This morning I departed on my annual Ballpark Tours’ (BPT) baseball trek, my 27th such journey. Ballpark tours has taken me to major and minor league ball parks from Colorado to New York and pretty much all parts in between. (Thank you, “tour master” Julian Loscalzo.) On this year’s trek, I’m joining 35 other baseball fans and fanatics for a week-long bus tour that is taking us to a minor league game in Schaumburg, IL (just outside of Chicago), as well as major league contests in Chicago (Cubs hosting Giants), Cleveland (Indians hosting our Twins), Detroit (Tigers hosting Red Sox), back to Chicago (White Sox entertaining the Angels) and then back to our home base of Saint Paul, MN (with a stop at a craft brewery in Wisconsin on the way home).
Before I begin my series of “reports from the road,” let me put in an unabashed plug. For BBRT, there is no better baseball touring group than Ballpark Tours – just the right amount of chaos and discipline; comfortable transportation; great hotels; time in most cities to take in local culture, arts, food and nightlife (I’m planning on the Chicago’s Museum of Science and Industry and Cleveland’s Rock and Roll Hall of Fame on this trip); and, most important, the comradery – every year, without fail – of a great group of fun-loving baseball fans/friends. How do others feel about Ballpark Tours? On this trip, 35 of our 36 trekkers are repeat participants. How do I feel about BPT? Hey, every morning for the next week I can get up knowing the most important item on my agenda is going to a ball game. How can you beat that? For more on Ballpark Tours (and the upcoming Cuban trip), click here.
I probably won’t post every day (we do have a busy schedule), but here’s first report from the tour.
DAY ONE
We met our bus in Saint Paul’s Midway area at 9:30 a.m. Wednesday, August 5, and the parking lot was filled not just with our luggage, but also with hugs and handshakes, as old baseball- and tour-based friendships were renewed. We loaded up quickly, with the rowdier trekkers heading for their seats at the back of the bus, and the less animated at the front (there is always a friendly competition between “the front of the bus” and the “back of the bus”). The departure was toasted with coffee, juice, energy drinks (we’ll need them in the days ahead) – as well as an assortment of adult beverages.
The theme for this trip is Rock N’Roll Adventure (commemorative and complimentary T-shirts were handed out before we boarded the bus) and our theme would prove prophetic sooner than even I expected (but I don’t want to get ahead of myself).
As is Ballpark Tours’ tradition, early in the day, the K-Kwiz – a baseball trivia contest – was distributed and each trekker took the microphone and introduced themselves – usually with a baseball-related story. (Oh, and I shouldn’t forget, participants also described the books they each brought for the on-board baseball book exchange). It was during this phase that I began feeling like the Minnie Minoso of BPT – having been on BPT trips in four consecutive decades, beginning in the 1980s. I should note here that Day One would feature other handouts – including a schedule of our games, hotels and arrival/departure times; a Ports-O-Call guide to restaurants, “watering holes,” museums, music, public transit, etc. in the cities we will visit; and entry forms for a contest based on predicting the total runs scored in MLB over the weekend. We will leave a paper trail.
You never know who’ll show up on a Ballpark Tours trip.
Around lunch time, we also had a visit from the “Assistant Pope” (aka Tom Smith) – who regaled the group with a laugh-provoking monologue worthy of a comedy club and then distributed assorted crackers, deli meats, cheeses and “sacred” eel pout (actually pickled herring) throughout the bus. We lunched, pack your own, at a rest stop along the highway – with trekkers unveiling everything from deli sandwiches and beer to an elaborate picnic table buffet of baguettes, lox, assorted cheeses, stuffed olives and Napa Valley wine.
Then, it was back on the bus, when the Rock N’Roll Adventure began to rock. Thanks to modern technology, the back of the bus began a long-lasting sing-along to 70’s rock – which included plenty of air guitar and dancing in the aisle of the bus. The moves being thrown down were a bit subdued given the limited space, but the singing was spirited (especially on Rolling Stones and Beatles numbers).
Great seats!
Of course, this is a baseball trip, and – we arrived in Schaumburg – for the Schaumburg Boomers/Southern Illinois Miners games. The Boomers play in the independent Frontier League, so the names won’t be recognizable, but here are a few observations:
- A nice park – I always like the old-style Red Brick – but it was empty (the over and under on fans was about 300 in a stadium that holds 7,365). It was almost like the tour group had a private showing.
- The lighting, as in a number of minor league parks, was terrible (although only one fly ball – a foul pop-up was “lost” in the dark).
- We had great seats, at the edge of the first base dugout – row six. (However, you could sit pretty much anywhere you wanted.)
- The ball park was not kind to dead pull hitters – 355-feet down the left field line and 353-feet to the right field corner. One team representative informed me that the dimensions matched Wrigley Field because the mayor of Schaumburg “has a thing for the Cubs.” Further digging showed deeper Cubs’ ties. The stadium, which opened in 1999, is built on land purchased in the 1980s – reportedly as a potential site of a new home for the Cubs (the New Wrigley Field) if the team and the city of Chicago could not come to an agreement on night baseball.
- Several small planes from the nearby Schaumberg Airport flew over the stadium during the game, seeming to clear the third-base-side light towers by about fifty-feet.
- The team’s signature sandwich, the Schaumburger (a hamburger, topped with pulled pork and cole slaw for eight dollars) was both juicy and tasty. BBRT would recommend it.
- There will be no Bloody Mary review for Schaumburg Boomers Stadium – the only adult beverage was beer.
- There was general agreement among those of us keeping score sheets that the official scorekeeper had lost his or her red “error” pen – two or three errors were scored as base hits.
As for the game itself, Southern Illinois topped Schaumburg 4-1 in a fairly “quiet” contest – that’s what happens when you have 300 fans in the stands. But there were a few highlights, at least from the BBRT point of view. Southern Illinois’ leadoff hitter CF Aaron Gates showed great speed, going three-for-four with a pair of well-placed bunt singles down the third base line. Schaumburg’s leadoff hitter 2B Mike Schulze also got on base three times – via three walks. The stadium organ player was right on top of things, playing Fitz and the Tantrum’s song “The Walker” after Schulze’s last plate appearance. Schaumburg did turn a nifty third-second-first double play (TJ Bennett to Mike Schulze to Willi Martin) in the middle of Southern Illinois’ three-run third inning. (BBRT loves a good double play.) Southern Illinois’ starting pitcher Adam Lopez (who came into the game with a 1.88 ERA and 82 strikeouts in 76 1/3 innings) showed good stuff – giving up one run in six innings, with three hits, two walks and six strikeouts.
Post-game, we checked in to the Hotel Indigo, in Chicago’s Gold Coast neighborhood. Another quality Ballpark Tours lodging choice. All in all, a great first day.
More on the tour in the days to come, including BBRT’s take on the changes to Wrigley Field – video screens, expanded bleachers, concourse/concession upgrades, etc.
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