gary's great american pastime trips thread

Yes, so am I & I'm not even a Major League baseball fan. ; :

 

So is it true that Al Kaline was not your basic baseball player? ;


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detroit tigers vs pittsburgh pirates

yeah, i'd have to say kaline was not your average player


routine put out at first





prince fielder at bat, he moves pretty fast and graceful for such a big man, feels funny to watch him, i remember his father cecil playing for many years





a little baseball factoid for those wondering where the term came from





this one was low





that one is out of here





make sure you touch home before getting the celebratory high fives





andrew mcutcheon of the pirates comes right back with his 2nd 2 run homer of the game, he is pittsburghs best player, he can just flat out play the game, a 5 tool star





candlesticks always make a nice gift,

 

Guess I should have put "basic" in quotes. ; In my best Foghorn Leghorn... "It was a joke son. ; Al Kaline... Basic... It's about the pH boy, and that doesn't stand for Pinch Hitter." ; Great photos too, keep em' coming. ; I am hoping to get some seats behind homeplate at the local team's game once I get my new rig (looking at next month sometime).


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That's better than being a 5 Star Tool... ; And that photo of Fielder, he is one big guy...wow. ; Question though. ; Were they wearing throwbacks or negro league uniforms that day?


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good question, i think they are exact replicas, the guy in front of me told me who the tigers uniforms represented, but i just forgot who, i'll do a little digging tomorrow and see if i can find out


found the answer already, throwback uniforms, the detroit stars and the pittsburgh crawfords, the homestead grays were a team that played in both pittsburgh and washington dc

 

More great stuff Gary! ; I love "traveling" to these games with you!


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good stuff gary....hope you work on a book for yourself with the series. ; Lightroom now has Blurb built in, should work effect for you

 

paul, that's an excellent idea, and once i have them all, i might just do that, especially since this year and next will se a huge jump in completed parks, i just booked a late august 2 city 2 park trip to redo pittsburgh and get cincy

 

and a little more from detroit





pickoff attempt, i just happened to be ready, because this pitcher had tried a couple times already, he has a pretty good move to first, if you se that and recognize it, then if you pay attention you can once in awhile get this shot, usually only the pitchers with good moves will keep trying, which is kind of ironic because smart baserunners know they have a good move and are a lot more attentive to just how far they wander off first and how far they start leaning towards second





runner safe, but he had to scramble a little and dust himself off after the throw





and jeff, they do honor the man in detroit





the dougout dancing girls



almost a wild pitch here



and the win celebration





and the final linescore





pitttsburgh 4, detroit 3




and another loss in another city for another hometeam. and we're walking, we're walking, next up, washington dc, friday 6/1/12, 7:05 pm, atlanta braves vs washington nationals. thursday 5/31/12, side trip to air & space museum annex,

 

GAME POSTPONED DUE TO SEVERE WEATHER

that's right, here i sit in the sheraton in crystal city, ballgame postponed just as i went through the gates at 6:30 pm, with dc and surrounding areas under tornado watch since about 4PM i have no idea why they waited so long. it was raining as i came off the metro. but since i expected this all day, i just booked an amtrack for sunday, extended my stay here another evening, didn't even have to pack and relocate, and was able to purchase a fairly adequate seat for tomorrow's 4:05 game. strasburg bumped over to tomorrow, so i get to see their ace after all, and there is a free country concert after the game, big&rich. it was supposed to be dierks bentley but he canceled this am due someone in his immediate family seriously ill. it was probably all a little cheaper than having to redo dc, especially if i could not make a dc/baltimore trip work. i need a redo of camden for photos, but maybe next year i could hook that up with some other city. weather tomorrow is supposed to be absolutely beautiful for a ballgame, as the sticky that's been here all week is blowing on out of here, so they'll be a little later in the week, but stay tuned for nats vs braves.

 

BRAVES VS NATIONALS

another town, another ballpark, the quest continues. a beautiful evening in dc for a 4:05 pm game, 2 good teams, a free country concert post game, and it was a pups in the park day, so lot's of folks brought their doggies to the park. washington has a really nice modern park, lot's of good amenities and not bad seats in the house


first view of the park, walking down half street from the navy yard/ballpark metro stop





for some reason they have these big silver baseball things most of the way around the park





and most of the pups were nationals fans





and they pay homage to past stars, even though the team itself moved to minnesota and became the twins





and the customary first view of the field

 

strasberg started for the nats and pitched a gem of a shutout








nationals reached base a couple of times





atlanta got a runner as far as third, but could not bring him in





popped him up

 

More great stuff Gary, especially the first one. ;


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going to finish out the braves/nats game here tonight, as i'm typing this in denver, just flew in for tomorrows athletics vs rockies game. so here the nationals batter foul tips one, and that's right, we can all tell where this one made contact





oh this hurts just looking at it





he had to leave the game, just as well, hate to watch a grown man throwing up





surf's up, look out for the waves





nats celebrate the shutout





they have these really cool mobiles hanging from the mezzanine ceiling





the sun sets behind me as i face the anacostia river, from the stadium steps/esplanade area





and i walk along the west side, headed towards the metro, with the last rays of the sun on the capital dome, a worthy place to see a ball game





next up, colorado, hopefully have some up tomorrow night as it's a 1:10 game

 

so we have moved on to another state/another time zone. your traveling sports writer is posting this from lone tree colorado, getting ready to drive into the front range. georgetown railroad today, with a stay in dillon tonight, followed by all day to kill tomorrow, so i might drive down aspen way and try for a shot at maroon bells, or maybe throught the leadville area passes enroute to my 6:30 dinner train on the royal gorge railroad in canon city. and since someone surely will ask, no i did not get that famous front range over the stadium shot, too hazy to even see the mountains. it's been hot here in denver with a lot of haze from that massive wildfire just northwest of boulder, which is not too far from denver


coors field





statue out front, the rockies do not have a long enough history to have a bunch of hall of famers honored, so they had to go generic





and the ritual first view of the field





and their dinosaur is purple, sort of a barney steal. i've been a baseball fan for almost 58 years and i have not clue what's up with the rampant use of dinosaurs.
"hit the mascot" " what for" "trust me, just hit the mascot" another favorite scene from bull durham

 

so with a very busy past few weeks and the health scare i never did finish this thread, i'm just going to throw up a little scenery work i did after the rockies game while tooling around colorado riding tourist trains, this is from the morning after i had overnighted in frisco, enroute to leadville and then independance pass, while headed in a very large roundabout travel route to the royal gorge railroad

 

a little break from my traditional first photo inside a park being one of my first view of the field. when i planned this trip i did not know this would be taking place, so imagine my delight at being able to witness the reds retiring barry larkin's number 11, very cool to see, especially since he is hall eligible next year and will certainly be a first year selection.

 

Cool! ; That must have been neat so see.

 

That is awesome! ; And the Reds put on a good show. ; Looks like the Pirates almost pulled it out too, must have been a very exciting weekend (except for the midnight drive to Cincy)


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