Baseball stadiums I have been to (not nearly enough)

Opening day is on Sunday. And they are picking up right where they left off last year, giving Yankees-Red Sox lots of TV coverage. (I am sure there are some that enough it, but it seemed like an awful lot last year...

Anyway, I am headed to Houston tomorrow. Gonna miss the start of the season there. I will be in Boston in June, but the Red Sox will be out of town. A couple of years ago, I was in New York this very time of year. (Just before my last April Fool's day joke ever...) We went to see a game at Yankee Stadium. This time of year I think about ways I can manage a road trip some time during the summer up the West Coast visiting baseball stadiums and catching games. (Start in Phoenix, head over to San Diego, up to Anaheim/LA, San Fran, Seattle, that sort of thing. Take a week, watch some games.

When I was younger, they built a baseball stadium in Buffalo. They wanted to attract a Major League team, or get an expansion team, or something. They didn't get a team, had to settle for a triple A team. I went to the stadium when I was 17 or 18 for a Beach Boys concert, but didn't go to any baseball games. The stadium seemed plenty big back then. I took Kate and Mary last year over there for a game, which got rained out. The stadium seemed a little smaller. While it was interesting to watch them wick water off the field, we didn't get to see any baseball.

When I was a freshman in college, the ballfield was right next to our dorm. We didn't go to any games, but we watched from our window once or twice, and yelled at the players from there to hit the ball to us.

I've been to Dodgers stadium a few times. (I don't remember now if it was three or four.) Dodgers stadium is very California. It always seems to be ncie weather for a game out there. Dodger dogs used to sound better then than they do now...

One year I went to Wrigley Stadium for a double header. The Cubs were playing the Rockies. I was way up in the upper deck, with one of the obstructed views of first base. Made it a little hard to see things. It was middle of the summer, a perfect day in Chicago. The Cubs lost the first game by nine or ten runs. In the first or second inning of the second game, the Rockies scored 9 or 10 more runs. The ballpark emptied out. After another inning or so, I went down and sat three rows back, right behind home plate. Sweet spot, not sure why they let me sit there. After it got dark, Sammy Sosa hit a home run out of the park. The ball just sailed right up and out into the night.

I few years ago, I went to a Houston Astros game. Way up at the top of the stadium. It was at a work conference, we had a good time. I ate a lot of peanuts that night.

I got around to going to Yankee Stadium for their last year. We were in the upper deck over in the outfield, sort of near the left foul pole. It was a little cold that night, but that was ok. It was interesting. You could tell the cement had lots of history in it. (The sort of thing where you could tell there were years of mustard, beer, and peanut shells ground into the cement.) I'm glad I got a chance to go there before they tore it down.

I went to an Altanta Braves game once. We ate in the 755 club restaurant, then sat out in the outfield to watch the game. It was kind of weird that day, it had rained towards evening, and a bit of a fog had settled in the stadium. Made for a humid evening, but it was nice.

Locally, there are three stadiums. One for the Angels triple A team, the Salt Lake Bees. For some reason, it's not my favorite stadium, except I really like the restaurants in the place. Seems like I had a burrito last time I was there. Why is it not my favorite stadium? Because I am basically a lazy person, it's 40 minutes away, and there are two stadiums between here and there. I think that might be the only real reason.

The Orem Owlz have a stadium they seem pretty proud of. It's on the campus of UVU. A lady at work moonlights there, and likes to give us vouchers for games every year. We try to get to a game or two every year.

BYU had money donated several years ago for a stadium. It's not giant, but I really like it. One year they had the Mountain West baseball tourney there. One of the guys from work and I took a wireless access point over there, and worked for three days from the stadium. That was pretty fun. It's nice because it's a 20 minute walk, or a three minute drive to the stadium, and I can use my campus ID card for concessions. Some of the girls like to go over there to watch games, but the college baseball season overlaps Winter weather quite a bit. We try to get a game or two in every year. Ruth talks about going back there quite a bit, we will have to head over for a game in the next couple of weeks.

Not a lot of ballparks, really. I need to get on the stick one of these days. There have been some near misses. I was in Baltimore one year, but it rained all weekend. We were also in Omaha one year during the College World series, but didn't go to any games.

Maybe a road trip this year would work. Just need to see when the home games line up. I also need to visit Cooperstown one of these days...