Baseball and the Open Road: One man’s journey across our great nation. (Part 1 of a series)
By Paul Pleiss
As an active duty member of the US Coast Guard I move around the country every few years. This summer I’ll be moving from sunny Miami Beach, FL to rainy Seattle, WA. As so often has happened to me during my military service, the needs of our nation have given me opportunities to do once in a life time adventures, including spending a week in Japan in 2008 where I was able to catch a baseball game in Yokosuka, and make an appearance on the Jumbo-tron for the first time ever. In fact, my friends and I spent so much time on the Jumbo-tron that my friend was able to snap a picture of us on the big screen. This summer the Coast Guard is moving me from one corner of our nation to the other and I plan to make good use of my cross country road trip. As I make my way across the United States, I’ll be visiting 16 different MLB stadiums.
I’ll be starting my trip on the first of July with a game at the new Marlin’s Park in Miami and finishing up with a game in Seattle at SafeCo Park on the 30th of July. The first half of my journey includes seven games in eight days as I make my way north from Miami to the upper Mid-West to visit my family over the All-Star break. After the All-Star break I’ll be back on the move again, but with a much slower pace of operations as I venture from stadium to stadium, stopping to visit friends and family along the way. A tentative schedule of events is listed below.
Baseball Road Trip 2012
DATE DAY EVENT
01 JUL SUN Phillies at Marlins
02 JUL MON Yankees at Rays
03 JUL TUE Cubs at Braves
05 JUL THU Astros at Pirates
06 JUL FRI Rays at Indians
07 JUL SAT Royals at Tigers
08 JUL SUN Blue Jays at White Sox
ALL-STAR BREAK
13 JUL FRI Pirates at Brewers
16 JUL MON Orioles at Twins
17 JUL TUE Mariners at Royals
18 JUL WED Pirates at Rockies
20 JUL FRI Astros at D-Backs
21 JUL SAT Rockies at Padres
23 JUL MON Royals at Angels
25 JUL WED Padres at Giants
30 JUL MON Blue Jays at Mariners
My little brother (Grant, 14) will be making the first half of the trip with me. In addition to giving us some extended brother bonding time, it will be a trip that both of us will remember for a life time. I know that there are Puckett’s Pond readers and Twins fans all over the country, so if anyone would like to get together for a tweet-n-greet at any of my destinations, please do not hesitate to contact me on Twitter, or through the comment section on the blog.
As I make my way across the nation visiting different baseball stadiums I’m looking forward to finding out what baseball looks and feels like in different parts of the country. I plan to keep track of several different items as my journey progresses with a photo/blog entry diary to include: hot dogs, worst seat in the stadium, parking, outside the venue food/drink options, $$$ and more. If you have ideas for items you’d like me to track/photograph as I make my journey, please get your comments in now. I look forward to sharing my adventure with you here on The Pond. The adventure starts this weekend, check back for pictures and updates from the trip. Baseball and the Open Road!
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