Visit Baseball Stadiums Across the Country for a Winning Relationsihp
In visiting baseball stadiums acrosss the country, the key to planning the trip is checking the baseball team schedule. Coordinate your arrival and departure time in that city to allow plenty of time to take in the game, enjoy at least one good meal not involving ballpark food, and see a museum or do an activity you enjoy. Your fellow will cooperate because he is in the thralls and glory of baseball. Another important factor is the actual purchase of the baseball tickets and you want to involve your partner in the seating choice. He can check the seat charts on-line and analyze the best spot for your viewing pleasure. Home side, visitor’s side, and scoreboard are all factors best left to him to consider. Be sure to order and have tickets in hand or at will-call. Avoid the Camden Yard debacle, which will be discussed later in this article. In planning a tour of baseball parks, you and your mate are already bonding over sports.
You are ready for an enjoyable baseball weekend and you do not actually have to watch the game. The pleasant part of visiting a variety of baseball stadiums in different cities is you are allowed to get up and explore. Unlike a date at the local home game where you are obliged to cheer and keep up with the score, this weekend you are a visitor and are obligated to check out the souvenir stands, food stands, architecture, views from the ballpark, and do people watching. Your fellow is more likely to join you on your expeditions since he does not have a vested interest in the team. He is absorbing baseball culture and lore. Visit the local park museum, point at ratty old mitts, and cheer him on in any interactive baseball activity. You will enjoy your time at each ballpark, and you two will have something to discuss during off- season.
Spring and love are in the air along with a pop fly as you start on your baseball journey. Here is a quick review of some of the baseball weekends and ballpark tours you can plan:
Texas:
Visit the Ballpark in Arlington (Arlington, Texas) in the spring because otherwise it is hotter than hell. Be sure to wear sunscreen and have something to use as a fan. Sit in the lower areas. The uppermost tier is very high and steep. The Texas Rangers are perennial losers and no one at the ballpark seems to care. The retro brick building and metalwork Texas stars offer a nice touch as you wander the park. Enjoy the nachos and Tex-Mex offerings. Otherwise there are no outstanding food picks. The rest of your weekend can be spent in Dallas or Fort Worth, both twenty miles either way. Plenty of art museums, or parks, and a lot of restaurant choices can round out your activity.
If you are ambitious you can try to catch a game at Minute Maid Park (Houston, Texas). A four-hour drive from Arlington or a short hop flight will get you to the concrete jungle of Houston. The World Series runner up – Houston Astros – have a fun home to play. A train goes back and forth when a home run is scored. A huge gas pump is a tribute to the world of oil in Houston. If the cover is drawn, the place is loud and the fans are boisterous. Food is plentiful and the mound of chili cheese nachos is tempting. The main attraction outside of Houston is the Johnson Space Center where you can tour a NASA facility and glimpse into space. It is interesting and you do get a perspective of how huge the space capsules and rockets are next to a building. However, with tighter security, the tour has been cut back and is not worth the admission price. Another short trip is to Galveston along the Gulf of Mexico. Quaint gingerbread homes, a seawall, and brown murky water bring visitors by the drove for a day at the beach.
Missouri:
The Kansas City Royals (Kansas City, Missouri) play at Kauffman Stadium and this is the heartland of middle town America. The stadium is small, the people are healthy, and you are there to eat. Barbecue, albeit beef ribs, shredded pork, or pulled chicken is the mainstay. Meat and plenty of it is featured in this stadium. Oh yeah, they have cool fountains and generally good weather to enjoy the outdoor atmosphere. To continue the hometown theme, when you are not at the ballpark you can visit the Truman Presidential library nearby. Kansas City is a trip where you do think about baseball and apple pie.
Maryland:
I referred earlier to the Camden Yard debacle. Oriole fans are fanatic and so are most of the visiting teams. If Boston is in town the weekend you plan to visit Camden Yards (Baltimore, Maryland), you better have tickets. As we wandered around the Baltimore seaport for the Aquarium, the tall ship to tour, the Babe Ruth museum, we realized everyone was wearing a Red Sox shirt. Not having bought tickets, we scurried to the counter and ended up at the highest point possible in the stadium without being in an airship. This did not bode well for the romantic baseball weekend, and it was early in my planning of baseball vacations. I learned my lesson and I am happy to share it with you. Have tickets ahead of time!
Florida:
I take that back. You do not need advance tickets to see the Florida Marlins play at Pro Player Stadium (Miami, Florida). This is a cold stadium that was built for football. The seats are cramped and the stadium is ugly. The only redeeming feature is palm trees. That livens up anything. The night we saw the Marlins play, no one was there. No crowd noise, no extra banter, even the organ music echoed sadly. The mascot sat through most of the game. It was pitiful. All of the action is off the baseball field back in Miami proper. Beaches, South Beach nightlife, tour boats, Miami is hopping and further up the coast, Fort Lauderdale offers a lovely venue for romance.
Michigan:
Comerica Field where the Tigers play (Detroit, Michigan) is a fun stadium to see during the day. Huge tigers with baseballs in their mouths adorn the stadium and the overall theme is carried through the park. Detroit has a longstanding baseball history and the statues in the outfield (Ty Cobb, Al Kaline, et al) bring that message home. Tiger fans are enthusiastic and the stadium sells the largest beers I have seen. However, as a game starts and you look around the downtown building surrounding the park, you assume it will be gorgeous at night. Sadly, the city does not glow around the park. The buildings are vacant and cast a looming shadow as you leave at the end of the game. Outside of the ballgame, visit the home of Motown, the original Berry Gordy home. Do your best Temptations or Supremes moves to the beat of the Motown sound. One other side trip, to Dearborn Michigan and the home of the Henry Ford Museum, gives you a day at a fascinating museum, a chance to tour an auto plant, and time to wander an old time reconstructed town, including one of Thomas Edison’s laboratories. Allow a full day and get your tickets ahead of time for the tours.
Illinois:
Chicago boasts two baseball teams and two totally different parks. Plan a long weekend in this wonderful town and in between baseball you can walk the Michigan Mile, take an architecture boat tour of the city, view the area from the heights of the John Hancock building or the Sears Tower, and enjoy the excellent impressionist collection at the Chicago Museum of Art. Science fans can enjoy the Museum of Natural History or the excellent Shedd Aquarium. In between, there is a lot of good food to be had, from deep- dish pizza to polish sausages to steaks.
Baseball in Chicago is a religion. Obviously with the White Sox winning the 2005 World Series, Comiskey Park can be taken seriously as a haven for the southside fans. The ballpark itself is in a dangerous part of town and they even arrange the parking lot with trucks and large vehicles to the exterior, smaller cars inside for maximum police overseeing. Comiskey is a huge concrete block with minimal personality. The fans create the excitement, and the history of the Sox is part of the lore.
The chills of baseball history ring true at Wrigley Field. This is manna for your baseball fan. A day game on a sunny afternoon is the way to experience baseball. Ride the el and spend the day. Crowds throng the outside of the stadium, crowds honor the inside of the field, and the row homes surrounding the stadium with their rooftop views host the best parties around. Even if you could care less about baseball, you will understand the reverence fans hold for the beloved Cubs as you sit and gaze upon the ivied walls. This is the glory of baseball, and by sitting quietly at your beloved’s side through the whole Cubs game, you will earn many points to use in the future.
New York:
You can spend a week in New York City and not touch the tip of all there is to see and do. Be sure to catch a Broadway Show, experience Times Square, enjoy the stateliness of the Frick Art Museum, gasp in awe at the Metropolitan Museum of Art, stroll hand in hand in Central Park, and eat, eat, eat.
Then there is baseball. Again, your man will do whatever you want for the week since he has tickets for the Mets and the Yankees. Start with Shea Stadium in Queens. Glimpse Arthur Ashe stadium and the National Tennis Center as you step off the train. If you schedule your trip in September, you can also catch tennis at the U.S. Open. Be sure to buy advance tickets. On to Shea and the cheeriness of this ballpark. Little old men wipe your seat with grimy rags and mumble about the lack of tips. The fans roar approval or disapproval at their beloved Mets and the character of the park and audience is what makes this a fun outing.
However, the highlight of this whole baseball tour is your arrival in the Bronx at Yankee Stadium. You will be amazed at the long Blue Line. Police presence is overwhelming. Arrive early enough to visit the baseball shrine in the outfield. Absorb the glory of the pinstripes and the smell of the ancient concrete behemoth that is Yankee Stadium. Vocal fans and history, along with extremely expensive stadium food – this is the ultimate baseball date.
If you have taken this article’s advice and mixed baseball with touring pleasure, you will have scrapbooks of tickets and memories. You might not remember the play-by-play with your man, but you can fill in the details and appreciate the glory of baseball and the architecture surrounding it. You will have seen America by visiting baseball stadiums across the country.
One postscript – all of the ballparks described here are for dates, vacations, and anniversaries. There is another article reserved for a very special anniversary and only Fenway Park, home of the Green Monster, in Boston could be the site for true vows of love.
