A Cross Country Trip: Baseball Games
Many of you have wanted to do it and I have been fortunate enough to already have this once in a lifetime event crossed off my bucket list. Way back, when I was months from graduating from UC Irvine and officially beginning my career in sports management, I spoke with a high school buddy of mine who was also finishing up at UC Santa Barbara. We decided that we would spend our final summer traveling before entering the real world. It was not just any summer. No backpacking through Europe. No Cancun. Scott and I decided to put together a trip of a lifetime and make a cross country trip and see baseball games — Major League Baseball games (and Stadiums) across North America.
Here was my reasoning for the trip. First of all, I love travel and see new places. Always have, always will. I thought to myself, how can I travel around the world and still not know so much of the United States? So, one of the best ways for me to see the U.S. was to incorporate another passion, baseball. So when I proposed the idea to Scott, he jumped at the chance to join me.
So in order to make this happen, the Gaucho and the Anteater met at a hotel one night before graduation. We ordered pizza and beer, spread a map of the United States across the table and then began comparing National League and American League Baseball schedules.
We carved out six weeks over the summer. The one down side was, we had a schedule to keep so if we liked a city and wanted to spend some extra time there, then we would be sacrificing a baseball game (and stadium) in a different city. We debated for a month whose car we were going to take (his) and where we would be staying. Just coming out of college, the Four Seasons was not our list of places to stay, we we did form a general plan. Stay with friends and family in cities were we could. Camp out when available. If it was near a college campus then fraternity houses would be called. And when all else failed, we considered hotels. Hey, we were on a budget.
When I travel, I like to have an idea of what I am going to see, but also like the flexibility to be able to change plans. We knew we could not get to every destination, but we sat up that night trying to figure out how many ball parks we could visit.
The year we took our trip was 1987. This was before the Internet, steroids and a baseball strike or two. This was the baseball portion of the schedule we set up for our 42 day journey.
Date Day Teams Time
June 19 Friday Kansas City vs. California 7:35 p.m.
June 21 Sunday San Francisco vs. San Diego 1:05 p.m.
June 23 Tuesday Atlanta vs. Los Angeles 7:35 p.m.
June 25 Wednesday California vs. Texas 7:35 p.m.
July 3 Friday St. Louis vs. Atlanta 7:35 p.m.
July 5 Sunday NY Mets vs. Cincinnati 2:15 p.m.
July 7 Tuesday Kansas City vs. Cleveland 7:35 p.m.
July 8 Wednesday San Francisco vs. Pittsburgh 7:35 p.m.
July 11 Saturday Minnesota vs. Baltimore 7:35 p.m.
July 12 Sunday Chi Sox vs. NY Yankees 1:15 p.m.
July 16 Thursday Cincinnati vs. NY Mets 7:35 p.m.
July 17 Friday Oakland vs. Boston 7:35 p.m.
July 20 Monday Housron vs. Montreal 7:35 p.m.
July 22 Wednesday Cincinnati vs. Philadelphia 7:35 p.m.
July 23 Thursday Minnesota vs. Toronto 7:35 p.m.
July 24 Friday California vs. Detroit 1:20 p.m.
July 26 Sunday New York vs. Chicago White Sox 1:30 p.m.
July 28 Tuesday Montreal vs. Chicago Cubs 1:20 p.m.
July 30 Thursday NY Mets vs. St. Louis Cardinals 7:35 p.m.
July 31 Friday Boston vs. Kansas City 7:35 p.m.
The trick for all of this was to try and schedule a trip into a city with both national and American league teams at the start or and end of a home-stand. It was not easy but for several cities, we succeeded.
While the basis for the trip had been around baseball and baseball stadiums, we saw so much more. First of all we connected with lots of friends and family around the country, plus made many more along the way.
Here are some brief descriptions of the life experiences that I still remember, 20 years later.
The first and maybe the most dramatic was seeing the Carslbad Caverns in New Mexico. What I remember most was that it was a great escape from the Heat and the cave tour was breathtaking. The National park is located East of El Paso Texas, but was worth the trip and a good suggestion by Scott. Here is a photo from one of the caves.
Fortunately we planned visits like this into the itinerary of the trip so we did not have to lose time or sacrifice another event to visit the caverns. I remember how stinking hot it was outside as we hit Texas and the visit to the caverns helped us get underground for most of the day and avoid the sweltering heat.
* I still cannot get the vision out of my mind of this older guy, driving on the Texas highway in a station wagon, with a car filled with bees. Scott was driving at the time and I did a double take as we passed him and then told my pilot to slow down. These bees were everywhere. From the hundreds in the back of the wagon, to the other sitting on his windows, probably trying to escape to the others all over his body as he drove, I thought I was seeing things. When we pulled back even with his car, I mouthed the word WHY? He lip-sinked back — “because I love them.”
* I saw my first Broadway player in New York during an off day. We bought tickets on the day of the show and saw Starlight Express. The entire production was on roller skates. Since then, I have been back to New York many times and have seen other, excellent productions, But, that was a first.
* We visited legendary sites along the way like “The Varisty” restaurant in Atlanta, Georgia before the Braves game and had enough time to make a side trip to Pat O’Briens for a few Hurricanes in New Orleans.
* We stayed with friends, at hotels, at fraternity houses, camp grounds, you name it and we probably spent the night there.
* The drive from Montreal to Toronto is something everyone should experience in their life. What an amazing view of the world.
* We saw and experienced American history throughout Boston before the Red Sox game, the Babe Ruth Birthplace and Museum in Baltimore
* I remember visiting with old college friends ont he East Coast and one of them recommended I buy a book for the trip called “Field of Dreams.” it was a newly published novel and the movie starring Kevin Costner was still years away. I think I finished it in a day or two.
* Not wanting to leave the Ball Hall of Fame in Upstate new York or the NFL Football Hall of Fame in Canton, Ohio
* Only one ball was caught during the entire trip and it wasn’t by me. We were in the second deck at Baltimore’s old Memorial Stadium when Billy Ripken, Cal’s brother, fouled off a pitched in the first or second inning. Scott caught it on the fly. I wonder if he still has that ball.
*I remember having to drive 24 hours straight after the final game. We left Kansas City right after the game, drove right through Denver, Colorado at daybreak and made it to Las Vegas after 24 hours of straight driving.
* and I remember, as good as the trip was, I didn’t want to see Scott for a few days after we returned home. I am pretty sure he didn’t want to see me either. It was a great trip, a trip of a lifetime. But after spending six straight weeks together, we needed a break.
Now years later, as I think about our cross country trip and baseball games, the pictures and memory are as vivid as the summer of 1987. I wouldn’t trade it for anything.
