Mlb Road Trips

The final destination point for our Midwest 2 Tour was Kansas City. We drove over from St. Louis in the morning and stopped at Kauffman Stadium (or The K) for an afternoon game. The Angels were visiting the Royals on an incredibly hot afternoon ballgame that had us looking for shade, visiting the fountains, and making our way to the ice cream shop in left center.

This was my first trip to The K. I certainly liked it. It was easy to get to and park, easy to get around in, had great site lines and lots of fan and family activities in the outfield sections. I have heard people describe The K as the best minor league ballpark in the Major Leagues. I can understand that now. It did have a "small" feel to it, which wasn't bad at all, but it didn't feel like any other stadium that I have visited in the bigs.

One thing that was a real disappointment to me was that, being in Kansas City, I expected there to be pit barbeque stands inside the ballpark. Why wouldn't you, right? If Baltimore can have Boog Powell's and Philly can have Bull's Barbeque, wouldn't you expect KC to incorporate something of its city's heritage?

The real treat for me, I would have to say, was to see Zach Greinke pitch for the first time. I couldn't believe with all the baseball road trips that I have been on that I hadn't seen him pitch. Funny how the schedules work out but it seems like every time I see the Yankees, Andy Pettite is on the mound. We must be on the same rotation... Anyway, back to Zach... He didn't pitch that well the day we saw him but it was still great to watch him work in person. He was also up against Jared Weaver who was pitching well in the June heat. Check out the box scores on the Royals website.

The next stop on our Midwest 2 Tour was in St. Louis. We left Chicago mid-morning and made our way to The Gateway City in time to take a baseball stadium tour at Busch Stadium. The escorted tours that they give at Busch Stadium are pretty nice. You get to make the usual stops - warning track, dugouts, press box, suites, and club areas. What's unusual was that we were able to hit those spots so late in the day on a game day. Normally the team will shut down the field so that was an added bonus.

Here's a photo taken from the field at Busch Stadium. One of the things that you'll notice on your baseball road trips is that the newer stadiums have done a much better job of incorporating their surroundings into the ballpark. Remember the concrete bowls of the 60's and 70's? Or stadiums that were ill-fitting or designed for football? Thankfully they are being replaced with thoughtful stadium designs like Busch Stadium, PNC Park, Progressive Field and Citizens Bank Park.

We are always asked which is our favorite park so let me turn the tables on you. Which park is your favorite? What makes it your favorite? Let us know. It's always interesting to get a fan's perspective!

Okay, gang. It's been a while since we've updated you with any blog posts about our MLB tours. Between planning and hosting the baseball trips and a few major events in our families, we've had a few things going on this summer!! So some of our blog posts might seem a little out of order based on when we offered the sports vacations but we wanted to tell you about those road trips, too.

Time to write! Here goes...

Trip in and trip out, the element that we include that always gets rave reviews are the Big League Player Experiences. We always bring in an MLB player to tell baseball stories, field questions from our guests, and to sign autographs and take pictures with the folks on our MLB road trips.

The small group tour we had in the Midwest was no different. Here's a picture of Ron Kittle with some of our travelers before the game at US Cellular Field. This year we visited different sections of the stadium with Ron prior to the gates opening, were able to watch batting practice for the Sox and the Rangers, and were able to talk casually with him about the Sox, his career and baseball in general. And as we've come to know about every event that we have with Ron, we had a great time. Thanks, Kitty!

By the way, if you haven't checked out the baseball artwork including the bat benches that Ron makes, you are really missing out. Click here to go to his site, buy a bat bench, and tell him that we sent ya!

So join us on one of our upcoming baseball road trips so that you can hang with an MLB player and get that much closer to the game that you love!

I have had the good fortune to visit most of the Major League ballparks. Many of them quite a few times, especially the most popular parks and places our clients love to visit. If you've been on one of our tours, you know that we take your seat locations very seriously. It's something that's quite different about us from the other guys.

I've heard customers of our competitors say that they sat four rows from the top at Yankee Stadium and were clear out by the foul pole. Never on one of our tours. You'll sit in lower level seats, most of the time between the bases, sometimes just outside. Our goal is for you to walk into the ballpark, be amazed at the sites, and love your seats. My favorite reaction is to hear our customers walk out of the stadium and say, "Those were fantastic seats!"

Admittedly, seat location is one of the reasons that I started this biz. I don't want to be four rows from the moon at Yankee Stadium and don't think you do either. All that said, I've now started buying tickets for myself in varied locations when I'm on our MLB road trips. I'm enjoying checking out the different baseball stadiums from different vantage points. I'll do this expecially if it's a park that I've been to many times or one where we are seeing multiple games at the same stadium on one of our MLB tours.

Case in point, here's a shot that I took from my seats at Wrigley on a recent visit. I have to admit, I really enjoyed these seats. As you can see, it's a great view of the ballpark. You can see all of the action from here. It's in the shade, which was really important on a Sunday afternoon game when the temps were in the 90's. And, if you've ever been to Wrigley you'll appreciate this, there wasn't anybody walking in front of us during the game!

I'll definitely sit in these seats again. There just below the announcers booth so if they were good enough for Harry all those years, they have to be good.

As much as we fancy ourselves on being great trip planners and including really cool features on our trips, there's always the opportunity for the unexpected to happen, too. And in this case, I'm talking about the unexpected in a really good way.

We always plan to be at the baseball stadiums early so that we can explore the ballparks, take in batting practice, and have the chance of getting a baseball or autograph in the process. Our recent road trip to Atlanta was no different - except for the unexpected.

The event occured during the Reds' batting practice. Several of the players had stopped by to sign autographs for fans around their dugout. One of the local kids in a Braves t-shirt asked Jonny Gomes if he could have his batting gloves. Jonny's off-handed response was, "yeah, right."

Jonny hit the batting cage, took the obligatory jog around the bases, and then headed back towards the dugout and where we were sitting. We're assuming that since my son was wearing a Reds jersey (or it could have been that he just hadn't hounded Jonny or the other players), Jonny walked back over to our section and handed his batting gloves to him. He was thrilled to say the least.

Our hope is always to provide an experience that you'll never forget, gifts for baseball fans, if you will, so we package a lot of fun stuff into our group travel tours. But like Woody Allen said, "95% of life is showing up." Being at the games early gives you a greater chance to get closer to the game that we all love so much. So the next time you head out on one of your baseball road trips, allow time for the unexpected and maybe you'll be given a gift of your own!

We've had a chance to see most of the stadiums in the major leagues either on our family tours and on the baseball vacation packages that we offer. This trip was to Atlanta and Turner Field (or "The Ted") for a two-game stand. It was great to get to see the stadium for a night game and a day game. Sometimes the stadiums have two completely different personalities based on the time of the game.

We stayed in downtown Atlanta so the stadium was only a 1.5 - 2 miles from our hotel. The concourses were really wide and made getting around the stadium very easy. Here's a photo taken from right inside the centerfield gates. As you can see, there is a ton of room for getting people in and out of the stadium.

The Ted also has plenty for kids to do at the park. The Cartoon Network Fun House offers a break for the kids as does the many different batting cages and pitching booths that they have all along the third base side. They also offered face painting which seemed apprapos given the team's mascot.

The concourses around the outside of the stadium reminded us of Jacob's Field in Cleveland. (I'm sure that should be said the other way around based on when the stadiums were built but we were at the Jake first...) They were easily maneuverable but, they do cutoff your sight lines to the field.

We weren't knocked out by the food, either. We were sitting in the premium seats so we were able to order and have it delivered to us. The menu was your basic ballpark food but nothing that really stood out. We've grown accustomed to local restaurants or foods being incorporated into the ballparks like the Primanti Brothers in Pittsburgh or the Montgomery Inn in Cincinnati. Or the other thing parks have done is include former players into the mix like Boog's Barbeque in Baltimore, El Tiante's Cuban Sandwiches in Boston, or Bull's Barbeque in Philadelphia. All great features that represent the team well. We didn't find this at The Ted.

All in all, we had a great experience. It would be hard to beat the southern hospitality that everyone working at Turner Field displayed. So if you are looking for a place for one of your baseball road trips, I would definitely recommend Turner Field.

I just returned home from our Atlanta Tour - a three-day, two-night trip that featured two baseball games at Turner Field. We had fantastic weather, the hotel was great, our seats were even better (pictured on the left), and both games ended with walk-off hits or homers. They don't get much more exciting!

But as I reflect on the tour, I'm reminded of the things that caused me to want to start Big League Tours in the first place.

I really love the game of baseball and want to experience it in a unique way every time I take a trip. That's why we get to the park early, sit in great seats, and arrange for meet and greets with MLB players.

I also really enjoy getting to spend quality time with my family. On this tour, I was accompanied by my dad and son, the two folks who inspired me the most to start this business. Our small group tours provide you with the advantage of having things included that I mentioned before and also giving you the flexibility to do things on your own. And when taking family tours, we think it's important that you get that time so we make it available to you.

And finally, traveling can be difficult or at least a challenge, especially if the mode of transportation isn't great or the locations of your stay are suspect. We make sure that all of the logistics are top notch and take care of all the details so that you can just show up and enjoy a premier sports travel tour.

Those things sound simple but they are what make us different from the other guys. It's what got me in this business and it's what we love to do.

On August 24, 2008, I posted a video of Zack Hample, the man who was featured on CBS for his ability to snag foul balls and batting practice balls at MLB games. (Here's the link to the blog post.) I loved the story then and it gets even better now.

After the game was over at Turner Field, we were hanging out talking to some fans who we had met during the game. Who appeared next to us? None other than Zack himself.

At the time of my first post, Zack had successfully snagged at least one baseball in over 450 consecutive games. When we talked last night, the string was still alive at 644 consecutive games. Not only that, but he snagged 14 baseballs at yesterday's game!

If you want to learn more about Zack, click here to check out his website. Hopefully we'll bump into him again on one of our MLB road trips. Watch for him. He'll be the one who just caught the foul ball...

It felt great to finally get out on the road for the first of our baseball road trips of the 2010 baseball season. Yesterday we headed out to Atlanta to see the Braves and Reds in a two game series at Turner Field.

The Braves jumped out to an early lead but let the Reds get back into the game and tie it up in the top of the ninth. That just setup the scenario for Heyward to hit a walk off double driving in Prado for the winning run. Click here for the full box score.

Today we're headed out early to the Ted to explore the park, get some photos and hopefully a few autographs and baseballs. More from our small group tours later!

Excitement is mounted here at Big League Tours about our upcoming baseball road trips as today we received word that Cy Young Award winner and Oakland A's great, Vida Blue, will be taking time to meet and chat with all of us while in the 'City By the Bay'!

Blue, one of the most storied left-handed pitchers of all time will be joining the Big League Tours group on June 25th - fielding questions, signing autographs and taking photos with fans. No stranger to BLT, Blue has regaled our group with classic stories surrounding his days in the league as well as winning an MVP award and an insider look at winning the World Series.

Vida Blue is just the first of many baseball greats (former and current) who will join the tour to give us all more insight into the game and help us deliver the complete fan experience to make your sports travel or sports tour the ultimate trip. If you'd like more information about this tour and to find out how to meet, Vida Blue, click here to be taken to the details of the West Coast 1 tour.

USA Today recently printed an article, "How to Plan Your First Road Trip." The author provides nine pointers that would be a good idea for you to incorporate if you're taking family tours or sports vacations of any kind. Here's are the highlights:

• Step 1 - Purchase roadside service insurance.
• Step 2 - 
Bring your car in for a once-over.
• Step 3
 - Keep a small kit of safety supplies with you.
• Step 4
 - Buy a paper map.
• Step 5
 - Make a list of places you want to see and prepare a realistic time line.
• Step 6
 - Plan overnight stays.
• Step 7 - 
Record a hefty playlist for your MP3 player.
• Step 8
 - Keep a small cooler stocked with beverages and a couple of snacks.
• Step 9 - 
Allow time for the unexpected.

This looks like a great list if you have time to do this on your own and you're interested in looking up all the details for your baseball road trips. But what occurs to me is that we've already done all this work for you at Big League Tours when you purchase one of our baseball vacation packages. That's one of the things our clients tell us they love the most - the fact that they can show up for the tour and everything is taken care of for them.

Here's a great sports trip that everyone will love. Our group will be based in the heart of San Francisco, within walking distance of shopping and restaurants and just a short trolley ride away from the Wharf and Pier 39. The first day of this baseball stadium road trip, we'll take in a game at McAfee Stadium where the A's will host the Cincinnati Reds - a throw back to the 1990 World Series.

The second day, our travelers will be able to explore the sites of the city on their own. Visit the Golden Gate bridge, take a wine tasting tour of Napa Valley, our shop till you drop in San Fran's fashion district. The third day of the tour will feature a game between the Red Sox and Giants at AT&T park. Schedules permitting, we'll take a private baseball stadium tour of the park that sits right on the bay.

This is one of our baseball travel tours that also offers an interesting optional add-on. Come in a day early to catch the Cubs take on the Mariners at Safeco Park in Seattle. We'll add on game tickets, a hotel stay, and airfare to get you to San Francisco in time for the game at McAfee.

This is not only one of our sports travel packages that would make great baseball gifts for men, but it's tour that will make a great tour for couples! To see more about this and other MLB Tours being offered by Big League Tours, visit our website now to get all the details.

What an incredible play-in game that was. I don't know how the playoffs will be able to offer that much drama in one game. From the home runs, lead changes, and both teams threatening to score several times but getting shut down, this game had so many places to put you on the edge of your seat. And speaking of seats, I don't think the fans at the Metrodome even used their seats last night it was so exciting.

Congratulations to the Twins. That victory will give the city a boost as it plans for its new baseball stadium, Target Field, set to open next April. We're putting the final touches on our baseball vacation packages for next season but we will certainly include Minnesota as a destination point on at least one of our baseball road trips.

If you haven't signed up for our newsletter to find out about our ultimate baseball stadium tours, click the link to our site and we'll keep you in the know!

July 25, 2009 - Final day of one of our baseball road trips. We headed out Wrigley Field, The Friendly Confines, to see the Cubs take on the Cincinnati Reds. Admittedly, growing up a Reds fan, I was pulling for the "other" team but to no avail. The Cubs completed the sweep and sent my Reds packing. Click here to see the box score from the game.

Having been to games at Wrigley both at day and night, it's easy for me to see why they resisted putting lights in for so long. In my opinion, it's so much better to see day games there. The atmosphere is a total party buzz throughout the game and you know it's going to continue on for many more hours in Wrigleyville.

As the second oldest of the MLB baseball stadiums, one can't help but enjoy the charm of the ballpark. One also can't help but notice it's imperfections and crumbling infrastructure, too. When this team is sold, I'm certain that the new owners will need to address the challenges with the old ballpark. Even with its imperfections, it's still an awesome place for family tours.

ESPN's John Bancroft posted an article recently about the home runs that have been occuring at Yankee Stadium. Here's the opening of the article:

The Bronx Bombers are back in full force.

The Yankees have been hitting home runs at a record-setting pace at their new ballpark … and they'd have been on pace for more if they hadn't run up against Craig Stammen and the upstart Nationals during their most recent homestand. Through 35 games at the new Yankee Stadium, the Yankees have swatted 66 homers, putting them on pace for 153, four more than the record 149 hit by the 1996 Rockies at Coors Field. The Yankees and their opponents, meanwhile, have combined for 119 homers at Yankee Stadium, putting the park on pace for 250, the sixth-most hit at one ballpark in a single season in baseball history.

To think, if not for the Yankees and Nationals hitting a mere four home runs in their June 16-18 series, that full-season pace would swell to 291, only 12 behind the single-season record of 303 hit at Coors Field in 1999.

No wonder they call it "Coors Field East."

I know Yankee Stadium has taken a lot of criticism for the amount of home runs hit, the cost of the seats, and price of the stadium. However, as a baseball fan who has traveled around the country on many baseball road trips, it's my opinion that it's one of the best places to catch a baseball game. Sight lines are great (from the seats and the concourse). Traffic moves well throughout the ballpark. The seats are more comfortable than those at any other baseball stadium.

Big League Tours will be in New York City in a few weeks to check out the New Yankee Stadium and Citi Field, take a private tour of Yankee Stadium, and have a Big League Player Experience with Art Shamsky, member of the '69 Miracle Mets team. For more info, check out the details on our Big Apple Tour. Hope you can join us!

The completion of the All Star Game signals that we're half way through the 2009 MLB season. Teams in contention start looking for the missing puzzle pieces that will keep them in contention and possibly help them go all the way. Teams that are out of the race start looking towards the future and planning for '10 and beyond.

Whether your team is a buyer or seller at this point doesn't really matter. There is still time to book family tours or group tours to your favorite baseball stadiums or to a city that you've always wanted to visit. Start planning your MLB vacation today or call one of our baseball trip planners to assist you with the process!

This week's Sports Illustrated has an article about the '69 Miracle Mets team and prominently features Art Shamsky in the article. Art is appearing on our upcoming Big Apple Tour which features games at Yankee Stadium and Citi Field. Here's an excerpt from the article:

Maybe you were in New York that summer and fall, rooting for the Mets, the lovable (cue team jingle here) M-E-T-S Mets. You've been an optimist ever since. Of course you are. The club was a baseball comedy act from the year of its premature birth, 1962, right through 1968, losing an average of 105 games a season. And then came the surprise of '69. Elsewhere it was a horrible year, but New York witnessed a miracle: the Mets winning 100 games in the regular season, then beating the Baltimore Goliaths in the World Series. The miracle of Flushing Meadows, Queens.

Art Shamsky had no idea how lousy a year it had been. Not then. Shamsky, sharing duty with Ron Swoboda, patrolled Shea Stadium's rightfield, the first swath of green you'd see coming off the number 7 train. Shamsky was in his own little world that baseball season, 40 years ago, when Tom Seaver was a rising pitching god and Nolan Ryan a wild-armed reliever and spot starter and Jerry Grote, Texas badass, caught them both. Shamsky was a Jewish kid from suburban St. Louis, living in Manhattan, hearing kids (you?) scream Art Shamsky! as his big old Lincoln Continental entered the Shea Stadium players' lot, then going out after the game with the brothers—Cleon Jones, Tommie Agee—listening to jazz, wearing shades and long sideburns and striped pants, sipping house reds. It was many years later that he started making regular trips to the New York Public Library, in midtown, researching a book, twirling microfilm, making lists, catching up.

Good News, 1969: Man on the moon.

Bad News, 1969: Vietnam War, Manson murders, Hurricane Camille, the Chicago Seven trial, Chappaquiddick, inflation....

Shamsky is the unofficial class secretary of the '69 Mets, a regular when his teammates come together for parties, reunions, fantasy camps, golf tournaments, barbecues, card signings. Weddings. Funerals.

They gathered to bury Agee, centerfielder and leadoff hitter, in 2001. Agee—who'd almost single-handedly won Game 3 of the Series with a first-inning homer and for-the-ages catches on drives by Elrod Hendricks and Paul Blair—died of a heart attack, age 58, in his office on Second Avenue in midtown Manhattan, where he worked in the title search business. Shamsky was best man at Tommie's second wedding, in 1985, when he married Maxcine Green, a New York schoolteacher. O.K., not precisely best man. Best-man-on-deck, ready to pinch-hit if Cleon didn't show, and for the longest time that day it looked as if Cleon wouldn't show. But then he slipped in, cool as ever, saying, "Told you I'd get here." Rest in peace, Tommie.

The article is pretty interesting and points out how many young players were on that team that went on to have great careers. We're thrilled to have Art joining us in New York City on one of our upcoming baseball road trips. For a chance to meet Art Shamsky and other big league ball players, join us on any of our baseball tours for an unforgettable vacation.

May 9, 2009, Boston - One of the most loved features of our MLB Road Trips are the inclusion of our Big League Player Experiences. This is where we bring in current or former big league players to hear their stories, ask them questions, take pictures with them, and get autographs.

If you've read any of my blogs from the past, you've probably gathered that I spent a little time behind the plate as a catcher. So it was a thrill for me to get to meet Rich Gedman, former catcher for the Boston Red Sox. Rich told our group about breaking into the bigs with great players on the Sox team like Carl Yastrzemski, catching for great pitchers like Roger Clemens, and what it was like playing at Fenway Park. Here we are after the group session on Yawkey Way just outside the ballpark.

If you've thought about giving baseball trips as a gift for someone, consider elements like our Big League Player Experience which turn the gifts for baseball fans into premier sports travel packages they are sure to enjoy!