St. Louis 1-2 Aug

It is not hard to figure out when you are getting close to Busch Stadium. The streets, hotels and bars around the park are filled with people wearing red hats. This is the closest thing that we have seen to Wrigleyville. Further, there is construction in progress near the park to make it more like the community around Wrigley. The fans are dedicated and they are everywhere. Since the Cardinals were the furthest west of any team for many years, there are still loyal fans in many of the states around Missouri. One example of the popularity of this team is the lines to get into the Cardinals Hall of Fame. After two days, the shortest line that we saw was about an hours long, so we said "maybe nest time."

Outside the stadium, there are numerous memorials. The first that you come across is the Jack Buck statue. This is accompanied by the audio of some of his most significant calls.

At the main entrance to the stadium is a series of statues of past Cardinal greats. This is Cool Papa Bell, first player from the Negro Leagues to join the Cardinals. His speed and power were legendary
The Cardinals have been blessed with legendary pitchers over the years. The first one on display is Dizzy Dean.
The second great and possibly even more dominant pitcher was Bob Gibson. Known for being aggressive and direct, he was as feared as any pitcher of his day. Both Willie Mays and Hank Aaron single him out as the toughest pitcher that they had to face.
The Wizard of Oz is also featured. I have left his plaque below in a sideways orientation on purpose. When you watch Ozzie, you never knew what orientation you would find him in when the ball was hist to him. You only knew that he would come through.

Stan Musial is also featured at the main entrance, but this statue is just down the block. Unquestionably the largest statue at the stadium, Musial is simply synonymous with Cardinal success.

Of course, the current stadium is new. This plaque shows how the two overlapped.
The Cardinals were dominant in the first game. Even their relief pitching was reliable--a major problem for the Cardinals this year.

As we were not able to get into the Cardinals Hall of Fame, we decided to do the tourist thing and visit the St. Louis Arch. This was actually a good deal. I strongly recommend a visit to anyone in the area.

There is a museum and learning center under the arch. It is really well done. We spend 4 hours there and we could have spent many more.



The hotel where we stayed in St. Louis, the Drury Inn, had an extensive display display that discussed the Louis and Clark exhibition. The display was complete with bronze statues of the main characters of the expedition. One was a New Foundland Retriever

The second game did not go as well. It was photo day and I snapped this one of Tony LaRusa from field level before the game. It was a precursor of things to come as the Cardinal (especially their bull pen) left one on the table, losing to Philadelphia in the late innings.

The Cardinals stadium and the fans make this a premier venue in MLB. So the rankings to this point are:

First Division:

Wrigley Field

PNC Park

Turner Field

St. Louis

Second Division

Baltimore

Milwaukee

Cincinnati

Toronto

Philadelphia

New York Yankees

Cleveland

Washington

Chicago White Sox

Boston

Minnesota

Minnesota 29-30 July

From Milwaukee, we took the beautiful drive across Wisconsin and up the Mississippi River to the twin cities. There we met up with an old shipmate form my first submarine, USS Finback. Brooks and I had spent three years together on that boat, and looking back, those were some pretty good times. This was the first opportunity for Kate to meet Brooks' family and it was the first time that I had the opportunity to meet Brooks' two sons. For those of you that know me well, know that normally I prefer to avoid children at all costs. This was a pleasant exception, and we had quite a good time as well as a joint trip to the park with Brooks' family.

The Metrodome is approaching end of life as far as baseball is concerned. A new stadium will be in place in time for opening day 2010 and the Twins were already advertising ticket sales.

As many of you know, the Twins came into being when the Washington Senators of Damn Yankees Fame garnered enough sense to get out of Washington. Since that move in the early 60's, they have been a fairly successful franchise, winning two World Series' and numerous division championship. This, combined with an extremely loyal and Prairie Home Companion polite fan base would lead one to believe that their stadium should be state of the art.

Well, that would be a pretty poor conclusion. In this picture, you see the roof of the Metrodome. Somewhere in this picture, there is a baseball in flight. Good luck spotting it. We watched while on three occasions, outfields lost balls against the background of the roof. The roof, the AstroTurf, and the seating that focuses on the 50 yard line (yes the Vikings play here) instead of Home Plate, make this a terrible venue for baseball.
As I mentioned before, the highlight of the trip to Minnesota was not the stadium or even the games (which were actually well played with the exception noted above). The real high light was having the opportunity to spend time with an old shipmate and swap a few lies.
The Twins beat the White Sox in the first game to pull within a half a game of the division leader.
The Twins have got a fairly savvy mascot who seems to show up through out the stadium randomly. Unlike other stadiums where the mascot is well confined to the first few rows this guy really gets around. I suspect that like certain Christmas icons, there is more than one.
The Twins are a very young team, and they have built a franchise around several talented and young marquee players, a proven manager, and the fundamentals. Two things strike you immediately about the team. First as shown in this picture, they will soon need to start shaving. Secondly, they never miss a fundamental play. They always hit the cut off man, their base running is aggressive but flawless, and they are very aware of the ball strike count that the pitchers pitch count. This is a small market team with a chance.


Unfortunately, the Twins were not able to win the second game, and thus remained in second place. There is no doubt that the last word has not been spoken about this divisional race.


Despite having a great fan base and an understanding of the game and its history among the fans, the facility is the worst that we have seen on this trip for playing baseball. So the ranking stand:

First Division:

• Wrigley
• PNC Park
• Turner Field

Second Division

• Baltimore
• Milwaukee
• Cincinnati
• Toronto
• Philadelphia
• New York Yankees
• Cleveland
• Washington
• Chicago White Sox
• Boston
• Minnesota

Milwaukee 26-27 July

En route to Milwaukee, we came across the Jelly Belly factory outlet and just had to stop. Kate uses Jelly Bellies for blood sugar control and I use them because I want to. We stumbled across Belly Flops which are the jelly beans rejected by QA. Yep--just as good, but a third of the price, so we bought three times as many.

Miller Park, Milwaukee. This is a very interesting and well constructed park. With its very unique retractable roof, it is perfect for this part of the country.

We have been to some parks that have a tail gating area, and there are a few participants. The most notable example was Philadelphia. But let there be no doubt, for all other parks, the tail gaters were rank amateurs. The real professionals can be found at Miller Park. We attended a night game followed by a day game. Many of the tail gaters who were there before the first game were parked in the same place before the second game. In fact, I could not determine for sure whether these hard core partiers had ever left the parking lot.
And there is no doubt that you are in the land of Scandinavian immigrants. This is only a sample of some of the t-shirts that we saw.
And should there be any doubt, the locals still remember and honor Henry Aaron who played here with the Milwaukee Braves and the Milwaukee Brewers. Not only is there this statue, but there are plaques, record corner stones, and so on.

One other celebrity that is a fixture in Milwaukee is Bob Uecker who has been involved with MLB in one way or another for the last 50 years. As a player, a broadcaster,and sometimes as a comedian, he has been a credit to the game.
This is the "Euk" caught live behind the mike in the press box.
As with all parks, safety has become a mantra in an attempt to avoid income generating litigation. This one however was taking it a bit too far. This sign was on the side of the concession stand.
The first game that we watched was a charity event day for the Boys and Girls Clubs. As a reward for participating in baseball at the Milwaukee area clubs the best players in the 8-12 year old age groups were chosen to stand beside their counterparts for the announcing of the starting line ups and the National anthem. This is a picture of the 1st base winner along side Prince Fielder.

Being Miller Park, you have to sell Miller Beer. On this day, the Miller man was there. He threw out the first pitch and he did the chicken dance after take me out to the ball game during the 7th inning stretch.

The Brewers won the first game and pulled within half a game of the Cubs.
On the second day, while walking around the inside of the park, we found this giant glove. It just looked like the right place for a picture.
The Brewers have an extensive exhibit on the Negro Leagues including many of the great players that transitioned to the Major Leagues once the color barrier was broken. Few people realize that Both Willie Mays and Henry Aaron played in the Negro Leagues. In fact Willie Mays was the only player to play in the Negro League World Series, the Major League World Series, and win both. I realize that because of the glare these are not the best pictures, but by clicking on them you will be able to see much more detail.


The Brewers were blown out during the second game, sending them one and a half games behind the Cubs with a four game Cubs series starting the next day.

Miller Park is a really good park but it does not break into the first division (this does not mean that I would not go back given the opportunity). So, as it now stands, the park ranking is:

First Division

• Wrigley Field
• PNC Park
• Turner Field

Second Division

• Baltimore
• Milwaukee
• Cincinnatti
• Toronto
• Philadelphia
• New York Yankees
• Cleveland
• Washington
• Chicago Wite Sox
• Boston