Ballpark Trivia

So I told you we drove to St. Louis to see the Braves play the Cardinals.  

What I didn't tell you was that while we were at it, we also drove to Kansas City.

(What's four more hours anyway?)

You got it.  More baseball.  We didn't even have a team in this game.

But hey, when amid a sea of blue, just go ahead and cheer for the Royals.

I guess it's no secret that someone (or maybe a couple of someones) has

"seeing games at as many major league stadiums as humanly possible"on their bucket list.
Not in writing.  But still.

I never would have believed I'd be a part of such a thing,
but I guess I've kind of gotten sucked in.
Ball parks are pretty cool and unique places.

I mean what's not to love about sitting in dead center field in a million degrees,
surrounded by water features?  The sound of that splashing water reminded me of...
well it might have been the sweat running off my neck.

As connoisseurs of the ballpark experience, we've become experts on just a couple things.

1.  Helmet sundaes.

They are not all created equal.  Sometimes it's soft serve.  Sometimes, Ben and Jerry's.
Yes to Ben and Jerry's.  That would be St. Louis.

Have you noticed that when I try to get pictures of Ben at the ball park,
he looks annoyed, or at least, preoccupied?

"MOM!  I'm trying to keep score here!"
(Yup, that's pretty much the worst one ever.)

Which leads to our other area of expertise,

2.  The scorecard.  

Best buck we ever spend.  Except in St. Louis.  $2.50 there, for a sub-standard product, I'm told.

This, according to Ben, is what a great scorecard looks like. (Kudos to the Rockies!)

Extra lines for substitutions, room for the pitchers, and even spaces to mark balls and strikes

(and therefore keep track of the pitch count).

Sweet.

In St. Louis, your overpriced model is stripped down to bare bones.
Ben had to add in a bunch of data in the margins.

Here's our very own ballpark scorecard...

Best helmet sundae:  

St. Louis Cardinals (Ben and Jerry's ice cream.  SOOO good!!)

Best scorecard:  

Colorado Rockies

Best skyline view from behind the plate:  

Tough one--St. Louis is a strong contender with the arch and all, 

but the Twins have the Minneapolis skyline.  There's no place like home.

Best kid-friendly park:

This is an important feature.  I'll go with Kansas City on this one, though Miller Park in Milwaukee
(hmm, that never actually made a blog post) and Comerica Park in Detroit are also really good.
Nine innings is a long time.  'Nuff said.

Best Between Innings Crowd Entertainment:
Miller Park.  Racing sausages.  What's not to love?

Three awards are reserved for
Comerica Park in Detroit:

Best Mascot  (Paws--although we LOVE T.C. the bear right here at home,
Paws helps Mom get the best photo.  WIN!)

Coolest Jumbotron (The one with the tigers!)

Best Night of Baseball Ever  (The night Clete Thomas hit a walkoff homer!)


So there you have it.  Everything you ever (or never) wanted to know about baseball parks.

One more thing?

Always take a walk behind home plate with your camera.  It's the shot with the best view.
Every.  Time.