Monday, September 01, 2008

Best-of-Trip Awards

Best Fans: Milwaukee, with St. Louis a close second. Both games were sellouts, but there just seemed to be more dedication emanating from the Brewers fans. I suppose this is a bit of an upset selection, considering St. Louis' reputation.

Best Neighborhood: St. Louis, by a landslide. None of the other parks were downtown, except Minnesota, but that neighborhood was dead.

Best Out-of-Town Scoreboard: Busch Stadium (St. Louis). I think I've already written about the fact that the rest of them were pretty standard, while Busch's scoreboard provided in-game information, such as the current batter, runners on base and number of outs.


Busch scoreboard
Best Promotion: The Buck O'Neil Legacy Seat, Kaufmann Stadium (Kansas City). I sat two rows behind the lucky owner of this seat. She won a copy of the book, The Soul of Baseball: A Roadtrip Through Buck O'Neil's America, by Joe Posnanski. I guess the promotions that night weren't all bad.

Best National Anthem: Barcel Suzuki String Academy, Miller Park (Milwaukee).

Best Performance (Pitcher): CC Sabathia, Milwaukee vs. Houston, August 18 (9 IP, 130 pitches, 11 H, 2 BB, 9 SO, 2 ER). Honorable mention: Justin Verlander, Detroit vs. Kansas City, August 22 (6 2/3 IP, 8 H, 3 BB, 6 SO, 0 ER).

Best Performance (Batter): Albert Pujols, St. Louis vs. Atlanta, August 23 (3-for-5, HR, 2 2B, 3 RBI). Honorable mentions: Miguel Cabrera, Detroit vs. Kansas City, August 22 (2-for-4, 2 HR, 2 RBI); Corey Hart, Milwaukee vs. Houston, August 18 (3-for-4, HR, 2B, 2 RBI).

Best Beer: Summit Extra Pale Ale (St. Paul, Minnesota). Honorable mention: Boulevard Pale Ale (Kansas City, Missouri).

Best Motel/Hotel: Microtel Inn & Suites, Kansas City. I stayed here two nights because, for $65, this low-end suite was a tremendous value, especially when compared to the dumpy Super 8 I paid $80 to stay at in Ames, Iowa.

Friendliest People: The employees at the 18th & Vine Museums, Kansas City.

Best-Looking Women: St. Louis. Sorry, no pictures.

3 comments:

  1. Your trip blogs have been awesome. The historical and cultural contexts given made each entry that much more enjoyable and worthwhile. Gives me an impetus to plan one of my own. The wife and I want to head out west sometime soon, and touring parks may be the perfect reason.

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  2. Thanks Rey. If your wife is on board for the park tour idea, then you're a lucky man.

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  3. I am. The honeymoon involved a stop at Fenway in 2004. I think she was more excited than I was.

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