My Top Five Baseball Moments - Number Three

Baseball Trip 2000! That's what I was calling it. I had been wanting to visit other parks for a long, long time, but had never really managed to get around it. I asked my Dad to create an itinerary for me so that I could tweak it and find a really good baseball trip, but when he presented me with the itinerary, I couldn't change a single thing. It was a beautiful trip.

We went to PACBELL park on a Friday night and watched the Giants play, but left about the 7th inning to catch our flight to Chicago (the red eye). It was my first trip to Chicago since I had flown through O'Hare while in the Navy and really the first trip where I would ever see more than just the environs around O'Hare. We spent three days in Chicago, but alas, the Cubbies were not in town and we didn't really know our way around enough to visit Comiskey. So, after three days we left Chicago and drove to Detroit for an overnight stay.

In Detroit, the hotel manager found out about our baseball trip and asked if we had tickets for the Tigers game that night. We said that the tickets online had been sold out for months. As it turned out, the place was practically empty. We took a cab over to the park and walked right in with excellent lower box seats right by first base. Good food, good times, funky new ballpark.

The next day we left Detroit and the United States and drove to Toronto. I had tickets for the Blue Jays in the SkyDome for the second night of our stay. We were both feeling a little under the weather by then, but we went to the game anyway. When we arrived, the dome was open and we had a gorgeous view of the giant CN Tower above us (we went up it the next day and could see all the way to Niagara Falls from the top). About the second inning, though, they closed the dome. It was cool. Stadium looked, felt, and played like a warehouse however. Definitely not baseball. Still I really enjoyed my time in Toronto. I wish I had a reason to go back.

After Toronto we traveled further north to Montreal. The Expos were still there though I think that was the first season they experimented with playing some games in Puerto Rico. We did take the Olympic Stadium tour, however, and walked out on the turf all the way to second place. Since the roof of the enclosed stadium had never been opened (the mechanism had failed before they'd ever opened it) the place smelled like a men's locker room that hadn't been aired out in 30 years. Definitely glad I didn't have to watch home games there. I'm also glad that they moved the team since that stadium really sucked.

After that we headed south, and on our way to Syracuse, we stopped at Cooperstown. If you've never been, you have no right to change your name to Mohammed. Seriously, this place is the Mecca of Baseball. A pilgrimmage is required for all real baseball fans.

We wasted our next two days in Syracuse, Rochester, and Niagara Falls, before arriving in another one of those overnight stopover places - Cleveland - on our way back to Chicago. But this is where my Number Three Baseball Moment begins.

We arrived in Cleveland at the tail end of a long trip. We were tired. We were baseballed out. We were about ready to head home. And Dave broke the trunk on the rental car (long story involving normal brotherly squabbling... but funny, I guess). We were able to drive out to the Cleveland airport and exchange cars, no real problem.

The next day, we got up and went to the Rock N Roll Hall of Fame - it was a block and a half away. Not expecting much there, I was actually blown away about how cool that place was. It put me into a good mood all day. Later, as we returned to our hotel, we found out that not only were the Indians in town that night, but they were facing a Boston Red Sox team with Pedro Martinez pitching at the height of his success.

We were bitten once more with the baseball bug and we decided to head up to the stadium to see if we could get some tickets. We found a scalper outside the stadium who was disappointed to sell us Bleacher tickets (we really wanted to sit in the bleachers with the "real" fans). Then we went into the stadium and just goggled. I may be extremely partial to PACBELL Park, but I have to say that Jacob's Field would be my second choice as favorite stadium. We had excellent hot dogs, excellent beers. We bought hats and jackets and scorecards. Damn it! We were the perfect Indians tourists. But the stadium and the team and the city just gave off that vibe.

We made our way out into the bleachers. It was mid September (Labor Day was two weeks behind us) and the season was coming to an end - both the Summer season and the Baseball season. There was a fine mist over the stadium and nobody moved. People filled the stands with excitement and energy. When the game finally started, we could sense a vibe that I have rarely felt in San Francisco - everyone was in to the game. There were no yahoos talking on cell phones, reading the paper, or tapping away on their laptops. These were baseball fans and they were there to watch a baseball game. And not only that, they actually seemed to understand what they were watching. When the perfect game was finally broken up in the fourth inning by a walk from Pedro, the crowd erupted in a huge cheer. They understood that Pedro's bid had just ended and they didn't need anyone prompting them to cheer or root for their team.

However, it was the end of our trip and the fine mist had turned into a light, but steady, downpour. Dave and I were both ready to head home. We waited until the end of the Fifth inning, and then we slowly walked back to our hotel (about ten blocks away). It had been a brief experience, but a memorable one. To this day, my Cleveland hat is still one of my favorites because to me it represents true fandom.

Our trip ended a few days later as we passed back through Chicago and then flew home. It had been a great experience and I hope to do it again someday.