school Monday morning, wondering if it was real, or if I had dreamed up a nine-round fight on a baseball diamond. And since this was long before we had 19 Sportscenters every morning, I never saw a replay... for 25 years.

Until now.

The Padres ended up winning the NL pennant that year. So maybe a go-around with some drunk Southern boys was just what they needed.

And the Braves? Well, this was as exciting as it got back then in the land of the teepee.

Hysteria in Houston... and Kendry keeps on krushing

2009-08-10T21:26:00.000-07:00

OK, I feel a little weird about that last word in the title... despite the fun that people poke at my University of Georgia education, I do know that 'crushing' starts with a 'c'.

Houston has taken hold of GABA 2010! Many thanks to the fine folks at 1560 The Game for getting the ball rolling in H-Town. The trip also popped up on a fan blog called Astros Daily.

Just to clear up any confusion, I'm not soliciting donations from anyone... just trying to build up this blog and see if there's interest in the idea of turning this trip into an online blog/video thing. If it takes off, then we'll see about getting some companies to sponsor the trip. But rest assured, this blog (and the best things in life) will always be free for the people.

Quick man-crush update: Kendry Morales has two bombs in Anaheim tonight. The Rays and Angels are playing baseball's version of an arena football game. It'll be something like 37-24 by the time it's over, and both pitching coaches may be touching up their resumes. Kendry now has 26 bombs on the year, and has my fantasy team in a solid second place despite nearly 1,000 superstars on the DL.

OK, so I exaggerate at times.

Word gets out about the GABA... and the Red Sox demise

2009-08-10T09:06:00.000-07:00

The Great American Baseball Adventure has legs! Thanks to proark for posting about the trip on message boards on 1560 The Game (Houston radio) and Astros Daily, a blog for, you guessed it, Houston Astros fans. Thanks for the love, Lone Star State! Here are the links:

http://www.1560.tv/forum/index.php/topic,5634.0.html

http://evilwontwin.yuku.com/topic/15755/t/Great-American-baseball-Adventure.html

People would be buzzing more about the trip if they weren't busy trying to find the Red Sox' dignity after a 1978-esque weekend in the Bronx. Let's review the four shameful games for the Nation:

Thursday: John Smoltz goes from the Social Security office to the ballpark, just in time to hand over a touchdown (complete with two-point coversion) in less than 4 innings in what might be the last start of his career. 13-6 Bombers.

Friday: After combining for 19 runs the previous night, the two teams spend 14 innings trying to hit baseballs with a sponge. A-Rod finally finds something wooden and puts a merciful end to the Friday night marathon. 2-0 New Yawk.

Saturday: Big Papi admits he got a little crazy with the Metabolift, and ChaChing Sabathia challenges Ortiz to a Body Mass Index contest. 5-zip Pinstripers.

Sunday: Sox scoreless streak hits 31 innings before Victor Martinez (who was playing for AAA Cleveland two weeks ago) finally finds the seats. The lead lasts less time than the average ride on a champion bull, as Daniel Bard gives up back-to-back homers. 5-2, Yankees sweep (insert obnoxious John Sterling noise here).

Please understand that I've never lived in New York, Boston, or anywhere near those two cities, so I'm neutral when it comes to this battle of baseball superpowers. But even from Switzerland, you could see the air being let out of Boston's big balloons.

Yes, the Sox were 9-0 against the Yanks in the nine previous meetings. But those were in April, May and June, also known in baseball circles as ancient history. What's more stark, and more stinging for Red Sox faithful, are these lines in the current standings: "W7", "L6", and "6.5"... the Yankees current winning streak, Boston's current losing skid, and the distance between the two in the standings.

The Brewers and Twins are now closer to first in their division than the Sox are to the boys from the Bronx.

And to top it off, Boston has to face another division leader starting tonight, with one of baseball's comeback stories of the year (Edwin Jackson) on the hill.

I'm not calling the Red Sox dead. I watched the 2004 ALCS; in fact, I worked with a Yankees fan who spent most of Game 7 with a bat in his hand threatening to take the head off a Justin Timberlake bobble-head. (Why didn't he pull the trigger?) It's August 10th, not September 10th, and in baseball circles, there are still several chapters left to be written in this drama.

No, the Sox aren't washed up yet. But if I were the Rays or the Rangers, I'd be licking my chops for a chance at that AL wild card.

Take Out The Trash Day

2009-08-09T09:21:00.000-07:00

Tidbits as another week of MLB action winds up:

- The Mets just refuse to admit that Jose Reyes is done for the year. The guy's had one long string of setbacks in his rehab from a hamstrong tendon injury. The latest news was that he has significant scar tissue and inflammation behind his right knee. I don't know about you, but if I'm in charge of a team that's 8 games under .500 and my top speedster had a knee that's messier than a GM bankruptcy, I'd tell him to prop himself up on the couch and watch MLB Network for a few months.

- Remember when Matt Cain couldn't buy a win for all the metal at the San Francisco mint? What a difference a year makes. He's going for win number 13 Sunday. The Giants have a better record than the Cardinals or Rays, and just a game worse than the World Champion Phillies, yet they're getting absolutely no love right now. Maybe it's because no one can name a hitter on their team not named 'Sandoval'.

- Albert Pujols drove in run number 100 on the season Saturday night in Pittsburgh. The hitting machine is now the ONLY player in MLB history to start his career with nine straight 30 HR, 100 RBI seasons. That's right, the ONLY one. Ruth, Gehrig, Williams, Aaron, Bonds, Mario Mendoza... none of them have done what Pujols has done through nine years in the bigs. Could we, one day, be talking about Albert as the best hitter that ever lived?

- My wife reminded me the other day that Kendry Morales was responsible for both of us getting a free taco from Del Taco. It was a promotion the night we saw the Angels during our California ballpark tour back in June. Kendry hit a homer, and a few hours later, we were in some small California town sinking our teeth into pure Del Taco goodness. If I could put a Del Taco in our living room, I'd do it today!

- The Nationals have won seven straight games. No, you haven't entered into some strange parallel alter-universe... the Nats haven't lost a game in a week. Washington even beat Dan Haren Saturday night. That's the good news - here's the bad... you know it's been a bad season when seven straight Ws gives you 39 for the season. And it's almost mid-August. Two more wins and the '62 Mets' record for futility is safe for another year.

- Guess which player belongs to this line: .289-35-79 with 74 runs scored and 20 steals to boot. Vlad Guerrero in his stealing prime? Barry Bonds before his hat size got bigger than Shrek's? Nope... the proud owner of those numbers through Sunday is Mark Reynolds. That's right, the Human Air Conditioner can fill out the rest of a stat line too. Is he fantasy's Non-Pujols Offensive MVP?

- Here's an eerie thought... Josh Beckett and Adam Wainwright each have 13 wins. No one else has more than 12. Could this be a season without a single 20-game winner? And how incredible is it to think the Orioles had four 20-game winners on one team in the early 70s? Where have you gone, Mike Cuellar?

Still taking ideas on how to drum up some sponsorship for the big baseball trip in 2010. Comment away!

Talking trip: breaking down the Great American Baseball Adventure

2009-08-07T08:56:00.000-07:00

So with apologies to Don Henley, it's time to get down to the heart of the matter - the anatomy of baseball's ultimate road trip.

The Great American Baseball Adventure, like a lot of great things, sprouted from something bad (in this case, the economy eating my job). I've spent 12 years living a professional dream, but that dream is on hold right now, and the prospects have been so bare that I find myself checking the home phone to make sure it's still working.

But admist the silence, another dream is brewing. And this one involves seeing baseball - A LOT of baseball - in 2010.

What if my wife and I took the 2010 baseball season and tried to see EVERY full-season pro baseball team in the major and minor leagues? Is it possible to squeeze in 150 baseball games in 150 different stadiums (technically 149 stadiums... see July 7th-8th below) in a single baseball season? Exhilirating and exhausting, but like any great dream, worthy of a little investigation.

So I turned back the clock a few months to the start of 2009. What if we had decided to pull off this grand plan THIS year? 150 team schedules, a couple of spreadsheet programs, and 6 days of work later, the result was the most dizzying itinerary I'd ever seen... and a new-found passion to make the 2010 version a reality.

Here's the itinerary, with dates, home teams, locations, and distance from the previous city:

Mon 4/6 - St. Louis Cardinals (St. Louis, MO-my wife's favorite team)
Tue 4/7 - travel day (you need a few of those in this trip)
Wed 4/8 - Minnesota Twins (Minneapolis, MN - 562 miles)
Thu 4/9 - Cedar Rapids Kernels (Cedar Rapids, IA - 277 miles)
Fri 4/10 - Burlington Bees (Burlington, IA - 102 miles)
Sat 4/11 - Peoria Chiefs (Peoria, IL - 97 miles)
Sun 4/12 - Indianapolis Indians (Indianapolis, IN - 215 miles)
Mon 4/13 - Chicago Cubs (Chicago, IL - 185 miles)
Tue 4/14 - Milwaukee Brewers (Milwaukee, WI - 92 miles)
Wed 4/15 - Wisconsin Timber Rattlers(Grand Chute, WI-109 miles)
Thu 4/16 - Beloit Snappers (Beloit, WI - 153 miles)
Fri 4/17 - Kane County Cougars (Geneva, IL - 70 miles)
Sat 4/18 - Clinton Lumberkings (Clinton, IA - 106 miles)
Sun 4/19 - Quad Cities River Bandits (Davenport, IA - 39 miles)
Mon 4/20 - Omaha Royals (Omaha, NE - 300 miles)
Tue 4/21 - Iowa Cubs (Des Moines, IA - 135 miles)
Wed 4/22 - travel day
Thu 4/23 - Memphis Redbirds (Memphis, TN - 618 miles)
Fri 4/24 - West Tenn Diamond Jaxx (Jackson, TN - 89 miles)
Sat 4/25 - Nashville Sounds (Nashville, TN - 136 miles)
Sun 4/26 - Tennessee Smokies (Knoxville, TN - 203 miles)
Mon 4/27 - Chattanooga Lookouts (Chattanooga, TN - 136 miles)
Tue 4/28 - Montgomery Biscuits (Montgomery, AL - 233 miles)
Wed 4/29 - Mobile BayBears (Mobile, AL - 170 miles)
Thu 4/30 - travel day
Fri 5/1 - Huntsville Stars (Huntsville, AL - 358 miles)
Sat 5/2 - Rome Braves (Rome, GA - 114 miles)
Sun 5/3 - Birmingham Barons (Birmingham, AL - 120 miles)
Mon 5/4 - Mississippi Braves (Pearl, MS - 232 miles)
Tue 5/5 - New Orleans Zephyrs (New Orleans, LA - 189 miles)
Wed 5/6 - travel day
Thu 5/7 - Houston Astros (Houston, TX - 349 miles)
Fri 5/8 - Corpus Christi Hooks (Corpus Christi, TX - 219 miles)
Sat 5/9 - San Antonio Missions (San Antonio, TX - 144 miles)
Sun 5/10 - Round Rock Express (Round Rock, TX - 98 miles)
Mon 5/11 - Midland RockHounds (Midland, TX - 360 miles)
Tue 5/12 - travel day
Wed 5/13 - Arizona Diamondbacks (Phoenix, AZ - 737 miles)
Thu 5/14 - Los Angeles Angels (Anaheim, CA - 356 miles)
Fri 5/15-Rancho Cucamonga Quakes(Rancho Cucamonga,CA-37 miles)
Sat 5/16 - Inland Empire 66ers (San Bernardino, CA - 22 miles)
Sun 5/17 - San Diego Padres (San Diego, CA - 107 miles)
Mon 5/18 - Los Angeles Dodgers (Los Angeles, CA - 121 miles)
Tue 5/19 - Lake Elsinore Storm (Lake Elsinore, CA - 69 miles)
Wed 5/20 - High Desert Mavericks (Adelanto, CA - 78 miles)
Thu 5/21 - Modesto Nuts (Modesto, CA - 329 miles)
Fri 5/22 - travel day
Sat 5/23 - Stockton Ports (Stockton, CA - 31 miles)
Sun 5/24 - San Jose Giants (San Jose, CA - 81 miles)
Mon 5/25 - Oakland Athletics (Oakland, CA - 41 miles)
Tue 5/26 - San Francisco Giants (San Francisco, CA - 13 miles)
Wed 5/27 - travel day (aka sightseeing in the Bay Area)
Thu 5/28 - Reno Aces (Reno, NV - 219 miles)
Fri 5/29 - Sacaramento River Cats (Sacramento, CA - 132 miles)
Sat 5/30 - Bakersfield Blaze (Bakersfield, CA - 283 miles)
Sun 5/31 - Visalia Oaks (Visalia, CA - 80 miles)
Mon 6/1 - Fresno Grizzlies (Fresno, CA - 44 miles)
Tue 6/2 - Lancaster Jethawks (Lancaster, CA - 198 miles)
Wed 6/3 - Las Vegas 51s (Las Vegas, NV - 258 miles)
Thu 6/4 - Salt Lake Bees (Salt Lake City, UT - 421 miles)
Fri 6/5 - Tacoma Rainiers (Tacoma, WA - one-way flight to Seattle)
Sat 6/6 - Seattle Mariners (Seattle, WA - 34 miles)
Sun 6/7 - Portland Beavers (Portland, OR - 174 miles)
Mon 6/8 - travel day (one way flight back to Salt Lake City)
Tue 6/9 - Albuquerque Isotopes (Albuquerque, NM - 622 miles)
Wed 6/10 - travel day
Thu 6/11-Colorado Springs Sky Sox(Colorado Springs, CO-379 miles)
Fri 6/12 - Colorado Rockies (Denver, CO - 70 miles)
Sat 6/13 - Tulsa Drillers (Tulsa, OK - 696 miles)
Sun 6/14 - travel day
Mon 6/15 - Northwest Arkansas Naturals (Springdale, AR-111 miles)
Tue 6/16 - Arkansas Travelers (Little Rock, AR - 198 miles)
Wed 6/17 - Texas Rangers (Arlington, TX - 340 miles)
Thu 6/18 - Frisco Roughriders (Frisco, TX - 43 miles)
Fri 6/19 - Oklahoma City 89ers (Oklahoma City, OK - 191 miles)
Sat 6/20 - Springfield Cardinals (Springfield, MO - 286 miles)
Sun 6/21 - Bowling Green Hot Rods (Bowling Green, KY - 504 miles)
Mon 6/22 - Louisville Bats (Louisville, KY - 115 miles)
Tue 6/23 - travel day
Wed 6/24 - Carolina Mudcats (Zebulon, NC - 591 miles)
Thu 6/25 - Kinston Indians (Kinston, NC - 73 miles)
Fri 6/26 - Norfolk Tides (Norfolk, VA - 168 miles)
Sat 6/27 - Lynchburg Hillcats (Lynchburg, VA - 190 miles)
Sun 6/28 - Salem Red Sox (Salem, VA - 68 miles)
Mon 6/29 - Winston-Salem Dash (Winston-Salem, NC - 140 miles)
Tue 6/30 - travel day
Wed 7/1 - Charleston Riverdogs (Charleston, SC - 287 miles)
Thu 7/2 - Myrtle Beach Pelicans (Myrtle Beach, SC - 98 miles)
Fri 7/3 - Savannah Sand Gnats (Savannah, GA - 227 miles)
Sat 7/4 - Brevard County Manatees (Viera, FL - 300 miles)
Sun 7/5 - Daytona Cubs (Daytona Beach, FL - 74 miles)
Mon 7/6 - St. Lucie Mets (Port St. Lucie, FL - 150 miles)
Tue 7/7 - Palm Beach Cardinals (Jupiter, FL - 33 miles)
Wed 7/8 - Jupiter Hammerheads (same stadium as Palm Beach)
Thu 7/9 - Fort Myers Miracle (Fort Myers, FL - 141 miles)
Fri 7/10 - Tampa Yankees (Tampa, FL - 128 miles)
Sat 7/11 - Sarasota Reds (Sarasota, FL - 62 miles)
Sun 7/12 - Dunedin Blue Jays (Dunedin, FL - 60 miles)
Mon 7/13 - off day
Tue 7/14 - off day (call it our "All-Star Break")
Wed 7/15 - Charlotte Stone Crabs (Port Charlotte, FL - 105 miles)
Thu 7/16 - Clearwater Threshers (Clearwater, FL - 102 miles)
Fri 7/17 - Lakeland Flying Tigers (Lakeland, FL - 57 miles)
Sat 7/18 - Jacksonville Suns (Jacksonville, FL - 195 miles)
Sun 7/19 - Augusta Greenjackets (Augusta, GA - 262 miles)
Mon 7/20 - Gwinnett Braves (Lawrenceville, GA - 155 miles)
Tue 7/21 - Charlotte Knights (Rock Hill, SC - 220 miles)
Wed 7/22 - Greenville Drive (Greenville, SC - 102 miles)
Thu 7/23 - Asheville Tourists (Asheville, NC - 63 miles)
Fri 7/24 - Hickory Crawdads (Hickory, NC - 79 miles)
Sat 7/25 - Kannapolis Intimidators (Kannapolis, NC - 62 miles)
Sun 7/26 - Durham Bulls (Durham, NC - 120 miles)
Mon 7/27 - Greensboro Grasshoppers (Greensboro, NC - 54 miles)
Tue 7/28 - West Virginia Power (Charleston, WV - 244 miles)
Wed 7/29 - Lexington Legends (Lexington, KY - 175 miles)
Thu 7/30 - Fort Wayne TinCaps (Fort Wayne, IN - 283 miles)
Fri 7/31 - South Bend Silver Hawks (South Bend, IN - 122 miles)
Sat 8/1 - Lansing Lugnuts (Lansing, MI - 154 miles)
Sun 8/2 - Great Lakes Loons (Flint, MI - 95 miles)
Mon 8/3-Western Michigan Whitecaps(Comstock Park, MI-106 miles)
Tue 8/4 - Toledo Mud Hens (Toledo, OH - 191 miles)
Wed 8/5 - travel day (finally!)
Thu 8/6 - Detroit Tigers (Detroit, MI - 59 miles)
Fri 8/7 - Toronto Blue Jays (Toronto, ON - 231 miles)
Sat 8/8 - Erie Sea Wolves (Erie, PA - 195 miles)
Sun 8/9 - Akron Aeros (Akron, OH - 126 miles)
Mon 8/10 - Lake County Captains (Eastlake, OH - 48 miles)
Tue 8/11 - Cleveland Indians (Cleveland, OH - 18 miles)
Wed 8/12 - travel day
Thu 8/13 - Dayton Dragons (Dayton, OH - 212 miles)
Fri 8/14 - Columbus Clippers (Columbus, OH - 72 miles)
Sat 8/15 - travel day
Sun 8/16 - Buffalo Bisons (Buffalo, NY - 328 miles)
Mon 8/17 - Rochester Red Wings (Rochester, NY - 73 miles)
Tue 8/18 - Syracuse Chiefs (Syracuse, NY - 87 miles)
Wed 8/19 - New Hampshire Fisher Cats (Manchester, NH-347 miles)
Thu 8/20 - Portland Sea Dogs (Portland, ME - 96 miles)
Fri 8/21 - Pawtucket Red Sox (Pawtucket, RI - 152 miles)
Sat 8/22 - Connecticut Defenders (Norwich, CT - 62 miles)
Sun 8/23 - New Britain Rock Cats (New Britain, CT - 52 miles)
Mon 8/24 - travel day
Tue 8/25 - Binghamton Mets (Binghamton, NY - 224 miles)
Wed 8/26 - Scranton-WB Yankees (Scranton, PA - 68 miles)
Thu 8/27 - Altoona Curve (Altoona, PA - 183 miles)
Fri 8/28 - Harrisburg Senators (Harrisburg, PA - 130 miles)
Sat 8/29 - Reading Phillies (Reading, PA - 63 miles)
Sun 8/30 - Trenton Thunder (Trenton, NJ - 82 miles)
Mon 8/31 - Lehigh Valley IronPigs (Allentown, PA - 76 miles)
Tue 9/1 - Lakewood BlueClaws (Lakewood, NJ - 112 miles)
Wed 9/2 - Wilmington Blue Rocks (Wilmington, DE - 95 miles)
Thu 9/3 - Frederick Keys (Frederick, MD - 121 miles)
Fri 9/4 - Hagerstown Suns (Hagerstown, MD - 25 miles)
Sat 9/5 - Delmarva Shorebirds (Salisbury, MD - 181 miles)
Sun 9/6 - Bowie Bay Sox (Bowie, MD - 101 miles)
Mon 9/7 - Potomac Nationals (Woodbridge, VA - 43 miles)
[minor league regular season ends]
Tue 9/8 - Washington Nationals (Washington, DC - 21 miles)
Wed 9/9 - off day
Thu 9/10 - New York Mets (Queens, NY - 246 miles)
Fri 9/11 - New York Yankees (Bronx, NY - 13 miles)
Sat 9/12 - off day
Sun 9/13 - Boston Red Sox (Boston, MA - 209 miles)
Mon 9/14 - off day
Tue 9/15 - Philadelphia Phillies (Philadelphia, PA - 310 miles)
Wed 9/16 - Baltimore Orioles (Baltimore, MD - 103 miles)
Thu 9/17 - off day
Fri 9/18 - Pittsburgh Pirates (Pittsburgh, PA - 248 miles)
Sat 9/19 - Cincinnati Reds (Cincinnati, OH - 288 miles)
Sun 9/20 - off day
Mon 9/21 - Chicago White Sox (Chicago, IL - 463 miles)
Tue 9/22 - off day
Wed 9/23 - Kansas City Royals (Kansas City, MO - 527 miles)
Thu 9/24 - off day
Fri 9/25 - off day
Sat 9/26 - off day
Sun 9/27 - Florida Marlins (Miami Gardens, FL - 1459 miles)
Mon 9/28 - Tampa Bay Rays (St. Petersburg, FL - 256 miles)
Tue 9/29 - off day
Wed 9/30 - Atlanta Braves (Atlanta, GA - 479 miles)

So we start with my wife's favorite team, end in my hometown... and travel 28,000 miles in between. 28,000 miles!!!!

Again, don't forget, this is a MOCK version of the trip for 2009. Sadly, much like John Smoltz's career, the 2009 season is almost gone.

So is this possible to pull off in 2010 (with sponsorship help of course)? I'll take a break to let you all discuss... there's smoke coming from the computer keyboard anyway.

My man crush on Kendry Morales

2009-08-06T11:28:00.000-07:00

Let's get one thing straight, right off the bat. I'm a happily married man; in fact, I'm still wondering how in the world I got the greatest female baseball fan on earth to actually agree to a legal ceremony that binds her to me for life.

But I'm also a fantasy baseball nut. And that means, just as I feel I'm entitled to a single scoop of Key Lime Pie in a waffle cone at Brusters once a week, I also have a birthright to have nearly unhealthy fascinations with certain MLB players.

Ryan Braun ended up on my Christmas card list in 2007. Last year, Mark Reynolds and I were in the love-hate relationship of a lifetime, and he doesn't even know about it. (Side note: air conditioners are going away in Phoenix, since Reynolds' whiffs are providing plenty of cool air for the city).

This year, I turn into a giddy little schoolgirl when the name Kendry Morales comes up in conversation.

Let me paint the picture for you, with several gallons of bleak prison-wall gray paint. My fantasy team's disabled list has Jose Reyes, Carlos Beltran, Jake Peavy, Ian Kinsler, and Carlos Delgado right now. That's right, my best fantasy players got together, went behind my back, and signed a collective 3-year contract with the disabled list. (You know, the same people that have Mark Prior under a lifetime deal.)

But in the midst of pulling out what remaining hair I have over having to start Cristian Guzman and Josh Willingham in an 8-team league, there's one sunny bright spot beaming from sunny Southern California.

He's Kendry Morales. And if Justin Timberlake were here, he'd have just enough time to call my fascination with Kendry a 'bromance' before I started throwing tomatoes at him.

What, you've never heard of Kendry the Great? Or you can vaguely recall him as some new guy that might play for the Dodgers, the Angels, the Padres, or the Hiroshima Carp?

Wake up and smell the Cuban cigars, man!

The Angel in the outfield has 23 home runs. That's right, 23. More than Paul Konerko, more than Jim Thome, more than Jason Bay... more than the three-headed monster of Josh Hamilton, Magglio Ordonez, and Carlos Beltran COMBINED! (How many fantasy owners groaned with the mention of those three names?)

23 long balls doesn't exactly inspire memories of Barry Bonds in 2001-2002. But ever since baseball's roid rage has died down to an ember, those coveted homers are harder to come by than a Hollywood celeb without a hoard of TMZ papparazzi following his every move.

The point here is that it's probably a good thing I live on the opposite coast, 'cause I might play TMZ-guy to Morales's John Mayer. Except I'd just thank him over and over for somehow keeping my scrap heap of a fantasy team in second place... until the LAPD put me in a little cell with Amy Winehouse.

So I'll just admire the .293-23-70 line from afar. I'll keep replaying that pair of 3-run bombs in the Metrodome Sunday. And in this era of depleted 401k plans and bursting real-estate bubbles, I'll keep reminding myself that values like Kendry are available - for free - on your local waiver wire.

And I might buy out the Angels team store of Kendry Morales posters. But, then my wife might start to get worried.

First Pitch

2009-08-05T09:43:00.000-07:00

After six long years away (did blogs even exist six long years ago?), I have snuck back into the Great Blogging Block Party through a secret side entrance. Actually, I just jumped back on blogger.com and signed back up, but that sounds so much less magical.

The fact remains, it's 2009, and it's time to get back to blogging basics. Starting this blog again is like coming home from a long road trip to a home cooked meal - it just feels right.

This new blog's purpose is two-fold.

First, I freakin' love baseball, and since my job got eliminated a few months ago, I've had thoughts bouncing around like pinballs in my head (lemme tell ya, that can hurt the sides of your brain). So this blog will be an outlet for thoughts, ideas, and some other random tidbits, both on the national pastime and on other aspects of this crazy recession-driven life we lead now.

Second, this blog will hopefully serve as a launching pad for one of the craziest baseball dreams ever. This is where the title comes from - The Great American Baseball Adventure. More to come soon, but the GABA (acronym, anyone?) is basically my baseball brainchild for the 2010 season.

The plan is to see a home game from EVERY full-season major and minor league baseball team in one season! (Quick math: 30 major league teams + 120 full-season minor league teams = 150 games in a little less than 6 months... and 1 calculator with smoke pouring from the display).

My wife and I are both huge baseball fans (how in the world did I get that lucky?) and we've visited about two-thirds of the major league stadiums, most of them over the last five years. But let's face it, a week-long tour of California's 5 MLB stadiums is a far cry from seeing EVERY full-season team at home in a season.

Obviously, the Great American Baseball Adventure is a lot closer to concept than reality at this point. But maybe, just maybe, this blog will be a first step toward making our baseball dreams come true.

Good to be back, blogging world.