Baseball Road Trip 2012: Best Pictures Number 5

We like country music afterall…

If Louisville was Mos Eisely, then Nashville was the equivalent to the capital city of Naboo (if we are continuing the star wars theme). Yeah the weather sucked, but it truly was a great city even for people who don’t love country music. That said, we’d both go see Carrie Underwood any day of the week. And who knew that Nashville had such great arcitecture inspired by the Greeks?

That Greek Building in Nashville

We were here to see the Nashville Sounds Triple A baseball team. The Blue Jays catcher, JP Arencibia, is a native of Nashville and I asked him via twitter about the place. He said “awesome city, the baseball stadium is awful though”. Oh. Well, we enjoyed ourselves. We stumbled upon a double header which coincided with $1 hot dog day and we did our best to ‘camel up’ for the evening ahead. Don’t remember the scores, but the Sounds won the first game. Anyway, the stadium was pretty basic – but we did love the scoreboard:

Number 5: “Strummin’ my pain with ma scoreboard”, Nashville Tennessee.

This aint no banjo

We celebrated our good fortune by going for ribs and then persuading not one, but two local country music bands to abandon the regular ‘request’ list and to play Manchester‘s finest anthem – ‘Wonderwall‘. As you can see, one lead singer seemed happier than the other about this prospect:

Through gritted teeth

Megan Happy with Wonderwall

We got boo’d by the locals in one  bar and emptied the place in the other. We will be remembered…obviously for the wrong reasons.

Baseball Road Trip 2012: Best Pictures Number 6

Louisville, Mos Eisley, Tatooine

Ahhhh Louisville. Not quite Mos Eisely spaceport on Tatooine but relatively close. We stopped off here to see the Louisville Bats and mistakenly booked ourselves into the Econo Lodge, which was located in the middle of a busy intersection right next to an establishment selling second hand (and new) guns. We opted to set up our own security system as you can see.

Security System in Louisvile

Slugger Field is actually a great minor league stadium. Great design, easy to walk around, $1 beer promotions and not a bad seat in the house. And in mid May, nice temperatures that make for a comfortable baseball experience. We forgot to check out the spagetti junction but no matter, as my next favourite picture shows the air equivalent (lite):

Number 6: “Louisville at Dusk”, Slugger Field Louisville, Kentucky.

Slugger Field By Night

The home team got hammered I do recall and Terrill & I narrowly missed being hit by a sliced line drive foul ball that fuzzed past our balding heads at the speed of knots. Who knows, it might have improved our looks. After the game, we went for a quick drink in the down town ‘core’ – lets call it the Cantina Bar – a huge sports bar with bowling attached to it – and I found this very iconic picture of the great Arnold Palmer on the walls of the loos. I kinda like it. Very Hugh Hefner.

Arnold Palmer Looking Cool (on the wall of the loos in Cantina Bar)

 

Baseball Road Trip 2012: Best Pictures Number 7

Like the tourist shot in St Louis…has to be done

Back to where it all started. In Chicago. Cubs v Dodgers May 4th 2012. Wrigely Field, one of the most iconic sports venues in North America. Despite the fact we arrived in 30C heat the previous afternoon, the weather gods were not in our favour as the city was enveloped in some Stephen King-esque mist that threatened the game and our plans to wander around for half the day. This pic here shows Stu (before he went MIA) and Terrill (moping around in the background) against the skyline with Tuton Karmoon about to rain on our parade.

The mist sinks in…and Copus strikes a pose

Luckily it held. Our Wrigely experience was pretty typical. Get to ballpark. Walk around ballpark with a beer and a hotdog. Get peanuts. Find seats. Sun disappears for good. Game starts. More beers. Heckles all round. Pretty girls getting pictures taken in the aisles. Stewards working overtime. Inflatable beach balls blown all over the field, stewards racing after them. Boos from the crowd. Final couple of innings from the Rum Bar. Across the road to the ‘X’ bar. Cubbies win. Tunes cranked up. Party for all. Time and space merge into each other. Around 7pm be at a loss as to what to do for the rest of the evening. Hic.

Cubs Win!

Anyway, my favourite picture number 7 was trying to capture the shenannigans on the field as stewards raced after the beachballs which wasn’t helped by the gusty winds.

Number 7: “Boys will be Boys”, Wrigely Field, Chicago Illinois.

I think there was a game going on…

Not sure why those blokes are kissing each other but still…

Baseball Road Trip 2012: Best Pictures Number 8

It wasn’t all baseball and hotdogs you know. We did our fair share of sightseeing and we did eat a lot of other bad (i.e. good) stuff too. One of our favourite non baseball moments involved a visit to LucasOil Stadium – home of the Indianapolis Colts of the NFL. The stadium tour took about 90 minutes and it was very inclusive. Obviously the electricity bill is high during the season as they weren’t allowed to turn the lights on for Goffy and Terrill during our visit as you can see. Very impressive stadium though – as long as you like blue.

All blue over Manning…

My favourite picture however is this one of Peyton Manning, about to run out the tunnel in what would be his last game with Indy. This is located just outside the media area high up in the rafters.

Number 8: “Peyton”

Peyton before a playoff loss against the Jets. Sigh.

When we visited, the club shop was packed with new gear with Andrew Luck‘s name written all over it. Anticipation was high and rightly so. Peyton’s heir apparent has indeed started the season well, although Peyton is quietly building his own MVP stats with Denver. Still, at the time (May) it was kinda sad to see the name ‘Manning’ in the 50% off section of the gift shop. He is gone, but not forgotten.

Baseball Road Trip 2012: Best Pictures – Number 9

After experiencing the cosmopolitan city that is Chicago, and freezing our nads off at the Cubs game (pics to follow later on), our second port of call was Des Moines, Iowa. Our first triple A baseball experience. I couldn’t decide which of these pictures to post – so I am posting them both. Principal park was cool. And we missed out narrowly on the storm. And we ate helmets full of nachos. And I had beer accidentally spat on me by a laughing local. It was a strange night…

Number 9(a): “The Drinks Holder, The Bum and The Glove” – Principal Park, Des Moines

Who took this? And what is it of? It is bugging me…

I seriously cannot remember taking this picture. And it wasn’t Terrill as his mooby-ness is in the shot. Now, this is either a picture of:

a) An empty row of drink holders

b) A rather cute behind

c) The big inflatable baseball glove.
Answers on a postcard please…..

Number 9(b): “Dang ma, get inside, blizzard’s a coming” – Principal Park, Des Moines

Cubs mauled by the Zephers + harbinger of what was to come later on in October!

As was the case with most of the games we saw, late on in the game the home team were being battered by their opponents. The crowd were yelling for the ‘Rally Yak’ – we were just hoping the heavens weren’t gonna open. Its hard to see in this photo how dark it got – but the players were all looking rather worried out there. After the game, fans were shouting ‘Lets Get a Taxi…….Lets Get a Taxi’ to the tune of ‘Lets go Cubbies’ etc. Mildly amusing. The rain never came, at least til the morning, where our drive to Kansas doubled in time due to wrath of god monsoon weather. Muggins Magoo was driving. More soon…

 

Baseball Road Trip 2012: Top 10 Pictures

The baseball travellers are already looking forward to next season. Especially now that the Blue Jays have just pulled off a complete ‘holy f**k’ trade with the Miami Marlins. Plenty of baseball talk in November – which is good. Real good. Good for the Academy. Anyway, I never got round to posting the top pictures from our 2 weeks in the US in May. So, behold – the top 10 pictures as voted by, err, me. Not neccessarily the BEST quality pictures – but the ones that were truly representative of the trip and of the experiences we had.

Number 10: ‘The Baseball Tourist’ – Busch Stadium, St Louis

How did St Louis lose to the Giants with Hunter Pence batting 5?

Yah yah. Everyone does it on when they visit Busch for the first time. The equivalent of snapping the Eiffel Tower in Paris, or Big Ben in London or The Falls in Niagara. Get the city skyline money shot. Busch stadium starting to fill up around 6.30pm game day, the Arch, the hotels, the shadows and of course, plenty of crappy beer ads. Number 10 of my top 10 baseball road trip pictures.

Baseball 2012 Season – Over / Under Review

Seems ages ago that Vegas released the odds for every team regarding the over / under lines. Well it was ages ago I guess – that is the baseball season. Listed below are the odds and the predictions of the baseball travellers. Unsuprisingly we batted .500 in our predictions. Milwaukees spread was 83.5 and we went over. Damn half a game between us and a winning season. Some noteworthy facts:

• Oaklands over / under was 70 games. They smashed that by 24 wins. Wow.
• Astro’s over / under was a measily 64. They ended a league worse of 55 games. Awful.
• Our two hot bets failed miserably  – Marlins (over 84.5, actual 69) Woeful. Tigers (over 92.5, actual 88) sigh.
• Nationals over / under was 84.5. We went under. They finished with league high 98 wins. The future is now.
• Orioles over / under was 69.5. We went over. But no one thought they would get 93 wins. Incredible. New logo helped.
• Red Sox over / under was 89.5. We went under. They finished with just 69 wins admist a gongshow circus. Chuckle.
• Matt Kemp predicted he’d hit the 40/40 club – Homers and Bags stolen. He finished with 23 and 9 respectively. Still a FIGJAM.

Team	Over / Under	Thoughts
Angels	92.6	Under – Correct
A’s	71	Over – Correct
Astros	64	Under – Correct
Blue Jays	80	Over (hopefully) – Incorrect
Braves	87	Over – Correct
Brewers	83.5	Over – Incorrect (by 0.5)
Cardinals	83	Over – Correct
Cubs	74.5	Under – Correct
Diamondbacks	86	Over – Incorrect
Dodgers	81	Under – Incorrect
Giants	87.5	Under – Incorrect
Indians	78.5	Under – Correct
Mariners	72	Over – Correct
Marlins	84.5	Over – Incorrect
Mets	70.5	Under (Goffy & Terrill hot bet) –Incorrect (punch)
Nationals	84.5	Under – Incorrect (wow)
Orioles	69.5	Over – Correct
Padres	73.5	Under – Incorrect
Phillies	93.5	Over – Incorrect
Pirates	73	Under – Incorrect
Rangers	91.5	Over- Correct
Rays	87	Over – Correct
Red Sox	89.5	Under – Correct
Reds	86.5	Over – Correct
Rockies	80.5	Under – Correct
Royals	80.5	Under- Correct
Tigers	92.5	Over (Goffy & Terrill hot bet) – Incorrect
Twins	73	Over – Incorrect
White Sox	74	Under – Incorrect
Yankees	93.5	UNDER UNDER (Fans hope) – Incorrect

Well that was a load of rubbish wasn’t it?

The Jays season that is. What started with such promise – new uniforms, home run champs, and of course my road trip to the US –  ended in such dogs dinner disarray it is hard to know where to start. Here is what went right for the Jays:

• Edwin Encarnacion. 40+ homers, 100+ rbis for the man known before the season as E5. He held the Jays batting together early doors before Joey Bats got hot. Joey Bats then got injured but Eddie continued to swat dingers like they were going out of fashion. Only Booze Hound, Curtis Granderson and strike out king Adam Dunn could match him in the AL. Well done Edwin.

What went wrong for the Jays:

• Everything else. Three starting pitchers headed to the DL in the space of a week or s0 – Morrow with tummy muscle problems and young padawans Drabek and Hutchinson needing Tommy John. Great.
• Cordero. Worst bullpen addition every.
• Brett Lawrie – helmet tossing fits, falling head first into the dugout and some time on the DL too. Cosmic.
• Joey Bats. Strained his wrist, onto the DL, back from the DL for 2 games, back on the DL, wrist surgery. Brilliant.
• Yunel Escobar. Not content at annoying the locals with general laziness, he is caught on camera with homophobic slurs written under his eyes during a game. Suspension, fines and bewilderment. FFS.
• John Farrell. Unfortunately for us, the Red Sox had an even worse circus of a season than us. So now (for some reason) they want our manager. So now we have to put up with that media stuff til the end of the world series which will be constant given there is no Hockey at the moment.

Another sub 500 season for the local 11. Will the fans stand for this much longer? I doubt it. I won’t. After seeing baseball in the US this year and visiting playoff worthy stadiums in St Louis, Cincinnati and Atlanta – and watching the playoffs on TV – the Jays need a shake up.

The Baseball Travellers – When Football Came Home, Part 1

With the Euros approaching the Quarter Final stage, it is worth (in my eyes) reminiscing back to the summer of 1996, when the likes of Copus, Goffy and Terrill (aka the Baseball Travellers) were young lads in our early twenties. Yes we are baseball lovers now and will be for a long time – but out first love was and always will be football, or soccer to some of you. The summer of 1996 was when football came home – it really was. Indulge me.

June 1996 – Copus and Goffy were finishing our studies at the University of Exeter, both gaining a Masters Degree in Exercise and Sport Psychology. We still had our thesis to go, but our continuous assessment was done. Well, almost. Copus and I were trying to rally our halls of residence to get excited for the weeks to come – for football reasons. England were awarded the Euro 1996 football championships a few years back and the dull pain of the failure of the national team to reach the 1994 World Cup was a distant memory. Copus and Goffy, not to mention the nation of England were excited for the Euros to come to the English shores. It had been 30 years since England had hosted their last major tournament, which they won in 1966. And we had been pretty average since – or unlucky as some of us may say (i.e. umm yes like in 1986 with Maradona cheating, 1990 on penalties etc  etc). England, with doubts amongst the European community, was to be the focus of the football world for three weeks – and we were looking forward to it. And as the Lightening Seeds and Baddiel and Skinner said, ‘football was coming home’.

Copus, Goffy and Rob on the eve of the Euros

I bought myself a little Teddy Sheringham to bring us good luck. It had taken me a while to come around to Teddy – but now I loved him. Copus did too. When opening day was upon us we were excited. Our dour Scottish buddy Rob tried to dampen our enthusiasm. Scotland were in our group but today it was Switerzland. Copus and I watched the game at the student Guild – the student pub basically – and in front of a partisan crowd, Alan Shearer put England ahead in the first half with a wonderful strike. In our combined joy, Copus elbowed me in the eye. Right in that area in-between the eye and eyebrow that is ultra sensitive. It swelled up immediately the little bastard. Meh – I got some sympathy from some pretty ladies. But Switzerland equalised with a penalty late in the game and our joy was subdued. Copus, and I headed back to our student accommodation to find our dour friend Rob, sat in our common room with a huge smile, exclaim “football’s coming home eh lads?”. We weren’t impressed.

Copus looks sad, Goffy tries to look cool to cover up black eye – and Pickels looks on…

Next up was Scotland. A pivotal game that would determine the direction of the group, but more importantly, a game that England just could not lose for fear of being reminded by every Scot we know for the next 50 years that they beat us at home in our own tournament. It didn’t even bear thinking about. I watched the game with my Dad as he was picking me up and taking me home as the semester was over and summer was about to officially begin. Copus watched it at the same bar as before. My first action was to turf a couple of house mates out of the common room who were watching omnibus editions of Eastenders. Punch. I was pretty nervous. The game started and England were not great, but I did fancy our chances with the likes of Teddy, Shearer and Gazza on form. Nil nil at half time and the natives were getting restless, myself more than others. Second half started brighter and before long, a great move on the right saw a great cross from Gary Neville met in the six yard box by Alan Shearer who headed England in front. My Dad and I lept for joy – what an important goal that was. But the momentum shifted to Scotland, who started to dominate and then horror of horrors – they were awarded a penalty due to the clumsiness of Tony Adams. McAllister, normally so good from the spot, took the penalty and Safe Hands saved it, turning the ball aside for a corner. Just when McAllister approach the ball, it moved ever so slightly which admittedly put him off. Devine intervention? Probably not, but we didn’t care. It was still 1-0. And the best was still to come. Literally within 90 seconds of the penalty save, England were on the attack and Gazza scored perhaps one of the best England goals ever. He was fed the ball in the box, and with a deft touch, he lifted the ball over Colin Hendry’s bewildered head, and fired an unstoppable volley into the net. I received carpet burns on my knees as a result of my goal celebration slide and I can still hear the brilliant commentary of John Motson now “Gascoigne…Brilliant….Oh Yes….Ohhhhhhhh Yessss”. We won 2-0. My Dad and I left Exeter happy campers, and as we drove anyway, I saw Copus jigging his way towards the house (probably in his Duncan dungarees) and we exchanged a fist pump.

Brilliant. Ohhhh yes.

England was in a good position. Four points from two games. Not bad. But Holland were up next and we hardly had a good record against the Dutch. I was nervous before the game. But a packed Wembley was in full voice and after a couple of cold Carlsbergs, I felt better. England started well and before long, we were in front. Paul Ince won a penalty to which Shearer dispatched with authority – we were 1-0 up and I couldn’t believe it. The rest of the half was a blur. With my little Teddy Sheringham figurine looking on, England produced the half of all halves. The real Teddy headed in a corner to put us two up and shortly after, Shearer made it three capping off a fantastic move involving Gazza and Teddy. 3-0. Three Nil!!! Really? Were we beating Holland 3-0? We were and the crowd, adopting ‘Football’s coming home’ as the unofficial summer anthem, were in a delirious cacophony of song and dance. When Teddy made it 4-0, my parents and I shared an unspoken moment of disbelief and pride. And as the football magazine ‘Four Four Two’ declared in their next issue, ‘Respect At Last’. Holland scored a late consolation which turned out to be important – as Scotland had beaten Switzerland (they had drawn with Holland) with a fantastic goal from their talisman Ally McCoist – and that Holland goal eliminated the old enemy from the competition. Sorry about that chaps. But England were through to the knock out phases, and Spain awaited. Many beers were shared between Goffy and Terrill that night.

The SAS combination

Summer had started with a bang, I was home for 2 months, the weather was good, love was in the air and it was just the best feeling.

Baseball Road Trip in 1350 Words!

I have been asked to do a spot for our local beach magazine, “Local”, about our baseball trip. So here it is. You may have noticed I have changed the blog title and URL (The Baseball Travellers and www.BritsandBaseball.wordpress.com respectively) to more closely align what we are all about. Obviously. Oh – and my latest Yahoo Sports (Visit Britain) post can be found here.

Baseball Road Trip of a Lifetime unites three long-time mates for 14 days. 9 Cities. 7 States. 10 baseball games. 2300 miles.

I moved to the Beaches from London England in 1999 and needed to find something to replace my attachment to cricket. Baseball seemed like to obvious choice to do just that – indeed, I had been loosely following the sport since I first saw Charlie Sheen strut his stuff as Ricky Vaughan in the film ‘Major League’ a few years prior. Within a few weeks of living in Canada, I was following Carlos Delgado and the rest of the Blue Jays very closely. Ever since, I have always wanted to do a baseball road trip and from May 3^rd-May 17^th, the stars aligned closely enough for me to do just that.

Brits following Baseball? Really?

A baseball road trip starting in Chicago and finishing in Atlanta started to take shape on the deck of the Balmy Beach club around May last year as I envisioned a sports trip that took in some baseball and finished with some Golf at the TPC Sawgrass in Jacksonville. Tickets were purchased for the latter, a schedule was set and I recruited two friends from the UK to accompany me (I couldn’t persuade any locals to join me!). Unfortunately in my haste, I had used last year’s dates for the golf to base the trip around, and the 2012 dates would not fit the schedule. No matter – instead of a multi-sport trip, it turned into a 2 week baseball fest.

The stars and the mist aligns…

The trip took some mighty planning of course– we were at the mercy of the MLB schedules after all, and it took a few iterations to iron out some kinks, before we were ready to book tickets, accommodations, flights and our wheels that would see us travel the following route: Chicago-Des Moines-Kansas City-Indianapolis-Louisville-Cincinnati-St Louis-Nashville-Atlanta.

We arrived in great spirits and stifling heat in Chicago on May 3^rd and after an evening spent sampling deep-dish pizza and some local ales, we got an early night to rest up for an afternoon Chicago Cubs game the next day. Wrigley Field is one of the most famous and iconic baseball stadiums in the world and it never disappoints – the wall behind home plate, the famous non electronic scoreboard, the ivy clad outfield and of course, the surrounding buildings with their bleachers for hire for fans who have not scored tickets for the game itself. The temperature had dropped to around 14C (from 32C the day before), yet we still enjoyed the game – a ding dong affair that saw the Cubs win 5-4 after their manager was tossed in the 9^th innings. We watched the final inning from a bar to warm up – and then as is the case in Chicago when the home team wins – the tunes start and the party unfolds. Very hard not to get caught up in it all – although, we didn’t try very hard to be honest!

Three at Wrigely

The next day took a very unfortunate twist – one of our travelling party, Stuart, had to fly home for medical reasons. He’s ok, but he didn’t feel he could carry on and do the trip justice. So less than 48 hours after we started, we were a man down. James and I would honour his presence however – logging his driving hours and of course, eating his food allocation in the all you can eat sections! The drive to Des Moines was uneventful – just over 325 miles door to door, arriving in plenty of time to make it down to Principal Park to see the Iowa Cubs take on the New Orleans Zephyrs – our first Triple A game. We were impressed with the ballpark – the stadium, concessions, Philly cheese steak nachos in a batting helmet and our seats were brilliant.

Essential part of the baseball road trip diet

We spent the next two days in Kansas, which is about a two hour drive south from Des Moines. The weather was a huge concern – we had a white knuckle drive for about an hour in the torrential rain and it didn’t look good when we checked into our hotel. But the weather gods were on our side and the clouds cleared just in time – and the Kansas City Royals were battered by the New York Yankees 10-4. The game had everything, aside from decent pitching – a grand slam, hit batsmen, a triple from a debutant, bbq sandwiches and cold beer. Kauffman Stadium truly is impressive – my favourite ballpark of the trip I think, the water fountains the icing on the cake. Unfortunately the Royals lost the following night too – this time to the Red Sox. Great stadium – just not a great team.

Kauffman and Fountains

The next day was our longest driving leg – 7 hours to Indianapolis. This was the drive where we were supposed to solve world issues. Alas, we did not, as the baseball talk got in the way. We spent two days in Indy, touring the Lucas Oil Football Stadium which was amazing and taking in the Indianapolis Indians play the Iron Pigs, our second Triple A game, at Victory Field. From here we drove the short 100 miles to Louisville, which marked the half way point on our trip. It felt weird – on the one hand time was flying by. On the other, it seemed like weeks ago we had dropped Stuart off at the airport in Chicago. Louisville as a city was nothing to write home about; however the Slugger Field ballpark was amazing, home of the Louisville Bats. We opted for the expensive package – 200 level padded seats, a hat, program, hot dog and a drink for $20. We had Stuart’s food too of course, and beer was $1 for the night. Can’t complain, although we brought the home team zero good fortune as they were hammered by the Norfolk Tides.

Victory Field, Indianapolis

The next two nights saw us in Cincinnati and St Louis – two National League teams with a rabid fan base that gets to enjoy baseball in amazing outdoor immaculate ballparks. The Cincinnati Reds lost a laugher to the Washington Nationals 7-3, with phenomenon Bryce Harper going 0-5 and a cut face due to a stroppy bat toss in the dugout. We loved the Great American Ballpark – very scenic, very red, very busy. Long drive to St Louis the next day to catch the World Champ Cardinals continue our ‘bringer of bad luck’ streak, losing 7-2 to the Atlanta Braves. We didn’t get a chance to explore the city, but the stadium for a night game was fantastic.

View from the 352 section..not bad.

Drive in the rain to Nashville the next day – the Music City and home of the Nashville Sounds Triple A baseball team. We loved Nashville – the honky tonk bars with bands playing country music tunes and the blues night and day. We spent two nights here and although the baseball stadium was a bit of a let down after  the previous two games (the Sounds beat the Reno Aces in a double header, $1 for hot dogs no less), this is a great City and worth a few days to explore. We felt a little melancholy, which we felt was partly due to most country music songs being about heartache, but mostly due to the fact we had only one leg left of the trip – Atlanta, and then it would be over.

Greek inspired arcitecture in Nashville

Couple of hundred miles south east and we hit Atlanta in rush hour and some serious heat. A little disconcerting was the 24 hour security detail that our hotel had, but we checked in without problem and explored the local downtown / midtown areas. Turner Field was a truly traditional and spectacular ballpark. We saw the Atlanta Braves lose (obviously) to the Miami Marlins 8-4, but the game was exciting and the atmosphere electric. The Steak Sandwich wasn’t too bad either!

Cheers…it was a cracking two weeks!

And so, mid afternoon on the 17^th May James and I parted ways after 2 weeks, 2339 miles, 10 baseball games, 13 hot dogs, zero speeding tickets and 14 lbs added between us. We were ready to go home to see our loved ones. But it was a cracking two weeks. An eastern trip in 2013 beckons…

For a day by day blog account of the trip, check out www.britsandbaseball.wordpress.com