Baseball Road Trip of a Lifetime: Philadelphia, Chicago and Minnesota

In the last couple of years, I've been to six different ballparks. In the last week or so, good friend of The Hall Navin Vaswani has been to three of them. The fourth, Target Field, wasn't on my short list of places to go until I saw it.

Hrbek's!

According to a story I found online (thanks Google!), Hrbek's will offer a "Rex Burger," a half-pound burger with fried onions filled with pepper jack cheese honoring his nickname.

"My favorite are the walleye fingers," said former Twin Kent Hrbek, an avid outdoorsman. "There are a lot of walleyes swimming around the lakes in Minnesota without any fingers."

Take THAT Philly cheese steaks and Chicago-style hot dogs!

Something tells me the folks at Target Field didn't name a bathroom after Hall of Famer Kirby Puckett. What? Too soon?!?

Take a gander at the last four places hit on the Baseball Roadtrip of a Lifetime:

• Citizens Bank Park
• Wrigley Field
• The Old New Comiskey Park
• Target Field

You can follow Navin's exploits on Twitter at @eyebleaf or visit his piece of the interwebs over at Sports and the City. As a sidenote, you can also check out all the pictures he's been taking along the way. Just click HERE, look at my favorite picture so far...then check out the rest.

Baseball Road Trip of a Lifetime: Baltimore and Washington

Years ago, in what was probably the last true family vacation of my youth, we went out east to our nation's capital.

We drove and stopped everywhere we were supposed to. We caught an Indians game at the old Cleveland Municipal Stadium, saw the Amish in Lancaster County, skipped Baltimore and ended up in DC.

All the while, I was in the backseat knocking out scores upon scores of Strat-O-Matic games at a feverish pace.

Good friend of The Hall Navin Vaswani is in the midst of his own trip across the country and his latest sojourns found him taking that same route down I-295 that I took many a year ago. And like in many a city, Navin learns that Yankee hating is alive and well in Baltimore and that the Expos are all but non-existent in the District of Columbia.

Read his account of Camden Yards HERE and his re-cap of his stint in Washington HERE.

You can follow Navin's exploits on Twitter at @eyebleaf or visit his piece of the interwebs over at Sports and the City.

Baseball Road Trip of a Lifetime: Boston

So here's the thing about Fenway Park...you never knew how badly you wanted to go there until you've been there and want to go back. Simply put...the thing is a treasure and there are so many things to soak up that it takes more than one visit to appreciate it all.

All that aside, I've been there only once and feel I got cheated out of exploring the entire park because of some showers in Beantown throughout the day.

Matter of fact, we weren't sure if the game was going to be played or not.

This past week, Navin Vaswani made his second sojourn to Fenway and had the honor of seeing good friend of The Hall CJ Wilson and his Rangers square off against the Sox.

Fenway Park in Boston remains as I left her: one of the Meccas of baseball; a special place to watch a game. If you can only make it to a handful of ballparks in your lifetime, Fenway should be on your list. New, state-of-the-art stadiums are all the rage, and I'm enjoying them so far on my trip, but there's something to be said for history. For nostalgia. As much as I'm not a fan of the Red Sox, and as much as I complain about the park's short porches in left and right field, baseball needs Fenway Park to endure.

And she will. And that's a good thing.

Read the rest of Navin’s adventure at Fenway Park HERE.

You can follow his exploits on Twitter at @eyebleaf or visit his piece of the interwebs over at Sports and the City.

Baseball Road Trip of a Lifetime: New York, Part Two

Growing up, I thought the sun rose and set on Darryl Strawberry and Dwight Gooden and their personal demons aside (and God, they've had plenty)...I still kinda do.

To an extent.

I vowed that I was done with "The Celebrity Apprentice" last season when Joan Rivers invaded my airwaves every Sunday night. This go 'round, The Donald brought in Straw and again, I was hooked.

Seeing the once lanky outfielder (he is now a little more fuller) made me remember how badly I always wanted to go to Shea Stadium as a kid. I wanted to see that dumb apple come out of that upside down hat so bad...I could taste the disappointment of the Bobby Bonilla era all the way here in Illinois.

Good friend of The Hall Navin Vaswani got to see that apple earlier this week.

I've always wondered, had I grown up or ever found myself living in New York City, where my baseball allegiance would lie. Mets or Yankees; how does one choose? The masochist in me believes, without a doubt, that I'd be a Mets fan. I'm all about the struggle; the lean years, when I could easily throw in the towel. When all that remains is hope without reason. I'm afraid that if I was a Yankees fan, I'd take the playoffs for granted. That I'd take winning for granted. As a sports fan, those are my greatest fears. Luckily, I live in Toronto, where those fears will never, ever be realized.

Read the rest of Navin’s adventure at Citi Field HERE.

You can follow his exploits on Twitter at @eyebleaf or visit his piece of the interwebs over at Sports and the City.

Baseball Road Trip of a Lifetime: New York

Alright...so this is where I am going to lose some of you.

I have no desire to go to Yankee Stadium.

Ever.

Oh, I'd go there to check out Monument Park...but I'd leave shortly thereafter. I mean, as much as I love baseball, the thought of being surrounded by 50,000 screaming Yankees fans gives me the shivers.

I'd sooner be locked in a school bus with zombies.

Fortunately, good friend of The Hall Navin Vaswani doesn't subscribe to my (admittedly) narrow-minded point of view.

I journeyed to the mother ship of baseball's Evil Empire Sunday afternoon: Yankee Stadium, in the South Bronx. While waiting in line at Tim Horton's in Manhattan before I set off, the gentlemen in front of me had his phone ring. The ringtone? Darth Vader's Imperial March. I kid you not. Moments later, I learned a valuable lesson at that Tim Horton's, one that will stay with me for the rest of my baseball journey through America: when you buy a medium coffee in the U.S., you're actually buying a large.

Read the rest of Navin's trip to the Bronx HERE.

You can follow his exploits on Twitter at @eyebleaf or visit his piece of the interwebs over at Sports and the City.

Baseball Road Trip of a Lifetime: Pittsburgh

I wish I had some sort of story to tell you right now about the time back in 1992 when I was hanging out with some buddies and we made a bet about what would happen next...the Pittsburgh Pirates would make the playoffs or the expansion Colorado Rockies would have someone throw a no-hitter.
Because this past weekend...the latter happened.

Sure, the Pirates are above .500 (they're 6-5), but they're a long way from the postseason...even if good friend of The Hall Navin Vaswani thinks he found the one guy who believes this might be the Bucs year while in the Steel City.

The rumours are true. How do I know? Because, thanks to The Baseball Road Trip Of A Lifetime , I now have first-hand proof. Pittsburgh Pirates fans are indeed real; they are not unicorns. And I happened to meet probably the nicest one of them.

Read the rest of Navin’s adventure in Pittsburgh HERE.

You can follow his exploits on Twitter at @eyebleaf or visit his piece of the interwebs over at Sports and the City.

Baseball Road Trip of a Lifetime: Cleveland

If you’ve known me for any amount of time, you’ve probably heard the story of the time my friend Jeff and I decided to up and drive to Cleveland for spring break.

Some destination, huh?

Well…long story short, we froze our behinds off walking around downtown (and an empty Jacobs Field) and on the way home, Jeff drank all the remaining Dr. Peppers before we even left Cuyahoga County.

In his ongoing series “Stealing Home”, friend of The Hall Navin Vaswani checks in from Cleveland where, surprisingly, there weren’t THAT many more people in the stands than when I was there before the season even started.

History was made Wednesday night in Cleveland, and I'm proud to say I paid only $7 to be a part of it. Only 10,071 souls came out to watch the Indians entertain the Texas Rangers, the smallest crowd in the history of Progressive Field since it opened way back in 1994. I don't know where the hell everyone else was, or what they were doin; downtown Cleveland isn't exactly brimming with excitement, and the Cavaliers were playing down in Atlanta. It guess it's safe to say that, 16 years later, Progressive Field's novelty has worn off for the average Indians enthusiast.

Read the rest of Navin’s adventure in Cleveland HERE.

You can follow his exploits on Twitter at @eyebleaf or visit his piece of the interwebs over at Sports and the City.

Baseball Road Trip of a Lifetime: Detroit

I never had the chance to go to many baseball games with my Dad. The one time we did hit a game was a Spring Training affair between the Blue Jays and Phillies down in Clearwater, Florida.

I don't remember anything from the game other than walking up to the park, finding it out it was sold out and going back to the car only to see that the guys who parked us on their lawn conveniently packed so many other vehicles in...we couldn't get out.

So we went back to the park, pleaded our case...and was let in.

In the second installment of his "Baseball Road Trip of a Lifetime", fried of The Hall Navin Vaswani and his Dad hit Comerica Park in Detroit and, thankfully, brought home with them more memories.

I made the trek down to Detroit Tuesday morning, bright and early, with my father. I needed a ride to the Motor City and he - pardon the pun - stepped up to the plate. It was, in a way, fitting that The Baseball Road Trip Of A Lifetime began with my Dad and I taking in the matinee between the Detroit Tigers and Kansas City Royals at Comerica Park; I'm glad it worked out that way.

Read the rest of Navin’s adventure in Toronto

HERE.

You can follow his exploits on Twitter at @eyebleaf or visit his piece of the interwebs over at Sports and the City.

Baseball Road Trip of a Lifetime: Toronto

I had stopped for gas on my lunch break Friday when I read the following email from fellow Baseball Bloggers Alliance member Navin Vaswani.

Earlier this week, I began what I am calling "The Baseball Road Trip Of A Lifetime." I'm visiting all 30 MLB stadiums over the next two months...

Navin went on to detail the endeavor, include links and invite us, his fellow BBBA members to follow along. Jealous of what he's about to embark, I had to email him...asking if I could re-post his journey here.

Night one saw Navin in his hometown Toronto.

Enjoy.

The home opener in Toronto, for me, is no longer about victory or defeat. Not any more. Instead, the game, and the night, is a relic of days gone by; a reminder of what once was, and of what will hopefully once again be.

It's about the more than 45,000 fans that converge on the Rogers Centre, and the palpable baseball buzz that envelopes Canada's largest city for one day, and one day only it seems, a year. It's a reminder that years ago the Toronto Blue Jays indeed ruled the baseball world, and that the city was, at one point in time, what most people would surely call a "baseball town."

Read the rest of Navin’s adventure in Toronto HERE.

You can follow his exploits on Twitter at @eyebleaf or visit his piece of the interwebs over at Sports and the City.