My Road Trip

[IlliniKrush]

Well, i've been back for a while...but haven't made it around to the boards for numerous reasons

 

Anyway, here's some brief thoughts on the parks..i can go into much more detail on some if you wanna discuss or have questions

 

Road trip was about 3,500 miles and was a blast....lotta great memories and experiences. For a die hard baseball fan, this was one of the greatest baseball related experiences i think i could have had

 

Cincy - Definitely better than what people have said about it all year...exceeded expectations i had for the park going into cincy. Good atmosphere, good sightlines, nice big scoreboard provides all the info you could want...probly best scoreboard i've seen by far. Nice view onto the river and into Kentucky. We saw a good game with a lively crowd. I was pretty satisfied with this park.

 

We visited OSU and snuck into the horseshoe and took some pics, however didn't go onto the field..good thing we didn't cause the cops were on our ass anyway...horseshoe is cool though

 

pittsburgh - great park. the backdrop makes this park just spectacular. It really shows you the difference a good backdrop makes. It's very fan friendly, wide concourses, many concessions, get around pretty easily. Walked across the Clemente bridge and down by the river before we went into the park...gotta do that when you get to PNC. However, one thing bothered me and one of my buddies: they overdo stuff. What i mean by this is they turn it into a minor league game. So many damn gimmicks on the scoreboard with this animated pirate, and the music selection definitely takes away from the game experience. A few of you might be saying well who cares...but it's hard to explain without being there. There's just a lot of unnecessary stuff the conflicts with the rest of the park and the atmosphere

 

New York - after stopping by penn st at 230 am and williamsport at 4:00am (little league world series fields), we took a nap in the shea parking lot for an hour and a half. Then saw a rainy game with about a crowd of 5,000. There isn't much to talk about; this place sucks. It's ugly as all hell and there's nothing to it. Interior is definitely a mess to navigate around and it's just ugly on the insides. The backdrop is a huge parking lot...definitely doesn't add to the game experience. Almost no bleacher seating...just a lot of crap going on in the outfield exterior. Gee, i'm glad i got to shea before it falls down or gets blown up.

 

Boston - My favorite park. You can really feel the nostalgia at this place; it still feels really old. Outside the park Yawkey way is a big party area pregame - you can only get in there with a ticket to the game. Great atmosphere...fans are really into the game and love their Sox. By far had the most apparel for their home team of any stadium i've been to. The fans really made this place great. Interesting that they have right field and left field "roof" seats...it's really not the upper deck. And it's only 6 rows...kind of unique to the park. The insides of the park isn't as bad as everyone makes it out to be...i actually navigated it easier than i do Wrigley. Some of the seats are really close together, just as people say...however there's sufficient room. But i just like how it still feels really old and you can feel the history. Really just a great ballpark nestled into a nice tight spot in the middle of a busy neighborhood.

 

Cooperstown - Took 2 days to view. If you read everything (which we did), it will take you more than one day to see everything. There's just so much stuff, so many artifacts and things to look at...but if you are a baseball fan i think you should make a visit out there...and for those of you older than me will probably appreciate it even more because you experienced more of the things in the museum than i have. Countless times i caught myself talking to older men telling me how they were at this and that game and remember watching this game...that was a nice experience.

 

New York - Saw Clemens first attempt at 300, and he blew it. Just didn't have his stuff. Pretty disappointing atmosphere as the place was half empty when the game started on Memorial Day. The park didn't awe me as i thought it would. It's just too new...i think that's the best way to describe it. It's too renovated; kind of feels like US Cellular. Hard to get a feel for the history while inside this park...it feels like it was built in the late 80's or something. Pretty disappointed in it, but it was still good to be there, and we almost saw some history.

 

Philly - An upgrade from Shea, but still pretty poor. The place is just huge. That's about the best compliment i can give it. It really feels like a football stadium more than anything else. Classic cookie cutter stadium with no real unique features. The fans made the game fun as they couldn't hit Leither for anything and some of these fans are just so hostile and hilarious with their negativity towards the Phils. At least they made it a fun experience. The new park is right next to the old one; however there's almost no progress on it. It's really pretty pathetic. Talked to a construction worker who said they were behind schedule, but that it'd be done. Fans can't wait to get out of the Vet, and i can see why.

 

Baltimore - Camden yards is a really nice place. It still feels real new. If you told me it was built this year, i'd believe it. The only thing out of date is the scoreboard and video screen really. They have the same sort of deal that Boston has with Yawkey way outside the park. You can enter the right field patio before the gates open and watch bp. I caught a spiezio bp home run up here with no mitt and my friend grabbing my hood...pretty cool stuff. It's fun to catch hr balls up here. Seemed like a bandbox, balls just flew out of there. Real nice park though, the warehouse is a really really nice backdrop. Pretty solid architectual design. It's what comiskey should have been.

 

Well there's some brief thoughts on some of the parks, i can go into further detail if you have questions or what not.

[Chisoxfn]

Sounds like you had a blast.

 

When you were in Philly did you get to see the Philly Fanatic?

 

In my opinion, he is one of the funniest things I've ever seen at a baseball game.

[Heads22]

The Great American Ball Park kicked some serious ass when I went there June 7th.

[IlliniKrush]

Sounds like you had a blast. 

 

When you were in Philly did you get to see the Philly Fanatic? 

 

In my opinion, he is one of the funniest things I've ever seen at a baseball game.

Philly Fanatic is definitely the king of mascots, it's not even close. Usually i hate that extra stuff at a ballgame, but he even had me laughing.

 

On that same note, Mr. Met absolutely sucks

[Texsox]

What kind of seats did you have? How about a food report? How were you treated as a foreign fan?

[IlliniKrush]

Ranking the parks overall:

 

Fenway

Camden Yards

PNC

Great American Ballpark

Yankee Stadium

The Vet

Shea

 

Seats:

Fenway - Centerfield

Camden - 1st base line box seats, real nice

PNC - Right behin the plate about 25 rows up, pretty good seats

GAP - 2nd deck down the 3rd base line, nice view of the river and backdrop

Yankee - way down the 1st base line, upper deck, by the pole

Vet - Bought 700 tickets and snuck into seats 30 rows up halfway down the 3rd base line

Shea - Bought upper deck tickets then snuck into second level behind the plate, slightly towards 3rd.

 

Food:

Fenway - Had some clam chowder, it was pretty good but you can find better in the city. Still unique to have chowder at a game. Excellent dogs/brats/sausages outside the park on Yawkey way. Limited variety instide the park. Of note: No beer vendors anywhere to be found.

Camden - Had a dog outside the park, pretty good. Yawkey way like situation. Seemed to have a decent variety.

PNC - Tons of variety, and some of the small restaurant type deals can be accessed from outside the ballpark...kind of unique. I had a chili dog and some other stuff, it was really good. Almost as many specialty foods as the cell.

GAP - Again, lots of specialty foods and variety. I think i had 3-4 dogs because i hadn't eaten all day long, and they were of average quality. Of note: Tons of snowcones on a rainy day. Didn't make much sense

Yankee - Mediocre food at best. Had a footlong hot dog, but nothign to write home about. Had some of my friend's fries...just average. Food selection is real bland and way overpriced. Pretty disappointed.

Vet - Kind of the same as Yankee stadium, although the cheesesteak wasn't bad. I recommend going with that, but try to have a real philly cheesesteak somewhere downtown also like we did.

Shea - Had only a pop here because we were eating all night to stay up (night game in pitt, day game at shea next day). Boatloads of cotton candy was around for the little kids, but other than that, not much selection.

 

In general, the newer parks had a ton of selection and specialty foods...the older parks, your basic stuff, which was of average quality, except for Fenway, which had some chowder. Kind of cool eatin some "chowda" at a baseball game.

 

And i'm gonna rank the scorecards, because i score every game i go to, and i find the differences in scorecards drastic and sometimes disappointing:

Fenway - Have to buy program with scorecard in it, which i think is bulls***, and the scorecard is on one of those shiny plastic like sheets...hard to write on, small...very poor

PNC - Most detailed scorecard i've ever seen. Excellent. Took 10 minutes to total up, at least...has room for putouts, assists, sac flys, sac bunts, k's, bb's, hp's...alll for the batters. It was nuts

Camden - Another bulls*** 5 dollar program to get the scorecard, and it was the last sheet in the back of the program. Pretty low quality scorecard...tack on the 5 buck effort for it and i was pretty pissed

GAP - Everything you would want in a scorecard, only a buck, all the room you need and a nice layout

Yankee - yet another bulls*** 5 dollar program for scorecard, though the scorecard inside was of good quality. Of note: We were the only people i saw scoring the game - and it was Clemens 300 try! I was going to laminate, if not frame the scorecard if he won. The crowd just wasn't into it at all. Goes along with how they are arrogant bastards that expect to win and aren't really that good of fans.

Philly - Hard to score a game while it's raining, but i made due. Average scorecard.

Vet - In program scorecard...what is this bulls***? Never thought i'd buy something that had anythign to do with Clifford Floyd (on the cover). Very small places to write in also, poor scorecard.

 

In general i am disappointed with scorecards these days, especially when you have to buy a program to get it for 5 bucks. You are only screwing over avid fans who want to score and enjoy the game. Now, you'll say i should just buy my own scorebook...i thought of that. However, for this trip, buyin each park's scorecard is a nice souvenir to go along with the ticket i have from each game (and the numerous souvenir cups we collected)

[Texsox]

I kow what you are saying about scorecards. As a kid I scored and collected every scorecard. I was so very sad when my mom threw them all away. I really miss the one with Ernie Banks autograph. He had hit a home run that day and I would relive the game through that scorecard.

 

I also had the one from the first Sox game I went to after turning old enough to drink (as long as no one asked for an ID)

 

Sounds like an awesome trip. It has me thinking of a Houston, Dallas, St. Louis, trip.

[cwsox]

And i'm gonna rank the scorecards, because i score every game i go to, and i find the differences in scorecards drastic and sometimes disappointing:

 

I have a very high opinion of anyone who ranks scorecards. I have one from every game I ever gone to except one. They have a lot of memories and I appreciated your dicussion of them.

[Chisoxfn]

Sounds like you had a blast. 

 

When you were in Philly did you get to see the Philly Fanatic? 

 

In my opinion, he is one of the funniest things I've ever seen at a baseball game.

Philly Fanatic is definitely the king of mascots, it's not even close. Usually i hate that extra stuff at a ballgame, but he even had me laughing.

 

On that same note, Mr. Met absolutely sucks

I just remember seeing the Fanatic ride out on his atv onto the field and he was flying and there was something about him that had me laughing my ass off the entire time.

[Chisoxfn]

In general i am disappointed with scorecards these days, especially when you have to buy a program to get it for 5 bucks. You are only screwing over avid fans who want to score and enjoy the game. Now, you'll say i should just buy my own scorebook...i thought of that. However, for this trip, buyin each park's scorecard is a nice souvenir to go along with the ticket i have from each game (and the numerous souvenir cups we collected)

The Souvenir Cups are what I always keep. In Philly I had the Cheesesteak too, simply because its Philly, and it was pretty good, but if your in Philly, go to Pats. Best Cheesesteaks and get it with Cheese Wiz!

 

Damn was that good. Camden Yards has really good food too, had a bbq chicken sandwich there.

 

Boston's food was definately bland, but the good thing was like you say you can eat out on the street with all the vendors and that makes it good. I think the Cubs would be smart to incorporate something like that. Of course I didn't enjoy Fenway Park. My favorite old time park was Tiger stadium.

 

I didn't like Fenway because I was in crammed in seats and it was 110 degrees with a ton of humidity. Was sweating the entire game, so it wasn't quite a comfortable atmosphere. Still, there is a cool "awe" to being in the stadium.

[LDF]

Ranking the parks overall:

 

Fenway

Camden Yards

PNC

Great American Ballpark

Yankee Stadium

The Vet

Shea

 

Seats:

Fenway - Centerfield

Camden - 1st base line box seats, real nice

PNC - Right behin the plate about 25 rows up, pretty good seats

GAP - 2nd deck down the 3rd base line, nice view of the river and backdrop

Yankee - way down the 1st base line, upper deck, by the pole

Vet - Bought 700 tickets and snuck into seats 30 rows up halfway down the 3rd base line

Shea - Bought upper deck tickets then snuck into second level behind the plate, slightly towards 3rd.

 

Food:

Fenway - Had some clam chowder, it was pretty good but you can find better in the city. Still unique to have chowder at a game. Excellent dogs/brats/sausages outside the park on Yawkey way. Limited variety instide the park. Of note: No beer vendors anywhere to be found.

Camden - Had a dog outside the park, pretty good. Yawkey way like situation. Seemed to have a decent variety.

PNC - Tons of variety, and some of the small restaurant type deals can be accessed from outside the ballpark...kind of unique. I had a chili dog and some other stuff, it was really good. Almost as many specialty foods as the cell.

GAP - Again, lots of specialty foods and variety. I think i had 3-4 dogs because i hadn't eaten all day long, and they were of average quality.  Of note: Tons of snowcones on a rainy day. Didn't make much sense

Yankee - Mediocre food at best. Had a footlong hot dog, but nothign to write home about. Had some of my friend's fries...just average. Food selection is real bland and way overpriced. Pretty disappointed.

Vet - Kind of the same as Yankee stadium, although the cheesesteak wasn't bad. I recommend going with that, but try to have a real philly cheesesteak somewhere downtown also like we did.

Shea - Had only a pop here because we were eating all night to stay up (night game in pitt, day game at shea next day). Boatloads of cotton candy was around for the little kids, but other than that, not much selection.

 

In general, the newer parks had a ton of selection and specialty foods...the older parks, your basic stuff, which was of average quality, except for Fenway, which had some chowder. Kind of cool eatin some "chowda" at a baseball game.

 

And i'm gonna rank the scorecards, because i score every game i go to, and i find the differences in scorecards drastic and sometimes disappointing:

Fenway - Have to buy program with scorecard in it, which i think is bulls***, and the scorecard is on one of those shiny plastic like sheets...hard to write on, small...very poor

PNC - Most detailed scorecard i've ever seen. Excellent. Took 10 minutes to total up, at least...has room for putouts, assists, sac flys, sac bunts, k's, bb's, hp's...alll for the batters. It was nuts

Camden - Another bulls*** 5 dollar program to get the scorecard, and it was the last sheet in the back of the program. Pretty low quality scorecard...tack on the 5 buck effort for it and i was pretty pissed

GAP - Everything you would want in a scorecard, only a buck, all the room you need and a nice layout

Yankee - yet another bulls*** 5 dollar program for scorecard, though the scorecard inside was of good quality. Of note: We were the only people i saw scoring the game - and it was Clemens 300 try! I was going to laminate, if not frame the scorecard if he won. The crowd just wasn't into it at all. Goes along with how they are arrogant bastards that expect to win and aren't really that good of fans.

Philly - Hard to score a game while it's raining, but i made due. Average scorecard.

Vet - In program scorecard...what is this bulls***? Never thought i'd buy something that had anythign to do with Clifford Floyd (on the cover). Very small places to write in also, poor scorecard.

 

In general i am disappointed with scorecards these days, especially when you have to buy a program to get it for 5 bucks. You are only screwing over avid fans who want to score and enjoy the game. Now, you'll say i should just buy my own scorebook...i thought of that. However, for this trip, buyin each park's scorecard is a nice souvenir to go along with the ticket i have from each game (and the numerous souvenir cups we collected)

what no urnial in that list.

[Chisoxfn]

I have a very high opinion of anyone who ranks scorecards.  I have one from every game I ever gone to except one.  They have a lot of memories and I appreciated your dicussion of them.

I see, your those people that score at the game instead of watching the game

[Texsox]

Next game I'm teaching my son to keep score. Damn I thought I covered everything in his education.

[cwsox]

The Souvenir Cups are what I always keep.

yeah and when I die my grandkid is going to inherit about at least 1500 plastic drinking cups as well as hundreds of scorecards (current count) - what he will do with them is beyond me and why I save drinking cups I have no idea

 

it will be his problem though

 

he is looking forward to getting my bobble heads - got the new Sox All Star one today and it is ugly as hell

[Heads22]

When you were at GAP, did you walk around the outfield concourse? I noticed when you got behind the shed thing in CF, there is a lot of concrete that doen't look real good. What do you think is up with that?

[LDF]

don't even talk about souvenirs, i use have a autograph ball of lou grehig(sp) until my mother threw away a box i had saved when we were moving.

[cwsox]

don't even talk about souvenirs, i use have a autograph ball of lou grehig(sp) until my mother threw away a box i had saved when we were moving.

don't get me started on what my mother threw away or gave away -

[Guest hotsoxchick1]

wow sounds like you had one hell of a time.....im glad to see that you got the chance to do all those parks in on one trip........and thanks for the fyi's on each........i have been to camden and had a most enjoyable experience there.....i like that park...this year i take in a few games on the west coast .....im sure the food will suck, the beers will be watered down, lol...but ill have good seats.....

[SoxFan1]

When you were at GAP, did you walk around the outfield concourse? I noticed when you got behind the shed thing in CF, there is a lot of concrete that doen't look real good. What do you think is up with that?

I went to GAP in late May (the 25th) when the Reds played the Marlins. The field is great. We walked along the right and left field concourse. After you pass the 1B line concourse, yes, there is a cemented roadwalk. You have to go dow the stairs to get to the bleachers in RF/LF/CF. It doesnt look that great but you really cant see it from home plate cuz the bleachers are pretty high. We sat in Right Center field. I caught a Pudge BP HR ball and Dontrelle Willis and Brad Penny signed a ball I brought. My friend caught a Kearns HR ball in BP. The food is great. The hot dogs are so juicy and the personal pizza's are delcious. After the game we sat on the concourse behind right field and had a scenic view of the Mississippi River and across the river to Kentucky. I also went on a ferry down the Mississippi. The scorebaord is really cool. Give a lot of info on the batters and pitchers. Overall I give it a 9 1/2 out of 10! Also, the groundscrew from the stadium came and handed out t-shirts, towels, pom-poms, and other souveniers cuz we were "Special Guests from Chicago" BTW, they asked everyone if they were Cubs or Sox fans. Sox fans got double stuff! HeHe!

[BridgeportHeather]

After the game we sat on the concourse behind right field and had a scenic view of the Mississippi River and across the river to Kentucky. I also went on a ferry down the Mississippi.

I also see you flunked out of your Geography class!!!

 

OHIO River, not Mississippi!!! LMFAO!!!!!

[IlliniKrush]

A few things:

 

Cwsox, i score every game i got to, i have a nice collection (certainly nothing compared to yours) and i keep every ticket with the scorecard...i didn't know if people were going to thikn i was a bit nuts for ranking scorecards, but it's definitely something that i felt necessary to cover. And chisoxfn, lol, it's not hard to score a game and watch it, contrary to what people think. It keeps you much more involved and sharp. I think i was the only one that cared about the worthless double switches by the cubs when they were down 9 in the 8th inning on Friday vs the Sox...kind of funny

 

Sox heads...ya, at the Gap there is a lot of bland concrete behind the outfield concourse and stuff...they should look into doing something with that...Pittsburgh does a good job with that. Oh, and my biggest flaw with PIttsburgh was the green wall of a backdrop. It sticks out like a sore thumb...it's something that is easily fixable but is just out of place.

 

Oh, and heather, do they teach geography at ISU?