Baseball Road Trip

Hi we are a couple of ladies from Australia who love the game of baseball and as such are planning a trip in 2014 that will take in Turner Field, Tampa Bay (Tropicanc Field), Miami for the Marlins, then on to Washington for the Nationals.

From there head North to Baltimore for the Oriels, then to Philadelphia for the Phillies and then on to New York for Citi Field and Yankees Stadium, then finally to Boston for Fenway Park.

As fixtures are not available for 2014 season as yet we are seeking advice on distances & time frames between states / cities. What would be the best possible routes to take etcetra.

Any information you can provide is of greatly appreciated.

Sincerely
Lyn Mashford

Welcome aboard the RoadTrip America Forums!

Tours of baseball parks (or shrines in the case of Fenway) is a long-standing tradition among RoadTrips, and yes, you can probably work out a great itinerary that includes any number of them once the 2014 schedule is announced. A few things to keep in mind as you plan your trip. The longest distance between stadia on the east coast, and perhaps the only drive that would take more than a day is Washington to Atlanta. At 640 miles you might just be able to do it in a day (but not in time for an evening game) but it wouldn't be a relaxed or enjoyable drive. Besides the ballparks you've mentioned, consider also Pittsburgh's Three Rivers Stadium with its gorgeous views, or even Cleveland's Progressive Field. And keep in mind that it's not that big a detour between New York and Boston to include the Baseball Hall of Fame. And if you want to get a little closer to the actual game for a lot less money, consider attending a number of minor league games at one of three levels of skill and training: AAA, AA, and A.

Finally, a tip about scheduling. It's a little unlikely that the various team's and leagues' schedules are going to work in such a way that you can have the games progress in a perfectly linear fashion (northward as you've described it) to suit your drive, so stay flexible and consider something more like a loop trip where you go north then south, hitting games as they occur, and returning to the same city that you fly into. That will save you considerably on both the price of the car hire and the cost of the airline tickets.

AZBuck

You should also be aware that tickets to Yankees and Red Sox games are hard to come by with games selling out quickly. You may need to be prepared to pay a significant premium to scalpers on game day if tickets aren't available when you visit. Start looking online as soon as single game tickets go on sale for the 2014 season. The Baseball Hall of Fame in Cooperstown is very enjoyable and I would recommend visiting when you are in New York state.

The logical route would be to go South to North (or vice versa) starting with Miami, Tampa, Atlanta, and then Washington and the rest of the northeastern parks.

However, as Buck mentioned, it will require a fair bit of luck to get all the schedules to line up. For the past few years, MLB has been releasing the schedule in Sept, so start looking then for exact details on what might work. Doing back to back games from Tampa to Atlanta would be a little tough, as you're looking at a 8-9 hour drive, and you should plan on an off-night between Atlanta to Washington, as that is a 10-12 hour drive (that spot could be an ideal area for a minor league game as there are tons of leagues and choices in between.)

One word of warning, is that doing a one way trip is going to cost you a fair amount of extra money, in both car rental and airfaire fees. If Atlanta and the Florida parks aren't a must, you might also consider doing more of a loop around the Northeast and Great Lakes, where you could actually work in up to 17 parks, say going from Boston to Washington, across to Missouri, up to Minnesota, and then back through Chicago, Detroit and Toronto (and several more in the middle.) That would give you the advantage of reducing airfare and car rental fees, it would also give you a little more flexibility to find games that work within your available timeframe. Just an idea to consider.

Here are some more of my general tips for baseball roadtrips.

Quote:

---

consider also Pittsburgh's Three Rivers Stadium with its gorgeous views

---

Three Rivers is no more, the new stadium is PNC Park and yes, it's beautiful.

...Connie Mack, County Stadium, Sportsman's Park, Crosley Field, and more. The passing of so many great old ball parks for the symmetric, sterile, soulless monstrosities of the '70s and '80s is what makes Wrigley and Fenway so special.

AZBuck

Thanks AZ for your info, we hope to visit many different events whilst we are there, we did not think that we'd be lucky enough for games to be on in order of our proposed trip but that's ok as we will be more than happy to double back, go around to take them all in.

We are hoping to have New York as our hub whilst we are in the US.

Thanks again for your help.

Cheers
Lyn

Hi There

Yes we expected tickets to be rather expensive for these games in particular, we will be watching and buying in advance. My sister was over in NYC last year and she and he hubby were able to obtain tickets through the Conciegre at their hotel, that's possibly an option.

Cheers
Lyn

Michael, thankyou very much for your tips on planning this trip. We do have a fair idea of the games we want to see so its just a matter now of waiting for those fixtures.

I appreciate the detail regarding the travel between places and game times and this might mean we do some "over nights" in some cities. That will be hard to take!!!

If I could ask what is traffic like around game day, is getting to and from ball parks easy or are there major traffic issues. "these are major issues in Australia for sporting events".

Thanks again, Cheers
Lyn

Quote:

---

Originally Posted by AZBuck

...Connie Mack, County Stadium, Sportsman's Park, Crosley Field, and more. The passing of so many great old ball parks for the symmetric, sterile, soulless monstrosities of the '70s and '80s is what makes Wrigley and Fenway so special.

AZBuck

---

Three Rivers was the sterile doughnut that replaced Forbes Field. PNC Park is the latest generation of "retro" downtown baseball-only parks, and is one of the best new ones. Most of the monstrosities are either gone or relegated to football-only now.

Quote:

---

Yes we expected tickets to be rather expensive for these games in particular, we will be watching and buying in advance. My sister was over in NYC last year and she and he hubby were able to obtain tickets through the Conciegre at their hotel, that's possibly an option.

---

Another option that I've used is Stubhub. This is an online ticket exchange. I go to a few St. Louis Cardinals games each year - search for available tickets, buy them with a credit card, and print out your own E-tickets. It's possible to get tickets below face value this way too.

I'm not Michael, but I can help you somewhat. It depends on several factors - stadium location, day of the week, game time, parking availability, proximity to public transportation. Depending on the city, it can vary from a "piece of cake" to absolutely ridiculous. You have to research each venue for specifics.

In large cities with downtown stadiums for weekday evening games, it's almost always pretty rough, because you will be competing with the normal afternoon rush hour getting there. If it's an afternoon game, you will get caught in rush hour leaving. Some of them have ample parking and close access to the freeway system, but others have neither. With some parks, I would advise you not to even try to drive to, public transportation is the only viable option. Wrigley Field in Chicago is one of those, it's nowhere near a freeway and parking is very difficult and expensive. There is a light rail "EL" station 1 block from the stadium. When I lived there, I parked out in the suburbs and rode the "EL" in. However, US Cellular Field has a huge parking lot and is located right at a freeway exit.

Try to choose your hotels with these factors in mind - where possible, I'd leave the car at the hotel and take public transportation for the least inconvenience. This also minimizes the possibility of getting a DUI if you like to drink beer while watching the game!

Quote:

---

If I could ask what is traffic like around game day, is getting to and from ball parks easy or are there major traffic issues. "these are major issues in Australia for sporting events".

---

It really depends upon the city and the stadium.

There are some parks, like those in New York, Boston, Chicago, that have very bad traffic/parking issues, and you'd be better off using mass-transit.

Most of the new generation parks, like Baltimore and Pittsburgh, are in downtown areas without much of their own parking, and you have to share parking on the street and in parking ramps. The good news is that it means you often can find cheap parking if you're willing to walk a few extra blocks, especially on nights and weekends.

There are still some parks that are basically surrounded by parking lots. Philly and Tampa (actually in St. Pete.) are two of these, where driving and parking in the stadium lots, where you are held hostage a bit by what they want to charge, and traffic can be a pain leaving the game. However, if you get there early, you might be able to tailgate and have fun with other fans.

Quote:

---

Yes we expected tickets to be rather expensive for these games in particular, we will be watching and buying in advance.

---

There are a lot of games you probably can find on the secondary market for well under face value. Especially, mid-week games with teams that aren't in contention or typically don't draw well. For example, Miami and Tampa aren't likely to sell out, unless they are playing someone like the Yankees. Stubhub, as glc mentioned, is a good place to look. I've been able to get tickets to a couple games this year, about 15 rows behind home plate for as little as $20-25 each.

Turner Field in Atlanta was a nightmare to drive to for a weeknight game several years ago coming from downtown. It took almost an hour to drive the last mile to the park. It is beside I 75/I 85, with only a few streets crossing over the interstate to access the park. There is a huge parking lot across the street where the old stadium used to stand where everyone is filtering into. Transit isn't really an option to get there (city bus stuck in the same traffic). It appears to be about a 30 minute walk from either of the two closest subway stations. My suggestion is to arrive really early (2 hours), grab dinner and watch batting practice.
In Boston, Chicago and New York we have taken public transit to the game, which is really the best option in those cities. You don't want or need to drive in them.

No info but that sounds really fun! :)