Over the past four years I’ve made ballpark travel resolutions based primarily upon seeing Minor League Baseball games, and each year I recap the goals and assess how successful I was in accomplishing my goals. So without further ado, here is how I did with my 2018 ballpark travel resolutions. Resolution #1: In 2018, I resolve to see all three @TweetHomeAla @MiLB teams (@BhamBarons, @Mobile_BayBears, & @BiscuitBaseball) with @DJKati. #NewYearsResolutions #PlayBall #sportstravel — Steven Ericson (@StevenOnTheMove) January 2, 2018 I had previously seen all of Alabama’s Minor League teams play at home, but never during the same season. More importantly, setting the goal of seeing all three Alabama teams at…
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A Minor League Baseball road trip through Alabama
People who enjoy baseball, and especially Minor League Baseball, regularly plan their summer vacations around visiting ballparks. These trips are often based around individual goals, whether it’s to visit new states or new ballparks or to watch top prospects or even the most ambitious goal of seeing all 159 active, affiliated Minor League baseball stadiums. With good timing, visiting all of the Minor League ballparks in Alabama can be done in a matter of four days. I undertook this adventure earlier this summer with my wife Katie. The Basics Currently, Alabama has three Minor League Baseball teams: the Birmingham Barons, the Mobile BayBears, and the Montgomery Biscuits. From north-to-south, the…
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Alabama Memorial Day weekend road trip preview
As the summer travel season is almost upon us, my wife Katie and I will be making our first extended trip of the year over the Memorial Day weekend. The inspiration for our upcoming trip is baseball and craft beer, as we are setting out to see every Minor League Baseball team that plays in Alabama while also visiting more of the state’s craft breweries. Our schedule is built around attending MiLB games, but we will assuredly be visiting craft breweries and seeing other local sights. Here is our schedule… Saturday, May 26:Biloxi Shuckers at Mobile BayBears, 7:05 p.m. Tuesday, May 29:Jackson Generals at Montgomery Biscuits, 6:35 p.m. Wednesday, May…
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Revealing my 2018 ballpark resolutions
Since 2014, I have posted travel resolutions for each new year. They typically related to traveling to see new Minor League Baseball stadiums. As I rung in the new year, I sat down and posted my resolutions. So here are my resolutions for the upcoming year. Resolution #1: In 2018, I resolve to see all three @TweetHomeAla @MiLB teams (@BhamBarons, @Mobile_BayBears, & @BiscuitBaseball) with @DJKati. #NewYearsResolutions #PlayBall #sportstravel — Steven Ericson (@MyGeogLessons) January 2, 2018 Over the past six years, I have managed to see all the MiLB teams in my current home state of Alabama. However, I have not seen them all with my now wife Katie. Since she…
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Reviewing my 2017 ballpark resolutions
As 2017 comes to a close, it’s time for the annual review of my New Year’s resolutions. Unlike people who resolve to lose weight or be kinder to others, which are all great goals, mine focus on travel and more specifically they focus on baseball travel. My first resolution for 2017 was… In 2017, I resolve to see a @FisherCats or @PortlandSeaDogs game with @joshpahigian. #PlayBall — Steven Ericson (@geoSteven) January 1, 2017 While attending the American Association of Geographers (AAG) Annual Meeting in Boston in April, I organized a field trip to see the Portland Sea Dogs and got to meet Josh at the game. It was great getting…
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My night with the Biloxi Shuckers – July 14, 2017
The newest stadium in the Southern League opened nearly two years ago to much fanfare, as the stadium endured numerous construction delays and the team played its first 25 home games on the road at a number of different ballparks (read more here). So I was thrilled when I finally got to attend a Biloxi Shuckers home game this summer. However, I did not plan the date to attend the game. My wife Katie scoured the Shuckers promotional scheduled picked the date because the team was giving away a bobblehead commemorating outfielder Brett Phillips chasing away an opossum (see video here). So after visiting Biloxi Brewing Company, which is just…
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Revealing my 2017 ballpark resolutions
I’m now into year three of writing baseball-travel resolutions (read 2015’s resolutions here; read 2016’s resolutions here). These resolutions/goals mostly focus on attending Minor League Baseball games, but sometimes I add a Major League Baseball goal. The first resolution for 2017… In 2017, I resolve to see a @FisherCats or @PortlandSeaDogs game with @joshpahigian. #PlayBall — Steven Ericson (@geoSteven) January 1, 2017 Over the past few years, I’ve gotten to interact with Josh Pahigian, who has written numerous books about attending MLB and MiLB games (see his Amazon author page here). He lives in Portland, Maine, and teaches at the University of New England. During this past season he reached out…
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My night with the Tennessee Smokies – May 18, 2016
There are some advantages and disadvantages to having attended baseball games over the past 30 years. The biggest disadvantage for me is that while I’ve visited many over the years, I have not always written about my visits to ballparks. So my ballpark count is significantly higher than the number of stadiums I’ve written about visiting. The biggest advantage is that I get to re-visit stadiums and share a new experience with the people who read my blog. So after first watching the Tennessee Smokies play a home game in 2002 and 2005, I am finally writing about the stadium after attending a game in May 2016. Like those other…
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My day with the Birmingham Barons – May 27, 2015
In 1996, a tradition was born that returned baseball to downtown Birmingham, Ala. The Friends of Rickwood and Birmingham Barons staged the first Rickwood Classic, which brought the team from its suburban home at Hoover Metropolitan Stadium (read about my visit here) to downtown for a single game. Since 2013, the Barons have played in downtown at Regions Field (read about my visit here), but have continued to play the Rickwood Classic. This year marks the 20th Rickwood Classic, but my first time attending the game. Each classic commemorates a different era of Barons history with this year’s event commemorating the 1948 Barons, who won the Southern Association title and…
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Reviewing my 2014 ballpark resolutions
In January, I made four resolutions related to visiting Minor League Baseball stadiums. As 2014 comes to a close, I wanted to revisit my resolutions and see what I accomplished. My first resolution was… In 2014, I resolve to visit all four Georgia @MiLB teams: @GreenJackets, @GwinnettBraves, @TheRomeBraves, and @gnatsbaseball. #PlayBall — Steven Ericson (@geoSteven) January 1, 2014 I visited the Gwinnett Braves in July (read about my visit here), but did not succeed in visiting the other three teams. I spent a majority of my summer working on my dissertation, and did not get to visit Augusta, Rome, or Savannah. So I was only 1-for-4 in completing this resolution.…
