New or Newsworthy....
Map Your Ballpark Travels on the Official Major League Map
Perfect for tracking baseball road trips, the new Major League Baseball Map enables you (or your family) to plot your personal pilgrimages to each of the 30 big league ballparks plus a handful of other can't-miss baseball destinations. Stickers, checklists or pins make the map interactive, Major League team logos make it colorful and authentic. Available as a laminated poster or framed print, it's sure to be a hit for the 2012 season and beyond! The map is pictured above, the link to see it in more detail is below:
Major League Baseball Map Poster
Baseball Rose Comes Into Bloom Just in Time for Mother's Day
Mother's Day is not far away, so why not get the #1 female fan in your life a gift that's firmly rooted in America’s favorite pastime? The new Baseball Rose is made from genuine baseball leather that's cut up into petals. Although the leather and thread used to make the rosebud is real, because the flower really isn't it never needs to be watered...and it won't wilt or lose its color. So this is one rose that's sure to be a year-round hit, year after year. See it and read more about the one-of-a-kind rose at the link below:
Baseball Rose
No-Hitters In Current MLB Parks Are Detailed
After a flurry of five no-hitters tossed in a span of 12 months, beginning with Francisco Liriano on May 3, 2011 and culminating with Jered Weaver's gem almost exactly a year later on May 2, 2012, the number of all-time no-hitters thrown (over the span of 136 years) now stands at 274. But just 68 of them have been thrown in one of Major League Baseball's 30 current ballparks. Those 30 ballparks have a collective 649 full seasons of use, spanning from no completed seasons at Miami's Marlins Park to 100 recorded at Boston's Fenway Park, yet 10 of them have never been the site of a no-hitter. Of the 20 ballparks that have, just five of them have hosted more than three no-hitters in their history. So despite an impressive amount of recent exceptions, as history proves there is no doubt that a no-hitter is not a common occurrence at today's ballparks.
No-Hitters Thrown by Ballpark list
2012 Baseball Travel Map Released
The baseball fan on the go will always be in the know of what's nearby thanks to the Baseball Travel Map. The 2012 edition shows the location of every major and affiliated minor league team (259 in all) on a collapsible map of the United States. Also featured are 67 baseball attractions, so the map pinpoints museums and the like for the roving fan and compiles the contact information for every destination on its backside. Released on March 23, the map is clever, compact and convenient...and just $8.95. The link to buy the map or read more about it is below:
Baseball Travel Map
Bob Feller Museum in Iowa Recalls His Path to Greatness
Bob Feller died last year but his legacy lives on in his hometown of Van Meter, IA, where his namesake museum opened in 1995. The Bob Feller Museum is the place to go to see the cancelled check of $1 that he got in 1935 as a signing bonus and plenty of other memorabilia and memories from Feller's career, which made him a first ballot Hall of Famer in 1962, and his life, in which he earned eight World War II Battle Stars. Cooperstown-esque in its thorough tale of farm boy done good, the museum's location in a small Iowa farm town gives it a pastoral setting that makes a visit all the more pleasant.
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Ballpark Museum Opens in Denver
At long last, someone had the good sense to open a museum dedicated to ballparks. That someone is Bruce "B" Hellerstein, hence the name B’s Ballpark Museum. Although the collection of ballpark artifacts had a home since 1999, they were literally in a home - Bruce's. In the summer of 2010, he moved the collection from his basement to near Denver's ballpark, and now the nation's first permanent location for a museum dedicated to ballparks is across the street from Coors Field.
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Rickwood Field Celebrates 100th Birthday
A hundred years is a long time for any building to stand. For a ballpark, such a milestone was unprecedented until August 18, 2010 when Birmingham's Rickwood Field became the first still used pro park to reach the triple digit threshold. The occasion was marked by a "Centennial Open House" celebration, during which those in attendance reminisced about America's oldest ballpark. Their stories from the stands and behind the scenes paint a vivid picture of a colorful place that has few equals when it comes to manufacturing memories.
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Talkin' Ballparks With Toledo Mud Hens GM Joe Napoli
Toledo's Fifth Third Field is one of the best minor league stadiums in which I've witnessed a game. Home to the world famous Mud Hens, the ballpark opened in 2002. The team's current general manager, Joe Napoli, had been on the job well before then and recently took some time to answer a dozen questions about how Fifth Third Field came to be and what makes it so remarkable in the second installment of our Talkin' Ballparks interview series.
Read the interview
Places to Go, Things to See, All in the Name of Baseball History
Historic markers, memorials, museums and other sites across the country tout baseball's illustrious history in the places where that history was made. These attractions are worthy of a pilgrimage in their own right, so Baseball Pilgrimages has begun to chronicle some of the places to go and things to see for those who love baseball history. To kick off the series, we made a visit to parking lot B at U.S. Cellular Field, where a Comiskey Park Tribute outlines the area that was home to White Sox baseball for 80 years.
10 Great Places For A Baseball Pilgrimage
The fine folks at USA Today asked for and we gave them 10 great minor league destinations for travelers who enjoy baseball, a list that was published in the "10 Great Places" portion of their travel section that appears each Friday. From Buffalo to Sacramento and the eight points in between, we explain in a follow up to the printed piece that ran on April 2nd why each ballpark and city chosen is a great place for a baseball pilgrimage in much more detail than space in the newspaper would allow for.
Read the story at Baseball Pilgrimages
Read the article at USA Today
Baseball Pilgrimages is on Facebook
We've joined the revolution on Facebook, which is where expanded photo galleries of ballparks will now be posted. First up: Mike Lansing Field in Casper, WY. Visit Baseball Pilgrimages' page on Facebook to view 33 pictures of the home of the Casper Ghosts and for quick quips and pictures from other ballpark visits.
 Read More Stories in the Ballpark News Archives
Another Stadium Fades Into Oblivion
Drillers Stadium Loses the Drillers
The cliché is true. If you build it, they will come. It being a ballpark and they being a baseball team. Of course, "they" have to leave somewhere to arrive and when that happens a current ballpark becomes a former one. That happened quite a bit in the decade that is just about to end; 63 times in fact. That's counting major and affiliated minor league teams, one of which is the Tulsa Drillers, who left their self-titled stadium in the county fairgrounds for new corporate sponsored downtown digs.
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Abandoned ballparks list |
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Zachary's First Game
McCormick Field in Asheville - July 5, 2009
My 8-month old son saw his first baseball game on the evening of July 5th. The venue was an old one: Asheville's McCormick Field, established in 1924. Zachary, at 244 days, enjoyed the Tourists' 7-6 victory over the visiting Charleston RiverDogs primarily from the comforts of his mother's lap in a bleacher seat behind the home team dugout, where our rookie in life enjoyed the old ball game on a night in which rain drizzled intermittently during his inaugural immersion in America’s national pastime.
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Major League Ballpark Tours
What You Need to Know to Become A Ballpark Tourist
There are 30 major league ballparks and all but two of them offer tours guided by team employees. A ballpark tour takes fans from the dugout to the press box and many points in between. Besides exposing fans to places normally off-limits, a tour enlightens those in attendance about public areas usually overlooked and facts previously unknown. Whether or not catching the home team at home is possible, a tour of their ballpark is a fulfilling opportunity that all baseball fans are sure to enjoy and is a memorable experience provided by all teams except the Marlins and Mets.
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The Rickwood Classic
Baseball's Ultimate Throwback Game - Birmingham, AL
It's one thing to "turn back the clock" and wear retro uniforms, quite another to play in a throwback ballpark. But every year that's what the Birmingham Barons do, much to the delight of ballpark fans everywhere. Rickwood Field, built in 1910, is an ageless wonder, a baseball playground of generations past. Lovingly restored, it is the oldest ballpark in the nation to host professional baseball thanks to the annual Southern League game that's played there. That game is known as the Rickwood Classic.
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See the photo gallery |
A Taste of International Baseball
Estadio Calimax - Tijuana, Mexico
Ever wonder what it's like to watch America's pastime somewhere where the English language is scarce? In the Mexican League, the game on the field looks familiar but the experience in the stands is anything but normal. Girls dressed like strippers on top of the dugout, a mascot on the field during the game, and lots of music are just a few things that will detract your attention from players you've never heard of. But it all adds up to a very lively, and intoxicating, atmosphere.
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Batting Practice
Catch It If You Can
The average life of a Major League baseball is only six pitches, but the likelihood of catching a foul ball is very remote due to the size of the ballpark and competition from thousands of fans. For most fans, batting practice is the only chance to get a ball as players successfully swing for the fences in front of small gatherings. With balls landing in relatively empty seats the likelihood of catching – or at least retrieving – one would seem simple. At least that's what I thought while trying to snag a souvenir during BP in Houston.
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Homecoming in Washington
CONSOL Energy Park in Washington, PA - August 22, 2009
We didn't have a professional baseball team when I grew up in Washington, PA in the 1980s. That all changed when the since renamed Falconi Field opened in 2002 and the Washington Wild Things were born. Well after my former hometown joined the rarefied ranks of cities with pro ball I finally got to experience the thrill of seeing a game there.
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Featured Ballparks |
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Nationals Park
Washington Nationals
Anything would be better than RFK Stadium and thankfully Nationals Park doesn't resemble the original home of the former Expos. Instead, its aesthetically pleasing and fan-friendly design borrows heavily from other ballparks that pioneered the concepts most prominently featured in the newest landmark in our nation's capitol. |
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Tropicana Field
Tampa Bay Rays
The unlikely host to the 2009 World Series will always remain one of the last mistakes ever built and while the Rays try to get support for a new ballpark their current one has been upgraded to the point that it's not the blight it once was. So a Rays game can be (and is) a lot of fun to attend. |
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Citizens Bank Park
Philadelphia Phillies
One of the best ballparks in baseball, Citizens Bank Park was nearly built to perfection with a perfect mix of charm and openness. It's an absolute joy to watch a ballgame here and my only wish is that it had been built in downtown Philadelphia. |
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Fenway Park
Boston Red Sox
The smallest, oldest and most charming ballpark in the Majors has been baseball nirvana for over 95 years. From the Green Monster to the Pesky Pole, no ballpark has more unique features or loyal fans than Fenway Park, the proud home of the 2004 and 2007 world champion Red Sox. |
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Camden Yards
Baltimore Orioles
Baltimore is the birthplace of two baseball icons that forever changed the sport: Babe Ruth and Camden Yards. The Eutaw Street walkway is fabulous and the Warehouse phenomenal at the ballpark that started a renaissance. If there were a Six Degrees of Separation ballpark game, Oriole Park at Camden Yards would be the link to any ballpark built since 1992. |
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PETCO Park
San Diego Padres
The home of the Padres is open and inviting with pockets of exclusivity, just like the city of San Diego itself. Petco Park, with one of the best downtown locations in the Majors, has turned San Diego into a baseball town. |
Best of the Bushes |
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Fifth Third Field
Toledo Mud Hens
Home to the world famous Mud Hens (thanks to M*A*S*H), the second pro ballpark to be named Fifth Third Field in the state of Ohio is in a class by itself. A beautiful place inside and out, Toledo's ballpark was built with brick to match the surrounding buildings in its prime downtown location, while the interior of the double decked stadium is about as fan-friendly as they come. |
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The Diamond
Lake Elsinore Storm
An impressive ballpark by minor league standards, and especially by Class A standards, Lake Elsinore's Diamond is perfectly manicured on the outside and has pleasing mountain vistas inside for all fans, who get to enjoy the antics of Jackpot the RBI Rabbit, a person dressed in a pink rabbit suit that dances on the warning track every time the Storm score. |
Welcome to BaseballPilgrimages.com
On March 16, 2001, after saving up enough vacation time to take two weeks off, I arrived in Melbourne, Florida for Spring Training. Coinciding with my arrival was an unexpected phone call, informing me that I had been laid off, another casualty of the dot-com bust. And so the journey began when my personal misfortune afforded me the time to do what I had always wished: travel the country. Add to that my passion for baseball, and most of my trips have included numerous baseball pilgrimages, hence the name of the site. And when my original car died on the way to Vero Beach for a game on my Spring Training journey of 2002, I bought a new one and embarked on a cross-country trip to California.
What started out as just a trip to Spring Training has morphed into visiting ballparks at all levels, from the lowest levels of the bush leagues to the legendary ballyards in the big leagues. Although I'd been to a number of ballparks prior to the 2001 season, I decided to use that year as my starting point. Through nine seasons, I’ve seen 254 games in 100 ballparks and traveled thousands of miles across our great country in pursuit of the national pastime. I've been to places I'd never thought I'd go, or probably would not have considered....all because of a baseball game.
A tour of ballparks is a great way to see America, as professional baseball is dotted across its landscape. This site is dedicated to all of those who have taken the journey, or wish to.
Graham - Smyrna, GA
info@baseballpilgrimages.com
E-mail me your personal baseball pilgrimages if you'd like to be included on the site
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