After seeing her first baseball game at Fenway Park in Boston, in 2002, Candy became captivated by the game of baseball. Over the next couple of years, that passion drew her to ballparks all around the Northeast. The aspiration to see each team in person enticed her to venture further and further to ballparks in the Midwest and Southeast. Eventually, the yearning to visit every Major League baseball park became a mission. Traveling with a friend, family member, or alone, Candy spent her vacations over the next few years fulfilling that dream. Candy's adventures, at times, incorporated two games in two days, in two different states; five games in five days, in four different states; and two games in two different stadiums, in the same day. In total, she saw over 70 games in 36 different ballparks, as well as two spring training stadiums, all while meeting wonderful people, seeing some unique game situations and visiting amazing sites along the way. Her adventures were not without some tears, fears and unspeakable joys, however. The culmination, a dream realized and, truly, an adventure of a lifetime!

ADVENTURES OF A BASEBALL FAN

Baseball Diamonds are This Girl's Best FriendBy CANDY L. VANDYKE

AuthorHouse

Copyright © 2010 Candy L. VanDyke
All right reserved.
ISBN: 978-1-4520-2333-5

Contents

How it All Began..........................................1New York, New York 2003...................................6Where to Next?............................................11Two Two Two...............................................18Farther West..............................................23Makeup Game in Philadelphia...............................26West Again................................................30Even More in 2004.........................................33Re-runs...................................................38Midweek Day Game..........................................49The Real Pedro............................................52A Giant Leap..............................................56Birds of a Different Color................................59The Doubleheader that Wasn't..............................61Percolating...............................................64Which Scenario?...........................................68The Curse: Not Alive in 2005..............................70Five Games, Five Days.....................................75Giant Game................................................86Time to Take Flight.......................................89Dodgers in New York.......................................94Baseball Back in Our Nation's Capital.....................97Back to New York and Add One More.........................100Nixed in 2006.............................................106Southern Bound............................................112Farther South.............................................117More Shea.................................................124O Canada..................................................127Eleven in 2007............................................132California, Here I Come...................................139Quick Trip to Arizona.....................................158Final Game in Los Angeles.................................162More West Coast...........................................167Two by Two................................................172North of the Border.......................................1762008's Gonna be Great.....................................180Midwest and Mountain Time.................................184Back to Beantown..........................................191Quick Two-step in Texas...................................196Chicagoland Central.......................................207All Done..................................................217Again Online in 2009......................................222NewYankee Stadium.........................................237Off Again in 2010.........................................246Hitting the Target........................................250

Chapter One

HOW IT ALL BEGAN

Growing up, I was never a big baseball fan. Sure, there were softball games in school and with the neighbor kids, but I never attended a baseball game or even watched the sport on TV. My family watched football and car racing. When I got older, I chose the New York Mets as my team, mostly because I grew up in upstate New York and they weren't the Yankees. I have always been drawn to the underdog, and the Mets seemed to me to be the opposite of the big-name, big-budget Yankees. I could name few of the players, but I was pleased when the Mets did well. I remember hearing a great deal about the 1986 World Series, although I didn't watch it until almost two decades later. I had been married the year before, and there was plenty going on in my life. Watching baseball wasn't a priority. At the time I was happy the Mets won. My new mother-in-law was a huge Yankees fan. I was so impressed that she knew all the players and watched as many games as she could. I still wasn't that big a fan of the game, but I would sit and watch a game with her on occasion.

In 1992 the Mets' Double-A farm team, the B-Mets, moved to Binghamton, New York, not too far from where we lived. We always meant to get to a game but never did. My husband and I split up in 1998. A friend of mine from church would get B-Mets tickets on occasion, so we would go games together sometimes. I got to know a few of the players. Every once in a while as I was flipping through channels, I would see a game on and recognize some of the players I had seen in Binghamton. I saw Jose Reyes, David Wright, Ty Wigginton, Mike Jacobs, Lasting Milledge, Carlos Gomez, Mike Pelfrey, Nick Evans, Daniel Murphy, Joe Smith, and Bobby Parnell play in Binghamton, to mention a few. I found myself becoming more and more of a fan of the game and of the New York Mets.

Another friend of mine, Eric, was also a big fan of baseball. He and I would go to see the B-Mets whenever we had the opportunity. It was at one of those games in 2002 that he suggested I might like to go to a major-league game. I hadn't really thought about it before. Why not? Eric's idea was all the encouragement I needed. We made plans to go to see my first big-league game. Eric had gone to college in Boston and was a big Red Sox fan, and I had never been to Boston, so that was where we decided to go.

We decided to spend a couple of days in the Boston area to see some of the sights. We stayed at a hotel in Danvers, Massachusetts, on Route 1. I remember it so well, because it was one of those places where, when you ask someone how to get somewhere they say "you can't get there from here."

The first day there we bought a little propane grill and a large pot so we could cook out some clams and lobsters. We found a nice park near a quarry while we were wandering around Salem and had a little cookout. Or we tried to, anyway. It was a cool day for June, and the wind eventually won out. We ended up cooking the lobsters on the balcony of the hotel.

The next day we tried to find a beach so that I could stick my toe in the ocean. We ended up going all the way to New Hampshire because most of the beaches near our hotel were private. On the way back we happened upon a small fair. We decided to stop to ride the Ferris wheel and play some carnival games.

The last two nights of our trip we stayed in downtown Boston. We found a place to park the car and planned on taking the T, as the subway in Boston is known, for getting around town. We went to the waterfront, the aquarium, and Quincy Market on the first afternoon. Eric had asked me to bring something a little dressy along. The night before the game, I found out why. He had made surprise reservations at the Top of the Hub restaurant, on the fifty-second floor of the Prudential Building. Our reservations were for 8:00 pm. We got ready and took the T to our destination. As we arrived at our table, we were greeted by the beautiful sight of lights coming on around the city. Before long, a full moon peaked over the harbor. It was breathtaking! That night it became clear to me why people love Boston.

The game was the next day, but not until the evening. In the morning we decided to go out on a whale watch, which was a lot of fun. We weren't having too much luck seeing whales, so they kept us out a little longer than was scheduled. The delay made us a little nervous because we needed to go back to the hotel before the game to change into our fan garb. I had purchased a t-shirt at Quincy Market just for the occasion.

It was a close one, but we made it to the park in time for my first major-league baseball...