In Honor of the Fallen

Again, I know this is unrelated to baseball, but it's important. A good read from the Baltimore Sun about two former Naval Academy athletes and roommates, turned into a Marine Officer and a Navy SEAL Officer, who both died in combat operations and are buried next to each other in Arlington National Cemetery. 

Remember the Fallen

On another note, you'll see baseball's players today wearing special "patriotic" (if that's what you're willing to call them) ball caps. Remember the reason - the sacrifice of many in the defense our country and our ideals.

Which Baseball Stadium is the Best? (Dan)

Interesting New York Times article that simply just ranked stadium experiences by the 1-5 scale on Yelp.com. It's good to see that they aren't just ranked by performance on the field (the Pirates' Stadium, PNC Park, which I've only visited the exterior, was ranked #1). I'm surprised to see Petco Park ranked as low as it is (coming in at 17 as they have good pricing, great views and a very accessible stadium among other things), and I'm also surprised to see that the Rogers Centre, home of the Blue Jays is ranked last. While I've never been, I've always been kind of marveled at the Rogers Centre. I'm not surprised that the Oakland Coliseum/ Overstock.com Coliseum is ranked low as that stadium looks ugly and is a clear cookie-cutter late 20th-century football/baseball bland stadium common throughout the 1970s and 1980s baseball (thank you Camden Yards for putting an end to this trend). Same goes for the Sun Life Stadium in Miami, FL, home of the Marlins which is a stadium I've seen baseball played at and it was an abomination for the baseball fan - both the team on the field and the fan experience.

Teaser

A little teaser for an upcoming review of Petco Park, home of the San Diego Padres.

Sorry! (Computer down!)

Hey all, it's Dan. I've been quite busy with work lately but should have some time this weekend to maybe post. Mandi's computer died but she'll be getting a new one as well (tomorrow hopefully!) so you should start hearing from us again soon!

Until then, best wishes! 

Mississippi Braves (Mandi)

Dan got me into the Biscuits too. Check out how awesome their logo is!

August of 2010: I was moving to Mississippi to go to college.  Dan and I made it a fun road trip and after unpacking all my things and rearranging my room many times until I liked it (Dan had to loft my bed multiple times which he wasn't too happy about), we decided to see if the minor league team was in town for a game.  The Mississippi Braves are an AA affiliate team for the Atlanta Braves. One of Dan's favorite minor league teams is the Montgomery Biscuits (AA affiliate of the Tampa Bay Rays, whose single A affiliate Hudson Valley Renegades played in Dan's home town) and it just so happened that the Braves were playing them the night we planned to go. 

Dan and I cheered for both teams but I definitely think Dan was cheering more for the Biscuits and by the middle of the game, the Braves were losing so bad, I was rooting for the Biscuits too!  The Biscuits did play much better than the Braves and won the game with a huge lead.  It was a fun date night for Dan and I though. We got really close, cheap seats and the stadium was pretty empty.  I have also been there with a bunch of friends of college and it was a nice girls night out as well.  It was a little more crowded because it was the beginning of the season and nice weather (not too hot yet), but still a fun time.  

  

Here's the breakdown for this stadium:  

Food:  5/10 - You have your basic hot dogs, nachos, ice cream, etc.  They did just put in a chick fila so people were very excited about that.  My favorite is the dip and dots though!!

Crowd:  2/10 - It was a weeknight crowd, probably under a thousand people.  The people we did come across though were very nice.

Cleanliness: 8/10 - Pretty clean, including the bathrooms, but was probably distorted with the few amount of people there.

Transportation to stadium: 10/10 - There is never any traffic going to the game. There is only one entrance into the parking lot but many roads to get to it.  

Stadium Location: 5/10 - Trustmark Park - The stadium is very easy to get to.  It is built out in the middle of nowhere like most of Mississippi.  It is next to a Bass Pro Shop, some restaurants including a Cracker Barrel (my family's favorite place to eat), and close to hotels and movie theater.  The stadium is actually located in Pearl, MS which is literally ten minutes from Jackson, where my school is.  Downtown Jackson is about ten minutes away as well, but is pretty deserted.  The capital building is located here which is pretty but looks like every other capital building in the world.  Jackson is a nice area during the day but very dangerous at night. Do NOT walk alone or really be anywhere in Jackson at night.  Pearl is a much nicer area.  Flowood is also a nicer area with a lot of shopping but literally everything but the Whataburger closes around 9pm. 

Stadium Appearance - 4/10 - For minor league stadiums, it has modern amenities such as an open concourse but overall the stadium is bland. 

Cost: 10/10 - We were able to get front row first base line seats for $5 on a promotional night but there really aren't any seats above $15 at all.  

Entertainment: 5/10 - They may have better things on the weekends but as far as a weeknight, it was just baseball, which is not what you expect at a minor league game considering the typical in between inning gimmicks.  

Overall:  5/10 - It was a nice place for a date or a girls night out if you so happen to be in Jackson, MS...which is not necessarily a good place for a date or a leisure trip. 

The only photographic evidence of this game: a picture of some Biscuits' players with the concourse in the background; shot from Dan's cell phone.

  

Where it all Began: Camden Yards (Dan)

Perhaps the summer of 2010 is where it all started. Before I graduated college, I went to Camden Yards, home of the Baltimore Orioles, for a Yankees game with one of my friends who hardly understood baseball but by the end was cheering for Brett Gardner and Phil Hughes. I immediately realized however, that Camden Yards was a good date spot for Mandi and I seeing as we shared at least a few discussions about baseball in the months prior. As soon as I graduated college, Mandi and I spent the next few months together almost every day and went to several games, with the first of many more to come at Camden Yards, home of the Baltimore Orioles, which is near where Mandi is from and I went to college.

First experience with her and her family was a late father's day celebration which we got the package for all you can eat... ice cream, hot dogs, (or "douwgs" as Mandi says it), nachos, salads (?), sodas, cracker jacks, peanuts, etc. It was awesome. It's nice to be able to not have to think about the overpriced baseball food because it's already completely unlimited. It was also neat because we got there early enough to watch the Blue Jays' BP and the players in the OF would occasionally throw a ball our way. Our seats were second deck in the club level, just overlooking the bullpens in left center field. Pretty good view of the ballpark. (Note the picture below is from the second trip to Camden we made with my cousins later in the summer, but the seats were similar; we were actually lower and closer to the bullpens/ CF for the first trip).

One of the many things we enjoy about Camden Yards is that it feels like it was built into the city, not just a random sports complex in the outskirts of a city a-la Citzens Bank Park in Philly. The right field has a view of the old B&O Warehouse that is now part of the Camden Yards complex (see below). It is within walking distance to the Inner Harbor area of Baltimore which is probably it's main tourist attraction, but a place that locals go to as well with many sights to see and places to eat.

Below that warehouse is Eutaw Street (see above) which is the main entrance to Camden Yards, and, if you walk all the way down, actually leads to M&T Bank Stadium, home of the NFL's Baltimore Ravens. Along Eutaw street are little brass baseballs to show where players have hit home runs whether in regulation play, All Star Games, or Home Run Derbies out of the stadium and onto the street. (In one case, there is one on the actual warehouse where Ken Griffey Jr. blasted one!) Below are pictures of one of former New York Yankee's Paul O'Neill's blasts and current Yankee Robinson Cano's as well. (You'll find out as we continue to write this blog that I'm a huge lifelong Yankees fan and besides, my mom's favorite player when I was growing up was always Paul O'Neill, I can still hear her yelling "Let's Go Paul-ieeee" anytime he'd come up to bat during a crucial moment).

Here's the box score for the game - I distinctly remember being pissed off at Kevin Gregg because he was on my fantasy team at the time.

Later that summer, two of my cousins came down from New York so I could show them around D.C., Annapolis, and of course, Camden Yards. We had a full day of touring D.C. followed by a White Sox - O's game to witness yet another Orioles loss. Nonetheless, it was fun evening we all enjoyed (I think by this point in the season Mandi realized the O's supposed revival of 2010 wasn't going to happen and my cousins and I were pretty apathetic to the score; seeing as it would have almost no impact on the AL East standings).

Anyway, like I've said, Camden Yards is a very nice place for a date or to just catch a ballgame. Here's our take on it (on a 10 point scale):Overall: 7/10

The breakdown:

Food: 6/10 - the food here is pretty standard, but they do have some additions of bbq and Maryland crabcakes you might not find at a typical stadium. Also, Mandi's dad will ONLY eat Eskay hot dogs nowadays seeing as they've been served with the Orioles for years apparently, so I guess they have to be somewhat good (her dad is a super picky eater, right down to the type of corn kernels he'll eat -Mitchell's Shupeg White Corn... no joke).

Crowd: 7/10 - the fact of the matter is, Baltimore fans are pretty tame which is nice for a date or for a family experience. I've hardly heard any cursing in my times there (and they were actually from Boston fans in town to root against the Yankees). They're pleasant, but they're not intense when you're trying to get into the game.

Cleanliness: 7/10 - overall stadium and surrounding area is very clean, but the bathrooms could use some work.

Transportation to stadium: 8/10 - Baltimore traffic isn't bad for a city its size. There's ample parking nearby. There's also a metro train or light rail train you can take in.

Stadium Location: 10/10 - Camden Yards is beautifully built into Baltimore which inspired several other stadium to use existing architecture (see Petco Park in San Diego for the best example, I think). Nearby is the Babe Ruth museum (he was from Baltimore) and another sports museum as well. Below is a picture of a monument erected for the Babe right on Eutaw Street. Stadium Appearance: 10/10 - Camden Yards was completed in 1992 and it started a revolution in baseball stadiums in providing for the fan experience in a "classical" feel stadium with the modern amenities. It got rid of the cookie-cutter mentality of stadiums that plagued baseball throughout the 70s and 80s and inspired many stadiums like the Ballpark at Arlington, Petco Park, Coors Field, PNC Park, Citi Field, AT&T Park in San Franciso and many others.

Cost: 8/10 - let's be honest. You can't compare major league to minor league costs here, but the fact is that Camden Yards is some of the most affordable major league baseball there is. They have student night tickets as low as $5 and regularly have other seats available under $15. Half of the time, there's hardly any crowd and you can move to better seats anyway. The all-you can eat tickets were $40 in 2010.

Entertainment: 4/10 - Major league parks focus on baseball, whereas Minor League parks often have gimmicky games in between innings. The Orioles have their little traditions such as inexplicably playing "Thank God I'm a Country Boy" during the 7th inning stretch (ok ok, there are many rural parts of Maryland) and, in my opinion, one of the worst traditions in all of baseball, yelling "O!" during the "Oh" of the National Anthem. Orioles baseball hasn't been that exciting to watch in a decade or so, but Buck Showalter is bringing a young group of kids together that I think will improve the team in the next few years to come. They're definitely a future team to be aware of, already displaying flashes of hope.

Introduction

Hi there! If you're reading this, you've either run across this because you're interested in baseball or you thought Mandi is hot. Either way, we hope you enjoy the blog. We're a couple that's been dating officially since February of 2010 and have gotten an opportunity to travel throughout the country. During our visits, we often try to stay "off the beaten path" but the one thing we seem to constantly enjoy in every town is baseball at any level. We'll be posting about our baseball experiences focusing not only on the games but the fan experience each park gets to offer and to some extent, the experience each park offers for a date. We hope you enjoy!