No matter how much snow some parts of the country get in January and February, the mood improves immediately when the four words that warm a baseball fan’s heart are uttered.
Pitchers and catchers report for Major League Baseball spring training.
Soon the regular season will start, and anytime from April to October is ripe for one of the best rites of passage a sports fan can ever experience.
The baseball road trip can be a lot of fun, especially if you have not seen some ballparks in this country. Imagine what you go through as the snow falls outside and you sit in your house, poring over road maps and guides to certain cities. There are 30 teams and finding a way to visit them can be daunting.
First, take a breath. You can’t cram six or seven cities into a one-week trip, much less two weeks. What you should do is check the schedule when it is released. If you are planning a trip for next season, some teams release their schedules from September to November of the previous year, depending on how successful the team’s playoff run was.
Once you have found three cities that are close by – say, Pittsburgh, Philadelphia and Baltimore – then start planning your vacation. Keep an eye out every day for hotel specials in your host cities, as well as great bargains on hotels in cities you stop at for the evening when you are not in one of your destinations.
Find the best prices on tickets for your stadiums. Ticket brokers like Stub Hub, which happens to be Major League Baseball’s official ticket reseller, and other companies will have tickets available to games. Some tickets may be below face value for some pretty good seats in a park. In all depends on supply and demand. Your odds of seeing a game in a prime seat at Citizens Bank Park in Philadelphia, for example, will depend on whether the opponent is the rival New York Mets or a faraway team like the San Diego Padres.
The first few hours driving on your trip tend to be euphoric. You’re going away on vacation. You get to enjoy baseball for the next week or two. Whatever you do, don’t hit the interstate. If you can take the back roads to your destination cities, do it. You will see more of scenic Americana than you would along a faceless highway. If you can drive Route 66 down toward the south or southwest, hit the Mother Road.
When you are in your destination cities, don’t seek out stuff you have back home. Find the places the locals like. Eat a Primanti Brothers sandwich in Pittsburgh. Enjoy Kansas City barbecue. Find a great place to enjoy seafood in San Francisco.
Be sure to budget enough for essentials. Allow enough to fill your gas tank at least once a day, even in cities where you won’t need to do it. Budget a certain amount each day, say $50-$75, for food and shopping. This will help if you find baseball equipment on sale you want to pick up, like gloves, bats or other stuff to play in your rec league back home(assuming you do). Otherwise, you will have enough to enjoy a decent lunch and healthy-sized dinner and change left over.
Any money you budget for a certain day that you don’t use, plan to keep it. Don’t roll it over and automatically spend it. Save the money. After all, you’ll need that money for the next trip, right?
The baseball road trip, whether it be an Opening Day trip across America, a midsummer’s getaway for a few days to one baseball city, or a fall trip to the playoffs, is one of the best trips a sports fan can take. If you love the national pastime, don’t let this opportunity get away.
