Holiday Inn's Ultimate Baseball Road Trip, Plus We're Giving Away A $75 Dick's Sporting Goods Gift Card

But my roommate and I have been planning a roadtrip since freshman year where we would hit every team (except for the mariners and the florida teams. Too far off the path of the rest of the trip). The idea has always been “oh we’ll do it after senior year.” Here senior year is, just a month and a half away. We’ll see if it gets off the ground, but it might be tough since it would be like a 2-month process and we would have to coordinate with the game schedules and whatnot, and not only would we have to pay for all of the tickets and transportation costs but we also obviously wouldn’t be able to work during that time

Tuesday, 7 PM: Toronto @ Baltimore (Camden Yards)

Wednesday, 7 PM: Houston @ Cincinnati (Great American Ballpark) – this was a BRUTAL car ride of about 10 hours through Maryland, West Virginia, and most of Southern Ohio, and included a speeding ticket in BEAUTIFUL Mount Ohab, Ohio on Route 32. D’oh! Bronson Arroyo pitched a shutout and the game lasted about 2 hours, lol.

Thursday, 12 PM: Tampa Bay @ Cleveland (Progressive Field)

Thursday, 7:30 PM: Game 5 of the ECF between the Orlando Magic and Cleveland Cavs – it just so happened I was there, and everyone in Cleveland was talking about it so I spent $55 and sat in the upper deck. Great decision… I almost understand why Cleveland went crazy over LeBron.

Friday, 7:30 PM: Houston @ Pittsburgh (PNC Park).

Altogether, I spent about $250 between food and gas and souvenirs, and had a blast. I want to hit the road again soon.

My best friend from high school and I have a trip planned as our (college) graduation presents to ourselves next summer. We will go to a game at every baseball stadium in America. We used to participate in Model U.N. together, so we know people in most cities who we’re asking to let us sleep on their couches. I’ve already saved up the money for the tickets, (based off the current prices in the upper deck), we just need to save up some gas money. And, of course, money for Mets gear. I don’t think my 1 jersey (Reyes) and 1 t-shirt (Piazza, still fits me 10 years after I got it) are enough to truly represent my team.

We expect the trip to take between 1 and 2 months (we won’t be staying to site-see anywhere). We’ll be starting in Boston, driving down the east coast, then around the gulf, through the southwest, up the west coast, and then hitting all the midwest teams on the way back (and Toronto). This will be my first time seeing about 90% of our great country, and I’m excited to say I’ll know cities only by their ballparks.

As for a cool trip I’ve already done, my first Mets game (1998) I got beamed in the chest by a foul line-drive off the first pitch as i was walking to my seat. Unfortunately, after the ball knocked me off my feet some old guy stole it.

I’m an active duty Marine, who has made the best of his constant moving and deploying with stops around the US to hit up any park that is en route (or not so much “en route”, much to my wife’s amusement.) Anyway, I doubt my salary allows for the “coolest trips” but for a barebones trip of roughing it and simply experiencing the sport that allows me to escape my own head for a few hours at a time, I can’t complain. Last year, upon moving to Colorado from NC last year, I was able to hit up Nats Park, followed by Camden Yards, followed by Phillies vs. Mets in Philly, followed by PNC Park in Pittsburgh, then out to Milwaukee to visit one of my old war-buddies, then to South Side Chicago to see the Sox (already saw the Cubs the year prior), then KC (sadly St. Louis wasn’t in town), then a straight shot to see the Rockies a week after arriving in Colorado.

Tomorrow evening, I’m am departing on yet another adventure, with my goal of seeing the West Coast and it’s national Parks (Yellowstone, Redwood, Yosemite, etc) has coincided with adding new parks to my “Completed” list to include Seattle, SF, and Oakland… followed by the Mets trip to Arizona 2 weeks after we return to lovely Colorado.