Citizens Bank Park

New York Mets @ Philadelphia Phillies
May 31, 2004

Mets 5, Phillies 3

W: Orber Moreno
L: Brett Myers
S: Braden Looper
HR: Jason Phillips (NYM), Pat Burrell (PHI)
Attendance: 43,620
Time of Game: 3 hours, 2 minutes

Stadium Facts

Location: Philadelphia, PA
First Game: April 12, 2004
Capacity: 43,500
Type: Open
Surface: Grass

My summer baseball trip of 2004 took me back to familiar territory: the Midwest. However, a month prior to my main trip of the summer, I knocked out the first new ballpark of the year on Memorial Day in Philadelphia. I was in Philadelphia for a friend's party and went to the Phillies game the following afternoon with a bunch of people. I had done the same thing the previous Memorial Day when I saw my first and only game at Veterans Stadium. However, I didn't bother counting that as an official stop on my stadium tour since I knew I would be returning for a game at the brand new Citizens Bank Park the following summer.

As has been the case for most Memorial Day weekends since I moved out east, the weather didn't exactly cooperate on this day. There was rain throughout the afternoon, including prior to the game. A pre-game rain delay pushed the start back more than an hour. On a positive note, this gave me more time to explore the new park.

Citizens Bank Park is a huge improvement over Veterans Stadium. It is an outstanding ballpark in the South Philly sports complex. The complex includes Lincoln Financial Field (Eagles), Wachovia Center (76ers, Flyers, Villanova) and the old Spectrum. The Vet was also in this area. So all of Philly's professional teams play within a couple blocks of one another, unlike any other four sport city in the country. The location is pretty good too: easily accessible from major highways and not too far from downtown Philly.

I really like the design of Citizens Bank Park. There are great seats throughout the park. There are plenty of lower level seats in the outfield and a neat second level in left field below the large scoreboard. There are three levels surrounding most of the field, including right field, creating a little more of an intimate feel than a few of the other similar parks. The concourses are another strong point of the park.

There are plenty of other places to watch the game if you don't like your seats. There is a popular standing room area above the bullpens in center field, which is ideal for hecklers... and in Philadelphia there are no shortage of those. You just don't know for sure if they will heckle the visitors or their own Phillies.

Our seats were in the second level in left field. These would have been pretty nice seats on a normal day, but not so great in the rain. If you need proof of our inability to avoid the raindrops, just see the cover of my program below which was exposed to the elements. Later in the game, we moved to dryer grounds on the concourse during the second rain delay and the later stages of the game. Some of our friends were lucky enough to move down behind the Mets dugout after the delay, but I did not.

After the pre-game rain delay, the game finally started with Brett Myers on the mound for the Phillies. Cliff Floyd put the Mets on the board early with an RBI double in the top of the first. Matt Ginter pitched three scoreless innings for the Mets, but would not figure in the final outcome due to the second rain delay. After the third, the umpires called for the delay. It took the grounds crew a considerable amount of time to get the tarp over the infield in the pouring rain.

Two and a half hours later, the game resumed with the Mets ahead 1-0. Obviously, the new park has a great drainage system, because it appeared for a while that the game might have to be postponed. The crowd thinned out considerably during the lengthy delay, but we stuck it out.

Jason Phillips promptly hit a home run for the Mets in the top of the fourth to make it 2-0. A Todd Zeile double in the fifth made it 3-0, before the Phillies finally got on the board in the bottom half. Chase Utley reached base to lead off the bottom half as his grounder went threw the legs of catcher, turned first baseman, Mike Piazza. After the Phillies loaded the bases, a base hit by David Bell cut the Mets lead to 3-2.

The Mets got back to work in the top of the eighth. A two run double by Mike Cameron gave the Mets a commanding 5-2 lead. Pat Burrell hit a home run in the bottom half, his second home run on my ballpark tour. However, the Mets hung on for a 5-3 victory. Orber Moreno picked up his first major league win in relief. Braden Looper pitched a scoreless ninth inning to record the save.

This was a rematch of the Phillies/Mets matchup I saw in Shea Stadium the previous year, with the visiting team winning each game. Much like 2003, this season was much better for the Phillies than the Mets, however the Braves once again won the National League East. This game was early enough in the season where both teams were very much in the hunt. It probably would have been an intense crowd for this rivalry game, but the rain delays put a damper on things (pun intended). By the end of the game, there couldn't have been more than a few thousand of us remaining, despite the game being a sellout.

It was unfortunate that the weather did not cooperate, but it did not hurt my opinion of the ballpark. Citizens Bank Park is definitely in the upper echelon of stadiums. Probably better than Philadelphia deserves (just kidding... sort of). Surprisingly, I haven't made it back to another game since this one. I'm sure I will go there again soon though since its a pretty easy trip up I-95.

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Next stadium: Busch Stadium, St. Louis

Comerica Park

Cleveland Indians @ Detroit Tigers
September 4, 2003

Tigers 2, Indians 1

W: Gary Knotts
L: Jake Westbrook
S: Danny Patterson
Attendance: 11,371
Time of Game: 2 hours, 25 minutes

Stadium Facts

Location: Detroit, MI
First Game: April 11, 2000
Capacity: 41,000
Type: Open
Surface: Grass

We had a quick turnaround between the game in Toronto on Wednesday night and an afternoon game in Detroit, so following the Blue Jays game, we drove west for a couple hours through Ontario. On Wednesday morning, we completed the drive to Detroit, crossing the border from Windsor to Detroit. To be honest with you, we didn't save the best stop of the baseball trip for last, and it had nothing to do with Comerica Park. It was a late season, weekday afternoon game featuring two awful teams in quite possibly my least favorite city in the USA.

I don't want to offend my Michigan friends, but Detroit sucks. Of course, growing up in the Chicago area, I learned to dislike Detroit well before I ever visited there. Despite that, I don't think you will find many people outside of Michigan who speak highly of the city. From what I've seen, there are very few "nice" parts of Detroit. No downtown has more abandoned buildings. In these tough economic times, particularly for the Detroit auto-makers, I imagine conditions are even worse than they were on this visit.

Having said that, Comerica Park is one of the city's bright spots. In fact, the ballpark area, including neighboring Ford Field (home of the lowly Detroit Lions) is pretty nice. We took our chances and parked in a public lot several blocks away to save some money. Fortunately, my car was still there when we returned after the game.

Comerica Park might be the best park in baseball for kids. There are large concourses with a little bit of everything for youngsters, including a carousel and a Ferris wheel. For many years, these must have been nice distractions considering the awful team the Tigers had on the field.

I really like the design of this park too. The exterior is a traditional brick design, similar to most parks built around the turn of the century. There are concrete tigers perched over the entrances and all around the park. The single level outfield is spacious and open, with nice views of downtown Detroit. There are only two primary seating levels around most of the park, which keeps the upper deck seats a little closer to the field than in some other stadiums.

The other thing I like about Comerica is that it bucked the trend of new stadiums and is a great park for pitchers. Most of the newer stadiums are much more home run friendly. It actually takes a legitimate shot to hit one out of Comerica. When the park first opened, it was even better for pitchers than it is now. They moved in the left field fences in 2003. Prior to that, the left field and center field dimensions were unlike any other park.

Ever since leaving Boston, we tried to spend as little money as possible for the remainder of the trip, so we bought cheap seats in the upper deck all the way down the left field line. Knowing there would be hardly anyone at the game, we figured we would be able to sneak into much better, lower level seats. However, there were so few people at this particular game that the ushers had nothing better to do than to check tickets. So we trekked up to the upper deck for the game.

This September game featured two teams whose seasons had effectively ended weeks, if not months earlier. The Indians were bad, but the Tigers were downright pathetic. They had already lost 102 games at this point and were in jeopardy of breaking the all time record in futility. Jake Westbrook was the starting pitcher for Cleveland while Gary Knotts took the mound for Detroit.

To add to the less than intriguing matchup, the game was extremely boring too. Neither team scored in the first four innings. Westbrook had a no-hitter going through four, so I guess we had that going for us. However, the Tigers scored first in the bottom of the fifth. This is how one of the worst teams in baseball history scored their two runs... After two singles to start the inning, A.J. Hinch grounded into a double play, with the runner from third scoring. Ramon Santiago then singled, stole second and advanced to third on a throwing error by the catcher, then scored on a wild pitch. So in the inning, the Tigers scored two runs on three hits, but had zero runs batted in.

The Indians finally scored a run in the next half inning to cut the lead to 2-1, but did not notch as much as a base hit in the final three innings. The Tigers held on to win 2-1. Westbrook threw a complete game in a losing effort. The Tigers win improved their record to an impressive 37-102, while the Indians loss dropped them to 62-79. The announced attendance was over 11,000, but I can assure you there weren't more than five or six thousand people in the park. The Tigers went on to lose 119 games in 2003, the most losses in American League history.

The Tigers didn't have much going for them at that time, but have had success since then, highlighted by an American League pennant in 2006. Comerica Park is one of the nicer parks in the league. Its just too bad it has to be located in Detroit.

While this game concluded the baseball portion of our trip, we had a lot more to do. We met up with a friend in Lansing the night following this game and then headed to South Bend for the weekend to see the Notre Dame football season opener. As I mentioned in the first 2003 recap, this was probably my favorite summer baseball trip.

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Next stadium: Citizens Bank Park, Philadelphia

SkyDome (Rogers Centre)

New York Yankees @ Toronto Blue Jays
September 3, 2003

Blue Jays 4, Yankees 3

W: Jason Kershner
L: Antonio Osuna
S: Aquilino Lopez
HR: Jorge Posada (NYY), Jason Giambi (NYY), Josh Phelps (TOR)
Attendance: 21,770
Time of Game: 2 hours, 57 minutes

Stadium Facts

Location: Toronto, ON
First Game: June 5, 1989
Capacity: 50,516
Type: Retractable roof
Surface: Artificial turf

The only significant break between games on the 2003 trip was following the game in Boston. We had two days to kill before going to a game north of the border in Toronto. On Monday, we left Boston, headed back to New York state, and visited the Baseball Hall of Fame in Cooperstown, New York. This was not my first trip to the Hall of Fame. I could probably write a whole article on this alone, but I'll keep it brief.

Cooperstown is a tiny town in the middle of nowhere. There are no major highways going there, so we had to get off the beaten path a bit to make this trip. Unfortunately, our timing wasn't great for this visit. They were in the middle of some renovations at the Hall of Fame, which blocked off an entire floor of exhibits. Fortunately, we were able to see all the inducted player plaques as well as a variety of other interesting exhibits. The weather didn't exactly cooperate either. Due to a steady rain, we didn't spend much time exploring the quaint streets of Cooperstown.

After the Hall of Fame stop, we did a little more driving and spent Monday night in northern New York. Tuesday, we crossed the Canadian border at Niagara Falls. Since we had plenty of time to kill, we checked out the falls from both the American and Canadian sides. I was glad to be able to do this because my previous childhood Niagara Falls visit was dampened by constant pouring rain. That had been my only time spent outside the United States prior to this trip.

One thing I noticed driving on the major highways of Canada is that speed limits seem to be more of a suggestion than an actual rule. I felt like I was getting lapped by cars flying by me, despite the fact that the speed limits were actually lower than they are on most American interstate highways.

We arrived in Toronto early Wednesday afternoon. This gave us plenty of time to check out the city. I think we literally walked around the entire downtown area. We even decided to go on the tour to the CN Tower observation deck. SkyDome is almost right next to the CN Tower. Together, these two structures create a very scenic skyline right off Lake Ontario.

SkyDome was the first baseball stadium built with a retractable roof. It was quite a unique stadium at the time it was built. Besides the roof, the park also features an enormous video scoreboard, a hotel and a restaurant in the outfield. The hotel has a number of rooms with great views of the playing field.

The non-mobile part of the roof covers the center field area. However, when the roof is open, most of the stadium is exposed to the elements. The roof was closed when we entered the park, but opened shortly before the game started. It was pretty cool to see the CN Tower hovering over the stadium as the roof shifted to the open position.

SkyDome gave the Blue Jays franchise an immediate boost in its early years. They set single season attendance records and won two World Series in the ballpark's first five years. The novelty of the park has worn off a bit since then and the Blue Jays struggle to attract the same type of support. For this game, we bought cheap seats, but were easily able to move into unoccupied lower level seats. The seating area is pretty standard with three levels and a perfectly symmetric layout. Unfortunately, the playing surface is artificial turf, unlike all the other retractable roof stadiums. It is a multi-purpose stadium though, so the turf is not surprising.

For the third time on this trip, we saw a Yankees game. That was definitely not done on purpose. Mike Mussina started the game for the Yankees, the second straight start of his that we witnessed in person. Kelvim Escobar took the mound for the Blue Jays. The Yankees scored a run in the top of the third to take a 1-0 lead. Then came the eventful fourth inning. Jason Giambi led off the top of the 4th with a solo home run. Two batters later, Jorge Posada hit another homer to give the Yankees a 3-0 lead. They appeared to be on their way to their third win of our trip. The Blue Jays had other ideas though. Josh Phelps slugged a two run home run in the bottom half to cut the lead to 3-2. Three home runs were hit in the fourth inning, the only three of the game.

Both pitchers got out of jams in the fifth inning, leaving the bases loaded without any runners crossing the plate. Mussina got into more trouble in the sixth. The Jays loaded the bases with nobody out, thanks in part to an error by second baseman Alfonso Soriano. A Bobby Kielty sacrifice fly tied the game at 3, but Mussina somehow escaped major damage as no more runs scored in the inning. The Yankees turned to their bullpen in the seventh, but another sacrifice fly, by Eric Hinske, gave the Blue Jays a 4-3 lead. That would be the final score as the Yankees were unable to put anything together in the late innings. Jason Kershner got the win in relief for the Blue Jays, his first Major League win (of 3 total career wins). Fortunately, the Yankees didn't win all three of their games we saw on this trip.

The Blue Jays get the unfortunate distinction as the only team to feature an opposing player on the cover of all the game programs I have purchased. I have no idea why they chose to put Hideki Matsui on the cover, although it was probably a decent marketing idea since nearly half the crowd was Yankees fans. You wouldn't think there would be so many fans of "America's Team" in Canada.

Overall, I enjoyed my trip to Toronto. I like SkyDome, but it is probably my least favorite of the retractable roof stadiums because of the artificial surface.

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Next stadium: Comerica Park, Detroit

Fenway Park

New York Yankees @ Boston Red Sox
August 31, 2003

Yankees 8, Red Sox 4

W: Roger Clemens
L: Tim Wakefield
S: Mariano Rivera
Attendance: 34,482
Time of Game: 3 hours, 13 minutes

Stadium Facts

Location: Boston, MA
First Game: April 20, 1912
Capacity: 36,298 (was lower in 2003)
Type: Open
Surface: Grass

After a fun couple of days in New York, Pete and I headed east towards Boston. We stayed in a hotel in a northern suburb of Boston and took a train into the city on Sunday morning. We were in for quite a treat on this day, because we had coveted tickets to the Red Sox game at Fenway Park against the hated Yankees. When I planned out this trip, I knew tickets would be almost impossible to come by for this game, so I wound up purchasing two standing room only tickets on eBay well in advance. I paid twice face value for them, but they were worth every penny.

This was my second trip to Fenway Park, with the first being when I was six years old. I obviously don't remember much about my first visit, except that we had seats underneath and behind the center field scoreboard (yes, behind). You can actually see about where I sat for that game in the external photo below, which is the backside of the center field scoreboard. Coincidentally, that game was against the Yankees too.

Fenway Park is the oldest stadium in Major League Baseball. Built in 1912, it has seem many modifications and improvements over the years, but has an undeniably old feeling to it. It was clearly built into an existing city neighborhood, with the outer perimeter running up against the neighboring streets and buildings. This causes the park to have the most unique playing dimensions in all of baseball. The neighborhood isn't exactly downtown Boston, but is very much a happening area, especially when Red Sox games are going on. We checked out a couple of the nearby watering holes before and after the game.

The stadium is probably the smallest in the league in physical size, and definitely the smallest in terms of capacity. There is an upper deck, but not much of one. Almost all of the seats in the park are in the lower level, with an extraordinary amount of seats in right field. There are beams supporting the upper level, but they are far enough back that a good percentage of the seats are not obstructed.

Obviously, the most famous aspect of Fenway Park is the Green Monster in left field. The 37 foot wall is enormous, but necessary considering the short distance it stands from home plate. I was there the first summer after they added the seats above the Green Monster. While it would have been awesome to sit up there, I wasn't quite willing to pay those prices.

The short dimensions to left isn't the only unique aspect of the playing field at Fenway. The right field foul pole (Pesky's Pole) is only 302 feet from home plate, but the wall shoots out immediately to create a larger than normal right field, all the way out to a 420 foot corner in deep right center. This park is a right handed hitters dream, but good lefties have plenty of space to drop hits in too. It is certainly a difficult place to pitch and play defense for those unfamiliar with the unusual quirks.

As I mentioned, we had standing room only tickets. We picked out our spot early enough to get a good spot on the first base side behind all of the lower level seats. Coincidentally, I stood next to a fellow White Sox fan. We were probably the only two Sox fans of the white variety in the entire park for this Yankees/Red Sox game. I believe he was a student at MIT originally from Illinois.

As if the Yankees/Red Sox rivalry wasn't enough to make this a huge game, it had even more significance because the starting pitcher for the Yankees was former Red Sox great Roger Clemens. He had already announced his intent to retire at the end of the 2003 season, so this was supposed to be his last start ever at Fenway Park. As we all know, that retirement didn't exactly happen, so he pitched later games at Fenway including a post-season start that very season in the ALCS. But obviously none of us knew that at the time of this game. The knuckleballer, Tim Wakefield, got the start for the Red Sox. This was the rubber match of the three game series, in which the two potent offenses dominated the first two games. The Red Sox played this one a little short-handed as Johnny Damon and Manny Ramirez were both nursing minor injuries.

The Yankees got to Wakefield early. A hit batter, a walk and four singles led to three Yankees runs in the top of the first inning. The Red Sox got two back in the third, with a second run scoring on a single by Todd Walker. Gabe Kapler, filling in for Damon in center field, had a rough fifth inning. He bobbled a Derek Jeter base hit, allowing Jeter to reach second. Later in the inning, he picked up another error when he dropped a deep fly ball hit by Hideki Matsui. The Yankees increased their lead to 5-2. The lead ballooned to 8-2 in the top of the seventh in another ugly inning for the Red Sox.

Clemens had been in a groove, but the wheels started to fall off in the bottom of the 7th. He was pulled from the game after loading the bases with two outs. The Red Sox crowd gave their former hero a standing ovation and a curtain call after he left the game, probably the only time a Yankees pitcher has received either at Fenway Park. The Red Sox cut the lead to 8-4 after seven. Things got a little dicey for the Yankees in the bottom of the ninth. Jeff Nelson gave up two singles and a walk, so Mariano Rivera was brought in to get the final out, which he did successfully, ending the game as an 8-4 Yankees victory.

As I mentioned in the Yankee Stadium article, the 2003 Yankees wound up losing in the World Series. But before that, these two teams met up for one of the more memorable playoff series of the last decade. The Yankees won that ALCS in seven games, with the series clinching run coming on a home run by Aaron "F-ing" Boone (as Red Sox fans would later dub him) in the bottom of the 11th inning of Game 7. The series also featured Pedro Martinez's throw-down of Yankees coach Don Zimmer.

While the Yankees and Red Sox have always had a heated rivalry, the most recent chapter really got going in 2003, so it was pretty cool to be part of that history. Plus, getting to see any game in Fenway Park is an awesome experience. I don't think the Red Sox are in any hurry to build a new park. Why mess with the good thing they've got going right now?

Finally, I should mention that after the game we spent the rest of the afternoon and evening exploring Boston. It is a very historic and exciting city... one I wish I had more opportunities to visit. For me, the stop in Boston was probably the highlight of this very fun trip.

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Next stadium: SkyDome, Toronto

Shea Stadium

Philadelphia Phillies @ New York Mets
August 29, 2003

Phillies 7, Mets 0

W: Kevin Millwood
L: Steve Trachsel
HR: Pat Burrell (PHI)
Attendance: 33,208
Time of Game: 2 hours, 49 minutes

Stadium Facts

Location: Queens, NY
First Game: April 17, 1964
Capacity: 56,749
Type: Open
Surface: Grass

Prior to 2003, I had been to New York a couple times, but really had not seen much of the enormous city. The Yankees game was my first trip to the Bronx. I have no recollection of ever being to Brooklyn or Queens prior to this trip either. We stayed at a friend's place in Brooklyn for a couple nights. It was very cool to see what New York city life is like. Also, I got to hear people with real New York accents in Brooklyn, unlike the mix of tourists and transplants that you find in Manhattan.

On Friday afternoon, we had plenty of time to kill before the Mets game at Shea Stadium, so we headed to the East Village in Manhattan to McSorley's Old Alehouse, the oldest Irish tavern in New York. I distinctively remember the only way you could order beers there was two at a time. Needless to say, we ordered several rounds. Eventually, our group of four hopped on the Subway and headed out to Shea Stadium. I mention the trip to McSorley's because it plays a bit of a role in my inability to recall every detail of this particular game. That, plus it was five and a half years ago, so cut me some slack!

Yankee and Shea Stadiums may share a city, but there aren't many similarities between their neighborhoods or the ballparks themselves. While Yankee Stadium is located in the heart of a city neighborhood with streets surrounding it in every direction, Shea is in a much more open area. It is located near LaGuardia Airport as well as the tennis complex which hosts the U.S. Open every year. In fact, the tournament was going on while we were there. Interestingly, Andy Roddick won the men's single title the following week, the most recent time it was won by someone not named Roger Federer.

Back to baseball... Shea Stadium is (I'm going to use "is" rather than "was" because I don't know if it has been completely destroyed yet) probably one of my least favorite outdoor baseball stadiums. It is one of the oldest parks in the league, but lacks the charm of the other old venues.

Shea has some similarities to the cookie-cutter multi-purpose stadiums built in the 60's and 70's, except that it is not completely enclosed. In fact, there are virtually no outfield seats in the entire park. That leaves what has to be a league high of 50,000+ seats from foul pole, around the plate, to the other foul pole. There are four seating levels. All but the lower level seats are quite a distance from the playing field. We had seats in the upper level down the third base line, which weren't too bad. I'm pretty sure we wound up sitting much closer to the field than our actual seats were though.

The openness of the outfield area reminds me a lot of the old Milwaukee County Stadium, but with far less outfield seats. The only outfield seats in the entire park are bleachers in left field. An enormous scoreboard covers the right field area, along with the famous hat from which an apple emerges when the Mets hit a home run. The perfectly symmetrical playing field favors pitchers with deeper than average distances down the lines and to straight away center field.

The Mets had a tough night against the division rival Phillies. The consistently mediocre, and always slow-working, Steve Trachsel was the starting pitcher for the Mets. Kevin Millwood started for the Phillies. Pat Burrell had the worst year of his career in 2003, but his second inning home run off Trachsel gave the Phillies a 2-0 lead, which were all the runs they would need.

After allowing a first inning single and walk, Millwood proceeded to retire the next 15 Mets batters. He and Rheal Cormier combined for a shutout, giving up just three hits, all singles. The Phillies scratched runs in the 5th and 6th and three more in the 9th to win a 7-0 shutout.

The Mets have had very good teams for most of the last decade, but 2003 was not one of them. This loss dropped them to 59-74, buried in last place. Meanwhile, the Phillies improved to a solid 71-63. Unfortunately for them, that record was not nearly good enough to keep pace with the Braves.

I only visited once, but I can't say Shea Stadium is a park I'm sorry to see go. The new Citi Field should be a major improvement. I am looking forward to visiting both of the new New York ballparks this upcoming summer. Finally, I can't mention Citi Field without displaying an image of the, sure to be trend-setting, uniform patch the Mets will be wearing this season.


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Next stadium: Fenway Park, Boston

Yankee Stadium

Chicago White Sox @ New York Yankees
August 28, 2003

Yankees 7, White Sox 5

W: Mike Mussina
L: Neal Cotts
S: Mariano Rivera
HR: Carl Everett (CHW)
Attendance: 40,569
Time of Game: 3 hours, 11 minutes

Stadium Facts

Location: Bronx, NY
First Game: April 18, 1923
Capacity: 57,480
Type: Open
Surface: Grass

2003 was the first year I took a long summer trip with the specific purpose of going to baseball games in different stadiums. The trip took me all over the northeast part of the country, into Canada and back to the Midwest. Over the course of a week, I got to see a couple of the most historic baseball cathedrals, visited some awesome cities and even threw in a stop at the Baseball Hall of Fame. Since there was more to the trip than just baseball, I'll write a little bit about my other activities in these reviews.

My buddy Pete was nice enough to accompany me for the whole trip. I think the final stop at Notre Dame for the football season opener was the clincher. We were able to meet up with several other friends along the way. The combination of the stadiums, cities and friends probably made this my favorite of all the baseball trips I have taken.

The first stop on the 2003 trip was Yankee Stadium in New York. We left DC early on a Thursday morning and arrived in the city in plenty of time for the afternoon matinee between the Yankees and White Sox. We took the George Washington Bridge across the Hudson River into the Bronx and parked in a garage right next to the stadium. We were probably fortunate with our timing, but I was very surprised at how easily accessible the stadium was by car, and clearly by train too since the tracks run right by the park.

The outside of Yankee Stadium isn't terribly impressive and shows the park's age a bit. However, once I stepped inside the gates, I would not have guessed by the looks of it that I was in an 80 year old stadium. Clearly the renovations done to the park in the '70s modernized the park a great deal. Especially impressive was the lack of obstructed view seats, a staple of the old ballparks.

Regrettably, I did not go out to Monument Park in left field, although as a Yankee hater, I probably would not have appreciated it as much as the Yankees fans do. I was able to see a little of that area from my seat down the left field line though. The other impressive aspect of the park is its massive size. The enormous upper deck surrounding a good portion of the stadium is quite a sight when filled with fans. The stadium holds over 57,000 people. It was the first three tiered baseball stadium. The outfield area is enclosed with signage and scoreboards, topped by the traditional white frieze, which ran the length of the roof of the stadium before the renovations.

The short porch in right field is certainly inviting to left handed hitters, however the park plays pretty fairly for hitters and pitchers. The left field power alley is very deep, but not nearly as bad as it used to be when the current Monument Park was part of the outfield. There aren't many cheap home runs hit to left, except possibly directly down the line.

Our seats were in the lower level, down near the left field corner, but in the back of the section. The tickets were actually marked as "obstructed view", but I'm not exactly sure why. The only obstruction was the deck above, which meant we could not see balls hit in the air, however I'd much rather have that sort of obstruction than a pole blocking my view of the plate like they have at Fenway and Wrigley.

As for the game, this was one of the most frustrating White Sox games I have ever attended. Die hard Sox fans like myself might remember this game as the one that sealed Jerry Manuel's fate to lose his job as Sox manager at the end of the season. They were in a heated division race in late August, holding a 2 1/2 game lead over the Twins thanks to demolishing the first place Yankees in the first two games of this series. The Sox had an opportunity for a huge road sweep on this afternoon and could have pitched staff ace Mark Buehrle on full rest. Instead, Manuel elected to keep the rotation in tact and went with rookie Neal Cotts who had been wild and ineffective in his first three career starts that season. This left Buehrle to face the pathetic Tigers the following night. Starting Cotts against the Yankees in Yankee Stadium was a disaster waiting to happen.

Well, it played out exactly as I expected. The Sox scored two runs off Mike Mussina in the top of the first, but the lead would not last long. Cotts only faced eight hitters. Seven of them reached base. Here is how the bottom of the first started: double, walk, walk, single, lineout, walk, walk. That was all she wrote for Cotts. 5 ER, 4 BB, 2 H in 1/3 IP. The Yankees held their 5-2 lead until Carl Everett connected for a solo home run in the fourth. The Sox put the heat on the Yankees in the 8th inning too. Two more runs cut the Yankees lead to 6-5.

The Yankees added an insurance run in the bottom half of the 8th on a single by Alfonso Soriano. John Flaherty tried to score a second run on the hit, but was thrown out at the plate, the second time he was thrown out at home in the game. Mariano Rivera shut things down in the 9th for yet another save.

There is no doubt in my mind the Sox would have won this game had Buehrle pitched. Mussina was not sharp, but was able to get the win thanks to the gift runs the Yankees got in the first against a pitcher who clearly didn't belong out there. The wheels fell off for the Sox after this game as they faded to a distant second place finish and Manuel was fired (thankfully leading to the hiring of Ozzie Guillen). Meanwhile, the Yankees won another division championship, beat the Red Sox in the ALCS but lost to the Marlins in the 2003 World Series.

I'm glad I was able to make it to Yankee Stadium, though this was the only game I saw there prior to it closing this past year. The most impressive part of Yankee Stadium isn't so much the park itself, but the knowledge of all the history that was made there. I was surprised and impressed with the modern feel of the very old ballpark, however I'm sure their new park will be much more comfortable and luxurious. I plan on going back up to New York this upcoming summer to check out the new stadium.

In retrospect, I bet the Yankees wish they could have rethought the program cover below, touting Jason Giambi's "modern muscle".

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Next stadium: Shea Stadium, New York

Jacobs Field (Progressive Field)

Detroit Tigers @ Cleveland Indians
July 26, 2002

Tigers 8, Indians 5

W: Brian Powell
L: Charles Nagy
S: Oscar Henriquez
HR: Bobby Higginson (DET), Jim Thome 2 (CLE)
Attendance: 38,738
Time of Game: 2 hours, 58 minutes

Stadium Facts

Location: Cleveland, OH
First Game: April 4, 1994
Capacity: 43,368
Type: Open
Surface: Grass

The last stop on my ballpark tour in 2002 was Jacobs Field in Cleveland. All of the 2002 stops have been a little difficult to write about this far removed, however, this one was the hardest of all. Unlike the other four parks, this game was the only time I have every been to Jacobs Field. So not only do I not recall a lot about the game, I only have a vague recollection of the stadium itself. Hopefully I'll make it back there again soon, because it is a very nice park. I decided to attend this game since I was in the Cleveland area for a wedding the following day.

Not coincidentally, the transformation of the Cleveland Indians from the laughingstock of the league to a perennial contender occurred right around the time they moved from the "Mistake on the Lake", Cleveland Municipal Stadium, to Jacobs Field (renamed to Progressive Field prior to the 2008 season). The Indians grew accustomed to playing in front of tiny crowds at the old stadium, but that changed drastically. From June of 1995 through April of 2001, the Indians had 455 consecutive sellouts, a MLB record that was recently broken by the Red Sox. During that span, the Indians won five consecutive division championships ('95-'99) and two American League pennants ('95 and '97). The Indians don't draw quite that well any longer, however the franchise is still in significantly better shape than it was prior to 1994.

The Jake is located near downtown Cleveland in the same complex as the Cavaliers arena. It is one of several downtown sports complexes in the country. The open design of the outfield provides a view of the downtown skyline from many of the seats, much like Detroit and several other parks. The most recognizable part of the park is left field. Above the very tall left field wall is a huge section of bleachers. The wall is somewhat reminiscent of the Green Monster in Fenway, but not nearly as large. Behind the bleachers is an enormous scoreboard. It was the largest free-standing scoreboard in the country until Nationals Park in DC exceeded the mark last year.

There are a number of places along the concourse, particularly in the outfield, for people to stand and watch the game. The layout of the seating area is quite unique. Three levels of boxes and suites stretch around a good portion of the park. Since there is no intermediate seating level in most areas, the upper deck seats are closer to the field than in some other parks. The club level seats on the first base side look like great seats. However, the seats in the third level in right field are a very long ways from the action.

I sat in one of the last rows of the lower level in right field. It would have been a great place to be if it was raining because the second level completely covers the last several rows. But I was just as glad there was no rain this night.

This was an ugly game for Indians pitchers, especially starter Charles Nagy. Nagy was knocked out of the game in the fourth inning after surrendering a dozen hits and six earned runs. The Tigers scored two in the top of the first on a double by the previously mentioned (Miller Park review) Italian sausage abuser, Randall Simon. Most of the Tigers damage was done in the fourth inning. Nagy surrendered five consecutive hits in the inning before being relieved. Robert Fick's double gave the Tigers a 6-0 lead.

The Indians got back in the game with three runs in the bottom of the fifth off Tigers starter Brian Powell. The teams swapped solo home runs in the sixth (Bobby Higginson for the Tigers and Jim Thome for the Indians) to make it 7-4. The last run of the game came via Thome's second home run of the game in the bottom of the 8th. The 470 foot bomb to right field might have been the longest home run I have ever seen in person. It sailed into the seats a level above me. Oscar Henriquez retired the Indians in order in the 9th to pick up his second, and final, career save. The Tigers won 8-5. Detroit tallied 19 hits, including seven doubles. Their 3-4-5 hitters (Higginson, Simon, Fick) each had four hits.

Neither of these teams were very good in 2002. The Tigers win was just their 39th of the season (with 62 losses). The Indians dropped to a disappointing 44-57 for the defending AL Central Champions. Jim Thome's two home runs gave him 30 for the season. He caught fire the rest of the year and finished with a career high 52 home runs. This was his final season with the Indians before heading to Philadelphia via free agency.

I definitely want to make it to another game in Cleveland soon. If for no other reason, so I can replace the awful photos below. Leaving the ballpark that night, I dropped my camera, exposing the film to light. Thus, almost all the photos I took were ruined. The two below were the only ones not completely lost. I suppose I could replace them with photos other people took, but I'd rather make all the photos personal shots. This led me to purchase a digital camera prior to my 2003 trip.

This wraps up my 2002 tour. It was spread out over two months and a wide geographic area. This was the only year I didn't take a trip specifically for the purpose of going to baseball game(s). 2003 was a completely different experience as you will soon see.

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Next stadium: Yankee Stadium, New York