If they built it, we did come!
On May 21st, 2011, my son and I began the father and son adventure of a lifetime! We departed from Phoenix, AZ on a 7-week road trip and drove around the country to see a game at, or tour every major league baseball park - a trip that covered 11,232 miles. Our baseball trip concluded on July 12th with us attending the All Star Game at Chase Field. This blog is a diary of our experience.
Cooperstown is awesome and not just for because it has the Hall of Fame.
It is a small town nestled in upstate New York on the banks of Lake Otsego. When you come into the town, it's like you're vaulted into a time machine back to 1935. Nothing has changed from the looks of it. Along the main street, every building and business has some connection to baseball whether it be a souvenir shop, a restaurant, or, as we found out, a laundromat. And of course, the crown jewel is the Baseball Hall of Fame.
We spent the morning walking around Main Street taking in the sights and then headed over to the Hall of Fame and spent a good four hours in the place. I have been here twice before, but as for Michael, he was thrilled to death to see all of the exhibits and memorabilia.
Beautiful Cooperstown
Michael in front of the Hall of Fame
A replica of the White Sox scoreboard from the 70's. Takes me back!
I thought the baseball wanted no part of this guy? Just for the record, he should be in.
Maybe he'll wear one of those uniforms one day.
The Babe!
Me and Kirby Puckett. He was my little league coach in case you didn't know.
Michael below the Jackie Robinson plaque.
This was the best part of the Hall for Michael. He saw the "Who's on First" video for the first time
and thought it was hilarious. He watched it 3X.
In the end, the Hall makes any baseball fan feel like a kid again and it reminds us why baseball is the greatest game ever. And of course, what baseball does more than anything is create an unbreakable bond between a father and his son.
Tomorrow, we take off to Boston to celebrate what I hope will be a GREAT Father's Day weekend. We get in tomorrow. Boston should be in a real good mood with the Bruins winning the Stanley Cup and having their championship parade on Saturday. We might check it out. Tomorrow and Saturday we will take in some Boston sites including some Revolutionary War recreation in Lexington, the Freedom Walk in downtown, a trip to Paul Revere's house (so we can see where he warned the British like Sarah Palin said) and of course the weekend culminates with a special Father's Day tour of Fenway Park on Sunday morning and the Red Sox game Sunday afternoon. Afterward, we get to run the bases!! Can't wait!
Finally, if you haven't seen it in a while, you should check out Who's on First.
After visiting Rogers Centre in Toronto, we have now seen 18 stadiums. Here are our updated rankings, as of 6/14/11. Michael and I had a big disagreement on this one.
Michael's Rankings: 1. PNC Park - Pittsburgh Pirates
2. Petco Park - San Diego Padres 3. AT&T Park - San Francisco Giants
4. Coors Field - Colorado Rockies
5. Miller Park - Milwaukee Brewers
6. Anaheim Stadium - Los Angeles Angels
7. ROGERS CENTRE - TORONTO BLUE JAYS
8. Comerica Park - Detroit Tigers
9. Great American Ballpark - Cincinnati Reds
10. U.S. Cellular Field - Chicago White Sox
11. Kauffman Stadium - Kansas City Royals 12. Wrigley Field - Chicago Cubs 13. Chase Field - Arizona Diamondbacks
