Coming into the baseball season I thought I was going to have the opportunity to visit all three Minor League Baseball teams in Kentucky. Unfortunately, scheduling prevented me from making the trip. However, in early August things started to come together that would allow fiancée Katie and I to make the trip to see the Bowling Green Hot Rods over her birthday weekend. I started by reaching out to Alex Cohen, the team’s broadcasting and media relations manager, about securing a pair of tickets to the Club Level. I also got assistance from Telia Butler with the Bowling Green Area Convention & Visitors Bureau, who helped me find a great hotel…
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My night with the Charleston RiverDogs – May 23, 2016
Following our stay in Myrtle Beach (read about it here), Katie and I continued our South Carolina baseball road trip in Charleston. We spent the Sunday doing sightseeing in Mount Pleasant seeing the Charles Pinckney National Historic Site, who was a key framer of the U.S. Constitution, and Patriots Point Naval & Maritime Museum, which features the USS Yorktown (CV-10). When Katie and I initially planned the trip, we were going to spend Monday exploring the city after starting the morning by going to Fort Sumter National Monument. That partially happened, but due to my audition for Sports Jeopardy! that afternoon we only made it to Fort Sumter before we…
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My night with the Myrtle Beach Pelicans – May 21, 2016
After stops in Kodak, Tenn., (read about it here) and Asheville, N.C., (read about it here) Katie and I were supposed to attend a Greenville Drive game on a Friday night. However, the game was canceled after it rained a majority of the afternoon in the Upstate area. With hotel reservations already made for the rest of the trip, we continued on to Myrtle Beach, S.C., where we would see the Pelicans that Saturday night. After checking into our hotel (more on it later) and relaxing for a bit, Katie and I headed to the ballpark. It is easy to get to the stadium because it sits at the intersection…
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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 night with the Rome Braves – June 26, 2015
Over a year ago I made a New Year’s resolution to visit all four Minor League Baseball teams in Georgia. In 2014, I resolve to visit all four Georgia @MiLB teams: @GreenJackets, @GwinnettBraves, @TheRomeBraves, and @gnatsbaseball. #PlayBall — Steven Ericson (@geoSteven) January 1, 2014 I failed miserably because I only visited the Gwinnett Braves last year (read more here). Wanting to avoid a repeat, I did not make that resolution this year. However, this summer I finally fulfilled my goals and saw all four of Georgia’s Minor League Baseball teams in a single summer. After visiting Gwinnett, Augusta (read more here), and Savannah (read more here), I only had Rome left…
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My night with the Northwest Arkansas Naturals – July 22, 2013
At the beginning of the summer I set a goal of watching games at three Minor League ballparks. I recently moved out of my apartment in Stillwater, Okla., and incorporated two stadium visits into my trip. On the way from Georgia to Oklahoma, I stopped in Northwest Arkansas to do some sightseeing and saw my first game at Arvest Ballpark in Springdale, Ark., home of the Northwest Arkansas Naturals. Like many stadiums built in suburbia, an expansive parking lot surrounds Arvest Ballpark. The city built the stadium in hopes of spurring development in the area, but so far nothing has arisen near the intersection of South 56th Street and Watkins…
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My night with the Tulsa Drillers – May 25, 2013
When you attend games at a stadium on a regular basis, you don’t think about taking photos and sharing your experiences. For me, this is definitely applies to ONEOK Field in Tulsa. I have a close friend who lives in the area, so I’ve seen at least one game at the stadium each season since the ballpark opened in 2010. Additionally, I’ve been to the stadium to watch Bedlam baseball games on two occasions. However, I’ve only taken photographs on one previous trip. So I wanted to make sure that I took some photos during my next trip to attend a Tulsa Drillers game. My most recent trip to ONEOK…
