Itineraries part one: time in New England
So who wants to go on a trip this summer? Here's a suggestion.
Last week I told you I would give you some summer travel ideas after I was inspired to recount my own a few weeks back.
As if by happenstance, the fine folks at milb.com came out with their Minor League Ballpark Guides, which were a big help in compiling these. So I decided to come up with three excursions which are based on the various 2023 minor and major league baseball schedules. There are a few ground rules I tried to follow with these potential trips:
The trip lasts from August 3-12, and always begins with the Thursday, August 3 game Delmarva is hosting that evening with the Lynchburg Hillcats.
Each of these trips has at least one game from each professional level: MLB, AAA, AA, Advanced-A, A, and independent leagues.
I made every effort to keep daily trips under 200 miles “as the crow flies.” In reality this may be about 250 miles, but that should be about a five-hour trip or less.
Where I could I had at least one “doubleheader day” where there was a day/night combo of games. I did not have game times for all the games, so I assumed on original compilation the minor league contests were in the evening. Turns out I was almost perfectly correct, as you’ll see.
The first trip, as I noted above, runs up into New England and back here by Sunday, August 13. I wouldn’t mind taking this trip myself sometime as a lot of it covers a part of the country I’ve never been to.
Thursday, August 3: Lynchburg Hillcats at Delmarva Shorebirds (Class A, Carolina League.) After you watch our local boys take on the farmhands of the Cleveland Guardians on a Thirsty Thursday, pack your Maryland Pride shirt you got if you were there early enough and gas up the car for the trip north.
Friday, August 4: Brooklyn Cyclones at Jersey Shore BlueClaws (Advanced-A South Atlantic League.) It’s not May the fourth, but the Force should be with you as the BlueClaws celebrate Star Wars Night against the Mets’ affiliate at ShoreTown Ballpark. Most Shorebird fans may recall it as FirstEnergy Field, but that changed recently. One thing that didn’t change was the 360-degree concourse I liked on my trip there back in the day, which has even more fun stuff now like a 9-hole mini-golf course and arcade. Regardless, the first leg is 199 miles from Perdue Stadium, and expected to take 3 hours and 34 minutes.
Saturday, August 5: Houston Astros at New York Yankees (1:05 p.m. start.) You may not want to imbibe too much in the Force because Saturday brings an early rise to take in some of the aura and sights of perhaps the best-known stadium in the world (even if it’s not the original.) Save a pocket for the Yankees baseball card pack they’re giving away and watch the Bronx Bombers take on the defending world champions in a marquee matchup. From Lakewood, this leg is 78 miles and would take an hour and 27 minutes at its fastest.
Saturday, August 5: Lancaster Barnstormers at Staten Island FerryHawks (6:35 p.m. start, independent Atlantic League.) If the game in the Bronx finishes in regular time, you could have a little time to grab a bite before heading south to Staten Island for this contest, but you would be advised to wait until you get to the park so you can be in the right frame of stomach to celebrate Italian-American Night. For one night, they are the “Gabagools,” which, they claim is an Italian way to say “capicola.” Beats me, I speak Midwest. Ironically, this team was once the Staten Island Yankees before the demise of the NY-Penn League, but was reborn after a two-year hiatus as a member of Atlantic League in 2022. The trip from the Bronx to SIUH Community Park is 27 miles and 57 minutes long.
Sunday, August 6: Reading Fightin’ Phils at Hartford Yard Goats (AA Eastern League.) If you’re a Phillies fan you may like how this trip is working out, and you’ll like it more in a couple days. On the other side, it’s a rare chance to see Colorado Rockies farmhands in this part of the country. Regardless, Dunkin’ Park is considered the best AA ballpark in the nation and it’s on this tour for Home Run for Heroes Day, a chance to celebrate veterans. The park is in downtown Hartford, giving you a chance for Sunday afternoon exploration after the game and a 132-mile, 2 hour and 45 minute trip to Connecticut’s capital city.
Monday, August 7: Kansas City Royals at Boston Red Sox. Because most minor leagues are dark on Mondays, we get a second dose of AL East action at Fenway Park. It’s an evening game, so you have a little time to check out historic Boston during the day or take a tour of Fenway Park, the oldest park in MLB. The trip from Hartford is fairly short at 99 miles and one hour, 34 minutes.
Tuesday, August 8: Buffalo Bisons at Worcester Red Sox. (AAA International League.) It’s that part of the country, so you see the wannabe Red Sox a day after seeing their big-league counterparts. They take on the AAA affiliate of the Blue Jays on a mixed metaphor night: their regular Taco and Tequila Tuesday promotion runs smack into Italian-American Night, but without the alternate identity Staten Island implemented. Playing at Polar Park, one of the newest stadiums in the minor leagues, the “WooSox” moved from their longtime Pawtucket home for the 2021 season. And in a nod to their big-league counterpart, you can sit high above the field on the Worcester Wall in right field (and sign the foul pole if you have a Sharpie.) It’s a quick 44-mile jaunt from Boston taking just 46 minutes - the shortest trip by time on the tour. But as Buck Showalter used to say, “sleep fast.” Or go to the next stop and sleep in next door to the park, as you’ll shortly learn.
Wednesday, August 9: Reading Fightin’ Phils at New Hampshire Fisher Cats (AA Eastern League, and a 12:05 p.m. start.) Not only is this a bonus for the Phillie fanatics, but the kids will be there for Camp Day at Delta Dental Stadium. Here’s a chance to see a game in the August New England sunshine as we reach the trip’s northernmost point. I wonder if you can get away from the kids during the game at the left-field brewpub, but as I noted you can stay at the hotel overlooking the outfield and rest up for the longest jaunt to the next game. This trip is just 73 miles and takes one hour, seven minutes.
Thursday, August 10: Tri-City Valley Cats at New York Boulders (independent Frontier League.) This team used to be part of the Can-Am League, but they merged into the FL after the 2019 season. Playing at Clover Stadium, the Boulders are celebrating ‘80s Night on this Thursday so big hair should abound. You can climb aboard the B-Train or check out their Dugout of Dreams, a catered premium area adjacent (and at the field level) to the Boulder dugout. You may need to relax a bit since this is the longest trip between parks at 242 miles and 3 hours and 51 minutes. I had to get you heading back toward the start sometime.
Friday, August 11: Syracuse Mets at Scranton/Wilkes-Barre RailRiders (AAA International League.) After seeing teams in a number of downtown facilities, here we head for the hills of northeast Pennsylvania to PNC Field (as opposed to Pittsburgh’s PNC Park, which will be featured on a future tour) on their regular Friday First Responders Night featuring fireworks - that is, if having the AAA Mets facing the AAA Yankees doesn’t create enough of them. They take advantage of the terrain to create a number of interesting vistas around a 360-degree concourse surrounding the park, which is actually situated in the suburban town of Moosic along the lyrically-named Montage Mountain Road. (The town name of Moosic always gave me a chuckle when the Mud Hens visited there.) It’s 117 miles and 1 hour and 56 minutes to visit northeast Pennsylvania.
Saturday, August 12: Frederick at Lancaster Barnstormers (independent Atlantic League.) Our last stop returns to the Atlantic League, and we get to see a second helping of the Barnstormers, this time at home. The game at Clipper Magazine Stadium features a brand new Frederick team without a name yet - at home games they will play where the Keys did. It’s another staple night of minor league baseball - Fireworks Night - but they’ll also be turning their attention to the local athletes as it’s High School Football Night, too. Lancaster is 129 miles and 2 hour, 15 minutes from Scranton. The return home on Sunday would be 162 miles and 3 hours, 10 minutes.
Tale of the tape
Games: 11 in 10 days
Leagues: 7 (all six levels)
States: 8 (Maryland, Delaware, New Jersey, New York, Connecticut, Massachusetts, New Hampshire, Pennsylvania.) Games in 7 of the 8 states.
MLB teams/organizations: Baltimore, Boston (twice), Cleveland, Colorado, Houston, Kansas City, NY Mets (twice), NY Yankees (twice), Philadelphia (thrice), Toronto (twice). Plus five independent teams.
Mileage: 1,302 miles
Driving time: 23 hours, 22 minutes
Regrets: I would have loved to take this trip into Maine and Canada, but it would have been difficult to get back from Portland to New York. It would have been possible to go Boston-Portland-New Hampshire insofar as games go, but not distance and time. As for Canada, the distances to the teams are just too far to access from New York, New Hampshire, and Maine within my five-hour limit.
Maybe next year I’ll see if I can come up with a PONY tour (Pennsylvania, Ontario, New York - Quebec is probably too much from here.) I may have to stretch first/last day to make it happen, though.
In the meantime, next week we head down south to see what we can find.