Mets 9-11 August

We looped back to New York to catch Shea Stadium. Unfortunately, during our first pass through New York, only the Yankees were scheduled to be in town. This time we stayed in Queens near the Queensboro Bridge. It made for an easier commute to the park and it gave us an opportunity to spend longer in the city. We had one extra day that we could spend in either New York or Detroit. We chose New York as it gave us a better opportunity to meet up with Kyle, Rob and Lauren. This turned out to be a good choice as on the extra day which was originally scheduled as a no game day, the Mets played a make up game against the Pirates which we took in as a bonus. We were rally pleasantly surprised by the logistics of getting to and from Shea. Unlike Yankee Stadium, there are extra subway trains put on at the end of the game which are non-stop to Queensboro Plaza. As for the Stadium itself, it is little wonder why a new one is being built. The fans are great--despite all of the hype and press, the Mets fans were a much better crowd than either the Yankee Fans or the Boston Fans, the team is in the midst of a resurgence following the change of managers, and the club has reps almost everywhere willing to help. It ain't the South, but its the closest that we have seen north of Baltimore.

If you take a close look at this picture, in the upper deck, just to the right of the foul pole, you can see a number 20. This is the spot where the mammoth home run hit by Tommy Agee in the 1969 World Series landed. It is certainly a distinguished event, however, given all of the other events in Mets history, this is one of the few that is documented on the grounds of Shea Stadium. It is a bit of a shame. Maybe the new stadium will have more historical references.
The Mets lost the first game to the Marlins. In fact, the Mets were never really in it. It seemed like there was something missing. The team acted like they collectively had the flu.
Over the back of the current center field wall, you can see the new stadium rising from the dust. During every game there is a video tour presented on the jumbotron. It looks like this is a well though out adventure, but the proof will be in the pudding as usual.

In game 2, the Mets started out with a bang and never looked back. Well almost never. In the 8th inning, the relief pitching tried to give away the farm, but some good defense stopped the bleeding before it became fatal.

Well, this is the make up game with the Pirates. Just like our trip to Pittsburgh, the weather was not cooperating. However, the teams played through intermittent showers, and the Mets handed the Pirates a victory on the back of more poor relief pitching.

As for the Stadium Rankings, the First Division remains unchanged and consists of:

• Wrigley Field
• PNC Park
• Turner Field
• St. Louis

As for the Second Division, it has been adjusted to include Shea:

• Baltimore
• Milwaukee
• Cincinnatti
• Toronto
• Philadelphia
• New York Yankees
• New York Mets
• Cleveland
• Washington
• Kansas City
• Chicago White Sox
• Boston
• Minnesota

Kansas City 4-5 August

En route to Kansas City, we stopped at the Harry S. Truman Presidential Library. This took a full day to tour. I highly recommend it to anyone who is in the Kansas City area.
Truman was famous for this slogan. The plaque that was on his desk is prominently displayed. This is only one of many small displays. There are many other estensive displays as well.

The statue of Truman and his grave are the final items on the Library tour. There is so much info here that it is hard to summarize. It is simply a gotta see.

As far as the Royals go, they were playing the Red Sox. There were as many Red Sox fans as there were Royals fans at the game. Unfortunately, the RedSox fans brought with them the ill manners and conceit that they had exhibited in Boston.

In front of the stadium is the statue of George Brett. It is the only significant statue or memory of the Royals past outside the stadium.

The largest privately owned fountain is at Kauffman stadium in Kansas City. They do quite a bit with it during the game.
Much to the dismay of the many Red Sox fans that had migrated to Kansas City, the Kansas City pitching was sufficient to hold on to the win (barely). It was nice to go to the breakfast room at the hotel the next morning without hearing predictions of how many runs the Sox would win by.
In between games we had the chance to do a bit of sight seeing. The national World War I memorial is in Kansas City. It is worth a visit if you are in town.
We had been looking forward to visiting the Negro Baseball League Museum since our visit to Pittsburgh. It is an outstanding exhibition, unfortunately, this is the best picture that I could get. They make you turn in your camera at the door, but there are many great displays. We spent about two hours here, and we could have spent another hour or two.
That night, the Red Sox bounced back against the hapless Royals pitching. Fortunately, this was a major promotion night for the Royals so more of the locals showed up. The crowd was far more home team centric.

Unfortunately, getting to the Royals stadium is not easy (there is no public transport) and the stadium is undergoing major rennovation during the season. The stadium is not the jewel that it could be. Thus, the list of Stadiums goes as follows:

First Division:

• Wrigley Field
• PNC Park
• Turner Field
• St Louis

Second Division:

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

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