This is the documentation of the travels of Ben, Nate and Nick, as they journey to every Major League Baseball stadium. We'll take you through our experiences at the game, the ballpark and the nightlife, all for your enjoyment.
On Tuesday, the Baseball World said goodbye to one of its most prominent figures. Hall of Fame catcher Yogi Berra passed away at the age of 90, 69 years to the day after making his debut in 1946 with the New York Yankees.
Berra is well known for giving us one baseball's most famous quotes: "Baseball is 90 percent mental. The other half is physical."
The Associated Press provided us with some of his other witty sayings.
On his approach to at-bats: “You can’t think and hit at the same time.”
On selecting a restaurant: “Nobody goes there anymore. It’s too crowded.”
On economics: “A nickel ain’t worth a dime anymore.”
Number of requests turned down at the piano bar: Lost count
Minneapolis: Day 1
The final leg of our trip began with us
leaving Milwaukee fairly early in the morning, for us anyway. We wanted
to make a stop in Chippewa Falls and visit the Leinenkugel's brewery,
and it was definitely worth the early departure.
The
tour costs five bucks and lasts around 45 minutes. You also get a
souvenir glass and five samples of whatever kind of Leinenkugel's many
brews they have available at the time. Tip: Pay attention to the signs around the bar. They have some great recommendations for mixing the different kinds of beers.
The
tour was great. Our guide, Ethan, knew all his information and kept it
lively with some funny stories and jokes, some funny because of how
cheesy they were. The only negative part of the tour was that we
couldn't take pictures inside the brewery to share with our wonderful
readers. I guess you'll have to take our word for it that it was a fun
and informative trip.
The inside of the lodge, which
was next to the brewery, was very nice — all wood, resembling a cabin.
It had tons of souvenirs, a place to have fun pictures taken of you and
those with you, a bar, and a place to buy Leinenkugel's to take home
with you.
Trip firsts: Brewery visited, two replays in one game
Milwaukee: Day 1
The first day of our second trip of 2015 began with us parting ways with Chicago. We said goodbye to Laura, Tyson and the Windy City and hello to the short, 1 1/2 hour trip to Milwaukee. Along our way, however, we made another unscheduled stop.
How could anyone not be intrigued after seeing a sign for a cheese castle while driving down the interstate. And when we saw the castle itself, we knew stopping was our only option. And, oh are we glad we did.
Having been in Chicago last year, we decided to forgo some of the activities that we took part in last year. One thing we did want to check out were the new renovations at the Navy Pier. We found some cheap parking on the street ($4 per hour) and walked a couple of blocks to the pier.
Even with it being a Monday, the pier was filled with people shopping, going on boat rides, or simply taking a stroll up and down the walkway. Boat tours ran about $30 and lasted anywhere from 30 minutes to 1 1/2 hours. There is plenty of food choices on the pier and tons of places to go shopping — most of the stores inside the main building on the Navy Pier. The view from the pier is great, looking back at the city you can see skyline meet the lake.
One of the most famous lines in cinematic history was echoed in the 1989 film Field of Dreams, a movie in which an Iowa farmer builds a baseball field on his land, which becomes the home to former professional greats like Shoeless Joe Jackson.
To start this year's journey, we stopped at the film site of this historic ball field in Dyersville, Iowa. We started the morning at 5 a.m. and were delayed a bit with some potential car issues. They may or may not have been avoided for a week and a half leading up to the trip, but 5 a.m. in the Walmart parking lot is a good time and place to deal with such troubles.
The jaunt to get to the field winds you into the country and seemingly into the middle of nowhere. As you pull up to the field, you feel as though you're in the movie as you gaze upon the baseball field with corn for an outfield fence and the same house used in the movie right next to it.
Hello again! I know, it's
been a long time since we've last posted, and we apologize for depriving
you, our beloved readers, from the latest on our journey.
We
are now less than a week away from our trip! And that kind of
excitement has got us ready to take our adventure, as well as this blog,
to the next level. It is our goal to start posting more than just our
wild stories from our trips. We want to give you updates on the MLB
season as well as fun posts about baseball topics — stadium quirks,
food, beer (You know, the essentials).
This season
We
are excited get our trip started! Once again, we will be hitting up
three stadiums this year — U.S. Cellular Field (Home of the Chicago
White Sox), Miller Park (Milwaukee Brewers), and Target Field (Minnesota
Twins).
During this trip, we'll be adding a companion,
who is considering joining us on the rest of our trip. If that means we
have to double back to last year's three lucky stadiums we visited,
we'll be more than glad to do so. We'd like to welcome Nate on our
journey, so be prepared for more in depth analysis, stadium insight and
probably even crazier stories than before.
Another
thing we'll be doing differently this season is visiting all three
stadiums in one trip. It will be a jampacked trip, but we're excited.
Lineup
Chicago:
The game we'll be seeing in Chicago is between the White Sox (32-42)
and the Toronto Blue Jays (41-36). The White Sox came into the season
with high expectations but currently sit at the bottom of the American
League Central. The Blue Jays went on a hot streak recently but have
begun to cool off. They are fourth in the AL East but are just one game
back of first-place Tampa Bay and Baltimore. Just a few days prior to
this post, we mapped out the possible pitching matchups we would see. If
both teams kept their five-man rotation in tact, we would be in for a
treat in this game with Chicago's Chris Sale dueling Toronto's Mark
Buehrle.
Milwaukee: At Miller Park we are going
to see the Brewers (29-48) play the Atlanta Braves (36-40) — the only
team that was also involved in the rotation last year (Purely
coincidence). Neither team was predicted to finish atop their respected
divisions, but the Braves find themselves six games back of the National
League East. Milwaukee, however, is at the bottom of the NL Central.
Once again, we should see a solid pitching matchup, if the rotations
stay as projected, as Atlanta's Opening Day starter Julio Teheran will
face off against the Brewers' Mike Fiers, who has given up two earned
runs or fewer in seven of his last nine starts.
Minneapolis:
The final game of our trip will be between division rivals Minnesota
(40-35) and the Detroit Tigers (39-36). The Twins are 5 1/2 games behind
the Kansas City Royals for first place, while the Tigers remain 6 1/2
games behind. Detroit was expected to have another big year after
winning the division last season, but the Twins have been a surprise,
exceeding low expectations and flirting with the division lead. In what
is apparently the year of the pitcher for us, we will get to see one of
the game's top pitchers in Detroit's David Price, the 2012 AL Cy Young
Award winner (which goes to the league's top pitcher). He'll be squaring
off against Minnesota's Mike Pelfrey.
Surprise:
We will also be making at least one major stop along the way at a very
famous baseball landmark, so be on the lookout for that post. It's sure
to be a dream come true for any baseball fan.
Play ball!
We
are excited to get this trip started! In the meantime, refresh your
memory by reading the entries from our trips last year! Also, be sure to
follow us on Twitter and Instagram.
As always, if you know of anything exciting and fun that you want us to
try and do in the cities we visit, leave a comment on this post or
Tweet at us! Thanks for reading and thanks for all of the support we've
received.
"Baseball is like a poker game. Nobody wants to quit when he's losing; nobody wants you to quit when you're ahead."
On Monday, August 11, the Kansas City Royals took sole possession
of first place in the American League Central Division, riding an eight-game
win streak.
That winning streak came to an end on
Tuesday, when Jon Lester and the Oakland A's beat the Royals 11-3. But Kansas
City remained on top of the division thanks to a Detroit Tiger loss. Going into
tonight's games, the Royals have a 1/2 game lead over the Tigers.
Even when we visited Kansas City on July
25, the Royals faithful was full of excitement, believing their team has what
it takes to make a run in the postseason. And now, with the newly appointed
title of "division leader", Kansas City fans are as boisterous as
ever.
If the season were to end today, the
Royals would be in the playoffs as a division winner, avoiding the dreadful
one-game playoff series. While there is plenty of season remaining (around 40
games left for most teams), there's a reason K.C. is so excited at the thought
of having a playoff team — it would be the first Royals team to compete in the
postseason since they won the World Series in 1985.
Yep. 1985. That's 29 years of playoff-less
baseball in the City of Fountains.
There's a lot of buzz about this Royals
team, which went on a 10-game win streak earlier this year. Kansas City boasts
a top-10 bullpen (3.28 ERA) and its starting pitching has been a force as of
late (3.59 ERA).
Time will tell if the Royals can avoid an
end-of-the-year letdown and secure their spot in the postseason for the first
time since 1985. Just for fun, here's a look back at that year, when K.C. was
baseball royalty.
U.S. President — Ronald Reagan. Vice
President — George Bush.
Most popular TV shows — 1. The Cosby Show; 2, Family Ties; 3. Murder, She
Wrote; 4. 60 Minutes; 5. Cheers.
Notable Billboard No. 1 Songs — Madonna, Like a Virgin; Foreigner, I Want to
Know What Love Is; REO Speedwagon, Can't Fight This Feeling; Tears For Fears,
Shout; John Parr, St. Elmo's Fire (Man In Motion); Jan Hammer, Miami Vice
Theme; Starship, We Built This City
Record of the Year — What's Love Got to Do With It, Tina Turner
Box Office Hits — 1. Back to The Future; 2. Rambo: First Blood Part II; 3.
Rocky IV; 4. The Color Purple; 5. Out of Africa.
In 1985, David Letterman's first Top Ten list appeared. It was, "Top 10
Words that almost rhyme with 'Peas.' " In order of 10-1: Heats, Rice,
Moss, Ties, Needs, Lens, Ice, Nurse, Leaks, Meats.
Sports winners — Super Bowl XIX, San Francisco 49ers; NBA, Los Angeles Lakers;
Stanley Cup, Edmonton Oilers; NCAA football, Oklahoma; NCAA basketball,
Villanova
Cost of a Super Bowl Ad — $525,000 (It was about 4 million bucks for a 30
second ad in this year's Super Bowl XLVIII).
As we said, there's still a long way to
go, but if the Royals can keep their winning ways, K.C. will be ready to party
like it's 1985. Who knows, we may have to make another trip down there for some
postseason fun.
