The two friends had met through the Sacramento Men's Senior Baseball League and first discussed the dream of taking a baseball ballpark tour to the east coast on a spring training excursion in 1992. It seemed too difficult to attempt, but the idea of seeing some of the great ballparks and great teams of the game was enticing. John Rice and Clay Sigg had been teammates on two MSBL World Series Championship 40-and-over teams in 1990 and 1991 and both shared abiding love for the game. Many years before they had met, they had been rival all-conference center fielders for Sacramento State University and the University of California at Davis, respectively. At the same time, Clay had been talking with his twelve year old son Anthony (who had just completed a month of Little League All Star competition) about a ballpark tour since he was seven years old. Finally, the three baseball aficianados made the plunge. They bought their roundtrip airline tickets to Baltimore and reserved a rental car. It is important to note, the threesome purchased their airline tickets with no assurances of baseball ducats to any of the games they were hoping to see, except one. The trip was almost entirely improvisational and was begun with the expressed goal of doing it "on the cheap". If you've ever daydreamed about taking a baseball only road trip, let the following journal serve as a motivation to finally do it:
July 23rd - Took the flight out of Sacramento early in the morning with a stop over in St. Louis. We made the connection for our Nissan Altima rental car near the Baltimore Airport, parked near Oriole Park at Camden Yards, grabbed a hot dog and a coke and walked directly to the "No Scalping Zone" outside of the center field entrance. This is a unique, fan friendly concept at Camden Yards that acknowledges that fans need tickets at sell outs. The Orioles only insist that while selling or buying tickets in the "No Scalping Zone" that you ask and pay no more than face value on the ticket for that night's game. A reasonable idea put into practice. This game drew almost 44,000 fans.
Oriole Park at Camden Yards was the first of the new "baseball only" parks that emphasized the feel of the old time traditional ballparks, yet provided better site lines for the fans with bigger seats, bigger aisles, better rest rooms and better amenities all the way around. Oriole Park is impressive with black wrought iron gates surrounding the park and traditional brick as a focal point outside and inside the stadium. The old brick warehouse beyond right field and a view of downtown Baltimore in left center field add a classic feel to the park. The massive scoreboard in center field is a mixture of high tech magic and the old time scoreboard with a liberal use of colorful advertising signs. Oriole Park has not only served to significantly enhance community pride in the city and for the ball team, but it also has been the catalyst for redevelopment of the inner harbor in Baltimore.
We were quickly through the turnstiles and soaked in the beauty of one of the best ballparks on earth. Within ten minutes, John had himself a souvenir American League baseball winning a scramble for a batting practice home run in left field right at the rail. Just prior to the game, we briefly shook hands and chatted with Anaheim catcher Matt Walbeck, who hails from Sacramento. Clay and Matt worked out at a local Sacramento batting cage together in the early 90's when Matt was recuperating from a knee injury he suffered in a home plate collision in Class A ball, and Clay was training for his MSBL competition. Walbeck used the rehab to teach himself to be a switch hitter and actually increased his value as a professional. He has developed into a solid major league catcher and hitter.
Anthony particularly enjoyed the well played, 1-0 game. The Baltimore Orioles have been one of his favorite teams and Cal Ripken, Jr. has been his favorite player. Oriole pitcher Juan Guzman hurled eight impressive innings of shutout baseball. Former Cy Young Award winner "Black Jack" McDowell also pitched well for the Angels in a losing effort. Ripken made three outstanding fielding plays at third base (the last one a do-or-die bare-handed charge to end the game) and had the only RBI. Our man Matt Walbeck was the only Angel with more than one hit. We happened to be sitting right in front of ex-Oriole star pitcher Scott McGregor. We explained to Anthony that McGregor had pitched for the Orioles for 13 seasons winning 20 games in 1980 and pitching the clutch final game victory over the Philadelphia Phillies in the 1983 World Series. He also played high school baseball with new Hall of Famer George Brett for three years at El Segundo High School in Southern California. Scott had a great career, but was quite modest in his conversations with us. We talked to him for three innings about a wide range of subjects including his new career as an associate pastor of the Rock Church in suburban Towson, Maryland. He was a genuinely engaging guy. After the game, we visited again with Matt Walbeck before his team bus left. We wouldn't have found Matt if not with some help from some Baltimore Policemen who actually directed us to the Angel Clubhouse. The three of us were generally impressed with how friendly people were in Baltimore. It was a great experience. We then drove to Princeton, New Jersey and checked into our motel about 3:30 a.m.
July 24th - Drove from Princeton to meet a relative of John's who lives in Queens, New York. Paid tolls repeatedly all the way there, some as much as $6.00. Massive traffic jams became worse the closer we got to New York City. The Yankees versus Indians game was scheduled at 4:35 p.m. so we took the opportunity to freshen up. Drove to Yankee Stadium, paid for the parking and then proceeded to purchase tickets in the second tier for a little over face value. Yankee Stadium is situated in a now somewhat past it's prime section of the Bronx which has prompted Yankee owner George Steinbrenner to talk about building a new ball park in New Jersey. We were there for what we thought was plenty of time to tour through the Yankee monuments behind left field. To our dismay, we found that the Yankees shut off the viewing of these monuments some 45 minutes before game time.
New York was experiencing a heat wave when we were there. Of course, our Sacramento summers are hot, but the San Joaquin Delta breezes cool us off as soon as the sun goes down. No such luck in New York. People were downright uncomfortable with the sticky, humid weather.
We were all looking forward to seeing Yankee Stadium, the "House that Ruth Built", the place where all those great Yankees had played- the home of 24 World Championship teams. Lou Gehrig, Bill Dickey, Joe DiMaggio, Yogi Berra, Phil Rizzuto, Mickey Mantle, Whitey Ford, Roger Maris, Thurman Munson, Ron Guidry, Don Mattingly… And now to watch possibly the best Yankee team of them all. Anthony couldn't wait to see Derek Jeter (along with hundreds of screaming teenage girls). Jeter is the current heart throb of the entire city with his good looks and his prodigious baseball talent.
About the fifth inning, we did the "three dollar shuffle" appropriating ourselves some seats that were otherwise unoccupied right behind home plate. We were a bit taken back by the aggressive atmosphere at Yankee Stadium. It exuded a belligerent rhythm that we would not see the rest of the trip. There were more loud people in one half section of seats in Yankee Stadium than at all the other ballparks we sampled the rest of the entire trip.
While watching a fight between one man wearing a Cleveland baseball cap and a number of rabid Yankee fans, Clay saw a baseball flying toward him out of the corner of his eye. He had caught a foul ball without seeing who had hit it! It was probably Yankee catcher Jorge Posada, who got four hits during the game. People near us complimented Clay on the nice catch. Little did they know. The game itself was the ignominious 21-1 game where the Bronx Bombers absolutely demolished a very good Cleveland Indian team, 21-1. Chili Davis went 5 for 6 with 6 RBI. Scott Brosius hit a home run. Hideki Irabu pitched well enough to nail down a spot in the Yankee starting rotation. It was an impressive game for the defending World Champions. Very enthusiastic crowd. Festive, raucous atmosphere. After the game, spent some time in the Pinstripe Lounge, filed out of the stadium and ate a late dinner at the All Star Café in Time Square. It's an upscale sports bar and restaurant with displays of many athletic greats featuring Ken Griffey, Jr., Shaquille O'Neal, Wayne Gretzky and Tiger Woods. It was full of noise and energy and must have cost a small fortune to open and operate. Afterward, we took a driving tour of lower Manhattan.
July 25th - Although we had intended to get up early and drive to Cooperstown to view the popular Baseball Hall of Fame Induction ceremony of George Brett, Nolan Ryan, Robin Yount, Orlando Cepeda, et al, we decided to forego it in favor of seeing another game at Yankee Stadium. This time we were going to see the Yankee monuments. We were warned that there would be as many 40,000 people all converging on the little village of Cooperstown. Our sense was that it would be a bit more of a hassle than we were ready for. We got off to a slow start to the stadium and temporarily lost our way. By the time we recovered, we had not only missed the monument tour again, but were running the risk of not even getting into the game at all. Apparently, after the 21-1 drubbing of the day before and prospect of future Hall of Famer Roger Clemens pitching for the home team, Yankee fans were smelling blood. There was huge demand for tickets and we were feeling the pinch. Official attendance figures for the game were 54,944 paid customers.
By default, we experienced the famous Yankee Bleacher Bums we had heard about all our lives. Boisterous, unruly, of all ethnic persuasions, baseball savvy, prone to profane cheers, a teeming mass of enthusiasm and partisan fanaticism for their Yankees. Pity the bleacherite who wore an Indian cap this day. They were virtually shouted out of the ballpark. We began to wonder if it had been a good parenting decision to subject Anthony to this kind of baseball "culture". Our best estimate is that perhaps 15 people had to be escorted out of the bleachers by NYPD and special security.
Clemens pitched well before coming out in the eighth inning and the Yankees won 2-1 on Ricky Ledee's ninth inning home run. An incredibly hot day. We then drove all the way to Cooperstown and met one of our MSBL teammates, Steve Gregory, the shortstop on our '90 and '91 MSBL World Series Championship Sacramento teams.
July 26th - Slept overnight in Steve's rented cabin just outside Cooperstown. Steve was there all week to watch his twelve year old son Sam play in a tournament at the Cooperstown Dream Field. We watched Sam hit a home run and saw the opposing centerfielder make great catch, run into the wall and hit his head. He was laying there unconscious, but had held on to the ball (shades of Willie Mays at Ebbetts Field).
We drove into the village of Cooperstown which is nowhere near any freeway and requires you to drive for miles on a two lane road to reach it. The population of Cooperstown is only 2,300. Much smaller than we expected. It is really quintessential small town America. We dropped off John in front of the Hall and parked our car. By the time we got to the Hall entrance, we couldn't find John. We were disconnected for about three hours, but enjoyed a thorough look through the National Baseball Hall of Fame, all three floors of it. Especially good were the multimedia video, the modern day team displays, the baseball card exhibit, the Home Run Hitters Exhibit and the area housing the inductees' plaques. We noticed that the Hall of Fame has been redone since the ‘80's. It's much more organized, updated and thorough.
Meanwhile, John had scored on some tickets to the Hall of Fame Exhibition game at Doubleday Field up the street between the Kansas City Royals and the Texas Rangers. Doubleday Field is an old, small town ballpark with bandbox dimensions. The fans are right on top of the players. The ballplayers all seemed to be having great fun. The game was just an exhibition. The San Diego Chicken was there to provide hilarious comic relief. Rafael Palmeiro showed his sweet swing by stroking a line shot home run.
We ate lunch at the Doubleday Café on Main Street, enjoyed walking up and down main street, buying souvenirs and celebrating a town that was completely immersed in the game of baseball. One sign in town facetiously called out: "Cooperstown-a drinking town with a baseball problem". To prove it is a small world, we encountered a fellow coach and his son from our home town Lakeside Little League in Granite Bay. We were ordering Anthony a commemorative bat at the Cooperstown Bat Company. We felt we would like to return and see an induction weekend the right way. We got some tips that will probably make it easier when we get back here. We traveled to just this side of Buffalo, New York near Batavia and checked into our motel at 2:30 a.m.
July 27th - We took a quick look at Niagara Falls from the American side before traveling on to Toronto. John had called ahead to see if we could meet up with an old teammate of his, Buck Martinez. Buck and John and Phillies great Larry Bowa had been among players selected to play on a "Phillies Phutures" team in the middle ‘60's. It had been composed entirely of promising, young, amateur ballplayers in Sacramento by the regional Phillies scout. They had barnstormed around the San Francisco Bay Area together courtesy of the Philadelphia organization. We met Buck Martinez at Toronto's upscale Westin Harbour Castle Hotel in the early afternoon. He walked up to us while in his workout clothes just after we had parked our car. Buck is one of a voice of the Toronto Blue Jays working with TSN in Canada and for ESPN. He is also a veteran of 16 major league seasons (1969-86) as a catcher with the Kansas City Royals, Milwaukee Brewers and the Blue Jays. He was a teammate of newly inducted Hall of Famers George Brett (for five years) and Robin Yount (for three years). He has a unique baseball perspective, and we enjoyed talking with him. He was clear in his opinion that Pete Rose has little, if any, chance of being elected to the Baseball Hall of Fame unless he admits his gambling indiscretions, which were more significant than most people realize, and apologizes to the baseball world. We still think Pete Rose belongs in the Hall.
Buck said, "Well, let's plan your day for you." He recommended that we have lunch at Wayne Gretzky's restaurant near the Skydome. It is the only one he owns and is full of Gretzky memorabilia. He also gave us directions to a ballpark where Anthony could work out near the harbor. We all threw the baseball around and pitched some batting practice to Anthony. Buck also graciously left keys to the Westin Harbour Castle Health Club so we could swim and clean up before the game.
We picked up the three tickets Buck had left for us, although it took us a good 25 minutes to pick these tickets up and barely made it into the park for the opening pitch. It appears that Blue Jays baseball is finally resurrecting itself after the 1994 baseball strike canceled the World Series. Toronto is not without it's baseball history and success. After all, the Blue Jays had won back to back World Series Championships in 1992 and 1993.
Buck had really pulled out all the stops for us with great seats eight rows up from field inside the
first base site line right behind Lloyd Moseby, the Blue Jays first base coach and Clay's fellow
member at the Granite Bay Golf Club. We know Lloyd as a convivial golf partner and a former
Lakeside Little League coach. We hoped to hook up with him after the game.
Buck had mentioned casually that we should come up and visit him in the broadcast booth
sometime after the fourth inning after things smoothed out into a routine. When we were
ushered into his fourth floor broadcasting suite, within minutes Buck had escorted Anthony to the
live broadcast area and placed a headset over his ears.
Anthony was sitting between Buck Martinez and the other play-by-play announcer for the Jays! What a great experience for a
twelve year old to be sitting in the catbird's seat looking out over 38,000 fans hearing the two
announcers do the play by play live to his left and his right. Anthony heard and saw the game from a new point of view for the next three innings. He appreciated what a memorable
experience he was having.
By the time we had gotten back to our seats, a few people had left in front of us. We snatched two seats in the front row just in time for the top of the ninth to begin. The Red Sox center fielder Damon Buford fought off a two strike pitch that took two hops skipping across the artificial turf toward us in foul territory. Clay speared it off the turf receiving some polite applause from the capacity crowd. That made three American League baseball souvenirs for our threesome in as many ballparks!
Although none of us are particularly fans of artificial turf, we really enjoyed the Toronto Skydome. Very pleasant after the experience in New York. The Dome was retracted and the weather was cool and breezy. The game was excellent with the outcome in doubt all the way down to the bottom of the ninth with the Sox slipping by the Jays, 11-9. Great hitting display by both teams especially Nomar Garciaparra, Darren Lewis, Homer Bush and Shawn Green, who was in the middle of one of the longest hitting streaks of the year. We also saw a stocky little second baseman named Sadler who impressed everybody with his speed and agility. He had two hits in his first game back from AAA with the Red Sox. It was just the kind of game the we enjoy the most- close all the way, but with a lot of offensive fireworks.
We drove back to Niagara Falls after failing to connect with Lloyd Moseby after the game. He'd already left the park. Anthony also left his Lakeside Little League sweatshirt at his seat so we got another look at the deserted Skydome from the security golf cart after the crowd had left the stadium. The security staff located his sweatshirt to preserve his wonderful day. Checked into our motel at 2:00 a.m.
July 28th - We all awoke groggy in Niagara Falls. We took the "Maid of the Mist" boat trip underneath the Canadian Falls and saw the IMAX film before embarking on our trek to Cleveland to see the game between the Indians and the Detroit Tigers this evening. We noticed the new ballpark of the highly successful Buffalo Bisons on our way through downtown Buffalo. The Bisons are the Cleveland AAA affiliate. Because we were unable to access John's voice mail, we were driving all the way to Cleveland without assurance that Buck Martinez had been able to get us tickets to another of the sold out games at Jacobs Field. We arrived in Cleveland during the second inning. While John was checking the will call window, Clay and Anthony went across the street to check for scalping prices. IN THE SECOND INNING, SCALPERS WERE ASKING DOUBLE THE FACE VALUE. They indicated that "The Jake" is sold out for the next five years! We began to panic a little bit. Just about that time, we saw John in the distance motioning to us that he had the tickets we had hoped for. Buck Martinez had called ahead and reserved us excellent tickets in the 15th row right behind the Indians dugout. Wonderful seats. Without Buck, we would have been in trouble even getting into the Jake. Jacobs Field is a querky, new stadium. It is easy to see why it is sold out for the forseeable future. It is elegant, yet intimate… all garnished in red (the Indians' dominant color) with a statue of Indians great pitcher Bob Feller beyond center field outside the stadium. The scoreboard in left center field gives off a traditional impression, but it is very high tech. There is a right field corner where the ball could take funny bounces for the right fielder. The outfield dimensions are asymmetrical and interesting. There is a left field stands section that sits higher than the field box patrons. It is probably an outstanding vantage point to see a game. Getting a chance to experience a game at Jacobs Field was well worth the drive as it was one of our favorite parks.
The Indians bested the Tigers, 7-2, behind seven innings of Doc Gooden's pitching and Manny Ramirez' hitting. Ramirez was 3 for 4 with a home run, two doubles and four RBI. It is no accident that Ramirez is leading the American League in Runs Batted In. He is a special hitter. Jim Thome also hit a titanic cannon shot home run to left field. We think the Indians have the personnel to give the Yankees a run for it in the post season if they can get everybody healthy. They have an all star at each position on the diamond and the best double play combination on the planet with Omar Vizquel and Roberto Alomar.
We had been rumored that if Gooden hadn't pitched well that night, the Indians were going to give him his release. We got out of Cleveland very late and drove to 30 minutes west of Pittsburgh. Checked into the Sleep Inn at 2:00 a.m. bone tired.
July 29th - Woke up somewhat wiped out and drove into Pittsburgh. We found out that Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania had become a clean city despite a poor reputation earned before the 1970's. We knew we couldn't reach Philadelphia for the 1:00 p.m. game between the Phillies and the Florida Marlins, so we decided that we should relax and find out about Three Rivers Stadium, the home of the Pittsburgh Pirates. There was no game scheduled that day, but that was a blessing in disguise. We saw Three Rivers from a unique perspective. One of the reasons we included Pittsburgh in our itinerary was the respect that Clay had for the career and character of Pirate great Roberto Clemente. In Pittsburgh and in Clemente's native Puerto Rico, they call him "The Great One". We immediately took a photograph under the Roberto Clemente statue that had been dedicated at the All Star Game on July 8th, 1995.
John talked to the Pirate offices and arraigned a tour of the stadium. We were taken all the way up to the "nosebleed seats", or "peanut heaven", as they were described by the guide. We also got a tour of the Pirates dugout and walked through the runway leading to the clubhouse. The guide pointed out a metal wall where the Pirate players routinely take out their frustration. We saw hundreds of imprints in the wall from baseball bats being smashed against it. Apparently, just like little leaguers, the major league players get frustrated. The professionals just don't like to show it in public. We also walked out on the field and down to the opposing team's bullpen. The artificial turf is more padded, more cushioned than we had imagined. We bought lunch inside the Three Rivers Stadium at the Home Plate Café and ate it overlooking the field in the press box area.
Before leaving Pittsburgh, we visited a sports memorabilia shop in downtown Pittsburgh where we purchased some Clemente photographs and collectibles. Clay and Anthony played catch at a rest stop just west of the Pocono Mountains for about 45 minutes just before the sun went down. Stopped for dinner at 10:03 p.m. at Kentucky Fried Chicken where the employees were shutting down. For some reason, they gave us enough extra chicken for a future lunch and sent us on our way. We checked into our motel in the Pocono Mountains and stayed at the Days Inn. Lights out at 3:00 a.m.
July 30th - We prepared for our long drive to Boston, but decided to show Anthony New York City from the top of World Trade Center on our way. We decided to board the subway in Jersey City. As it turned out, it was an efficient way to get in and out of the Twin Towers. We then set our sails for Boston not realizing that we were in for the Friday afternoon traffic. We decided to detour through a rural route. Although it probably didn't save us much time, it did give us a dose of rural New England and was quite pleasant. We saw the substantial charm of small town Connecticut New England. We were so unconcerned by time that we even stopped for a major one hour session of three way baseball catch.
Because of the detours and delays, we arrived at Fenway Park in the sixth inning. Despite the security at the gates, we walked right in while many of the patrons were walking out. The Red Sox were in the process of being undressed by the New York Yankees, 13-3. We sat about 20 rows up behind the Yankee dugout for the last three innings. After the game, it was "souvenir-mania" for Anthony who was on a mission to get posters of all of his favorite shortstops. This trip enabled Anthony to study Derek Jeter four times and Omar Vizquel and Nomar Garciaparra three times each.
Next we had the somewhat ill-conceived idea to find lodging at the local chapter of Sigma Alpha Epsilon, Clay's college fraternity. We found the Massachusetts Institute of Technology chapter house. Although an absolute pig sty, we decided to stay anyway because motels were so far out of town and it was extremely late. We wolfed down an Italian dinner at 2 a.m. and fell asleep on grimy couches in the chapter room.
July 31st - After the most questionable night's sleep of the entire road trip, we took the subway to Queen's Square in downtown Boston and ate breakfast. Rode the subway, called the "T", to Fenway Park and did so early because, although we had been promised that there would be tickets reserved for us, we were not entirely certain the connection had been made. We knew that Fenway would be absolutely sold out because former Red Sox great Roger Clemens was pitching that day for the hated Yankees. On our way to the park, we duly noted that tickets were going for double their face value out on the street. Luckily for us, our tickets were there, and although we had to pay the face value of $24.00 per ticket, it was a bargain indeed in light of the atmosphere at Fenway that day.
We saw the Yanks take batting practice and got the feel of Fenway Park. Yankee hitters put many more small dents into the famous Green Monster in left field. Fenway is the oldest park in the American League having been built in 1912. It was what it was billed to be, an intimate old ballpark that was fascinating. All the signage from the 1999 All Star Game was still evident, especially on the Green Monster. It had been a memorable all star game for Boston, probably Fenway's last. The whole town came out to see Ted Williams tip his cap to a Fenway crowd for the first time since the 1930's.
Fenway was smaller than we had thought. Many foul balls careened backward right out of the stadium. The attendance was 33, 179 that day, but it was packed to the gills. And the patrons were packed in like sardines. The seats are small, the aisles are tiny and, although it is lovable and a veritable living baseball museum, Boston needs to build a new park. Brochures around the park indicated that there is a movement afoot to do just that.
Boston fans weren't as pugnacious as the fans in Yankee Stadium. They also seemed to be more accommodating and tolerant because a good number of the ticket holders wore Yankee paraphernalia and rooted loudly for the Yanks. Fortunately, the Bosox beat the Yanks, 6-5, in a good game which ended weirdly. Yankee left fielder Shane Spencer was forced to let a long fly ball drop in the corner with a runner on third and one out. If he had caught it fair or foul, the Red Sox runner would have tagged and scored. He let it drop and the ball landed inches fair. Game over. Red Sox win.
We rode the subway back to Quincy Market. However, the air conditioning was not operable on the subway car we boarded. Our subway trip was much like a mobile sauna bath all the way to Quincy Market. We all looked at each other pouring perspiration and just laughed. We met one of John's friends who lived in the Boston area, had dinner at Hooligan's near the square, then drove all the way to Princeton, New Jersey again. This time, we were stymied by the Red Roof Inn for about one and a half hours. The attendant was either unable or unwilling to give us good enough directions. When we were finally escorted there, we demanded a free room and got it. This time we did not actually hit the pillow until after 5 a.m.!
August 1st - Stumbled out of bed knowing we would have to make it to Baltimore to catch our airplane back to Sacramento. After breakfast near Princeton University, we drove to Aberdeen, Maryland, the hometown of Cal Ripken, Jr. and the location of a fine museum in honor of the Ripken family. It was a fitting final destination for an outstanding ten day baseball odyssey. Fabulous. We barely made it to the Baltimore Airport, returned the rental car and caught our plane. We landed in Sacramento about 11 p.m. PST exhausted. However, we knew that after we caught up from our road weariness, we would have memories of this trip for years to come. We had just finished putting over 2,500 hard miles on our rental car's odometer. Yet, on the plane, Clay asked, "OK, which ballparks should we go to next year?" They'll be another tour soon. We can't wait!
