Tag Archives: Minor League Baseball

Grapefruit League, Major League Baseball, Minor League Baseball, Spring Training, Tampa Bay Rays

Tinker Field’s Fate Likely Sealed by Progress

The other day I learned some troubling news about an old friend.

When I was growing up, this friend and I shared many adventures during the spring and summer months with family and friends.

Sadly, time and neglect have finally taken their toll on my good friend, Tinker Field, and at the ripe age of 91 years old he is facing extinction.

Tinker Field, my good friend, is a ballpark in Orlando, FL that I have written about many times. In fact, one of the very first columns I ever wrote was related to Tinker Field.

It was at Tinker Field that I saw most of my professional baseball games during the 20th Century.

From Spring Training for Major League Baseball, to full seasons of Minor League Baseball, the quaint little ballpark in the shadow of the Citrus Bowl was a unique venue where a who’s who of baseball players played.

In the late 80's and early 90's I saw quite a few Southern League games at historic Tinker Field. Photo R. Anderson
In the late 80’s and early 90’s I saw quite a few Southern League games at historic Tinker Field.
Photo R. Anderson

Think of almost any baseball player from the 20th Century, and odds are pretty good that they stepped foot on the infield grass of Tinker Field at one time or another.

Historic moments at Tinker Field were not limited to just baseball, however. Martin Luther King, Jr. even spoke once at Tinker Field.

The last professional affiliated baseball at Tinker Field occurred in 1999 with the Orlando Rays, who were the Double-A farm team for the Tampa Bay Rays.

While the Orlando Rays were the last of the Southern League teams to call Tinker Field home, they certainly weren’t the only ones.

The Orlando Twins, Orlando Cubs and Orlando Sun Rays were among the many teams to call Tinker Field home.

The Orlando Juice of the Senior Professional Baseball Association even spent a season in the shadow of the Citrus Bowl.

Eventually, it was the shadowy neighbor looming over right field that signed Tinker Field’s death warrant.

A massive expansion is planned for the Citrus Bowl that will greatly widen its footprint. Unfortunately, this widening will creep into right field to the point that Tinker Field can no longer function as a baseball field, due to an outfield depth that would make a Little Leaguer feel like Barry Bonds sending everything he hits over the fence.

So, despite being declared a national historic site, Tinker Field will likely soon meet the fate of many ballparks before it and be torn down in the name of progress.

There is still a small glimmer of hope that the ballpark structure can be saved. There are petitions and social media campaigns already in full swing.

In the event that cries from the Tinker fans fall on deaf ears, a halfhearted attempt to appease fans who will miss the ballpark by creating a new Tinker Field a few hundred yards away on the site of a current softball field has been floated by local officials.

Still, despite calling the new ballpark Tinker Field, there will never be another Tinker Field and every effort should be made to preserve the historic grandstand and related facilities.

If the wrecking ball does come, Tinker Field will become the third ballpark where I attended games at to be torn down. Despite missing Memorial Stadium in Baltimore, and Baseball City Stadium in Haines City, Florida, the loss of Tinker Field hits the hardest.

Tinker Field was where my mom and I spent many afternoons and evenings together watching games, despite it being in a part of town where one did not want to really venture too far away from the safety of the ballpark lights.

This ticket stub allowed me to meet one of my baseball heroes, Earl Weaver, along the third base line of Tinker Field.
This ticket stub allowed me to meet one of my baseball heroes, Earl Weaver, along the third base line of Tinker Field.

Tinker Field was also where I walked onto the field before an Orlando Juice game and met the late Earl Weaver on the third base line.

For a life-long Baltimore Orioles fan like myself, spending a few minutes chatting with the “Earl of Baltimore” on a baseball diamond was like my own Field of Dreams moment.

I met many other players at Tinker Field through the years with some of them making it to the Majors and others relegated to a career of being bused from game to game in the Minor Leagues.

Although I saw numerous Spring Training games at Tinker Field, it was Minor League Baseball that really grabbed my attention and stoked the desires of younger me to work in sports promotions at a ballpark.

During our trips to Tinker Field my mom and I were often joined for a few innings by team president Pat Williams, who was also the General Manager of the Orlando Magic at the time, and I used to think how cool it would be to be a team executive getting paid to watch baseball.

I have yet to fully realize that dream of spending all of my summer nights as a Minor League Baseball employee but I may yet before all is said and done and when I do it will be because of those nights at Tinker Field.

I last visited Tinker Field in 1999 during a University of Central Florida football game. At the time, UCF played at the Citrus Bowl; since it did not have a stadium of its own yet.

During a pregame tailgate, I learned that the souvenir stand at Tinker Field was open, since the Rays were moving to a ballpark at Walt Disney World and the team was selling all of their merchandise to avoid moving it to the new facility.

During my last visit to Tinker Field in 1999 I was fitted by sight for this hat. Sadly, the hat no longer fits but the memory of getting it remains as vivid as ever. Photo R. Anderson
During my last visit to Tinker Field in 1999 I was fitted by sight for this hat. Sadly, the hat no longer fits but the memory of getting it remains as vivid as ever.
Photo R. Anderson

I ended up getting an Orlando Rays fitted cap. To this day, I am amazed that the seasoned ballpark employee correctly guessed my hat size just by looking at me.

I am sure the cap vendor had done the same thing thousands of times but it was fascinating to me that he had that skill.

I don’t know what happened to that vendor but I like to think he lived out his remaining years comfortably after his days at the ballpark were over randomly telling people on the street how big their heads were.

I am also amazed that in the years since my already large head grew to the point where I can no longer comfortably wear the fitted wool cap.

In the end, the Orlando Rays’ time at Walt Disney World was short lived and the team moved to Montgomery, Alabama and became known as the Biscuits.

To this day, there are still no Minor League Baseball teams in Orlando making the decision to tear down a nearly 100 year old Ballpark an easier pill to swallow for some.

Others point to the peeling paint and overworked plumbing as reasons that it is best to raze the ballpark instead of spending money to preserve it and bring it up to current code.

I knew that the day would come when Tinker Field would be torn down in the name of progress. I had hoped that the day was further into the future, but I knew deep down that people in government do not seem to always value their history and often times the bulldozer wins out over preserving the past.

In Houston, people are dealing with a similar potential loss of a treasured sports fixture as the pending demolition of the Astrodome seems all but certain.

In Atlanta, fans of the Braves of preparing for the loss of 20-year-old Turner Field in the name of progress.

A few years back, even Yankee Stadium, of Babe Ruth fame, was torn down. So, I know that the loss of Tinker Field is not totally out of line with the rest of the world of sports, but it is still sad day.

Even though the Astrodome, Yankee Stadium, and Turner Field cannot compete with the intimacy of Tinker Field, fans of those venues are justified in feeling their loss just as strongly.

But as I have said before, the loss of the physical building, while difficult, does not take away the memories that occurred in those facilities.

I can close my eyes and still picture Tinker Field the way I remember it. I prefer to think of it like it was and not like the neglected facility it became.

I guess the morale of the story is to treasure your brick and mortar ballparks while you can while building up memories that can last long after the ballparks are gone.

Now if you’ll excuse me, I have some ballpark preservation petitions to sign.

Copyright 2014 R. Anderson

Minor League Baseball

Cleansing the Web One Viral Video at a Time

Since Al Gore gave us the internet so many years back it has brought us many things.

Granted, I know that Al Gore did not invent the internet but who am I to burst the man’s bubble since he so famously said that he did?

While for the most part the internet is a positive thing there are certainly many negative aspects to avoid while navigating along the information super highway. And while the internet is certainly not going anywhere it is up to each of us to do our part to ensure that is kept pristine for future generations.

According to an often repeated quote, former vice president turned winner of the 2000 popular vote in presidential election, Al Gore invented the internet. If that were true he could be blamed for all that is bad and praised for all that is good on the internet.
According to an often repeated quote, former vice president turned winner of the 2000 popular vote in presidential election, Al Gore invented the internet. If that were true he could be blamed for all that is bad and praised for all that is good on the internet.

Think of the internet as a more visited National Park with each of us acting as Park Rangers to safe guard it if you will.

So, fellow internet Park Rangers the time has come to pull the weeds known as viral videos.

Just the very name makes it sound like something in need of a serious dose of antibiotic. Of course like most virus strains viral videos have morphed through the years from videos of cats playing the piano into something far more deadly.

While a viral video was once some that just organically happened from friends sharing a video over and over again it has now become a marketing tool with companies trying to “create” the next viral sensation in their marketing lab.

To me this is where the viral video went wrong and needs to be eradicated. By “creating” a viral video with the express purpose of becoming viral one takes out the entire accidental discovery of previous viral videos.

And now with all of the created video viruses out there I am now even more skeptical than usual when it comes to watching videos on the web. Of course that added skepticism is not entirely a bad thing.

The other day I was sent a link from a coworker regarding a wedding proposal gone wrong at a Minor League Baseball game in Connecticut. In the video a man asks a woman to marry him, as ballpark proposals often start, and then instead of her saying yes which occurs 99 percent of the time, she says no to the utter dismay of the assembled crowd in the stands.

Okay, so one could just leave it at that and think that the guy probably should have made sure that she was into the idea of marriage before popping the question in front of 5,500 strangers at a Double-A ballpark.

The rise in faked viral videos has left my computer and me feeling a bit ill lately. Photo R. Anderson
The rise in faked viral videos has left my computer and me feeling a bit ill lately.
Photo R. Anderson

The video did not end there as the woman who had seemingly broken the man’s heart runs away into the stands.

Again, one could argue that she was embarrassed from the experience and wanted to get off of the field as quickly as possible. But then the man runs off of the field as well but instead of chasing after her he runs into the home dugout and then down the tunnel into the clubhouse.

This of course threw up huge red flags for me and I told my coworker that the video was definitely staged since no professional sports franchise would let an average fan just run down the tunnel into their clubhouse and/or locker room.

Sure enough the next day it was revealed that the video was as fake as a $4 bill and that the man and woman were members of the team’s marketing staff.

While the video certainly drew attention to the fact that the Minnesota Twins have a Double-A affiliate in Connecticut it certainly can’t make the parent club happy that the marketing staff is going around faking marriage proposals for the sake of publicity.

Then again there is that old saying about all publicity being good publicity.

As a side note, having grown up watching the Orlando Twins when they were the Double-A Affiliate of the Minnesota Twins, I had often wondered where they went after leaving Tinker Field and thanks to the viral video I now know.

There are of course other examples of fake videos making the rounds from NASCAR drivers in disguise as people on test drives, etc.

Usually there are elements in the videos that are so obviously staged that it is easy for me to tell that the videos are fake.

In the instance of the Jeff Gordon in disguise video there are tons of red flags to show that the video is fake so they are not really deceiving the consumer since anyone with have a mind should see right through it.

The danger becomes when consumers miss the warning signs and consider the videos real. While advertisers have been deceiving customers for some degree to sell their products for years it seems like we are entering a whole new level of deception where the lines between reality and fantasy get blurrier by the day.

The internet will never be free of the viral video outbreak but hopefully with more discerning eyes consumers will not fall into their trap and will instead focus their attention on other things like those cats playing piano.

And to the next Minor League Baseball team wanting to make a name for itself through a video sensation history is full of so many other promotion ideas that don’t begin with deceiving the paying customers in the stands in the name of viral video infamy.

Now if you’ll excuse me, all of this talk of viral videos has me feeling like I should check my temperature to make sure that I didn’t catch anything.

Copyright 2013 R. Anderson

Baseball Movies, Durham Bulls, Minor League Baseball

Hit the Bull, Win a Steak

Tomorrow marks the 25th anniversary of the release of a movie about the ins and outs of Minor League Baseball.

The movie that is causing all of the hoopla is Bull Durham, or as I like to call it the base of the Kevin Costner baseball movie triangle that also includes Field of Dreams and For Love of the Game.

While Bull Durham enjoyed modest success during its theatrical run, it gained wider popularity in the years following to the point that celebrating the quarter century mark since it was released is kind of a big deal.

Tomorrow marks the 25th Anniversary of Bull Durham and people have been quoting lines from it ever since. Photo R. Anderson
Tomorrow marks the 25th Anniversary of Bull Durham and people have been quoting lines from it ever since.
Photo R. Anderson

While each of the sides of the Kevin Costner Baseball Triangle are good in their own ways, I have always identified more with the comedy infused Durham.

I still watch both Bull Durham and Field of Dreams each year at the start of the baseball season, and both still make me laugh and cry in various ways so many years later.

I suppose Bull Durham resonates with me so well because while I was never a Minor League Baseball player I was very much a Minor League Baseball fan and was attending games around the same time that the movie came out.

So, the movie showed me the parts of Minor League life that I didn’t see from my view in the stands.

The movie also provided several concepts that I use even today as part of my daily life.

The concept of creating your own rain delay when the grind gets to tough and you just need a day to catch your breath is a theme that I have embraced from the movie.

Although I have never turned on the sprinklers in the office, I have certainly found ways to give everyone a rain day here and there.

The movie also provided many timeless quotes with some of them being appropriate for repeating and some best left to the professionals.

In that respect, the current members of the Durham Bulls, the real-life team that inspired the team in the movie, made a hilarious video reenacting some of the crazier lines from the film.

What makes the video of the players recreating the lines so funny, and perhaps makes the rest of us feel a little old, is the fact that many of the players were not alive when the movie first came out.

There is something for everyone in the Kevin Costner Baseball Triangle. Photo R. Anderson
There is something for everyone in the Kevin Costner Baseball Triangle.
Photo R. Anderson

Another interesting aspect of the real life Durham Bulls is that they serve as the Triple-A affiliate of the Tampa Bay Rays who were 10 years away from existing at the time of the film’s release.

As a bit of trivia the Bulls were a Single-A affiliate at the time the movie was made and were owned by one of the filmmakers.

But enough about things that weren’t around when the movie came out. It is time to focus on something highlighted in the movie that is no longer around.

In the movie and in real life, Max Patkin was the Clown Prince of Baseball. For over 50 years Patkin went to Minor League ballparks across the country and Canada performing his baseball clown act.

I was fortunate enough to see Patkin perform during an Orlando Sun Rays game at Tinker Field. Patkin’s act was shown in several scenes and Patkin himself got a dance to himself later in the movie.

While it was clear that Patkin was closer to the end of his performing career than the beginning by the time Bull Durham came out, to this day when I watch his performance scenes it is like I am right there watching him in person and trying to avoid getting sprayed by his water trick.

Although he died in 1999, Patkin will forever live on in his scenes from Bull Durham. That is both a testament to the man himself and to the filmmakers for recognizing the important role he played in conveying the essence of Minor League Baseball.

Another staple of both the movie and Minor League Baseball in general is road trips on a bus. Unlike the Major League players who travel in first class chartered planes, the Minor League players arrive by bus for all of their road trips.

Not much has changed with the Durham Bulls logo since Bull Durham came out. It is still one of the more iconic and recognized looks in the Minor Leagues. Photo R. Anderson
Not much has changed with the Durham Bulls logo since Bull Durham came out. It is still one of the more iconic and recognized looks in the Minor Leagues.
Photo R. Anderson

When Michael Jordan tried to make it as a baseball player in the late 80s, he bought a luxury bus for the Birmingham Barons to use.

Still, despite the “luxury” bus features it is hard to picture Air Jordan traveling through the cities of the Southern League in a bus.

As for the bus that was used in the movie, that was purchased by a man named Dale Earnhardt Jr. Dale Jr. is someone who knows a thing or two about motorized vehicles.

While Bull Durham has stood the test of time for 25 years, every once in a while a rumor surfaces about a potential sequel being made. Sequels can certainly be tricky business as few ever really are as good as the first or meet the lofty expectations set for them.

But, even with all of that being said, I would still watch a sequel to Bull Durham. Do I think it could ever be as good as the first movie? Probably not.

But, it does not have to be as good as the first movie. It just needs to help show where the characters ended up some 25 years after we left them on the porch and field.

I have my own ideas about what happened to the characters. So, if a sequel is never made I will still carry on my version of the story in my head. But it would be nice to see the cast get back together for one more trip around the bases.

Now if you’ll excuse me, I am off to swing for the fences and see if I can hit the bull to win a steak. And remember “This is a very simple game. You throw the ball, you catch the ball, you hit the ball. Sometimes you win, sometimes you lose, sometimes it rains.”

Copyright 2013 R. Anderson

Minor League Baseball

Angels in the Outfield and Wookies in the Batter’s Box

For years, Minor League Baseball teams have looked to wacky promotions and giveaways to help attract crowds and give the fans a little something extra besides a seat at a ballgame.

There are the Ballpark standards of hat and seat cushion giveaways.

However, what I am talking about are the really outside the box promotions that make you both say, “I can’t believe no one ever thought of that before,” while also saying, “I can’t believe someone thought of that.”

In terms of the memorable crazy promotions, there have been promotions of every shape and size.

Teams have had Harry Potter themed nights. Teams have had speed dating nights. There was even a team that thought the biblical figure Noah, of the Ark building fame, needed his own bobble head figure. The list goes on and on regarding both good and bad promotions in the Ballpark.

One of the more predictable baseball promotions is the timeless tradition of teams giving fans a foam finger.
Photo R. Anderson

With all of that past pedigree of promotions, and with tomorrow marking a holiday of sorts for fans of a certain science fiction franchise, it marks a perfect opportunity for yet another creative ballpark promotion.

For those who may not be aware, May 4th is known as Star Wars Day due to a pun surrounding a popular phrase found in the films.

That phrase of course is “May the force be with you,” which can easily translate to “May the fourth be with you.”

For years, teams have celebrated May 4th in the ballpark. Realistically though, how many times can you really dust off that storm trooper costume to throw out the first pitch before it gets a feeling of been there done that?

With teams looking for creative and new ways to celebrate Star Wars Day, it was only a matter of time then until May the fourth was celebrated on a Minor League Baseball diamond in the form of players wearing Wookie jerseys.

That’s right boys and girls I said Wookie Jerseys.

The Detroit Tigers’ Triple-A Affiliate the Toledo Mud Hens are going to celebrate both May the fourth and May the fifth wearing jerseys that look like a Wookie complete with utility belt.

Thankfully, the team opted away from the faux hair version of the jersey and will instead go with a more diamond appropriate version where the fur is implied.

Across this galaxy as well as in a galaxy far, far away May the fourth is Star Wars Day.
Photo R. Anderson

This is probably a very wise decision. No player wants to have an error assigned to them because they lost a ball in their Wookie hair.

I am also thinking it would be hard for the pitcher to read the signs from the catcher with all of that hair getting in the way.

So far, there has been no word on whether the special Wookie jerseys will be available for sale to the general public. But as Darrell Hammond impersonating Sean Connery said to Will Ferrell who was impersonating Alex Trebek on Saturday Night Live’s parody of Celebrity Jeopardy, “You’re sitting on a gold mine, Trebek.”

I expect in the coming days that Wookie jerseys will be available in the Mud Hens team store. After all, who wouldn’t want a Wookie jersey?

Yadier Molina of the St. Louis Cardinals becomes the evil emperor during Star Wars Night at Minute Maid Park.
Photo R. Anderson

While this is most likely the first-time players have dressed up as a Wookie, it is not the first time that a Wookie, or at least an actor who played a Wookie, has been at a Minor League Ballpark.

During a May 1, 2010 game between the Oklahoma City Red Hawks and the New Orleans Zephers, Peter Mayhew, the actor who played Wookie extraordinaire Chewbacca, threw out the first pitch as part of the 30th Anniversary celebration of the original Star Wars film.

As mentioned before, there have been numerous other teams who have honored Star Wars in various ways on both the Major and Minor League levels by encouraging fans to wear their favorite Star Wars Cosplay outfits.

While I have never dressed up as Boba Fett, I have attended games where ushers were dressed like Princess Leia. I have also been at games where the opposing players were made to look like Darth Vader and other villains on the Jumbo Tron.

Lance Berkman gets the visiting villian treatment during a past Star Wars Night at Minute Maid Park.
Photo R. Anderson

It is all done in good fun and is kind of cool to see the worlds of film and baseball combine in such an entertaining way.

How will I be spending Star Wars Day this year? At a ballpark of course.

And while there will not be any Wookie jerseys on the field, rumor has it that there will be a Star Wars themed fireworks show to fill the night sky.

Baseball, hot dogs, and pyrotechnics, it doesn’t get much better than that.

And in the spirit of full disclosure, I am a much bigger fan of Star Trek than Star Wars but “Beam me up” Day and “Make it So Number One” Day just don’t seem to roll off the tongue as easily when it comes to a ballpark promotion.

Now if you’ll excuse me, I need to go see if I can still make the Kessel Run in less than twelve parsecs. And May the fourth be with you.

Copyright 2023 R Anderson

Houston Astros, Major League Baseball, Minor League Baseball

Keep Your Farm Teams Close to the Vest, or Something Like That

It was announced this week that the Houston Astros are looking to join the recent trend of teams locating their Triple-A affiliate nearby to the parent club.

While the exact location of the relocation is still a few years from becoming a reality, what is known is that Oklahoma City’s days of hosting the Astros Triple-A club are most likely numbered when the current partnership agreement expires in 2015.

The current plan calls for the new team to be located in an area known as the Woodlands which is around 25 miles away from the Astros.

By targeting a community 25 miles or so away from the home ballpark certain sales and other front office areas can be combined and streamlined in addition to other cost savings measures.

And the current Astros ownership has made it abundantly clear on numerous occasions that they believe in cost cutting measures.

I am not saying that teams should not cut costs wherever they can, but I am somewhat troubled by the notion of combining the Triple A and parent clubs into a single entity in basically the same television market.

Aside from potentially saturating an already pro Astros market with a cheaper alternative to watch (At least I hope that tickets to see the Triple-A team would be less than tickets to see the Astros) there is the risk of damaging the Minor League Product by making it too similar to Major League Baseball.

Minor League Baseball is a completely different product from the Major League Baseball and I fear that some of the uniqueness of the Minor League version will get lost when combined under the same umbrella as the big club.

Currently the teams with the shortest distance between their parent clubs and Triple A clubs are the Seattle Mariners and the Atlanta Braves who each have a 36-mile buffer between the clubs. Photo R. Anderson
Currently the teams with the shortest distance between their parent clubs and Triple A clubs are the Seattle Mariners and the Atlanta Braves who each have a 36-mile buffer between the clubs.
Photo R. Anderson

I know that part of the role of a Triple-A club is to allow for the easy transfer of players in the event of a trade or injury that opens up a spot on the roster. So, being as close as possible in theory allows teams to have players on standby.

Of course, what is lost in that approach is the fact that teams still travel at the Minor League level so if you need to make a roster move during a road trip the distance could prove to be greater than desired to get the player where they need to be.

Currently the teams with the shortest distance between their parent clubs and Triple-A clubs are the Seattle Mariners and the Atlanta Braves who each have a 36-mile buffer between the clubs.

The award for longest distance between parent club and farm club goes to the New York Mets. After getting ousted from their affiliation with the Buffalo Bisons in favor of the Toronto Blue Jays, the Mets were forced to send their prospects to Las Vegas.

The Tampa Bay Rays and their Triple-A Club Durham Bulls are 692 miles apart. Photo R. Anderson
The Tampa Bay Rays and their Triple-A Club Durham Bulls are 692 miles apart.
Photo R. Anderson

And while what happens in Vegas allegedly stays in Vegas, when something happens and a player needs to leave Vegas to join the parent club in New York it is a 2500 mile journey for the minor Mets.

The average distance from a Triple-A team to their parent franchise is approximately 434 miles. The Astros are currently slightly above average distance with a 447 mile commute between Minute Maid Park and Oklahoma City.

The proposed move to a North Houston suburb would cut the distance to under 30 miles and likely make it the shortest distance of any team.

The Texas Rangers took over Round Rock from the Astros a couple years ago and travel a distance of 181 miles when shuffling between the Ballpark at Arlington and the Dell Diamond.

The Texas Rangers' Triple-A affiliate the Round Rock Express are 181 miles away from the parent club. Photo R. Anderson
The Texas Rangers’ Triple-A affiliate the Round Rock Express are 181 miles away from the parent club.
Photo R. Anderson

Of course, many puzzle pieces have to fall into place before the proposed move can happen.

For starters, since there are only 30 affiliated Triple-A teams one will need to be purchased and relocated in order to become the Astros farm team.

The likely candidate is the New Orleans Zephyrs but, as a move is several years away, there can be other teams added to the mix between now and then.

Another important step, and perhaps the most important step if Field of Dreams is to believed, is the need to build it so they will come. With stadium construction taking a year or two land will need to be identified and a stadium built long before a team can move here.

There is a perfectly feasible Triple-A ready stadium already located in Sugarland, TX; which is about 25 miles south of Minute Maid Park. But, since that stadium is already home to the Skeeters it is unlikely that it would be a candidate for the Astros to use. Although, one never knows what can happen over the next couple of years and it might turn out that the Skeeters are the option that makes the most sense.

Now if you’ll excuse me, all of this talk about Minor League Baseball has me itching for a road trip. Tune in next time to find out where I go.

Copyright 2013 R. Anderson