Game #17: On the South Side

Well, I saw a record tied in Chicago. Unfortunately, it wasn’t the big one that was dominating the news recently, but it was impressive nonetheless. Bobby Jenks, the White Sox closer, matched the major league record by retiring 3 batters in order to reach a string of 41 consecutive batters retired. While that’s spread over the course of a large number of appearances, it is an equivalent number of outs to over 1 ½ perfect games. Pretty impressive no matter how you cut it. Unfortunately, neither I, nor the people I was at the game with, were aware that he was close to this record, and they certainly didn’t announce it while he was pitching. As such, the jubilation of the crowd as he recorded each out in the 9th inning of a 6-0 loss was quite perplexing. But it made for great theater nonetheless.


Unfortunately, that was about all the home team had to cheer for, as White Sox really didn’t put up much of a fight in a complete game shutout by Jeff Weaver of the Seattle Mariners, a pitcher who still carries the dreaded Dodger taint about him in my eyes. But in many ways, he simply coasted through the Sox lineup. This looked every bit like a playoff-bound team (Seattle, for now at least) against a last-place team (the White Sox). While the youngest member of our group (more later) was probably unfazed by this performance at her first ever baseball game, it was probably a disappointing first introduction to the second first-ever baseball game person in our group.


The White Sox did come quite close to putting runs on the board. With one on in the bottom of the 1st, slugger Jim Thome hit a ball off the top of the wall that 36,629 umpires immediately declared a home run. Unfortunately, the 4 on the field didn’t agree.

The game was also very short, with the Mariners needing only 2:13 to dust off the home team. This bested my previous shortest game of the trip, which rang in at 2:22. Interestingly enough, both games were ones in which I had people come to the ballgame with me. Hmm... We’ll see if that trend continues.


US Cellular was one of the last stadiums built before the Camden Yards / Jacobs Field renaissance in ballpark design. As such, it’s received a fair bit of flak for not being particularly appealing. Perhaps it’s because we were able to grab seats on the lower deck, thereby avoiding the poorly reputed upper deck seats and their significant distance from the playing field, but between the reasonable proximity of the game and the baseball-dedicated construction of the stadium, and a cooperative bit of shade, we greatly enjoyed our vantage point. The overall effect was therefore far improved from the impression I’d been given, and quite a decent ballgame experience. While the park was again a little short on unique character, it did provide well with good sight-lines, all the amenities needed for a modern ballpark, and a positive crowd atmosphere.


Mind you, our tickets weren’t actually meant to get us a field-level vantage, but were 18 rows up into the upper deck, in a stadium in which they don’t allow movement between decks. That said, we had ourselves a magic go-anywhere-you-want pass. Her picture’s to the right. It was, really, quite impressive to see the ushers wave us on through with her in hand.

Chicago being Chicago, I was also able to make an enjoyable evening after the afternoon game. After a tour around the Navy Pier, I put my best tourist face on and went for a deep-dish pizza at Pizzeria Due, Uno’s cross-street brother. I finished off the night by stopping off first at what might well have been (myself included) the whitest blues bar in all of Chicago, and then a rather more authentic place, which was great fun, and had plenty of character. And, for that matter, which was free, it being “college night”, much to my great amusement, and the skepticism of the ticket taker at the door.



Off to Detroit…

Game #16: The Great American Ballpark Experience

My story from Cincinnati surrounds the trademark food. Skyline Chili consists of a hearty, meaty bean-less chili, poured over a bed of spaghetti, with about a pound of grated cheese on top. With some onions and oyster crackers, you’ve got yourself a “4-way” chili that will indeed put you down for the count. And in my case, it certainly did. While I only finished between a third and a half of my portion, this mammoth plate of food had my stomach doing somersaults for the next few innings, and combined with the afternoon sun to encouraging more than a little bit of lethargy once I was finally starting to do a little better. This was probably a sign that the ballpark food and road-weariness was all catching up with me a little bit, which made the early start time, the chance to take a bit of a break later that day, and the injection of new big-city energy with Chicago just around the corner, all well needed.


The park itself, ostentatiously named the Great American Ballpark, was decent, but apart from a vaguely steam-boat-like construct in right field, was unfortunately rather short on unique character. It was vaguely reminiscent of the Jake, once again, and a perfectly decent place to watch a game, though my attention may have been a bit more riveted on trying to digest my chili.


Meanwhile, two thumbs down to the park designers for the Great American Ballpark logo, which carries no connection whatsoever to the Reds logo, script, or any other aspect of their marque, nor with anything else that I could figure out. A definite lesson here in the need to control your creatives.


The game itself seemed to follow the mid-west trend of the last couple of parks, as for quite a while, the offense again appeared to have gone AWOL. However, the oddly-late 4 PM start time seems to have been just what was needed, as once the day’s shadows started to grow long, some offense was finally to be found, with the home team Reds eventually beating up on the Padres by a score of 8-3. And while the park’s got a reputation of being a bit of a band-box, with home runs usually flying out at a remarkable rate, only Brian Giles had the right formula today, knocking two out, including one in the ninth that prevented Bobby Livingston, the Reds’ rookie starter, from getting his first complete game. Ah well…


Visible from the walkway on the outside of the park, but unfortunately not through the center-field gap, is the John A. Roebling Suspension Bridge, apparently something of a dry-run for the architect after which it was named, prior to his designing the Brooklyn Bridge. It’s quite good looking, and definitely reminiscent of the latter.


Finally, Reds fans have not at all forsaken favorite son Pete Rose, despite his ostracism from the baseball establishment. Having watched much of my baseball prior to this trip in San Francisco, and being fully in support of Barry Bonds’ recent achievements, it was interesting to see this support still very much in place, in a manner definitely reminiscent of what’s happening in the City by the Bay.


In other notes…

I had a pre-game maß of helles at the Hofbrauhaus. Yep, just like in Munich, but transplanted to, of all places, Kentucky. In fairness, there appears to be a sizeable German population in Cincinnati, so there is a rationale, but still, it seemed decidedly out of place. The beer wasn’t quite as good as at the Hofbrauhaus in Munich, which in turn isn’t as good as many of the other Bavarian beers, but it was a nice way to warm up for the game all the same.


I saw a billboard for the “Creation Museum” on the way into town. It was all I could do not to pull over to check it out, just for amusement factor.

Generally speaking, a fair bit of downtown Cincinnati appeared fairly bleak, as if industry was having a hard time keeping going. However, doing a bit more driving around, especially including the areas of Covington and Newport just across the river into Kentucky, revealed that there definitely are some interesting areas, and some degree of positive social activity. I actually parked on the KY side and walked across the river, paying the remarkably reasonable sum of $3. I had to ask her several times whether that was an hourly rate or a half-hourly rate before finally realizing that it was all-in. Ah, Kentucky. Mind you, I would prove to make up for that and more in Chicago and Toronto.

Additional pictures

Since there are only so many pictures that reasonably make sense in these blog entries, I've taken to adding extras, uncaptioned, to the following site. If the blog's not been enough, feel free to go take a look.

http://picasaweb.google.com/mlbtrip

Game #15: Halfway at the Arch

In a nice bit of symbolism, my tour hits the halfway point with today’s game as I reach St Louis and pass under its signature landmark, the Gateway Arch representing the way to the West. The fact that I’m actually traveling east, from KC to St Louis to Cincinnati, during my generally westward ballpark tour, is just a technicality that we’ll chose to put aside for now.


It was hot again today, with a high in triple digits, and the gametime temperature still in the low 90s at 7 PM. This made for a hot and sticky ballpark at the start. Furthermore, while you can do all sorts of great things online to see where your seat will be and what your view will look like, the one thing you still can’t know in advance is whether the person in the seat next to you will… er… let’s just say whether they’ll overflow into your seat more than most people will. I did a bit of bouncing around in my section before finally finding a seat that was far more comfortable on such a hot evening.


Cardinals manager Tony Larussa has been batting his pitcher in the #8 spot, with second baseman Adam Kennedy hitting ninth. This is a pretty bold move, and a definite blow to the ego of any position player finding himself batting behind a pitcher. Theoretically, Larussa’s trying to get another batter on base for the heart of his lineup, but Kennedy’s .217 batting average may be more of an issue. Coincidentally, Kennedy made the final out today, though after a strong and well-fought at-bat against Dodgers closer Takashi Saito.


That at bat came at the end of another tremendous pitchers’ duel, in which Dodgers ace Brad Penny (7 IP) and Cardinals ace-by-default-due-to-injuries Adam Wainwright (9 IP) each kept the other team off the board through 8 innings. But, a James Loney 2-run home run in the top of the 9th gave the Dodgers all the offense they’d need. One day after Rick Ankiel was the news of the day by making it back to the majors as an outfielder 7 years after completely losing his mental capacity to be a major league pitcher, Ankiel was able to advance a bottom-of-the-ninth rally with a base hit, but not to provide the necessary heroics for the second day in a row.


It’s a shame, really. This was a game I *really* wanted the home team to win. But several attempts to get a “Beat LA!” cheer going in the crowd just didn’t seem to have the desired effect.

The new Busch stadium is quite nice, in a classic (and starting to become just a wee bit repetitive) new-retro, brick-and-steel way. It was also quite expensive, but very full, with a sellout and over 44,000 fans in attendance on this Friday night. The World Champs thing has apparently done them quite well. The crowd was also very knowledgeable, in the sort of way that happens when your team has been doing well of late. You could feel that the crowd understood the dynamics of the game, and recognized the mounting 9th inning come-back in a way that only really happens when you’ve seen that sort of thing several times before. Unfortunately, in this case it fell short, but the essence was still there. They also, wonder of wonders, sang along to “Take me out to the ballgame” in the 7th inning stretch with more gusto than any park to date. Wrigley, you’re on notice…


The scoreboards were a shame, especially for a 2-year old stadium. While they displayed both teams’ full lineups at all times, an excellent decision, there was a true scarcity of other information available. Furthermore, a large clear screen was being used for very detailed views of out-of-town scores, which was nice, but was space that could have been well used during play to display more relevant information, saving the out-of-town scores for between innings. The same was true for screens between decks that were dedicated, remarkably, to identifying groups and allowing people to send in text messages, even during play.

Before the game, they had several hundred young girls as young as 5 who were part of various area gymnastics groups get to practice and tumble out on the field. This was very cute, but I’m not completely convinced Dodgers pitcher Brad Penny was thrilled. Now if only they were able to keep the girls in his way a little longer…



Having gotten in to St Louis the night before, I was able to spend some time exploring the city. In particular, I went on the must-be-done tour of the city’s great marketing… er… brewing company. After all, while “life’s too short to drink bad beer”, there are two words that undeniably come to mind in the phrase: “_________ _____, St Louis, Missouri”



I was also able to sample a signature food of the city itself in Ted Drewes Frozen Custard on Historic Route 66. It was decent, but fell short of both Tosci’s in Cambridge, MA (my nostalgic favorite) and Vivoli in Florence, Italy (objectively the best I’ve had).


And, of course, the Gateway Arch itself, the city’s key landmark. This was really just down the street from the park, allowing me to get a chance to see it up close and personal, and to get a few cheesy photos. Enjoy…

Game #14: In the Heartland

Kauffman stadium in Kansas City is not a new park. It’s built of concrete, is in a stadium-dedicated area outside of the center of town, has been around for a while, and for a while, had artificial turf. Finally, the team that plays in this Stadium would really be overmatched by some AAA teams, and it therefore draws crowds to match.

Those were the basis for my expectations going in, and everything there turned out to be true. Furthermore, it was an afternoon game on a really, really hot day.

BUT, between its baseball-only design, a great and classic crowned scoreboard display in the outfield, the presence of some really attractive fountains, and an impressively plugged-in crowd, this turned out to be actually quite a pleasant place to watch a game, and I was very pleasantly surprised.


There is still no 360-degree walk-around, which is disappointing. However, plans are in place to develop the stadium further, while preserving the basic structure. This’ll add a full 360-degree range to the park by adding new seats and concessions in the outfield, upgrading the scoreboard, improving the view-level concourses, and developing the stadium entrances further. It will be a shame if they lose much of the grass currently in the outfield, but they’ve firmly stated that the fountains will be unaffected by the development, and it will definitely be good to get the full circle completed.


They were giving away free water, which was a nice touch, and strongly needed. The game time temperature was announced at 91-dgrees, but it felt very much hotter than that, especially in the sun. While I have no idea what this means, the post-game radio show announced the “heat index” as 105-degrees (40 C). If that’s anything like a wind-chill factor, than that definitely presents an accurate view of the feel of the park today.

The lower bowl was mostly full under the shade, but more sparsely filled in the sunny seats closer to the field. My seat was great, at 5 rows off the field, but I joined several people around me mid-way through the game in shifting backwards to covered seats. It’s the first time I’ve ever seen people cheating *backwards* so often.


The crowd was good, and quite impressive. And while it was smaller than that in Baltimore for another Thursday afternoon game, it was somehow more engaged and enthusiastic. I was impressed with the size and the excitement, especially given the large number of Twins fans present

I met a father/son duo from Philly who were doing 6 cities worth of the identical itinerary as me in reverse. They’d been to Cincinnati and St Louis already, and were able to provide some nice tips for my upcoming starts

The game itself was a true pitchers duel, with both starters getting into the 7th, and only one run being scored throughout. That run, as well, was little-ball through and through, with a double, bunt, and sac fly getting the runner in. And despite the lack of offense, it was a tense and exciting affair, proof that a game can be enjoyable without a lot of runs.


Meanwhile, I made a point of visiting two institutions in town that were very highly recommended.

First was the Negro Leagues Baseball Museum, which was an excellent and fascinating stop. This museum presented not just the history of these parallel leagues, that featured talent often described as every bit as good as that in the majors, but also the story of this segregated world, and how it reflected America at the time. At its height, teams such as the Kansas City Monarchs and Homestead Grays were received as stars while touring, while simultaneously being shunned hotel space or food by the very same establishments that were glorifying their achievements.


This was co-located with the American Jazz Museum, which I would have *loved* to spend more time in, but was unfortunately forced to do just a quick run-through. Something to come back for, someday, perhaps.


The other must-do stop in town was Arthur Bryant’s barbecue, a place that absolutely lived up to its billing. Classic Kansas City Barbeque, in my case with ribs and “burnt ends”, made for a fantastic pre-game meal. The line to order stretched out the door and down the block, but I didn’t see a single person complaining.


With the afternoon start, I worked in the drive to St Louis that afternoon, giving me two straight nights in St Louis. The opportunity to take a day without any driving at all will be great, as the 4000 miles I’ve covered in the last 9 days definitely have me ready for a break. Missouri, or at least the Kansas City-to-St Louis corridor, was somehow just a little bit less flat-and-rural than Kansas was, though the crops made the shift to almost exclusively corn. It’s not grain, but it’s definitely amber waves as far as the eye can see.

Driving through the great plains

As with driving through the South late last week, today’s drive through the Great Plains (namely Oklahoma and Kansas) was pretty cool, and distinctly different from what’s come before.

Most notable is the sky, which is somehow bigger, grander, vaster, you name it, compared to normal. It really does feel huge, and creates a personal feeling of being small underneath it.

The impression of the sky is probably created by the landscape, which is, in turn, remarkably flat and empty. Ok, so it’s not really flat, as the plains undulate in small, rolling hills. And yet, the horizon is perfectly flat, and the overall impression created is of a land that goes on forever.

It’s all oddly beautiful, with the vast expanse of sky and stretch of grass. This became especially true as the day started to fade and the sun’s light began to color the landscape and the sky a fantastic range of colors.

Meanwhile, as the day turned into night, a lightning storm of the sort I’ve never seen before began to build on the left horizon. With lightning flashes coming fast and furious, and an ominous set of clouds forming, it really did feel like America’s heartland. I felt myself in a race to reach my hotel before the storm hit, and, with flash flood warnings coming left and right late this evening, it’s probably become the right move. Despite that, we’ll hope for sunny weather tomorrow for an afternoon game in KC.

Signature food in DC

Oops. I left out any mention of a signature food in DC. Not because any of RFK’s offerings were particularly appealing, but because I had some time before the game to avail myself of the product of the nearby Chesapeake. Great stuff:
Sure there’s only a half-dozen there, but as an amateur, it took me about an hour and a half to get the meat out of them. Still, absolutely worth it!

Game #13: Baseball in Big D

Ok, so this *is* Texas. Which means that really, football is king. But, for the second night in a row, I was able to watch a ballgame in a really fantastic ballpark. I’d been to see the Texas Rangers at the Ballpark in Arlington once before, but found myself even more impressed this time.


To start with, it’s BIG. Yes, it’s still a new baseball-only park, but, as is appropriate to Texas in general and Big D in particular, this is a large park. And many of the features reinforce that. There are great massive archways around the outside of the stadium, the gates are huge, and the concourses are massive. But it all works – my seat was a good one, but even wandering around the park, the sightlines looked good throughout.


Of course, appropriate to Dallas, the park’s in the middle of nowhere. Arlington’s a middle-ground between Dallas and Ft Worth, and appears to be the constructed-entertainment center of town. Therefore, the amusement parks, ballpark, and forthcoming new football stadium (Will God still be able to watch through a hole in the roof, Jerry?) are all out there. That’s definitely a downside, compared to the great appeal of downtown parks, but hey, it’s fitting to the area.


Meanwhile, they’ve somehow perfected the art of putting the park in the suburbs, but still not making the parking convenient. My parking spot, in the general lot, was still a bit of a hike, especially in the 100-degree Dallas heat. But, since I’d shown up quite early, so as to visit the Legends of the Game Sports Museum in the park, I was actually given a ride by the employee shuttle bus, which happened to be driving by. They all gave me a hard time about my Red Sox shirt (hey, it was blue-and-red), though not for my Giants hat, but it was a well-appreciated touch.


The Legends of the Game Museum was a nice visit, and moderate amount of the memorabilia there is actually borrowed from Cooperstown. Having missed the Baseball Hall of Fame on this trip, it was nice to spend some time here, and they’ve done a very good job with the place. A couple of interesting items worth pointing out here: A jersey from the Say Hey Kid, and the famous crown trophy given to the Babe.




The park’s quite reminiscent of Jacob’s field, in that it is new, nicely featured, baseball-only, and well-outfitted, but not the full-blown new-retro of Pac Bell, PNC, or Coors. The two most distinctive attributes, within the bowl, are probably the ornate white-steel-and-glass building front in center, and the old-fashioned pillared double-decker grandstand in right field. Both are definitely nice touches, and add character to the building.


Despite the size of the interior, the Ballpark also includes a feature I’d love to see at more parks: An open-air space outside the building that’s actually included in the ticketed area. There’s a certain discomfort with walking out of the building mid-way through the game, as I couldn’t shake the feeling that I’d not be allowed in, but this outdoor area, bounded by two fences and a lake, is actually part of the park. Good stuff.


The luxury suites, in a great touch, are not numbered, but are instead each named after a hall-of-fame baseball player.


Unfortunately, while you can bring a horse to water… Did I say this was a football town? Well, it was borne out in the approach of the fans to the game. This was not a Boston/NY/Chicago crowd.
• Example #1: At a key junction in the top of the 7th, with the Rangers up by 4, the A’s loaded the bases with no one out. The new Ranger reliever was able to induce a pop-up, throw a strikeout, and get a weak grounder to 1st, to get out of it with no damage. A wildly enthusiastic crowd? Fans standing and cheering at 2-strike counts? Nah…. At the time, there were several fans busy trying to start the wave in my section, around whom I had to shift and peer in order to see the drama below.
• Example #2: While I’m still waiting for a truly moving 7th inning stretch (the Yankees do it well, but not on an everyday basis – Wrigley, I’m counting on you), this was a low point. Mostly because there were quite a few people… yep… not even standing. Hmmm…
But, hey. This is a last-place team, and Cowboys training camp is well underway, so perhaps I’m asking too much? The fans who were left at the end of the 9th did give it a good cheer as the game came to a close, though.


Still, definitely an enjoyable place to watch a game, and a good experience. I’d hesitate before buying a day-game ticket in August, but I’d certainly come back if in town.

Off to Kansas City tomorrow and to the heart of the Mid-West.