30 and Counting...Still

A couple years ago, I wrote that my goal was to see a game at all the current major league parks by the end of the 2017 season. Not surprisingly, the time frame of that goal is beginning to look a little unrealistic. Honestly, I'll be happy to simply reach the point someday where I can say that I've visited all of the existing ballparks, so I'll amend the goal as such.

At the time, my number stood at 18 of the 30 active ballparks. Since then, I've visited two new ones, Turner Field and the new Yankee Stadium, but this only brings my active total to 19, as the Twins subsequently moved out of the Metrodome and into their new digs, Target Field.

Coincidentally, 30 is actually the number of total ballparks I've visited, including 11 that are no longer current major league parks. To keep track of this, I've created this Ballparks Visited page on the blog because, to be honest, I constantly find myself having to peruse the standings in order to refresh my memory regarding my personal count. Now, hopefully I won't have to do that anymore.

Since I added no new parks to my list last year, a couple ideas involving multiple stadiums have already been discussed this year. First, my friend Will suggested we attend the SABR convention in Long Beach, California in early July. Conference registration includes trips to two major league ballgames, at Dodger Stadium and Angel Stadium, but Will nixed the idea before I could get on board.

Later that month, KJ is attending a conference, also in Long Beach. If I choose to accompany her, schedules would permit trips to both Petco Park in San Diego and Angel Stadium, but we'd need to stick around until the weekend to hit Dodger Stadium on Friday night. Unfortunately, the weekend in question is when the Hall of Fame induction ceremony takes place, so neither of these Southern California plans will allow me to get to all three of these parks at once.

We haven't ruled that trip out yet, but the latest idea is a September long-weekend mini-road trip to Citi Field in Queens, Citizens Bank Park in Philadelphia and Nationals Park in Washington. Stay tuned for more on those plans, if you're so inclined.