By Mike McCann

Mike McCann has been a baseball fan as long as he can remember. He has a goal to visit every major and minor league baseball stadium. This regularly-appearing column will follow the progress of “Bunko” and his quest.

I always look forward to Opening Day of the baseball season. It marks the end of winter and the beginning of warmer weather. It means that spring training is finally over and the games actually count again. It also gives me a good excuse to take road trips and see some new places.

I was able to attend the home opener of the Philadelphia Phillies with a few co-workers. This is always a fun event because something interesting always seems to happen. I think that Phillies catcher Mike Lieberthal sums up it up best, “It wouldn’t be Philly if guys didn’t run out on the field and have fights in the upper deck.” I was at the opening game in 1998 where fans threw their promotional giveaway schedule magnets onto the field. But this is the city that is known for booing Santa Claus, so nothing surprises me.

This year, there was a different surprise – rain. The rain was coming down pretty steadily just before the scheduled 1:05 start during the ceremony to retire Jim Bunning’s number 14. It also caused the game to be delayed two hours. Luckily, we had seats under the overhang in left-center field, so we stayed dry. It was slightly chilly, but being dry was my main concern.

The game turned out to be pretty good (although I would have been happier if the score was reversed). Phillies starting pitcher Randy Wolf had a little trouble finding the plate. The Phillies did have a few comeback attempts, but the Cubs were able to thwart them all. The final score was Cubs over the Phillies by a score of 3-2. The only good part was that the game ended around 6, and I only had to walk across the street to attend a Philadelphia Phantoms minor league hockey game that began at 7.

A few days later, I was able to do something that I had always wanted to do, but hadn’t previously had the opportunity. I was able to attend the first home game of a new franchise. The Lakewood Blue Claws were the new Phillies affiliate in the South Atlantic League. This is the minor league team that played in Fayetteville, NC last year and moved to Lakewood, NJ for the 2001 season.

Once again, the rain played a factor. I left work a little early so I could make it to Lakewood for the 6:35 start. By game time, it was raining pretty hard. But this was a new team in its first home game, so a little rain wasn’t going to stop it. And since I had been looking forward to this game for months, it was going to stop me either.

I was only able to get general admission lawn seats. But like most of the 7,512 fans that were in attendance, I stood on the concourse under the overhang. The game itself was an adventure. It seemed like every at-bat was a walk, strikeout or a batter reaching base on an error. In the top of the 5th inning, a Hickory Crawdad batter was hit by a pitch, which had slipped from the pitcher’s hand. To avoid having any more players hurt, the game was called with Lakewood leading, 3-2. In the minor leagues, games are suspended when interrupted by rain, and continued at a later date. This is unlike the major leagues where if a game is called before five complete innings, the game is started over like it never happened. I never understood that one. The game was completed the next day as a 3-2 Lakewood victory. Interestingly, Lakewood pitcher Keith Bucktrot pitched a no-hitter in the regularly scheduled game, which was played after the completion of the suspended game.

GPU Energy Park in Lakewood is pretty nice. I definitely recommend seeing it. It is very similar to Raley Field in Sacramento. There are nice lawn areas in left and right field where people can sit on the grass and watch the game. The proximity to Philadelphia, New York City and the Jersey Shore will help them draw many fans to their games. I just wish that they would find a better way to let cars exit the parking lot.

I’m really glad that I was able to attend this game. I will persevere through the cold and rain to see something like this. The team did offer a ticket to another game for fans with Opening Day tickets to thank them for braving the rain and seeing the game. But I am definitely going to hold onto my ticket since there is only one inaugural game.

I really hope that the weather starts improving for me. I don’t want to deal with the rain and cold all season. But the important thing is that I can now increase my total to 31 with my visit to Lakewood. And I’m sure I will see many more games this year.

I’ll do my best to keep you informed of my travels. Hope you are able to get out to a game yourself soon….

(originally published in Baseball Ink Vol. 2, No. 1 – June 2001)

By Mike McCann

Mike McCann has been a baseball fan as long as he can remember. He has a goal to visit every major and minor league baseball stadium. This regularly-appearing column will follow the progress of “Bunko” and his quest.

Labor Day weekend is a significant point in the minor league baseball season. It is the last weekend of regular season games and the last chance for teams to make one final run for a playoff spot. For me, it is my final opportunity to attend a minor league baseball game. It is also a weekend with an extra day off from work, so there is an added incentive to take a little trip to see a few more games.

My girlfriend, Steph, and I decided it would be nice to make a trip to Niagara Falls. Steph had never been there, and I think that it is a pretty nice place and didn’t mind seeing it again. This would be my third trip through Buffalo in the past five years, and now would finally be my chance to see a game there. I’ve driven right by the stadium before, but my trips never seemed to coincide with a Bisons game…until now.

During the day on Saturday, we went to the falls and saw some of the attractions there. In case you are interested, the Canadian side is much nicer than the American side. We were finished in plenty of time to make it to the Buffalo Bisons game. The start time for the game was 7:05, and we made it to the stadium around 6:15…only when we got there, we saw people walking out. I thought that this was quite strange. I found out that the game time had been changed to 4:05, and we had missed the game. Yet another attempt to see a game in Buffalo had been thwarted.

Then it hit me. I knew that Batavia, NY, was less than an hour away and that the Muckdogs had a home game that started at 7:05. I’m really glad that I looked up all of my options in that area; catching a New York-Penn League game would definitely be the best way to make the most of a bad situation. We got to Batavia during the 1st inning, so we really didn’t miss much of the Muckdogs game against the Williamsport Crosscutters. It was also an opportunity for me to see Batavia’s second baseman, Chase Utley, the Phillies first-round draft pick in 2000. Since I live just outside of Philadelphia and have been a Phillies fan my entire life, it was nice to see the Phillies farmhands.

I had been to a Batavia Clippers game at Dwyer Stadium in 1996, so I wasn’t able to whittle away at my quest list. I was just happy to be able to see a baseball game. The game itself was pretty good as well. Batavia beat Williamsport, 10-8. The Muckdogs manager was arguing some of the umpires’ calls and was eventually ejected. There is a different element to this argument when you can hear the voices from the field rather than those from the crowd supporting the manager’s cause.

The following day we drove to Jamestown, NY, which is south of Buffalo. I had never been to Jamestown before, so this time I was able to cross another team off the list. We were able to see the Batavia Muckdogs again in their game against the Jamestown Jammers. At this game, I won the prize for dirtiest car in the parking lot. I really didn’t think my car was that dirty, and I’m pretty sure that they picked my car since it was parked up front and slightly dirty from all the driving I had done the previous few days. Anyway, I went to the customer service area for my prize, a free car wash. I was saying how I wasn’t from around there and would be able to use the car wash since I was leaving right after the game. They tried to explain to me where it was, but I decided that it would be better if I gave the certificate to the people sitting next to us. The game was pretty good as well, and Batavia won 7-3.

That seems like a pretty good Labor Day weekend to me. I was able to see two New York-Penn League games in western New York. Still, I need to get to that game in Buffalo. I will have to combine it with a trip to Erie, PA, sometime. Now that the offseason is here, I will need to start planning trips for the 2001 season…and the possibilities are endless.

One additional element, which makes my quest more interesting, is that when teams move, the number of active cities conquered so far in my quest may actually decrease. During the offseason, the Queens Kings moved across town to become the Brooklyn Cyclones. I do realize that both Queens and Brooklyn are boroughs of New York City, but it is still technically a move, so my active total drops from 31 to 30. I have seen games in 32 different cities (St. Catharines, Ontario being the other, no-longer-active city), and I have visited 33 different stadiums (both the old Memorial Stadium as well as Camden Yards in Baltimore, in case you were curious).

I’ll do my best to keep you informed of my travels. Hope you are able to get out to a game yourself soon!

(originally published in Baseball Ink Vol. 1, No. 4 – March 2001)

By Mike McCann

Mike McCann has been a baseball fan as long as he can remember. He has a goal to visit every major and minor league baseball stadium. This regularly-appearing column will follow the progress of “Bunko” and his quest.

The 2000 season was a good one for me. I was able to see 26 major and minor league baseball games in 18 different stadiums. The eight new stadiums conquered this year were: Delmarva Shorebirds (Salisbury, MD), New Haven (CT) Ravens, Texas Rangers, Capital City Bombers, Sacramento River Cats, Oakland A’s, Queens (NY) Kings and Jamestown (NY) Jammers. Quite an interesting combination, if you ask me.

One of the highlights of this season was my trip to South Carolina. I hadn’t been on a real vacation since 1996 when I went on a road trip to Toronto (five games in six days). Now I finally had my chance to go on another road trip. My girlfriend, Steph (I’m sure you remember her from my last story), has relatives in Columbia, SC. We thought that it would be fun to drive from here in the Philadelphia area to the middle of South Carolina. Yes, I am that insane.

We had planned on going in the middle of July because that fit into our schedules best. Unfortunately, the trip needed to be pushed back a few days because I had to go to Ft. Worth, TX on business. I did, however, get to see a Rangers game, so the trip was definitely worthwhile. The Ballpark at Arlington is an extremely nice stadium — it reminds me of Camden Yards in Baltimore. (These are two ballparks which you should visit if given the opportunity.) I flew back from Texas on Friday, and Steph and I left for South Carolina on Sunday. We didn’t stop very often, and we encountered very little traffic, so the drive down took only about 10 hours. Making good time makes me happy.

Columbia is favorably located for a quest like mine. A good number of baseball teams that play in North Carolina, South Carolina and Georgia are within a few-hour driving radius of Columbia. Additionally, we were fortunate to with Steph’s family. When possible, I try to find people to stay with when I travel places for baseball games. In addition to being more personable than bunking in a motel, I can benefit from someone who knows the area to give little pointers about things I normally wouldn’t think about.

On Monday, Steph and I drove to Augusta, GA. We did the touristy thing during the day (the Riverwalk is pretty nice). Around 5:00 o’clock, we decided to get dinner. Immediately after we got inside the restaurant, it started pouring. Nothing like a good summer thunderstorm, unless, of course, you want to go to a baseball game that night. Around 5:30, the rain subsided and we made it to Lake Olmstead Stadium, home of the Augusta Greenjackets, around 6:00 o’clock. After a few minutes of waiting for the gates to open, we were informed that the game was being cancelled because the field was flooded. That was not the news that I wanted to hear. We said that we had come all the way from Philly to see them, so they were kind enough to let us walk around the stadium.

After a little while, we decided that we should head out. Soon thereafter, we ran into J. P. Alexander, the publisher and editor of Baseball Ink. What an amazing coincidence! (All right, you figured me out — we planned to meet at the baseball game, but it sounds better if it is a coincidence.) It was great to be able to meet up with somebody else who is a big baseball fan like me. I always enjoy meeting others who share the same interests to trade stories and insight.

When we arrived back in Columbia, we found out that there were still tickets available for the Major League All-Star Game the next day. Atlanta isn’t a very long drive from Columbia, and you don’t get an opportunity like that very often. When the game was in Philadelphia in 1996, I had no chance at getting tickets. Unfortunately, by the time that we called Atlanta for tickets, the game was sold out. Another near miss. We did spend Tuesday in Charleston, SC, another great place to visit, although you can’t see everything in just one day.

On Wednesday, we planned on seeing a Capital City Bombers game at Capital City Stadium in Columbia. The stadium isn’t really anything special, but it was a pretty good game. The Bombers mounted a comeback in the 9th by scoring two runs, but they eventually fell short. The visiting Augusta Greenjackets ended up winning, 7-6.

Wait, that isn’t much of a road trip. I drove all that way for just one game? I guess that vacations are more than just seeing baseball games…sometimes. I’ll do my best to keep you informed of my travels. Hope you are able to get out to a game yourself soon!

(originally published in Baseball Ink Vol. 1, No. 3 – December 2000)

By Mike McCann

Mike McCann has been a baseball fan as long as he can remember. He has a goal to visit every major and minor league baseball stadium. This regularly-appearing column will follow the progress of “Bunko” and his quest.

If I could at one point in my life say that I’ve been to a game in every city that currently has a major or minor league baseball team, I would feel that my quest has been accomplished. Currently, that number stands at 190…and I’m at number 23. It’s always good to set your goals high, right?

A big part of my quest is taking road trips. It’s much easier to set up than you might think. The biggest problem that I always have is finding people to attend games with me. I suppose that I could go by myself, but it just isn’t the same. It is definitely better to be at a baseball game with somebody who you can make comments to…someone to discuss what is going on with the game or to listen to random trivial facts about the stadium or players. Well, maybe the trivia thing is just me, but I not going to talk to myself!

To give an example of how little effort it takes, I’ll talk about my last little trip. Whenever I have a day off from work, I look at the schedules of teams in the vicinity. Usually I look at Sunday games because it allows for longer day trips, although it depends on how far you are willing to go in one day (for me it’s about 200 miles).

First things first: I need to find somebody to go with. It’s Tuesday, and I find out that my girlfriend, Steph, doesn’t have to work on Sunday. She tells me that she willing to go with me from here in the Philadelphia area to New Britain, CT (where I have never been) for a Rock Cats game. That’s almost a four hour trip, but it isn’t enough to scare me off. On Wednesday, I call the Rock Cats to confirm that tickets are still available for the 2:05 game. (Mid-afternoon starts are always good since I don’t have to leave early in the morning and I wouldn’t get home so late that I would need to miss work on Monday.) I am informed that they are playing a doubleheader, which starts at 1:05. Now that’s enough to scare me off. Back to the drawing board.

I see that another possibility was a game in Binghamton, NY. I was able to go to a game there in 1996, but Sunday is supposed to be a nice day, and I want to go for a fun drive. Steph says that she is willing to make the trek up there as well. It is now Thursday, so I call the Binghamton Mets front office to find out if I can get tickets at the gate for the 1:30 game. They tell me that I will have no problem getting tickets. (I rarely buy tickets in advance because I never know when an unforeseen event will arise, like rain.)

Sunday rolls around and we leave around 9:30 for the game in Binghamton. It takes a little over three hours to get there. We stop for lunch on the way and arrive at the stadium around 1:10. At the ticket window I ask for the best seats that they have. I never imagined that I would get the seats that we did! Picture an aisle in the stands that is aligned with home plate and the pitcher’s mound. We have seats 3 and 4 offset from that aisle in the second row. We buy tickets twenty minutes before the game starts and get seats like that. Amazing.

In the bottom of the first, Binghamton scores three runs. Norwich counters with seven runs in the next frame. Binghamton comes back with six more in the bottom of the second. The score is 9-7 after two innings — I am thinking that we are definitely in for a long game. However, the game settles down a bit from there and ends with a final score of Binghamton 10, Norwich 7. Overall, a really good game to watch. More errors than I like to see, but I will let that slide this time. One of the standout moments of the game was when a foul ball shot into screen in front of us. I couldn’t help but flinch — definitely a reminder of where we were sitting.

We stop for dinner on the way back and get home around 8:30. Definitely a great day in my mind — a beautiful day for a drive and a baseball game. I didn’t need to plan much in advance, either, though I always call to confirm ticket availability and game time. Depending on where you are, you won’t need to drive quite as far. I consider myself lucky to live in an area where there are so many teams within a close proximity. I have been able to visit many of them, but there are still a few that I need to cross off my list. I’ll do my best to keep you informed of my travels.

Hope you are able to get out to a game yourself soon…

In his spare time, Mike works as an engineer for Boeing in Philadelphia. He is also going for his Master’s degree, part-time, in electrical engineering at the University of Delaware.

(originally published in Baseball Ink Vol. 1, No. 2 – September 2000)