Category Archives: Year of Baseball

Year of Baseball Concludes.

Year of Basbeall

My Year of Baseball has ended. I started out on this journey as a way to give Baseball as a sport more of a chance and to put Football out of my mind for 4 months. It worked in both regards. I attempted to keep score during each game to varying degrees of success which kept me much more involved in following the game play by play. It was fascinating to see a couple of the newer ball parks in contrast to the two oldest. It’s also interesting to see how each area/neighborhood around the park is setup. All the while I ignored the NFL Strike/Insane Free Agency.

Year of Baseball by the Numbers:
Being that it is Baseball, I kept my own stats throughout this experience. I’ve seen seventeen games in seven different stadiums with an average ticket price of $36. The most expensive game was Cubs – Yankees ($80) and the cheapest was the Sea Dogs – Mets minor league game ($9).* The farthest I traveled for a game was 918.9 miles (Coors Field), the shortest was 0.7 miles (Wrigley Field) and the average distance was 227.5 miles. The oldest ballpark I visited was Fenway Park in Boston at 99 years, the youngest was 2 year old Citi Field in New York. The average ballpark age was 48 years. On this odyssey I had a total of 49 beers (averaging a mere 3.3BPG*). The highest temperature game was the Boston – Mariners game at 100°F, by contrast the coldest was the third Cubs – Mets game at 42°F.

Here’s the complete list of games I attended:

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Nationals – Mets in New York on April 8th

Coors Field
Cubs – Rockies in Denver on April 17th

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Twins – White Sox in Chicago on May 3rd

The View From My Seat: US Cellular Field - White Sox - Rangers -
Rangers – White Sox in Chicago on May 17th

Serious fog at the White Sox - Indians game -
Indians – White Sox in Chicago on May 19th

Panorama of the White Sox - Dodgers  game:
Dodgers – White Sox in Chicago on May 21st

Wrigley Field: Cubs - Mets
Mets – Cubs in Chicago on May 24th

Rain Delay at Wrigley -
Mets – Cubs in Chicago on May 25th

Panoramic View of the Cubs - Mets game at Wrigley Field - #Yearofbaseball
Mets – Cubs in Chicago on May 26th

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Tigers – White Sox in Chicago on June 4th

PNC Park Panorama - #Yearofbaseball -
Mets – Pirates in Pittsburgh on June 11th

National Anthem for Sunday Night Baseball at Wrigley Field: Yankees - Cubs - #Yearofbaseball #WrigleyField
Yankees – Cubs in Chicago on June 18th

Panorama of the Seadogs - Mets game at Hadlock Field -
Mets – Sea Dogs in Portland on July 19th

Panoramic of Fenway Park -  #Yearofbaseball
Mariners – Red Sox in Boston on July 22nd

Panorama of US Cellular Field: White Sox - Red Sox -   #yearofbaseball
Red Sox – White Sox in Chicago on July 30th

Panorama fro US Cellular Field: White Sox - Yankees -  #Yearofbaseball
Yankees – White Sox in Chicago on August 3rd

Panaroma from US Cellular Field: White Sox - Yankees. #Yearofbaseball -
Yankees – White Sox in Chicago on August 4th

Holy Shit. Yankees 13, Sox 1 -

Throughout all 17 games Julie and I kept score with the Eephus League scorebook, always adapting our methodology and penmanship. At many times it made the game go faster and more enjoyable.

Side Notes:
* BPG = Beers Per Game
** The least expensive Major League game(s) were all four White Sox games in May ($14).


View Year of Baseball in a larger map

*** With more than 3,868 miles traveled these are the stadiums I visited.

US Cellular Field: White Sox – Yankees (Game 2).

DSC_0269.JPGDSC_0248.JPGPanaroma from US Cellular Field: White Sox - Yankees. #Yearofbaseball -DSC_0266.JPG

So we headed down to US Cellular Field for one last beating by the Yankees and they did not disappoint. These were actually the ‘better seats’ we bought during our seven game pack and it was not worth it. We were in section 149 and unless you had an isle seat or were in the first 10 rows you really had a hard time seeing the batter at home plate. It didn’t really matter as the Yankees won 7-2 and completed the series sweep of the White Sox.

Side Notes:

The View From My other seat -   #Yearofbaseball
* The view from the seat in the outfield after we moved away from our real seats since we could not see the batter.

** Year of Baseball Stats:
Game No. 16
Stadium Opened: April 18, 1991
Capacity: 41,432
Attendance: 28,088
Food: N/A
Beer: N/A
Opponent: New York Yankees
Pitchers: W: Nova, L: Humber
Miles From Home: 9.6
Ticket Face Value: $54
Seat Location: Section 149, Row 31, Seat 4

US Cellular Field: White Sox – Yankees.

DSC_0144.JPGDSC_0064.JPGPanorama fro US Cellular Field: White Sox - Yankees -  #YearofbaseballDSC_0242.JPGHoly Shit. Yankees 13, Sox 1 -
As you can see from the two photographs above the White Sox were having a hell of a time with the Yankees last night at US Cellular Field.  13 runs in 3 innings is never a good thing.  Julie actually won these tickets in a raffle at Finley Dunnes so I will pretend it didn’t happen.

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Side Notes:
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It was Mayor Daley Night at US Cellular Field which consisted of a commemorative baseball, a small speech and a montage.  The funny part was the baseball wasn’t handed out until you left the park so as to keep people from the throwing the ball at the former mayor.

The White Sox organization thinks of everything.

The View From My Seat:  US Cellular Field: White Sox - Yankees. #Yearofbaseball -

** The View From My Seat.

*** Year of Baseball Stats:
Game No. 15
Stadium Opened: April 18, 1991
Capacity: 41,432
Attendance: 23,873
Food: 1 hotdog, 1 churro
Beer: 4 Miller Light
Opponent: New York Yankees
Pitchers: W: Wade, L: Floyd
Miles From Home: 9.6
Ticket Face Value: $38
Seat Location: Section 538, Row 8, Seat 4

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**** My favorite beerman.

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***** At one point in the game they decided to mix things up to get the Sox back in it and they changed bags at first base. Clearly Adam Dunn was not impressed.