A  JOURNAL
by Clay Sigg, Sacramento MSBL

Editor's Note: Long time Sacramento Men's Senior Baseball League leader John Rice, Clay Sigg and Clay's 15-year old son Anthony had such adventure and success when they accomplished their 1999 East Coast Ballpark tour, they decided to attempt it again. This time they scheduled a second ballpark tour, which would span 10 days, 9 games in 8 parks in 7 cities across America's Midwest and would be even more challenging than the first. The Sacramento trio's '99 excursion had covered the East Coast parks of Camden Yards, Yankee Stadium, the Baseball Hall of Fame, the Toronto Skydome, Cleveland's Jacobs Field, Pittsburgh's now dismantled Three Rivers Stadium and Boston's Fenway Park.

This 2002 trip had the same professed singular focus on baseball and was a commitment to get in as much baseball as possible in the time available. As before, it was a trip that was done "on the cheap" and was begun with only the first and last games' tickets completely confirmed. It was a trip for the improviser and for someone who didn't want to pay top dollar for a rigid schedule. It was an ambitious trip but with flexibility as a byword. Below is the journal of their latest baseball odyssey. Hopefully it will inspire the reader to embark on a trip of his own soon.

August 8th - Thursday

COMISKEY PARK (CHICAGO WHITE SOX)

We took our American Airlines flight out of Sacramento, landed at Chicago's O'Hare International Airport in the afternoon and shuttled to the rental car agency. There we rented our Mitsubishi Galant and were off immediately in pursuit of fast food and the Chicago White Sox' new Comiskey Park.

The Sox Manager Jerry Manuel hails from the Sacramento area. Clay and John both competed against Jerry years ago in the National Division of the Sacramento Winter League, an elite semi-pro circuit. Jerry had been a 1 st round draft pick of the Detroit Tigers and had played his high school ball at Cordova High School in Sacramento County. Manuel was honored as the 2000 American League Manager of the Year and has managed the Sox since the 1998 season. When Clay wrote Jerry for tickets, Jerry had been gracious. We found the three ducats in the players' VIP Will Call window and journeyed into the park about two innings late. We had forgotten to calculate the time zone changes and were an hour off.

Comiskey is not in an area on the south side of Chicago that is especially inviting. However, the park itself is underrated. It is open in center field with a huge, active scoreboard. Comiskey is a bright field and the crowd of over 18,000 this night is energetic and having fun. The White Sox look great in their white pinstripe pants and black tops. Very traditional- much preferable to the unconditionally ugly uniforms that they wore during the '70's and early 80's.

Comiskey probably does as well as any park in conjuring up the history of its franchise. Eateries in the main concourse have been named after former White Sox heroes such as Nellie Fox, Luis Aparicio and Early Wynn. Other retired players who are faithfully celebrated are Harold Baines, Luke Appling, Minnie Minoso, Ted Lyons, Billy Pierce and Carlton Fisk. The park also features a plethora of photographs of old Sox players from before the 1919 Black Sox all the way through to modern stars, including two-time AL MVP Frank "The Big Hurt" Thomas. He has fallen on hard times of late hitting .230 although this evening he stroked a home run in the 2nd inning. Carlos May also hit one in the 5th. Fireworks go off after each hometown home run.

Manuel has a curious habit of retrieving his pitcher only after he has warmed up and is just ready to face the first hitter in the new inning. He did that twice in this game. The only thing we can think of is that he is deliberately attempting to disrupt the opposing team's offensive mindset and psychology.

After the game we took a complete walk around the interior of the stadium. We stopped in to thank Manuel in the White Sox offices, but Jerry was in conference with his coaching staff. His starting pitching is in shambles right now. Jerry's staff alerted us to the north parking lot, which memorializes the home plate and foul pole of the original Comiskey Park. We drove to Racine, Wisconsin just over the Illinois border struggling to get through the late night traffic in Chicago and got to bed about 2 a.m.

August 9th -Friday

MILLER PARK (MILWAUKEE BREWERS)

Henry Aaron statue in front Miller Park

We were tossing the baseball around in a field late morning near Racine when Clay received a call on his cellular phone. It was Jerry Royster, the new manager of the Milwaukee Brewers. He acknowledged John's call from the previous day. Jerry was glad that we were coming and said he'd leave three tickets in the players' VIP Will-Call for us. Royster is a Sacramento High School graduate who also played with Clay in the Mexican American League and against him in the Sacramento Winter League in 1970. He signed as a free agent with the Los Angeles Dodgers late that year. Jerry had a solid 16-year major league playing career from 1973 to 1988 mostly with the Atlanta Braves. He now lives in Florida.

We made the easy drive to Milwaukee and had no trouble finding Miller Park. It dominates the landscape on the drive up through the town. Milwaukee celebrates its past team heroes as well. We parked and walked among the tailgaters through "Gantner's Gardens", a place to picnic near the parking lot on the way in. Jim Gantner was the popular second baseman on the American League Champion 1982 Milwaukee Brewers. Outside of the stadium entrance stand two prominent statues, one of Henry Aaron and the other of Robin Yount. Yount played all of his 20 big league seasons with the Brewers and is known as "Mr. Brewer".

There is also the best Little League field any of us has every seen within the shadow of the big park. It's called "Helfaer Field" and is available for youth league games, tournaments and girls' softball competition in Milwaukee. We think any little leaguer would be thrilled to set foot on this field. It's beautifully appointed as if it were a miniature major league park with warning tracks, guard rails and stands. The original Milwaukee County Stadium foul polls are even employed. It features 502 bleacher seats and additional concourse seating of 220. The little gem cost $3.1 million and has everything that a fan or player would ever need to enjoy a baseball game.

Former Brewers owner and current Baseball Commissioner Bud Selig announced last fall that it was in the best interest of baseball to "contract" the Montreal Expos. This could be the Expos' last campaign. The Expos have since been taken over by Major League Baseball and managed by Hall of Famer Frank Robinson. The Brewers were hosting the Expos with the newly acquired starting pitcher Bartolo Colon and a host of very good hitters. The Expos played beautifully and the burly Colon fired the ball in the high 90's all evening until relieved after seven. Expos shortstop Jose Macias hit a home run in the 1 st inning and a majestic double up the left centerfield alley off hapless Brewer starter Ruben Quevedo. Macias was red hot with 5 RBI in this game. Anthony was impressed by a laser shot line drive home run by Vladimir Guerrero in the 9th--his 30th of the season and 200th of his career. Guerrero is the second youngest player ever to reach 200 home runs only behind Alex Rodriquez. How do you hit the ball any harder than Guerrero hit that ball, Anthony wondered? We would find out later in the trip... The Expos pounded the Brewers, 11-4, with 16 hits in an entertaining display of hitting before almost 26,000 fans. It seemed that the Expo players were sending an unmistakable signal that Montreal was a much better franchise than Selig's small market, mistake prone Brewers.

After the game, we walked over to the left field corner. A small company out of Jeffersonville, New York was offering custom baseball bats. They were "Stan's Home Run-to-Home Run Ash Wood Bats". We bought a black beauty from Stan himself for Anthony with his signature burned into the business end. It was perfectly weighted and balanced (32",281/2 ounces), sculpted out of northern white ash. Anthony was thrilled. We drove back to Racine for the evening.

August lOth -Saturday

COMERICA PARK (DETROIT TIGERS)

Detroit's Comerica Park - Homeplate Entrance

This morning we got up and traveled into North Chicago where we had noticed the National Sports Collectors' Convention was being held. We only stayed for about an hour and a half, but it was a dazzling display of game-used bats, autographed baseballs, baseball cards and memorabilia of all sorts. There must have been a thousand dealers with every kind of sports collectible imaginable.

We got a later start to Detroit than we had anticipated and picked up tickets that had been left by Detroit Tigers catcher Matt Walbeck. Matt is a Sacramento High graduate who we have known for many years and is in his second tour of duty in Motown. He has been a bit of a mentor to Anthony over the past few years and will be working with him as a hitting instructor when the season is over. Matt is playing in his lOth major league season with the Chicago Cubs, Minnesota Twins, Detroit Tigers, Anaheim Angels and Philadelphia Phillies. He was being described in a Detroit paper as a "great receiver, lightweight hitter. Calls a masterpiece of a ballgame. What you see is what you get." Matt didn't catch this evening as the Tigers were giving young Brandon Inge a shot. We noticed the next night Matt went 2-for-3 and several nights later he went 3-for-5 (So much for the "light hitting" part...). At 32, he can hit as well as he ever has. Matt taught himself to switch hit when he was 19 in Sacramento while rehabing a knee he'd hurt in a homeplate collision in the minor leagues.

Detroit itself seems much forlorn and past its prime. However, we were told that there are some excellent neighborhoods. We weren't to see them this evening. Clay and Anthony had attended a game here in '99 at the old Tiger Stadium, its last season. Comerica Park had opened the next year. It boasts an array of crouching tigers guarding a marvelous entrance and is the best theme feature we saw in any ballpark on the trip. It also has columns fluted with tiger-claw scratches and an ivy jungle on the centerfield wall. The massive scoreboard above left field at Comerica is the largest in Major League Baseball. The park has been derisively referred to as "Comerica National Park" because the fences are so long. With its current configuration, one could see why slugger Juan Gonzalez was frustrated here the year he played for the Tigers.

Matt's tickets left us right behind home plate about 25 rows up. We noticed a beautiful young lady several rows below us. We opened our program and there she was featured as Tigers right fielder Robert Fick's girl friend of 11 years. Her name was Jennifer. No one could escape the sound of a hot dog vendor who boomed out his cry with a resonant voice remindful of Pavarotti or Caruso. We could literally hear this young vendor all over the stadium.

Fick hit a bomb in the bottom of the 9th inning that looked to us as if it were headed out of the ballpark, but it was easily caught by the right fielder. It's a quirky park. The maintenance crew runs out from behind a little screen right behind home plate. The flagpole for the American flag is in fair territory in center field just like the flagpole at old Tiger Stadium. All three of us thought that was kind of fun, except if you were the hitter who hit that flagpole half way up and had to settle for a 480 foot double! We wondered if that had happened yet.

Statues of ex- Tigers immortals reside along the promenade above center field. These statues are exquisitely done and are bigger than life- Willie Horton, Ty "The Georgia Peach" Cobb, Charley Gehringer, Hammerin' Hank Greenberg, Prince Hal Newhauser and AI Kaline--all depicted in action poses. Tiger catching great Mickey Cochrane was conspicuously absent from the array. We wondered why. Beyond these elegant sculptures, there was little celebration of Tiger history. We all agreed this was oddly inattentive to the fans of such a storied franchise. We also noted while we were in the stadium that this is the last season for the great Hall of Fame broadcaster Ernie Harwell who is in his 42nd and final year calling Tigers baseball.

We drove until we hit Toledo, Ohio and bedded down for the evening after watching Sports Center around 1 a.m.

August 11th- Sunday

JACOB FIELD (CLEVELAND INDIANS)

Against the rail at Cleveland's Jacob Field

All of us had experienced Jacobs Field on the '99 tour and remembered it as exceptional. It is definitely one of the finest parks we've ever been in--a must see. It has several views of downtown Cleveland, the best one down the left field line. It's all accented in the Indians' dominant color red and the scoreboard in magnificent. This time we needed to scramble for our tickets to get into the ballpark, but ended up getting premium tickets in the first row a little bit down the left field line. First row seats give the spectator an entirely different view of a game in "The Jake." The rails are so low one can easily touch the playing surface. You are seeing the players literally at field level. This also allowed Anthony to get a close look at two of his favorite players in one afternoon. These two are among the finest shortstops in the game today- maybe ever- Alex Rodriquez of the visiting Texas Rangers and the Indians' Omar Vizquel. Neither disappointed him. They both had great games with A-Rod hitting his 38th home run of the year after two line-shot singles and Vizquel fielding brilliantly while getting two hits himself. The Rangers' Frank Catalanotto had a great day with a single, a double and a triple missing his "cycle" by only a home run.

An added bonus for us was watching a young hitter for the Rangers named Travis Hafner. Hafner had only been up in the big leagues for a few days, but had a memorable day as the Rangers' DH. He hit a single, a homer and a double the first three times up. Then in his last at bat he hit a ball up the left center field gap and started scampering for a triple to complete his own personal "cycle". He got excited, however, stumbled rounding second and got tagged out on a bang-bang playas he slid into third. He smirked ironically as he dusted himself off slowly and shuffled off into the dugout. We could tell he was having fun and the fans were really entertained. Hafner is a solid left handed-hitter with a lot of upside potential. He really hit the ball hard all day.

The weather at 82 degrees, the beauty and intimacy of the park, the Indians mascot "Slider" and the hitting display by both teams made the day so enjoyable and memorable. It was another slugfest with the Rangers getting 15 hits and prevailing, 11-5. The Indians' 35-year old pitcher Charles Nagy never made it out of the 2od inning in a depressing outing for him. Apparently he has minimal cartilage left in his pitching elbow and is not a part of the Indians' plans next year. Almost 37,000 fans enjoyed a great game in ideal conditions. Clevelanders love their Indians, even if they are currently in a rebuilding mode. Here's hoping that their first baseman, Big Jim Thome, can play his whole career in Cleveland. He'd love to stay in Cleveland as he is the original old school kind of player in an old school town. He fits perfectly. We took a brief look through the Rock 'n Roll Hall of Fame and then headed toward Pittsburgh stopping for a nice workout at Austinwood Fitch High School near Youngstown, Ohio in the Mahonie Valley .

August 12th- Monday

PNC PARK (PITTSBURGH PIRATES)

Honus Wagner statue at Pittchburgh's PNC Park Entrance

McClatchy's phone call became extended so we ventured back out to view the stadium. A light rain caused an hour delay this evening, but that simply allowed us to walk around and get better acquainted with the park. Because of the rain delay, there were only a little less than 16,000 in attendance this night. However, considering the inclement weather, we marveled that there were that many patrons.

After purchasing our tickets, we walked through the center field gate. Clay immediately noticed an eatery called "Manny's BBQ." There was Pirate catching notable Manny Sanguillen himself perched on a stool at the entry. We were aware that Sanguillen was one of Roberto Clemente's best friends and advocates. Clay's most admired player has always been Clemente so this carried moment with him. We chatted with Manny, had our pictures taken and he signed our ticket stubs. He was very friendly and this got us in a Pittsburgh mood.

L-R: John Rice, Clay Sigg, Anthony Sigg and Manny Sanguillen (at his barbecue behind centerfield in Pittsburgh).

Behind the first base area was a food court which included "Pop's Corner", named for Stargell, and "Familee Food" in honor of the Sister Sledge song which became the anthem of the '79 World Champion Pirates. Tonight we seated ourselves all over the ballpark in many different vantage points. We finally settled off the first base line right near the St. Louis Cardinals dugout. John noted that Dave McKay was the first base coach for the Cardinals and called out, "Dave, we're taking good care of your son in Sacramento." McKay turned around and acknowledged that his son Cody was playing for the AAA Pacific Coast League Sacramento River Cats.

We were in the front row listening to a gentleman in the next seat talk non-stop about the Pirates and baseball in general. It turns out this man was a prominent Pittsburgh area accountant who has seen over 3,000 Pirates games in Forbes Field, Three Rivers Stadium and now PNC Park. He was quite knowledgeable. While we listened to him, we saw Scott Rolen, Edgar Renteria, Tino Martinez, Albert Pujols and Brian Giles all hit homers in another hitter-dominated evening. However, no one hit it into the Allegheny River. That is a rare shot.

Gold Glove Cardinals Fernanco Vina and Edgar Renteria

The Cardinals starting lineup of Marrero, Tino, Villa, Rolen, Renteria, Pujols, Edmonds and J. D. Drew just impressed us. We think it is the best starting eight we saw during the whole trip--probably in baseball. The Cards are a tough, resilient organization, especially in light of the fact that they are emotionally hurt right now because of the deaths of their beloved announcer Jack Buck and one of their most popular and vital teammates, pitcher Daryl Kyle. Both of these Cardinals favorites died within two weeks of each other recently leaving a big emotional void.

The Cards beat the Bucs, 10-6, clubbing out 16 hits for their rlfth straight victory. Revitalized Andy Belles got the victory for the Redbirds going 6 innings on 2 hits and 2 runs. We saw another game we just love with a lot of hitting. It turned out to be a beautiful, clear night for baseball after the rain delay.

Near Cardinal dugout at Pittsburgh's PNC Field

After the game, we got a chance to visit with Cards second baseman Fernando Villa inside the players' entrance. John had set up the meeting with a brief chat with Fernando before the game began. Villa was very accommodating and was happy to see some fellow Sacramentans so far away from home. Fernando is a Valley High School product in South Sacramento. Anthony really enjoyed meeting Villa because he's a second baseman and Villa turns the double playas quickly as any second baseman in baseball. Cardinal shortstop Edgar Renteria was also there waiting with Fernando. The soft-spoken Venezuelan is having his best year offensively hitting over .300. Villa offered to go back into the clubhouse and retrieve the Louisville Slugger bat that he had cracked during the game while getting his only hit. He came back with the mahogany stained bat, signed it, and then gave it to us for a charitable auction that we are heading up.

After our meeting with Fernando, we walked back around to the Stargell statue with a steelworker and his family and chatted about Pirate history. He especially wanted to talk about newly inducted Hall of Famer Bill Mazeroski. He believed "Maz" was the best fielding second baseman in the history of baseball. Mazeroski grew up dirt poor near Pittsburgh in a hard scrabble steel mill area. We took photographs at the Stargell statue and pointed out to Anthony how perfectly ready "Pops" was to hit- weight back, hips coiled, front shoulder down, bat in launch position, eyes square to the pitcher, front heel off the ground. The statue was dedicated the first day that a National League game was played at PNC Park and also the very day that Stargell died. It was a bittersweet moment for Pirates fans as Stargell was very popular in Steeltown. We drove into West Virginia and turned the lights out at 2 a.m.

Under the Stargell statue with some Pittsburghers.

August 13th- Tuesday

CINERGY PARK (CINCINNATI REDS)

Cincinnati Reds Mascot at Cinergy Field.

We then drove to Cincinnati on a muggy day, played catch in the parking lot, bought our tickets easily there and walked into a tired looking Cinergy Park (nee Riverfront Stadium). We were wearied and the park looked weary, too. It was an especially humid day as the park sits right on the Ohio River. Despite all the history that has unfolded here, it is time for a new park, which is under construction in full view beyond center field. The new park will be ready next year and will be called Great American Ballpark.

Now Ken Griffey, Jr. is patrolling center field for his father's old team, but he doesn't look like his heart is in it. He's not playing with emotion, just doing enough to get by and, in our view, squandering his great God-given talent. In fairness to him, he has had a nagging hamstring injury this year, but he doesn't seem to be the same ballplayer that he was in Seattle. It will hopefully be a giant morale boost to him and the Reds to play in the new park in 2003.

At Cinergy with Ken Griffey Jr. at the plate.

We saw the defending World Series Champion Diamondbacks' Erubiel Durazo hit a mammoth home run in the 2nd inning. Arizona's center fielder Steve Finley also hit a 2-run shot. Reds rookie left fielder Adam Dunn made a nice catch over the left field fence to rob an unfortunate Diamondback of a home run. We also got a look at another solid looking Reds rookie named Austin Kearns. Luis Gonzalez, the D'backs leader in hits, home runs and RBI, had to come out of the game in the third inning due to a rib cage injury. Former National League MVP Barry Larkin continues to be a solid shortstop in his late 30's. Division leading Arizona won its 17th out of its last 21 games, 6-1. Late in the game we saw Griffey strike out against nasty looking lefty sinkerball pitcher Mike Myers. After the game we played catch again under the lights until we couldn't see very well, then drove to Louisville and settled down about 1:30 a.m.

August 14th - Wednesday

LOUISVILLE SLUGGER MUSEUM (LOUISVILLE, KENTUCKY) & KAUFFMAN STADIUM (KANSAS CITY ROYALS)

At the Louisville Slugger Museum & Bat Factory

In the morning we woke up with a brief workout, ate a quick breakfast and drove by Louisville Slugger Field. It is the home of the AAA Louisville Reds and features a statue of hometown legend and Hall of Famer Pee Wee Reese of the Brooklyn Dodgers. We then parked and took the Louisville Slugger Museum & Bat Factory Tour.

Pee Wee Reese statue at Louisville Slugger Park

The first thing we noticed was the 120-foot, 68,000 pound bat that stands next to this wonderful museum. It looks like it's wooden, but it's actually made out of steel and is the largest bat in the world. Just inside the back entrance is the world's biggest ball and glove, a 12 foot, 17-ton sculpture made out of prehistoric Kentucky limestone. The first part of the tour is an evocative, brilliant film entitled "The Heart of the Game" that highlights the importance of the baseball bat in the history and lore of the Game.

The museum portion of the tour was interesting with some original lumber from great Hall of Fame hitters. H & B has also set up an interactive exhibit that allows patrons to experience the speed of a number of major league pitchers. We picked Greg Maddox and Roger Clemens and then saw what that speed actually looked like as the baseball crashed against the catcher dummy. On the wall near the gift shop is a display of signatures of each professional hitter who ever signed an exclusive contract with Louisville Slugger. We spent a little extra time and noted dozens of guys that Clay and John have played with or against. Most had made it to the Bigs, but many had not. The recognition was fun.

After a quick trip to the second floor to peruse the American Baseball Coaches Association Hall of Fame Exhibit, we then embarked on the long trek through St. Louis to Kansas City to see the Royals play the Yankees.

We had contacted Ron Brand the day previous regarding tickets. Ron is an ex-major league catcher with 8 years of tenure. He has been a Major League Scout for the New York Yankees since 1993. Ron played with Clay and John in the Sacramento Men's Senior Baseball League until the age of 53 and garnered 3 MSBL World Series Championship rings. These days he's a cog in the Yankees' most recent championship run and is the proud owner of four Yankees World Championship rings which he displays proudly in his home in Mesa, Arizona. He is the scout the Yanks consulted when deciding whether to pick up third baseman Scott Brosius from the Oakland Athletics in the mid '90's. When Ron gave GM Brian Cashman the green light, the Yankees snatched him up and Series MVP Brosius made history.

Ron said, "No problem, I will get you tickets through the Yankees travel secretary in KC. But you know I couldn't have done it for you if it were Boston." We arrived in KC a little late after a long trip across the state of Missouri. Kauffman Stadium is marvelous, light and grand with fountains and a huge scoreboard in the shape of the Royals logo. There is a statue of Royal great George Brett outside the park down the right field line. Brett is "Mr. Royal" and much beloved in Kansas City as he played his entire 21-year Hall of Fame career here.

We also noticed that 9-time Gold Glove winning second baseman Frank White has had his #20 uniform number retired and prominently displayed along side Brett's #5. Clay's UC Davis college roommate, Sal Balderrama, signed with the KC Royals and was the captain of the first edition of the Royals Baseball Academy in Sarasota, Florida in 1971. The Academy was the brainchild of then Royals owner Ewing Kauffman. The concept was to obtain the best athletes who might not have had extensive baseball background and make them into baseball players. Frank White was a local Kansas City product who was also a member of that first Academy class playing shortstop to Sal's second base. He was rough then. Sal and Clay saw him play shortstop for the San Jose Royals in the Class A California League in 1972 making five errors in one game. However, White matured and is now regarded as one of the best fielding second basemen whom ever lived- certainly in a class with Mazeroski and Roberto Alomar .

This game saw the Royals' Mike Sweeney, the American League's leading hitter, steal home in the 6th inning. Yank left-hander Andy Pettitte, a master at picking off runners at first, sometimes tends to dawdle with a runner on third. On a 1-2 pitch to Aaron Guiel, Sweeney took off with no signal and without Guiel being aware of his dash. Pettitte hurried his throw and Sweeney slid past Jorge Posada's tag. It was the first Royals straight steal of home since 5'4" Freddy Patek did it in 1977. New Kansas City Manager Tony Pena didn't call for it at all. Sweeney took off entirely on his own, which we thought could have resulted in serious injury if Guiel had swung at the pitch.

The crowd in Kansas City was enthusiastic and partisan with about 26,000 people cheering for their Royals. Paul Byrd pitched nine strong innings. Jason Giambi hit his 29th homer in the first inning, Derek Jeter had four hits, Bernie Williams knocked in the winning run in the top of the 14th inning and the Yanks won, 3-2. Williams was in the beginning of a streak that would eventually net him 11 straight hits in a row. He climbed right up there with Sweeney and Ichiro Suzuki of Seattle as viable candidates for American League Batting Champion in just four short games.

The Royals celebrate their history with great flair in large banner portraits displayed around the perimeter outside of the stadium. The banners of Brett, Steve Busby, Larry Gura, Dennis Leonard, John Mayberry, Hal McCrae, Amos Otis, Patek, Dan Quisenberry, Cookie Rojas, Paul Splittorff, White and Willie Wilson are prominently and proudly displayed. After the game, hordes of fans were clustered around the Yankees bus hoping to get a glimpse of Yankees superstars like Giambi and Jeter .

August 15th - Thursday

NEGRO LEAGUES BASEBALL MUSEUM (KANSAS CITY) & BUSCH STADIUM (ST. LOUIS CARDINALS)

We then commenced the marathon trip from Kansas City through St. Louis back to Chicago. By the time we reached St. Louis it was almost dark. However, we sandwiched in a splendid workout right underneath the Gateway Arch on the banks of the Mississippi River. St. Louis is known for its astounding arch and for its Cardinals. We visited Busch Stadium and paused to survey the Plaza of Champions outside Busch Stadium featuring a large statue of "Baseball's Perfect Warrior", Stan "The Man" Musial. There were also smaller statues of all the Cardinal Hall of Famers including Enos "Country" Slaughter (who had passed away several days earlier), Musial, Lou Brock, Bullet Bob Gibson, Rogers Hornsby, Red Schoendienst, Ozzie "The Wizard" Smith, and Dizzy Dean. We hope to go back and see the Cardinals play inside their stadium soon. St. Louis is so steeped in baseball history. Nine Cardinals World Series Championship Teams are also commemorated in the plaza as well (1926, 1931, 1934, 1942, 1944, 1946, 1964, 1967 & 1982).

The Musial statue in front of St. Louis's Busch Stadium

We heard on Sports Center that today the Major League Baseball Players Association has set a strike date for August 30th, which could result in an ill-advised work stoppage. A strike would alienate the majority of the fan base and result in the game never quite being the same again. We all were disgusted by the thought that there could even be talk of a strike. Greedy millionaire players plus greedy billionaire owners equals lack of fan interest. Something must be done- anything- to avert a strike. We drove into the night and stopped just south of Chicago in preparation for the finale, our first look at the "Friendly Confines of Wrigley Field". We couldn't wait.

August 16th - Friday

WRIGLEY FIELD (CHICAGO CUBS)

In front of the "Friendly Confines"

Our good friend from Sacramento, Leon Lee, made certain that we had tickets for our first look at Wrigley Field. Leon played with and against Clay in several Sacramento semi-pro leagues when they were still in their late teens before he embarked on his professional career. He has played with John and Clay in the Sacramento Men's Senior Baseball League and is still active at the age of 49, albeit with worsening knee trouble. Lee played seven years in the St. Louis Cardinal organization to AAA, and then played another decade in the Japanese Major Leagues. He's a legend in Japan, but in America he is best known as Derrek Lee's father. Derrek is the powerful young first baseman for the Florida Marlins.

We picked up the tickets that Leon had left for us at the players' will call and walked through the turnstiles right behind Jerry Colangelo, the owner of the Arizona Diamondbacks. A cameraman was videotaping his every move as he walked toward his seats. Wrigleyville is actually a very happening spot, a hip place to be. Young people attend games here each day. Most of the games are still scheduled in the afternoon.

Wrigley Field is a whimsical, magical experience. Every true lover of the Game should make an effort to see a game here. The original park was built at Addison and Clark Streets in 1914. Chewing gum king William Wrigley, Jr. took over controlling interest of the Cubs in 1920 and the park was renamed in his family's honor in 1926. The Chicago Tribune newspaper purchased the Chicago Cubs in 1981. Only recently have lights been installed for night games. Of course, the ivy covered outfield walls, the quirky twists and turns of the outfield fence and the old-fashioned scoreboard set the mood. A patron can easily hark back nostalgically to how it must have been when in the 1932 World Series, in this same park, the great Babe Ruth pointed to the center field bleachers and called his own shot against the Cubs' Charlie Root.

The late beloved Cubs broadcaster Harry Caray is immortalized with a statue in front of the stadium leading the Cub faithful in another rousing rendition of "Take Me Out To The Ballgame". The Wrigley tradition calls for a new guest singer every game to lead out for the fans. No other park gets into the singing nearly as much as the fans at Wrigley during the Seventh Inning Stretch. The Cubbie fans are very knowledgeable, despite being a little jaded and fatalistic from all those years of losing. The lusty booing of the Cubs for every bonehead play is filled with the angst of the decades.

At the Harry Caray statue at Wrigley.

We were so fortunate to see this particular game. The Diamondbacks' Curt Schilling, the reigning World Series Co-MVP and arguably the best pitcher in baseball, was throwing a masterful shutout up until he had two outs in the bottom of the ninth inning. With the configuration of the playing field and the old drainage system, we saw a muscular Sammy Sosa actually have to climb Y.P. to home plate from our first row seats behind the home plate screen. We were going to view this classic confrontation between the best power pitcher and the best power hitter in baseball from virtually ground level. Schilling was quickly up on Sammy, 0-2.

Then it came. Schilling got the testosterone and the adrenaline pumping. He was going to just challenge Sosa and throw his fastest fastball right past him. Sammy could sense it. Everybody in the ballpark knew it. Schilling reared back and threw a reported 102-mile per hour fastball that Sosa exploded on. The ball was just hammered into the right center field bleachers- a cannon shot. 39,188 beer- encouraged Cubs fans rose to their feet and let out a collective roar. From our first row seats, we had just seen something out of Greek mythology. What a result! Lightning and thunder! Two titans had clashed and the one with the big wooden club had won. Wow!

"The Pitch" - Sosa's bomb off Schilling

Although the Cubs rookie pitcher Steve Smyth had pitched well, he had been tagged with the loss in a 2-1 heart breaker. We were talking to some people behind the left field fence after the game when Smyth walked slowly out of the players' entrance. John had mentioned to us that his nephew Shane Ramirez had pitched with Smyth several years ago at Cypress Community College in Southern California before Smyth went on to USC and professional ball. John introduced himself and then Steve offered to autograph three baseballs that John had brought along for just this very occasion.

Chicago Cubs lefty Steve Smyth warming up in the bullpen.

Today was a memorable day, our first at the storied Wrigley Field. People had told us, "You really haven't seen a baseball game until you've experienced Wrigley."

You know, they were right.

August 17th - Saturday

WRIGLEY FIELD (CHICAGO CUBS)

Our last day of watching baseball games was here and we were really looking forward to returning to Wrigley, soaking up the park and getting into the match ups. The dry runs of an air show were viewable overhead, which distracted us in a good way. We noticed that a former Sacramento River Cats player, Mark Bellhorn, was starting for the Cubs at second base and had already hit over 20 home runs--good for him. We got there early and attempted to catch our first baseball souvenir of the trip to no avail.

Sammy Sosa got the crowd going quickly with a monster home run in the first inning, which sailed right out of the park into the neighborhood over the left field fence. It was his second in a row, a historic home run for him, number 493 tying the great Lou Gehrig for career home runs.

The Cubs played the Diamondbacks to a 2-2 tie until the 9th inning when Erubiel Durazo hit a grand slam home run. All the runs in this "grand salami" were unearned because Cubs shortstop Alex Fernandez had fumbled a Steve Finley grounder to load the bases for Durazo.

Our man Bruce Kimm must be pulling his hair out wondering what next could happen. His job is at risk. To exacerbate the bad vibes, Cubs fans and most baseball fans are quite frustrated with the specter of a work stoppage. How can the players association cry out indignantly when the average major league player makes $2,380,00 per year? The fans don't understand that world.

John and Clay celebrated the finale of our baseball odyssey with a draft beer at Murphy's "Bleachers Bar" right across the street from the entrance to the Wrigley Field bleachers. It was a madhouse. Afterward, we left our car at the lot across from Murphy's and rode the metropolitan transit into downtown Chicago for a quick sandwich, and finished out our day on Chicago's Navy Pier watching an air show. This show featured a Stealth Bomber, an F-5 fighter jet, Apache helicopter gun ships, the Red Baron single prop aerial acrobatics and single prop "in formation" acrobatics. It was spectacular as it was set against Lake Michigan, the Chicago skyline and the Sears Tower .

August 18th Get-Away Day

We had done everything that we had set out to do and more. Things had been crazy, but we exceeded the expectations of our original plan. We had put on 2,755 miles on our Mitsubishi Galant. We were bone tired road warriors but we had established memories that will last for Anthony's entire life, as well as ours. If baseball doesn't self-immolate itself with a work stoppage/strike, we're sure to set up another ballpark tour very soon. We'd like to see every park at least once. We only need to see another nine ballparks and we've seen them all. We'll do those trips soon.

NOVEMBER POSTCRIPT TO THE BALL PARK TOUR Shortly after our odyssey ended, all eyes were on the players and the owners as they faced each other down in a mortal game of chicken. If the players struck, the game would be irretrievably damaged. The players knew it and so did the owners. The fans had spoken in unison. A strike would be a loser for fans, players and owners. It was obvious. With around the clock negotiations, the two sides chiseled out a settlement compromise and the game was saved from certain injury.

The Games We Saw

We really had no idea that when we watched the Anaheim Angels that we were watching what would be remembered as one of the most tough minded, come from behind squads in history. We had been watching David "Just Enough" Eckstein, AL Gold Glove A ward winner Darin Erstad, powerful Tim Salmon, Silver Slugger A ward winner Garret Anderson, World Series MVP Troy Glaus and the clutch Scott Spiezio. We had no premonition whatsoever that they would be the World Series Champions. In their 42-year history, they had never even been to the World Series once. Now this team is legendary and the 2003 Series will go down in history as one of the best ever. To top it off, their manager Mike Scioscia was named AL Manager of the Year .

All three of us went to World Series Game #3, which was the first Series game ever played in San Francisco's beautiful Pacific Bell Park. John received a pass from a Giants employee. Clay and Anthony drove down to San Francisco with only the gamble that they would be able to get into the park. After almost being frisked of $400 from a young shyster with counterfeit tickets, Clay settled into a negotiation with a friend of an Angel season ticket holder. He paid $25 over face value each for $125 tickets and they were in the park an hour and a half before game time. After watching the Angels take batting practice and walking around the entire park, we settled into our seats to watch an Anaheim walk away, 10-4. The electricity of a World Series game is unparalleled in sport. When NL MVP and Batting Champion Barry Bonds hit a line drive home run into the centerfield bleachers in the 5th inning, it really got the crowd into it, albeit briefly. It was Anthony's first World Series game.

DA Y 2 - MONTREAL EXPOS A T MILWAUKEE BREWERS The Milwaukee Brewers had a decidedly inferior second half, a real embarrassment for Baseball Commissioner Bud Selig. We thought the Brewers should have been the team contracted. Our friend Jerry Royster was summarily fired by the new Brewers General Manager, which Jerry completely understood. Jerry received some bad press for benching his shortstop, Jose Hernandez, as he approached the all-time season strikeout record set by Bobby Bonds. Hernandez otherwise was the Brewers' best player. We think he deserved a better fate and a better opportunity. He'll get his chance again sometime soon, probably eventually with his old friend Dusty Baker.

The Montreal Expos will not be contracted for at least three years as per the new Collective Bargaining Agreement. Bartolo Colon pitched magnificently for the Expos winning exactly 20 games with the Indians and the Expos in 2002. Vladimir Guerrero won another Silver Slugger A ward just missing becoming a 40-40 man with 39 homers. There is talk of permanently moving the Expos from Montreal to Washington, D.C. or Northern Virginia. The Expos also may play two ten game home stands in San Juan, Puerto Rico while they are figuring out their next chess move.

DAY 3- BALTIMORE ORIOLES AT DETROIT TIGERS The Detroit Tigers fired their manager and hired Alan Trammell, their great shortstop to run the show for 2003. The first thing Trammell said was that he was going to lobby to see if the Tigers would bring in the fences. The Tigers bench coach, Felipe Alou was also quickly named the new manager of the San Francisco Giants within days of the time that Dusty Baker's contract was not renewed.

Ernie Harwell was honored at Comerica Park in the last home game in Detroit in honor of his 42 years as a Hall of Fame Tiger broadcaster. The post game news conference had to be cancelled because Harwell's wife had to be taken to the hospital after complaining of a rapid heartbeat in the 4th inning.

Our friend Matt Walbeck finished strong with a .235 batting average, but declared himself a free agent desiring to find a better situation closer to home. Matt is mentoring Anthony now back in Sacramento, which is a treat for both of them. Matt loves the game and Anthony is getting one-on-one training from a current major league veteran of ten years.

The Baltimore Orioles carry a rich history and tradition with the likes of Weaver , Brooksie, Frank Robby, Palmer and Cal, but their current edition is one of the most inept in the game.

DAY 4 - TEXAS RANGERS AT CLEVELAND INDIANS Alex Rodriquez finished with one of the best overall seasons in the history of the game and was named everybody's Major League Player of the Year .He played a Gold Glove A ward shortstop position beating out perennial fielding star Omar Vizquel and won his 6th Silver Slugger A ward. ARod hit exactly .300 and led Major League Baseball with 57 home runs and 142 Runs Batted In. A truly mammoth year, but still not good enough to beat out Oakland's Miguel Tejada for Most Valuable Player honors. Rafael Palmeiro finished with 43 home runs giving him a great chance for 500 career knocks, up until now a sure lock for baseball immortality. Travis Hafner's home run was his only one of the year and he finished with a lackluster .242 average.

Big Jim Thome had one monster year for the Indians. He not only his 52 home runs, but he averaged .304 and drove in 118 runs. He was the American League Silver Slugger Award winner and was also honored with Major League Baseball's prestigious 2002 Roberto Clemente Humanitarian A ward. Thome is a guy who likes the Indians and loves Cleveland. He wants to stay and finish his career there, yet because of the financial structure of the game, might find it difficult to stay.

DA Y 5- ST. LOUIS CARDINALS AT PITTSBURGH PIRATES Our positive impressions of the Cardinals were borne out by their winning the National League Central Division. Although they lost to the Giants in the National League Championship Series, they reaped individual honors galore. Tony LaRussa was named NL Manager of the Year .Edgar Renteria and Scott Rolen were Silver Slugger A ward winners. Fernando Vina, Renteria, Rolen and Edmonds all won Gold Gloves. Wow. That's a team that is probably going to be very good next year.

The Pirates are in a building mode, but with their wonderful park, they can be optimistic about the future. Maybe the new Collective Bargaining Agreement will assist owner Kevin McClatchy in some way.

Arizona's Luis Gonzalez was injured in a left field collision almost at the conclusion of the season, which effectively destroyed the D'backs repeat aspirations. A team can't lose three of its best hitters (Gonzo, Bautista and Jeff Counsell) and still go deep into the playoffs. The Cardinals swept them in the NLDS.

DAY 7- NEW YORK YANKEES AT KANSAS CITY ROYALS The Yankees looked invincible as usual going into the playoffs, but got trounced by the upstart wildcard Angels. Giambi held up extremely well under the first year pressure of playing in New York, finishing at .314, 41 home runs and 122 RBI. Alfonso Soriano was an MVP candidate before he went into a tailspin trying for one last homer to become the first second baseman to be in the 40-40 club. He struggled vainly for an extended period to get that last home run and watched his average and production erode significantly. He still finished at .300, 39 HR and 102 RBI as a leadoff hitter. He also led the AL with 41 steals, 209 Hits and 128 Runs Scored. Bernie Williams, Jorge Posada, Giambi and Soriano were all Silver Slugger Award winners, but the starting pitching completely imploded in the ALDS. Steinbrenner will be spending over the winter .

The Royals' Mike Sweeney finished well with a .340 batting average, but it wasn't enough to win the batting title. He was runner-up to a resurgent Manny Ramirez who swept by everyone at .349. KC's Paul Byrd finished with 17 victories and he is one of the prime free agent starting pitchers this winter .

DA Y 9 & 10- ARIZONA DIAMONDBACKS AT CHICAGO CUBS Cubs Interim Manager Bruce Kimm was summarily fired at the end of the season and latched on to a job with Jerry Manuel and the White Sox across town as their third base coach. Sacramentan Dusty Baker was soon thereafter installed as the new Cubs Manager. He will be wonderful for the Cubs- one of the best managers in the game. We can't help thinking that our friend Leon Lee signed his new contract in Japan two weeks early as he is a personal friend of Dusty's here in the Sacramento area. Leon is good enough to be the Cubs Hitting Instructor, although it doesn't look like that's going to happen now.

Dusty will be great for Sammy Sosa, the Silver Slugger A ward winner and NL Home Run Champion with 49. We think Sosa will have one of his best years next year playing under Baker .

Fred McGriff's contract wasn't renewed so Hee Seop Choi is the heir apparent at first base for the Cubbies. Leon Lee signed Choi out of Korea and we've had dinner in Scottsdale with him and his agent. We hope Choi makes it as he is a respectful young man and is the rare Korean position player with loads of talent. Mark Bellhorn, a Sacramento River Cat veteran, ended up with 27 home runs and won himself a place in the starting lineup for 2003.

Curt Schilling finished poorly in September with a 2-2 and a 6.19 ERA. Teammate Randy Johnson surged past him to win his fourth straight NL Cy Young Award and Sth overall. The 39-year old Johnson was a unanimous selection and is a first ballot Hall of Famer once he qualifies. He is perhaps the best free agent signing ever . Arizona has 2otten four Cy Youn2 Awards in four vears from .Johnson. Wow!

Schilling has never won the Cy Young, but he may have been the second best pitcher in the game in 2002.