Augusta is known more for the golfing scene than baseball. Next time you are in Augusta I recommend checking out the GreenJackets—a team that is appropriately named for its location. It was a chill Sunday night, but that didn’t stop the generous fans of Augusta from donating to the Tour for the Cure. Thanks to Stephanie for hooking us up with such a great raffle item. The GreenJackets powered past the Kannapolis Intimidators, 7-0. The GreenJackets are the team to beat in the South Atlantic league. As of this post, they are off to a 17-3 start.

We also got a chance to sample some of the local heckling that goes on during the game. These guys went so far as to wear semi-inappropriate shirts and blow into a horn everytime someone on the other team was at bat and went to swing at a pitch. Annoying, but effective. Perhaps this is the reason behind their 17-3 record.

I had heard great things about this stadium. It was named the best stadium of the 2006 Tour for the Cure by Cass. I didn’t want to get my hopes up too high just in case it fell short of my lofty expectations. Good news—this really is the best stadium in the country (at least, so far that I have seen). Montgomery Riverwalk Stadium is one of the coolest and most unique places you will ever see a baseball game. It was built into a historic train station that was first constructed in 1898, and many of the stations features are still there today as part of the stadium. The team offices are part of the station—the old safes throughout the station are used as storage units. There are 20 luxury suites, six of which are built on top of the old train terminal and offer some great views of the field. The stadium also offers a 360 degree concourse, something that most other minor league ballparks don’t have. More interesting are the trains that pass by left field throughout the course of the game. The mayor of Montgomery has stated that he will pledge $1,000 to any Biscuits player who hits a homerun where the ball hits the train. It happened twice in 2006, and I’m sure it’s bound to happen again this year.

This is the REAL baseball experience we have been looking for on the trip. The smell of ballpark food is overwhelming when you enter through the train station terminal. You know they are doing it right when you see a Philly Cheesesteak stand in Montgomery, Alabama. Fans have the option of choosing general admission and bringing their own lawn chairs, or sitting in one of the two other designated seating areas. Out in center field sits a huge picnic area with a giant tent where people can sit at tables and enjoy the view of the entire stadium. There isn’t a bad place to see the game in the whole park.

As for the game, it was the 5th highest total attendance at the stadium since it opened in 2004. Almost 7,300 people watched what turned out to be a great game. The Biscuits jumped out to a big lead on the Huntsville Stars. In the 6th inning, the Stars mounted an unbelievable comeback and eventually took the lead. In the end, the Biscuits rallied to take the game 7-6. There were also fireworks after the game, a perfect way to celebrate a great victory. You can see samples of the fireworks show here and here.

I had a chance to go on the radio tonight during the 7th inning. Jim and Jesse are two fantastic broadcasters for the Biscuits, thanks so much to them for making sure our visit to Riverwalk Park was a great one. While I was up in the broadcasting booth, I managed to take a short video of the Biscuits announcers in action during the 6th inning.

After all of the fans had left, local boy scouts flooded the field with tents and sleeping bags. They had the opportunity to camp out in the outfield for the night, which is something I’m sure most people don’t get to do. There is a bunch more I could say about this stadium—it’s a perfect place to see a baseball game. Thanks again to Jim, Jesse and all of the Biscuits staff for everything!

Finally made it out of Florida and are back in the state of Georgia—Columbus to be exact.
The Columbus Catfish play their games at Golden Park, a nice open ballpark with brick walls in the outfield. This is the first time we have come across a stadium with brick outfield walls, and I must say it adds some charm to the overall look. We met Willie Bowman, the “Goody Goody Peanut Man” who has worked at the stadium for 62 years. He used to sell peanuts but tonight we found him selling programs (for $1) to everyone who walked into the park. His loud, booming voice gets your attention—and after 60 some years Willie has become quite the salesman. The Catfish did not fare so well tonight, getting shut out by the Augusta Greenjackets 9-0. On the plus side it was a beautiful night for a baseball game, and the fans kept filing into the stadium more than an hour after the first pitch. Thanks to Jere for all the help! Tomorrow we are off to Montgomery, which I am told is quite a great ballpark.

On Friday we woke up at 5am to hit the road and head to Columbus, GA—over a 10-hour drive. Here are some thoughts upon leaving.

Things we will miss: the beaches, 85 degrees and sunny weather, the very nice and accommodating staff at the ballparks.

Things we won’t miss: $3 for a gallon of gas, turnpike toll prices, Alligator Alley, Miami and Orlando traffic.

Thanks to everyone who supplied a roof over our heads while we were here: Kent and Noreen, Kathleen, Stephen and Sherri, Liz, and Stephanie at Choice Hotels.

Our last day of games in Florida, and it’s also the last day of three straight doubleheader days. We are a little tired of driving all up and down and around Florida, but the Palm Beach/Jupiter and Miami areas are both quite nice. We again came back to Roger Dean Stadium to see the Palm Beach Cardinals in action. The Palm Beach game was at 10:30am, which could mean only one thing—Education Day! More kids, more cheering, more sno cones and souvenirs were bought and sold.

Today was also my birthday, and I got to throw out the first pitch during the first game. Robbie, the Palm Beach Cardinals mascot, stood behind the plate waiting for my pitch. I hurled a perfect fastball right down the center of the plate. Robbie thought I was just going to lob the ball across the plate and was caught completely by surprise my aggressive first pitch. He barely had time to react to get his glove up, and the ball pegged him square in the chest. It looked like for a a split second he was going to fall backwards but he managed to recover well. Even the announcer took notice—and told the crowd to sign me right away. Here is the video—it looked a lot funnier from the pitcher’s mound. Afterwards I apologized to Robbie, but due to the mascot code, Robbie is not permitted to talk so I have no idea if he fully forgave me or not. In case you were wondering what kind of music a mascot listens to, I discovered that Robbie’s favorite song is “Fly Like an Eagle” by Steve Miller Band and NOT “I Believe I Can Fly” by R. Kelly. Interesting choice of favorite song—why would a cardinal want to fly like an eagle?

Later that night we arrived in Miami to see the Florida Marlins take on the New York Mets. We have seen three National League games so far on the trip and at every game the Mets are playing. I’m tired of seeing the Mets. Dolphin Stadium (formerly Joe Robbie Stadium) is about 20 years old, and was built to house the Miami Dolphins. The stadium is huge and is pretty bare bones in terms of baseball. Nobody sits on the 2nd tiered level, which makes the stadium look even emptier than it actually is. The total paid attendance tonight was a little more than 18,000. As for the game, the Mets erupted in the 3rd inning for six runs and by the end of the game they had crushed the Marlins, 11-3.

Tomorrow we drive from Miami, Florida to Columbus, GA. It’s going to be the longest one day drive of the trip to date. Somewhere along the way we will travel our 5,000th mile.

Another morning game, another Education Day in the Minor Leagues. Kids from local elementary schools piled into Legends Field, a 10,000 seat stadium that hosted its first game a little over ten years ago. The stadium is also the home of the New York Yankees during Spring Training, and to no surprise they sell out every spring training game. Thanks to Julie for giving us a prime spot for our table and giving us a Yankees autograph of Lou Pinella to raffle off. I think if it weren’t for all the kids and the team scouts with their radar guns and notepads attending, there would have been about 100 or so people watching the game. We have been in Florida for so long (over a week), that all of the team scouts have become used to seeing our faces at the different parks. A couple of them noted that we were the hardest working duo in baseball, and then gave us a few small donations in hopes that they wouldn’t have to see us selling raffle tickets again for quite some time.

After the Tampa Yankees game, we headed down the road to St. Petersburg to see the Tampa Bay Devil Rays at Tropicana Field. Thanks to Cheri for giving us great seats to the game! Tropicana Field consistently ranks at the bottom of lists rating the various MLB ballparks. BaseballParks.com ranks it as the worst ballpark opened since 1990. However, if you can get past the fact that it’s a dome building in a subtropical climate and FieldTurf is used on the playing surface, Tropicana Park is a great place to see a game.

Chris and I took a little break from the on-field action to check out all of the stuff throughout the stadium. We first hit up “Call of the Game”, where you can act as a broadcaster as you watch one of the many pre-recorded plays from past Devil Ray games. We did manage to get a DVD of our performance, but we have to figure out how to rip the dvd and post it up here. Next we stopped by the Topps make your own baseball card—for $3 you can get your picture on a Topps card and take it home with you. Further along down the concourse they have a Baseball Quiz Show, in which contestants answer baseball trivia questions in hopes of winning Devil Rays giveaways. I’m sad to report Chris and I were smoked by a eight-year old named Max, who seemed to know every piece of random baseball trivia. He had a very quick buzzer hand as well. Afterwards, Chris and I found a small open room that was filled with video games and TVs—and spotted the greatest baseball game ever, RBI Baseball for Nintendo. I won two quick games as the New York Mets, who had a killer 1986 lineup of Lenny Dykstra, Mookie Wilson, Gary Carter, Daryl Strawberry, and Keith Hernandez! Chris and his Boston Red Sox never stood a chance, even with Roger Clemens. Check out http://www.rbibaseball.com for a trip down memory lane.

The stadium also has a newly opened Ted Williams museum, full of great pictures and baseball memorabilia—highly recommended. And of course, what would a Devil Rays game be if you couldn’t pet actual rays in a tank? Behind the left field wall sits a large tank where fans can stop by and see rays swimming around. There is a actually a LOT of things to do at Tropicana Field, even if most of them don’t involve you actually watching the game.

This morning’s game was another Education Day, this time at Jackie Robinson Stadium in Daytona. We previously had visited Lakeland, and noted it was controlled pandemonium. No such luck here at Daytona. The kids were very excited to be there, and celebrated the fact they were out of school by buying tons of water ice, foam hands, and plastic horns that echoed all throughout the stadium. This was more like hysteria. Cubby, the mascot, had a busy day as we spotted him signing autographs for almost the entire game, even autographing the sides of sneakers for a few kids. Thanks to Brandon for the autographed ball from Jeff Samardzija, a former Notre Dame receiver who gave up football to sign a five-year, $10 million deal with the Cubs.

After Daytona, we headed down the east coast of Florida to Jupiter, which is located in the Palm Beach area. Chris was given the opportunity to throw out the first pitch, and I video taped it. The pitch was a bit… weak. So much so that the manager of the Jupiter Hammerheads heckled Chris as he walked off the field. Video of this pitch exists, but Chris has made it clear it is not meant for the viewing public.

The attendance at Roger Dean Stadium was not the strongest, but Meghan was able to get us some great giveaways—a broken bat (previously used in a game), a signed Hammerheads hat, and some specialized Cardinals and Marlins balls. Thanks Meghan! We met up with Red, the ticket collector and gate keeper of the Roger Dean Stadium. He gave us an interesting tip on how to clean a baseball—just use a regular eraser from a pencil. We gave it a whirl, and sure enough, the ball was much cleaner afterwards. Whoa! Roger Dean Stadium will be the only stadium we will visit twice on the Tour. Why? Because both the Jupiter Hammerheads and the Palm Beach Cardinals play there. So… we’ll see you again on Thursday, Roger Dean.

We finally got the chance to visit a beach while we were here in Florida. Unfortunately, the day we picked the weather turned a bit cold (65 degrees and windy), and it wasn’t the best beach day. At night we arrived at Knology Park to find that there weren’t going to be too many fans at the game due to the slightly colder weather and the Tampa Bay Lightning playoff game. Knology Park was built in 1990 and seats just over 6,100. It is safe to say that there was less than 150 people there last night, making it our smallest crowd ever. Picture the movie “Major League” (the beginning of the film), and you have an idea of what the stadium looked like attendance-wise. However, the few people that were there were the most generous, and we will still able to raffle off a great prize donated by Janette. Thanks to both the Blue Jays staff and their most diehard fans.

Our first cancelled game due to rain. Thanks to Buck for a great set of prizes! We will find a way to get these into the hands of fans in the Florida State League.

Friday night we visited Hammond Stadium in Fort Myers. Unlike the previous Florida crowds, the Miracle fans turn out in droves to support their team. Over 3,000 came on Friday night to watch the Miracle come from behind to claim victory. Thanks to Andrew and his staff for helping us out on a busy night. The Miracle fans are some of the most dedicated we’ve seen so far on the Tour. As for the game, the home team pulled a late inning miracle of sorts to beat the Dunedin, 7-6.

Saturday night brought us back across to the eastern side of the state to the St. Lucie Mets, who were taking on the Brevard County Manatees. Just like Fort Myers, the St. Lucie Mets packed in the fans on Saturday night, fueled by a free ticket giveaway at the auto show that took place in the stadium parking lot during the afternoon. Thanks to Ryan for all of his help and the donated item. Brevard County had 19 hits (!) and ended up winning the game, 6-0. Upon leaving the ballpark, we were presented with free taco coupons at Taco Bell, which was located up the street. And just like that, dinner was served.