Baseball Tour (Whitey Style)

[White Sox GM (alligatorchris)]

Okay boys. I want you all to be a part of this. I’ve been to about 10 stadiums.

My kid went to her first game this year. I’m bringing her to all 30 before she’s 18. I have this board and all that Jazz. We’ve done 2 so far.
I have an April trip planned to LAD, LAA and SD all in the same week or two.
Want tips on food and any local attractions I’ll update travel plans and check ‘em’ off as I go!

Wrigley ✅
Coors ✅

[Nationals GM (corkzilla)]

That’s awesome. My wife and I started doing that for just us, not sure if we’d ever have a kid. We ended up having a boy before my 39th birthday so we put it on hold. Ended up making it to 11.

Are you going to be staying multiple days at these towns or just going in and out? How old is your daughter?

[White Sox GM (alligatorchris)]

Multiple days. I have a 6 and 3 year old.
We went to 2 games at Wrigley and 1 in Colorado.
Actually have been to the stadium in St Louis, KC and Houston but didn’t go to a game. Only counting games. 😊

I was hoping my oldest would like baseball and I think I hit a home run with that kid! The youngest just likes her I-pad. 😆

Oh yeah I didn’t have ky first kid till i was 40

[Nationals GM (corkzilla)]

We went to stadium tours at Fenway and Chase Field and didn’t count them either haha. They were setting up for the hockey game in Fenway years ago when we were there. That was cool to see.

My boy is almost 3. I’ve got him started watching baseball. We shall see. Went to one Richmond Flying Squirrels game when he was 1.5, that was too early 😂

[D Backs GM (Tyler)]

Can do tips for Fenway for sure, lmk when you're heading there. San Diego is beautiful, anywhere in the lantern district is quality.

[Mets GM (barnstormers)]

Hey Whitey

Been to 13 Stadium's over the years, as best as I can remember. Only 3 are still in use.

Fenway Park Saw Steve Carlton pitch.

Kauffman Stadium Saw Nolan Ryan pitch.

Tropicana Field Saw this drunk chick lose her top in the upper deck pool area they used to call THE BEACH.


Tampa Bay has Ybor City. Great night life and Cuban Cuisine. Busch Gardens is popular for the kids.

Game night we can meet at the Trop. I'll round up the Angels', Dodgers, Yanks, Red Sox.

Drop the wives off at the International Mall.

After the game we can take your kids and my Grand kids to MONS VENUS. World famous strip club. They have an excellent children's DAYCARE/NIGHTCARE program.

Fun for the whole family.

[Guardians GM (Ron)]

Second the Ybor City opinion. My son and I have been there twice. If you make it to Detroit we could certainly meet up. My son and his now two year old son and my daughters 8 year old son love baseball. You could also catch a game of Vintage Baseball at Greenfield Village (The Henry Ford). They also play local "away" games. No gloves, no sliding, no spitting, no swearing, no overrunning 1st base and a free meal afterwards if we reserve it. All at no cost. My son played for three or four years. It is pretty cool. They are either on a Saturday or Sunday.

[Mets GM (barnstormers)]

Played in one of those league's.

Only difference was you wore a glove and there was a keg of beer at 1st base.

[Guardians GM (Ron)]

Aug 18, 2023 20:45:06 GMT -5 Mets GM (barnstormers) said:

Played in one of those league's.

Only difference was you wore a glove and there was a keg of beer at 1st base.

I would definitely be a singles hitter in that type of league. No overrunning first or trying to stretch hits.

[Guardians GM (Ron)]

I have been an OF my whole life. The few times I played the infield it was painfully obvious why I was an outfielder. This type of league would make me work very hard on being a 1B!

Then again when I was young I thought I was a good outfielder. I had played with very few people who had an arm as good as mine. So I decided to give it a go at a Detroit Tigers walk-on tryout. One that no one had ever been signed from. I was going to change that! All the outfielders were together. I noticed someone carrying a clipboard following us around. This was my big chance! Until I saw the guy in front of me make a throw I couldn't even dream of. But I heard my first name, Ron, mentioned a couple of times. Maybe I am making an impression? Then I saw the guy run unlike something I had ever seen. Ditto to hitting. Yeah the guy with the clipboard was only looking at one player and that wasn't me. Up to that time, 1973, no one had ever been signed from one of those except the dude that I had to follow the whole tryout. His name was Ron LeFlore.

[Mets GM (barnstormers)]

Now that's a pretty neat story.

Couple unanswered questions.

1) If Ron LeFlore wasn't there would you have been the Ron that Mr. Clipboard chose?

2) Was this tryout at a Michigan Correctional Institute?

[Guardians GM (Ron)]

Answer to #1. Hell no. The only reason he was there was to see Ron LeFlore.
Answer to #2. No it was in downtown Detroit. They released him from prison, I assume with the Tigers help and had him run through this standard tryout, thusly wrecking the dreams of the rest of us. You could kind of say he stuck out. He was also a few years older than most of us and it showed. It wasn't pleasant at the time but a year or so later when you see him on the Tigers roster you think it is pretty cool.

[Guardians GM (Ron)]

Actually in Detroit, not downtown proper.

[White Sox GM (alligatorchris)]

Ron,
I love that. I was taken back by watching the kids I played Legion Ball with back in the 90's. I was more of a football guy when it comes to stories of fame. That sounds like a "Scared Straight" for wanna be ball players.

Now Barn we stayed with the kids at the Busch Stadium Lowes hotel right outside the stadium, stayed at the BallPark Inn next to Minute Maid and walked around the field in Tampa on our St/ Pete trip, but the idea is we have to go for a game! The wife and I went to about 10 football stadiums. New Dream and a new old romance with baseball. This game makes me mushy, always has.

[Mets GM (barnstormers)]

So, the wives are in and Mons Venus is out. Can work with that.

St. Pete Beaches are 15 minutes away from the Trop.

Ybor City a must. Channel Side district is awesome. Aquarium, museums and other cultural stuff.

We can tour the old cigar manufacturers and bar hop the local breweries.

[White Sox GM (alligatorchris)]

Made a few more games. That update is soon to come.
Dodgers game was fun. The average attendance is around 41,866. Since I brought with me a family of 4 I’d estimate 41,862 people were drinking Chiledas and half of that had some sort of neck tattoo.

Now look, I found out something constructive to add to these ball park tours. Every stadium has a plastic hat that they overload with chips or cheese or whatever and call it something fancy like Chef Merito’s Nachos(Dodger Nacho Helmet). They typically sell it in the $20-25 range.

Dodger nachos are meh. Beans and meat with all the jalapeño peppers in Los Angeles. Colorado was very boring. Makes sense but the local Coors Brew was a fun order! (I drank about 6)
Now Texas knows BBQ and the pulled pork in the Awesome Nachos is my early clubhouse leader.

There are specialty places with better food options but I like these fast service stops with minimal lines and I can get the kids a plain hot dog and nacho cheese in one stop. Besides I’m putting together a fun collection of plastic cheese stained helmets.

[Reds GM (sabadin)]

LOL interesting thread. Was thinking of taking my family to either Pittsburgh or Cleveland for a game this summer anyone have any good insight there.

[White Sox GM (alligatorchris)]

I’m going to say go PNC.
I haven’t made it to either of these 2 but PNC has always been one of the recommended.

[KC Royals GM (Kevin)]

Apr 2, 2024 14:06:24 GMT -5 Reds GM (sabadin) said:

LOL interesting thread. Was thinking of taking my family to either Pittsburgh or Cleveland for a game this summer anyone have any good insight there.

1000000% pnc

You will love it. Pick a promotiom night. They do a lot of fireworke night. Great place to watch a ballgame, nice view of the bridge and city.

[Padres GM (Matt)]

Make sure to get the tri-tip nachos at Petco, hit up the gaslamp, and check out the new Tony Gwynn tunnel in the park!

[White Sox GM (alligatorchris)]

Just a few highlights. Cubs win in Texas, Win in San Diego and well they beat the Dodgers while I watched in the bar.

Took a. 2 week trip of California. Started in Dallas and caught a Rangers game because the flights were half the price to LAX.
Ranger Stadium is HUGE. Best ballpark carnitas nachos I ever had. Even better than the aforementioned Tri Tip nachos which were $10 more and not in a helmet! The nerve.
Even the 50/50 raffle in Texas was bigger than anywhere else. Folks everything is bigger in Texas.
LAD stadium is beautiful. Awesome weather and place to catch a game. The women are stupid hot. If you like that tan Spanish type with a banging bootie. More neck tattoos and chileda’s I have ever witnessed in one building in my life. I had a woman hit on me with the line “Hey papi, come cheer, I bet you have a yob.”
LAA was also nice. Wide open and pretty weather. Check this out. I parked for $20 and bought tickets for $2. 🤣🤣
They need to do something with that club soon.
Now San Diego. I sat row 2 and walked from my hotel. Set up a trip here and stay at the SD Omni. Best baseball experience I’ve had so far. Everything was great from the people to the staff and the Tri Tip nachos were good. Gaslamp Quarter was walking distance and the sights from Coronado to La Jolla made me want to move and become a Padres fan.

Learned something fun. Gallagher Insurance like baseball. From the Gallagher Club in Houston to Gallagher Way at Wrigley and now Gallagher Square at Petco. They have great areas to really enjoy different events and fandom before and after games within the park.

Here’s the tally….

Wrigley
Coors Field
Ranger Stadium
Dodger Stadium
Angel Artie’s
Petco