Chris McGinnis
Cesar Millan
Sam Lowe
Jason Fogelson
Bryson Forbes
Amy Graff
Karla Henriquez
Summer Stadium Road Trips
July 15 2009 by Mark Deyer
Comments (3)
Have you ever noticed in life that certain smells, tastes, and sounds have a way of transporting you back to specific place in time? For me, I can't walk into a ballpark without feeling the rush of senses that I felt during my very first trip into the famed Tiger Stadium in Detroit Michigan, home of the Detroit Tigers.
I was only 4 years old at the time, but the vividness of peanut vendors calling out prices for their greasy, brown bagged treats, the smack of leather casing on maple and ash, and the distorted boom of a P.A. system that hadn't been replaced since sometime in the mid 1950's. I can remember gazing at the upper deck above me, looking at the crackled blue paint and carpenters marks, knowing even as a youngster, that 50 years earlier, my father had probably done the same. The character of the park was unrivaled. It was the ultimate bridge between young and old, rich and poor. I wasn't concerned about creature comforts like padded seats or an 80 foot high definition scoreboard, I was content absorbing the same sights and sounds that those 50 years before me had.
On a recent trip back home, I stopped by the corner of Michigan Ave and Trumbull, where Tiger Stadium stood for nearly 100 years. I was late, of course, as days earlier it succumbed to the last swing of the wrecking ball. Staring at the remains of the historic beast, I began to wax nostalgic about the last great stadiums in Major League Baseball- Wrigley Field in Chicago, built in 1914, and Fenway Park in Boston, opened in 1912 just days after Tiger Stadium. I had been to both fields before and paid my respects, in fact for a few years I lived right down the street from Fenway. But what occurred to me that afternoon that I hadn't done so the right way -- with my father.
My father and I have taken baseball road trips in the past. Driving through 3 or 4 cities over a week and taking in the stadiums and traditions of each city, but we had almost always stuck to the new stadiums that we were eager to explore. He hadn't taken the time to reconnect with the stadiums that laid the groundwork for the game we love today. That is when I began to construct a trip that would give us the chance to relive those pure father son moments, unobstructed by the pomp and circumstance of the modern ballpark. This would be our chance to reconnect on a level that baseball has always intended for- father, son, and a game we both love.
In August, we will make the journey to Wrigley Field and Fenway Park. I'm sure along the way hot dogs will be eaten, scorecards will be filled and we just may get into a friendly dispute about the designated hitter rule. I hope to stare at the imperfect sightlines, sit in seats too small for the 21st century spectator, and gaze at the grass like generations of fathers and sons have done before us. It will be the type of experience that reminds us why we love the game of baseball as much as we do.
Do you have a favorite baseball stadium or a story of travelling to see a game?
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IMHO you've got the right ansewr!