TrailBlazer....

ANYTHING BUT BUSH LEAGUE
Minor League Baseball Provides Another Road Trip That's a Major Hit with RVers

There’s nothing minor or bush league about Minor League Baseball these days. In fact, with record crowds (typically more than 40 million each season), a wide variety of stadiums, unique team names, promotions, and mascots, personal contact with players (including future and former Major League stars), and perfectly palatable prices and food, the national pastime means major league fun for RVers willing to beat the bushes in some great camping destinations across North America.

“Take me out to the ballgame” takes on a new meaning when it comes to Minor League Baseball, where peanuts, Crackerjack, and practically everything else about the experience somehow taste better--and cost much less--than a Major League experience. All of these reasons and more have meant a resurgence for Minor League Baseball in the past 15 years or so, with new stadiums and refurbished gems welcoming thousands of fans in the know.

With 175+ teams playing in 15 leagues across the continent (including a team in Canada and several in Mexico), it’s pretty common to find one or more Minor League teams near both major cities and smaller towns. There are definitely more teams in the eastern U.S., with the Northeast, New York, North Carolina, and Florida all featuring an abundance of stadiums. Like Arizona, the Sunshine State has a number of great stadiums thanks to being a spring training destination. One of them, Roger Dean Stadium in Jupiter, hosts two teams--meaning there’s a Minor League game practically every day of the season (the only stadium to boast this unusual offering).

There are also five “independent” professional baseball leagues that are also experiencing a resurgence in popularity. These teams are made up of a wide variety of players, including young players who haven’t yet been able to sign a professional deal and veterans trying to work their way back to the "Bigs". In addition, several summer college “wooden bat” leagues also thrive across the U.S., including New England’s Cape Cod Baseball League, Virginia’s Valley Baseball League, the Coastal Plain League in the Mid-Atlantic, the Alaska Baseball League, and many more.

In many ways, the Minor League stadium craze (both new and refurbished) started at the majors with the 1992 opening of Oriole Park at Camden Yards in Baltimore. This throwback to earlier stadiums (but with all the modern amenities) was anything but cookie-cutter--and it’s major success and popularity led to the construction of many similar but smaller versions at the Minor League level.

Built within the last 15 years or so, there are now dozens of highly successful new stadiums built in the classic style (with many more still to come). Many are quite close to Major League cities, including: Keyspan Park (Brooklyn Cyclones), Richmond County Bank Ballpark (Staten Island Yankees), and more around New York; Ripken Stadium (Aberdeen IronBirds), Arthur W. Perdue Stadium (Delmarva Shorebirds); Prince George’s Stadium (Bowie Baysox), and several more near Baltimore and Washington, D.C.; and a number of Arizona League teams (thanks to spring training sites) near Phoenix.

These new stadiums feature popular options like open concourses (to watch the action while waiting at the concessions stand), an array of food options (including food and beverage service at some seats), luxury boxes, multi-million-dollar scoreboards, more numerous and larger bathrooms, and family-friendly attractions and activities to get young ones interested in the national pastime). RVers will especially appreciate that most ballparks also have easy RV parking!

More Than a Game

Minor League Baseball has become especially known for wacky promotions, mascots, fans, and even team names. This has definitely increased interest from the young and young at heart, with Minor League team souvenir sales at an all-time high (who can resist a Hickory Crawdads baseball cap?).

Each season, Minor League “promo” efforts reach new heights (some may smilingly say new lows). Those looking for the new and bizarre have lots of options across the country, but the Charleston RiverDogs in South Carolina seem to set the bar higher every year. That’s mostly thanks to club president Mike Veeck, with a sly nod to co-owner and “director of fun” Bill Murray (yes, that Bill Murray).

“The magic of Minor League Baseball is that it makes you remember the game the way you saw it as a child,” says Murray. “I didn’t get into Minor League Baseball to make money and didn’t believe it was possible to do so until I met Mike Veeck. He’s a genius and he knows that good business is all about fun. That fun should be a driving force behind most any decision.”

Veeck is the son of baseball innovator and Hall of Fame inductee Bill Veeck (as in “wreck”), so baseball and fun run in the family (the company motto is “Fun is Good”). Some of Veeck’s favorite promos have included: Nobody Night (no fans were allowed into the park until the game became official, setting an all-time low attendance record of zero); Silent Night (fans remained completely silent from the first pitch through the fifth inning); and Tonya Harding Mini Bat Giveaway (she was in attendance, threw out the first pitch, and signed autographs throughout the evening).

RiverDogs games take place at Joseph P. Riley, Jr. Park (known locally as “the Joe”), which was built on the Ashley River in the new style in 1997 by HOK Sports of Kansas City. The company is responsible for classics like the aforementioned Oriole Park, Jacobs Field (Cleveland), and Coors Field (Denver) at the Major League level and Isotopes Park (Albuquerque Isotopes), AutoZone Park (Memphis Redbirds), Durham Bulls Athletic Park, and many more in the Minors. And, yes they moved the snorting bull from Bull Durham movie fame into the sparkling new ballpark.

Those who can’t make it to the Joe for one of their promotions (it’s fun on any night) might want to check out some other teams over which Veeck presides as president and Murray smirks his way through his role: the Fort Myers Miracle; the St. Paul Saints; the Sioux Falls Canaries; the Brockton Rox; and the Hudson Valley Renegades (the Canaries, Rox, and Renegades are “indie” clubs).

Up in the stands, there’s a reason the word fan was shortened from “fanatic.” Minor League fans have become legendary in the way they root, root, root for the home team. There may be no better example than in another city named Charleston--this time in West Virginia.

Situated right behind home plate in the first row, Rod “Toast Man” Blackstone is a fixture at nearly every home game of the West Virginia Power at Charleston’s retro classic Appalachian Power Park. Taking the “power” theme to another level, Toast Man is known for the creative, relatively clean, and good-natured heckling of opposing players when they‘re on deck or at the plate. However, Blackstone’s most known for tossing freshly-prepared toast to nearby fans whenever an opposing play strikes out (stadium architects even included a plug for his toaster at his front row seat right behind home plate).

Along with offbeat promotions, mascots, and fans, the name game has also put Minor League Baseball on the map. Fans easily forget about boring old monikers like Red Sox, White Sox, Cubs, Cardinals, and Giants when they can support clubs like the Lugnuts, Bats, Sand Gnats, and many more.

From coast to coast, the Minor League Baseball experience is a guaranteed homerun for all.

The Road to Omaha: June’s College World Series Provides the Perfect Baseball Road Trip

Omaha. It only takes this one word to give a baseball fan chills on the hottest of summer days. Anyone who has been there in June knows Omaha is a code word for the College World Series. “For a magical two weeks every June, Omaha transforms into a college baseball festival,” says Aaron Fitt, National Writer for Baseball America. You don’t even have to be a big fan of America’s game to enjoy the “Greatest Show on Dirt”--it’s the entire Omaha experience from the Opening Ceremonies to the final out and inevitable winning team pile-up that ESPN loves to highlight.

The Blatt--Going, Going….Gone

ESPN, which really put the College World Series into the national consciousness by televising every pitch and much more, has helped make Omaha’s historic Rosenblatt Stadium a baseball shrine that’s hosted the College World Series since 1950. That unprecedented run for “The Blatt” will end with the 2010 College World Series, so it’s a great time to go before the tourney moves three miles north to a sparkling new downtown diamond!

Omaha has you from the first time you glimpse the famed “Road to Omaha” pile-up statue outside Rosenblatt. Pre-game possibilities include: a huge and ever-evolving Fan Fest area (past highlights have included batting cages, a “wild pitch” simulator, pitch speed interactives, historical displays, and a College World Series “locker room”); lots of live music; and the vibe across 13th Street and in the parking lots that truly has to be experienced to be believed.

As often shown during and between games on ESPN, Omaha’s 13th Street (adjacent to the Blatt) is the place to shop for souvenirs, hang out with fellow fans in the bars or on the sidewalks, and simply soak up the atmosphere. Back across 13th on the stadium side, a visit to Omaha isn’t complete without a cheeseburger or delicious ice cream at Zesto Ice Cream & Grill.

That’s the Ticket

Most games are sellouts and the lines for general admission seats in the outfield (where everyone should sit at least once) start to form hours--and even overnight--before many games.

However, visiting fans don’t have to know a bigwig to see a ballgame. Instituted last year, College World Series “season ticket” holders often sell their extra reserved seat tickets online through Ticketmaster’s popular TicketExchange. In addition, books of general admission tickets are truly one of the bargains in spectator sports.

The format of the College World Series is simple, making it relatively easy to make plans. Starting on June 19th, eight teams are placed into two brackets of four each for a double-elimination mini-tournament. The two winners of these brackets then play for the championship of college baseball in a best-of-three series. Unless there’s rain, there’s typically an afternoon game and a night game early in the tournament--and a night start only when there’s only one game that day.

The New Ballpark

Of course, there’s sadness for many in Mudville and Omaha with the move downtown, but TD AMERITRADE Park Omaha is already drawing rave reviews before the stadium’s inaugural College World Series in 2011.

Situated next to Qwest Center Omaha and within walking distance of many hotels, restaurants, and attractions, the new brick-faced ballpark will seat about 24,000 and will feature multiple entrances, an open-air concourse, a large Fan Fest area, 9,000 nearby parking spaces, and the relocated “Road to Omaha” pileup statue.

Omaha Beyond the Blatt

The new downtown ballpark location will make it even easier to explore Omaha, but--for 2010--the Blatt’s just three miles south. In fact, one of Omaha’s premier attractions is right next to the stadium. Omaha’s Henry Doorly Zoo is known as one of the world’s best--making it possible to see the zoo’s tigers, owls, and more before heading to the Blatt to catch the LSU Tigers and the Rice Owls if they’ve made it to the tourney (they often do).

In downtown proper, Omaha highlights include: bustling Old Market (historic warehouses that now feature shopping and dining); Heartland of America Park (including the huge Fountain); and the 3,000-foot Pedestrian Bridge across the Missouri (these downtown highlights and others are marked by giant blue “push pins”). Across the river in aforementioned Council Bluffs, there are several casino resorts, a greyhound racing track, and several historic attractions.

Back to the Blatt

The final College World Series at the Blatt will be one first-time and veteran Omaha visitors won’t want to miss. There are many special events planned to make this College World Series better than ever and--no matter what college club gets to enjoy the pile-up--everyone there will be a winner.

Visit www.cwsomaha.com for everything you need to know about the College World Series (June 19-29/30, 2010). For excellent overall Omaha information, go to www.visitomaha.com. The Council Bluffs website, www.councilbluffsiowa.com, is also quite helpful for RVers.

Lifelong baseball (and RVing) fan Lynn Seldon is based on the North Carolina coast. He has seen more than 500 Minor League games and has visited several dozen stadiums. After watching it on ESPN for many years, he attended his first College World Series in 2009 (and will most definitely be back to Omaha for “The Greatest Show on Dirt”).