Hittin’ the Road
Road Trips are A Rite of Passage
By Carl Danbury (From the May/June 2007 Issue)

My first trip to a major league ball game with my father was in 1964 when I was five years old. Earlier during that fateful summer, I had knocked out two front teeth teaching myself how to bunt at seven-o-clock on a Sunday morning while my parents were still fast asleep. As I discovered, bunting isn’t as easy as you think, especially when you toss the ball in the air to yourself and try to push the ball up an imaginary first-base line. But hey, I was trying to become a complete ballplayer—not just a slugger—because that’s what kids did before creatine supplements and HGH.

I grew up in Central Jersey and for a young ball player being reared an hour’s drive from Philly and 75 minutes from New Yawk was as good as it could be.

Even without cable, at that time we received television broadcasts of the Phillies, Mets, and Yankees – no aluminum foil rabbit ears required. Radio broadcasts were even more plentiful for a youngster enamored with America’s pastime. During my formidable years, I listened to the local teams’ broadcasts and to those from Boston, Baltimore, Pittsburgh, Cleveland, St. Louis, Cincinnati, Detroit, Chicago, Washington (when the Senators were still around), and, occasionally on clear evenings, I could even pick up WSB from Atlanta.

The trip to Connie Mack Stadium (previously known as Shibe Park and before Veterans Stadium was built) was a scant 60 minutes by car because dad’s Chevy Impala never surpassed 50 miles-per-hour before I-95 was completed. Connie Mack was located amongst the tight streets and row houses in north Philly surrounded by Lehigh Avenue, 20th Street, Somerset Street, and 21st Street. I’m almost positive I didn’t shut up for the entire trip, and I am almost certain my dad tackled the first Ballantine Beer vendor he saw.

The stadium was the perfect ballpark. The seats were close to the action, the asymmetrical playing field had marvelous nuances like a 34-foot-high right-field wall, a dead-center measuring 447 feet, and a left center that was an imposing 420 feet. The left field foul pole was 334 feet away and the roof-top in left field was easily reached by the likes of Phils’ rookie third baseman Richie (Dick) Allen and the visiting Giants like Willie Mays and Jim Ray Hart. The imposing Ballantine Beer scoreboard in right center was 60-feet high and billboard signs for Alpo, Philco, and Coca-Cola were prominent.

For a five-year-old witnessing the old ballpark for the first time, I swear the grass was as green as an emerald, and the smell of hot dogs, peanuts, and Ballantine was as rich as sautéed garlic. Only one other ballpark ever lived up to my expectations for decades thereafter, and that was Tiger Stadium in Detroit, where my senses went into retroactive Connie Mack shock during a visit in the early ‘90s. Tiger Stadium also had a special configuration, overhanging bleachers, and was a spectacular venue for baseball. Plus you could slip an usher $20, and he’d put you in the box seats behind the dugout.

The Phillies wore pinstripes in those days, just like the hated Yankees, yet the stripes, socks, and hats were a very appealing red. Philadelphia had gone 13 years since its last World Series appearance (1950) and had just four winning seasons during that time. Willie “Puddin’head” Jones, Richie Ashburn, Del Ennis, Eddie Waitkus, Granny Hamner, Dick Sisler, and the rest of the Whiz Kids were long gone, with the team’s 91-63 record (the win total has been equaled or surpassed just five times in the past 57 years). Manager Gene Mauch’s arrival in 1962 signified a glimmer of hope for the Phillies and their fans. They finished above .500 that year, their first of six straight winning seasons.

They were in first place when I went to my first game, but soon thereafter the thrill of seeing a first-place club became a nightmare. The Phils had taken the National League lead on July 16, but they blew a six-and-a-half game advantage with 12 games to play and relinquished first place on Sept. 27. They finished one game behind St. Louis. It would be another 12 years before the ignominy ended, and they won a division title.

Baseball fans remember. They go into great detail describing their ballpark visits, from the quirky incantations of the vendors (“doggy-a-ho” was a favorite at Connie Mack), to the great bars they visited nearby, to recollections of the skimpy and clingy shirt of the female patron sitting a few seats away. It doesn’t matter if you root, root, root for the home team, if you’re in the enemy camp, or if you don’t have a dog in the hunt. A trip to the ballpark is a great excuse for getting together with your son, your dad, your longtime buddies or new friends.

Jack Key, his father and a few family friends have taken a “baseball road trip” for 15 of the past 20 years. Despite living in Birmingham, having access to the Birmingham Barons on a regular basis, and being just a couple hours away from Turner Field, Key’s group takes time to plan the almost-annual trip to traditional baseball cities like Boston, Chicago, New York, Baltimore, and St. Louis. They might get a break from the sweltering Alabama heat, but for 48 to 72 hours they also enjoy seeing America, dining at great restaurants, and visiting with the locals in cities they might not have another reason to visit.

“The way it evolved was back in high school when me, my dad, a buddy of mine and his dad would go to Atlanta for a Braves’ weekend series at Fulton County Stadium,” Key said. “And then, when we got older we decided to start going to some other places.

“I think for the old men, the boys were finally old enough to pay for their own trip. I am sure that had something to do with it,” Key chuckled.

“We try to go to a different city every year and it always is a debate among the group where we should go, which is actually part of the fun of it. We lean on going to the older baseball cities that are closer to home, mostly the East Coast and Midwest at this point. We try to avoid the nicer destinations like San Francisco because, if we went there, the women would want to go along, too,” Key stated.

Steve Chapman and his group of friends created “Fandango,” a moniker chosen from the ZZ Top song. Fandango was created a few years ago when the group descended upon Baltimore in Year One, switched gears to include a Green Bay Packers game at Lambeau Field, and included a trip to Jacobs Field in Cleveland. This year Fandango has chosen Toronto as its trip locale for an Orioles series against the Blue Jays in August.

“It picked up momentum after our trip to Green Bay,” Chapman advised. “Green Bay has a population of about 100,000 people, so it’s amazing they even have an NFL team. Everything is centered upon the Packers and they begin the tailgate festivities very early.

“We’re learning the ‘Bears Suck’ song that they sing and got totally immersed in the local color. Then, we saw a bride and a groom preparing to be married at the game. She’s decked out in full bridal ensemble and the groom has a tuxedo on with a Packers jersey as the shirt and a bowtie. The best man had a Packers jersey on too, with ‘BEST MAN’ stitched on the back of his jersey. It was an absolute riot, and I am sure when they got the wedding photos back, they must have wondered why there were a few guys in the pictures they didn’t recognize,” Chapman said.

“It was an unbelievable experience!”

Both Key and Chapman cited visiting Baltimore as an unexpected pleasure. “We really enjoyed it,” Key said.

“We ran into some characters that kept us entertained, the food was great, it’s an old baseball city with a great ballpark.”

As a result of the Baltimore trip, Key’s father has been permanently removed as lodging procurer for the group.

“Dad picked a bed-and breakfast in a bad part of town, which actually fueled some lively, entertaining conversation about him choosing the arrangements in the future. We feared for our lives once we left the hotel.”

Chapman said that his group chooses downtown business hotels because on weekends the rates are excellent.

“We try to pick a hotel near the stadium and convenient to the entertainment district. More important than the hotel, however, is finding a good place to hang out before and after the games.

“We went to Cleveland on a lark. I never had a reason to go to Cleveland before, or since, but we loved it. It is a lot nicer than we expected, and the locals were great. We arrived before our rooms were ready and it was a great feeling to go somewhere where we had no agenda. We all thought, ‘what now?’ We asked the concierge where to go and had a great time. We ended up at a place called the Winking Lizard and had a blast,” Chapman related.

A visit to the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame is a side trip that both groups enjoyed while in Cleveland.

Key said if he and his group were starting the process over again the first trip would be to Yankee Stadium.

“I would go to Yankee Stadium first and see it before it is torn down (the new stadium will open in April 2009). I am partial to the old parks. We got lucky because we saw the Mets and Yankees play. I thought there would be some ugliness amongst the fans of both teams, but while there was a lot of ribbing most of it was pretty good-natured. I have to give them credit,” Key said.

The benefit of visiting the “old” baseball cities is being immersed in a crowd of savvy fans, Key explained.

“We have found knowledgeable fans every place that we’ve been. In St. Louis they are really knowledgeable yet well behaved,” Key said. “In Philadelphia, they are the roughest fans I have ever heard in my life. Just listening to them was entertainment in itself. They were riding the pitcher and the first inning wasn’t even over — and it was their own pitcher.”

Road trips are more beneficial to the participants than just seeing America, eating at nice restaurants, or enjoying a game.

“My dad isn't a hunter or fisherman. This is what he likes to do. It’s his favorite trip of the year. It’s a good opportunity to spend some fun time together,” Key said.

For Chapman a trip with his friends is simply a more mature version of the road trips he used to take when in college.

“We use baseball or football as the excuse, but really it is just a great opportunity to enjoy hanging out with your buddies,” Chapman said. “Our group might include six to eight guys now, but as word spreads we might just enjoy convention status in a few years. We came up with a list of places to visit, and it includes 26 sports-related venues.

“It isn’t easy coordinating everyone’s schedules, which is why we don’t focus too much on the opponents. Getting everyone to agree on where and when to go is the primary consideration, and, of course, having a great time when we get there is paramount,” he said.