Tuesday, September 22, 2009

 

Bobby D's Blog - Quest Day 172

 



It’s been over 2 weeks now since my 30th ballpark at Citi Field in NYC and I owe a few blogs from that weekend as well as being at Yankee Stadium to see Shawn’s hero Derek Jeter pass Lou Gehrig as the Yankee all time hit leader on 9/11/09.

I was fortunate to have many friends come in from out of town for the weekend and to be at Citi Field for ballpark #30. On Friday my friends Gayle and Kevin drove down from the nether regions of NW PA for the weekend. Gayle had made a list of things for us to do and see. We were able to get to Ground Zero, took the Staten Island Ferry to see the Statue of Liberty, had lunch at Lombardi’s in Little Italy (we found out that this is a very famous pizza place – we did not know that at the time), walked forever to buy $5 brownies at the Chelsea Market, drove Kevin to Hackensack, NJ to get the original sliders at the White Manna Diner, had dinner a mile from Giants Stadium at the Grasshopper Also which was Shawn and my favorite pub in Jersey and we ended the busy day at Firewater’s Pub which has 50 beers on tap and another 30 in bottles. We did our best to get thru the 50 draft beers. Kevin also kicked my butt at darts.

Saturday was another fun filled day. I started by reconnecting with a childhood friend, Karen, and her family who I hadn’t seen in 20 years. Karen’s dad, who we called Uncle Bob when we were growing up, had the line of the weekend when we surprised him by me showing up at his house. He said the only person who would have surprised him more by showing up at his front door would be Osama Bin Laden. After leaving Karen’s home I had to get to Newark Airport to pick up my nephew Aaron who was flying in from Tampa for the weekend. Thru my own stupidity I hadn’t seen Aaron in over 12 years. He has grown up to be a very respectful and good looking young man. I wish I could take some of the credit for that, but sadly I can’t. After that it was off to meet my friend and guest blogger Jill who drove down from Boston for the weekend. Since Aaron and I were having lunch at Hooter’s – Jill said she would meet us there. When Jill showed up at Hooter’s she was proudly wearing her Red Sox tee shirt in the heart of Yankee country. While we were having lunch both Jill and I noticed that our Hooter’s server had an interest in Aaron. Now I have been a very successful wing man for some of my friends over the years – but I pale in comparison to Jill’s talent at being a wing woman. Jill coaxed Aaron into following our server to the shirt stand and pretend he was interested in buying a t-shirt. Aaron was gone for a good 10 minutes and when he came back he had a t-shirt, as for a phone number that I can not tell you because what happens in Paramus, NJ shall stay in Paramus, NJ.

Since the Yankees were on a road trip we decided to take the back stage tour of Yankee Stadium on Saturday. The tour is well worth the $20 dollars plus the parking ticket I got for parking illegally at the Stadium. The group size is limited to 45 people. The Yankee museum is the first stop on the tour. The 2 things worth seeing in the museum is Thurman Munson’s locker taken from old Yankee Stadium and they have 6 World Series trophies on display. The next stop was Monument Park which is nice to visit with a smaller group. The cool thing we learned was that Mariano Rivera asked for a door to be added from the bullpen so that the Yankee pitchers could go into Monument Park during games. Not sure what they do in there – but when you are one of the greatest relievers of all time I guess you have some pull. After Monument Park you head to the Yankee dugout. The thing that was kind of surprising is how limited the view is from the dugout. The padded benches in the dugout have vents that shoot out warm or cool air depending on the weather. There are wooden benches at the top step of the dugout that offer a better view of the field. The tour ends by leaving the dugout and going into the clubhouse. As you walk thru the doors from the dugout the first thing you see are 2 batting cages. Our host told us that many players step into the cages during the game to keep loose or work on various pitches. They also have a video room there so the players can see video of their recent at bats and just passed the batting cages is the Yankee Clubhouse.

The Yankee clubhouse is a long oval shaped room with the lockers on the outside and sofa’s in the middle. Derek Jeter and Jorge Posada’s locker are at the far end and they are the only players who get a double locker. This was based on seniority with the ballclub. Each locker has a touch screen computer that has personal information downloaded for each player. Nick Swisher’s locker was the most decorated with newspaper clippings from various games taped to the locker. On a table in the center of the room was the Kangaroo Court fine box. Mariano Rivera is the judge for the Kangaroo Court handing out fines to players for whatever he deems fineable. We learned that Nick Swisher is the only player not to be fined so far this year – or so said the security guard standing behind me. The Yankees have a weight room and other rooms beyond the clubhouse that we were not able to get to see. Also those rooms are off limits to the media. During the tour you are allowed to take as many pictures as you want except the clubhouse – no pictures in the clubhouse. We also learned that the visiting team’s clubhouse is nicer than most team’s home clubhouse. Our host told us that was done to assist with free agent signings. Overall the tour took about an hour.

In closing it really is incredible how one little message from someone who you haven’t heard from in quite some time can really put a warm feeling in your heart. That happened to me the other day when I got an email from my good friend Owen “The Big O” Baier who I hadn’t spoken to in about a year. Owen is one of those good guys in life that I am fortunate to call a friend. The cool thing with a friend like Owen is that you can go long periods of time without talking but can pick up the friendship in a moment. Owen was a great friend to Shawn and me when we lived in West Virginia and we had the pleasure of attending his and Melinda’s wedding in Auburn, AL a few years ago. Thanks for the email O and I look forward to seeing you this January when I am in Detroit to catch the Bears game.

I promise to blog in the coming days about ballpark #30 and the awesome suite that the Mets gave us for the game. So for now this is so long and good bye and in the photo you can see just how proud Jill is of her Red Sox.

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Wednesday, September 16, 2009

 

Bobby D's Blog - 2010 Quest Schedule

 



I promise I will blog about the final weekend of the Quest soon. As I was driving home last night my iPhone email was going crazy. Since I am registered with just about every MLB team's website they all wanted to inform me that the tentative 2010 schedules have been released. So last night I started seeing how I would do all 30 again next season and lo and behold we have a schedule:

Date Home Team
4/5 Boston
4/17 Pittsburgh
4/18 Cleveland

5/14 Toronto
5/15 Detroit
5/22 New York Mets
5/28 Cincinnati
5/29 Atlanta
5/30 Tampa Bay
5/31 Florida

6/4 Philadelphia
6/5 Baltimore
6/6 Washington, DC
6/19 New York Yankees

7/3 Minnesota
7/4 Chicago Cubs
7/5 Milwaukee
7/6 Chicago White Sox

8/14 St Louis
8/15 Kansas City
8/28 Colorado
8/29 Texas
8/30 Houston
8/31 Arizona

9/1 San Francisco
9/2 Seattle
9/3 Oakland
9/4 LA Dodgers
9/5 San Diego
9/6 LA Angels

Now a lot of stuff can happen between now and the start of the 2010 season (like hopefully the Cubs getting a closer) but if all goes well I am going to try it all over again next season. That answers the question - what's next?

The picture attached to the blog is my 20 year old nephew Aaron hanging in the Yankee dugout and when I blog about the final weekend of the Quest I promise to tell you how Jill helped Aaron meet a Hooter's girl. As Jill has taught me - in the news business that is a teaser to stay tuned.

So for now this is so long and good bye and for this Cub fan the saying wait until next year just took on a whole new meaning!!!

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Thursday, September 10, 2009

 

Bobby D's Blog - 1 Year

 



Over the past months I have shared many stories of my wife Shawn Marie. I saved her favorite story for today to mark the one year anniversary of her passing. It’s the story of how we met. Whenever anyone asked us how we met – her eyes would light up and she would say to me “I love how you tell this story”.

I had been living in New York City when I tore my Achilles tendon playing of all things – coed softball. Since I worked in New Jersey I knew there was no way I could take the subway to the bus station and then walk the 3 blocks from the bus stop to my work in a cast – so I had to move to New Jersey for my post op care. I found a little 1 bedroom apartment about 2 miles from my work in a 2 family home. On the first floor of the home was Donna – a single mom of a 2 year old. Donna and I became friends, I think she may have been interested in me romantically but dating her would violate guy rule number 2 of dating – never date anyone that lives in your apartment complex unless you are really sure it will work out long term. Rule number 1 is never date anyone from work and rule number 3 is never date an ex-girlfriend of a buddy (unless of course you both have had a bottle of wine and she makes the first move).

It was the Saturday of Memorial Day weekend in 1999. My friends had all gone to Atlantic City for the weekend and I chose not to go – still had the cast and didn’t want to be the gimp who they brought along because they “had to”. I had crutched over to the liquor store around the corner to get some beer. I was just going to sit on the front porch – drink a bunch of beer and smoke a stogie or 2. As I was having beer number 2, Donna came out and asked if I wanted to join them that night for a cookout. Donna had invited me to many of her family functions but I always said no – again rule #2. She said her brother and sister in law were coming over as well as her friend Shawn, her only single friend. Well I immediately thought Shawn was a guy and was ready to say no to the invite, just then Donna said there is Shawn now. Well Shawn was definitely not a guy – I turned to Donna and said “I think I will join you tonight”.

I climbed back upstairs to shower and change. Showering is not an easy task in a cast – basically you get in the tub and hang your leg out of the shower and let the water beat down on you. So I shower, shave and even do my hair, get dressed and go back downstairs and Shawn doesn’t even say boo to me. I try some small talk and nothing. I later learned that she thought I was there for Donna and it seems girls have rules about dating as well.

The next morning I saw Donna as I was heading over to the 7 – 11 and thanked her again for a great time. I was going to ask her for Shawn’s number but thought better of it. I told her we needed to have another cookout and invite all the people who were there the night before making sure I mentioned Shawn a few times. I was crutching over to the 7-11 and I saw Shawn’s car pass me. I quickly turned around and double crutched my way back home. I had another shot. Well strike 2 – Shawn didn’t say boo again to me. Wow this girl rule about dating is stricter then the guy’s rules. Donna told Shawn we were going to have another cookout next weekend and it was going to be at her parent’s home – they had a pool so we were going to make it a pool party. Shawn said sure – I have nothing to do, should be fun. Yes – one more chance.

Pool party day and Shawn is sitting on the edge of the pool in a bikini no less. My cast had come off a few days earlier and I use some lame excuse that I need to have my foot in water – gave me the chance to sit on the edge of the pool with her. Shawn actually starts talking to me and we end up talking the whole pool party. We were talking about all the good jokes we get emailed to us and swap email addresses to forward them to each other. Ahhh – dating in the email world.

Monday morning and I start sending her email jokes – no 3 day waiting period for me. All morning we would send a joke and get an immediate response. At 11:32 am I sent her an email for her phone number so I could ask her out on a date. No response for over 2 hours. I later learned that she called Donna to discuss this with her. You want to talk about a long 2 hours. Well I finally get a response and it is her phone number. I called her that night and we ended up talking for over 6 hours.

Our first date was a few nights later – during our 6 hour marathon talk we learned that Ruth’s Chris Steakhouse was each of our favorite restaurant. Since I could still not drive because of my foot – Shawn joked that she would be the guy and drive, she even held my door open for me as a joke. As the date ended and she dropped me off, she asked if I was going to kiss her – I said “Yes I am”. Now me being a guy I didn’t pay attention to the song on the radio but Shawn did – it was Edwin McCain’s ‘I cannot ask for anything more’. For the next 2 months the only time I heard that song was when I was with Shawn and we heard it every time we were together. One time we hadn’t heard it – after she dropped me off she realized I had left my wallet in the car. She drove back and when I reached in to get my wallet – the song came on. To say the least that was our wedding song.

As for that email – well we had gotten her mom a computer for Christmas. She told Shawn she was having issues with the computer and could she come over to help. Well when Shawn got to her mom’s home – her mom told her there was something wrong with the email account. Shawn logged in and there was only one email in the inbox and it said “For Shawn”. I had saved the email when I asked her for her phone number and emailed it to Betty. I had changed some of the words around and basically asked her to marry me. The end of the email said “Now turn around and say Yes”. I had snuck up behind her and when she turned around there I was on my knee with the ring. And yes – she did say yes.

I have been asked a lot lately if I will keep this website going now that the Quest is over. I will keep it going and will blog about memories of the Quest or whatever else is going on. I do owe a few blogs from this past weekend and ballpark #30 and will start posting them over the coming days. To be honest my heart was just not into writing about it until I got thru today. I also will now go back and review each of the ballparks. I have notes from each and will come up with a format for the review.

Thanks for reading this special blog today. The picture I attached to the blog sums up Shawn Marie – always smiling and always looking to enjoy life.

I will end this blog with a little advice – after finishing reading this pick up the phone and call someone you love and tell them just that.

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Monday, September 7, 2009

 

Bobby D's Blog - Quest Complete!!!

 



22 States - 2 Countries - 1 District (DC) - 22,540 air miles flown - 4,092 car miles driven - 1,031,009 paid attendence in games attended - 100 Beers drank and uncalculated money spent (for sanity's sake)

Attended an official regular season game in all 30 MLB Ballparks during the 2009 Season - COMPLETE!!!!!

But most importantly - friends and memories to last a lifetime.

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Friday, September 4, 2009

 

Bobby D's Blog - Quest Day 154

 



And then there is one – Citi Field is the final ballpark on my Quest to get to all 30 MLB ballparks this season. This Sunday is the day for ballpark #30 but why Citi Field for the last ballpark you ask and as Kathy asked – why not Yankee Stadium?

On July 24, 1999 Shawn and I had been dating about 2 months and my company was having our annual company picnic. Since a majority of our employees were Dominican and loved baseball and more so Sammy Sosa – we decided to have our company picnic at Shea Stadium when the Cubs came to town. We had over 100 people go to the game that day. We all met at work real early and had a caravan of cars driving from Carlstadt, NJ to Queens. When we got to the ballpark – grills and coolers seemed to come out of nowhere. I even made a few Eddie Murphy “now that’s a fire” comments as all the grills were lit. Since I was the general manager of the company – the folks didn’t let Shawn or I do anything to help that day. We wanted a beer and bam – there was a beer. And this tailgate wasn’t your normal hot dog and hamburger tailgate but we had all different types of spiced meat on fresh rolls – we tried Mundungo which is a Latin soup not something that you leave behind after eating. We had Sancocho which is another Latin soup and well – just sounds more appetizing. Shawn was a bit apprehensive about going to the game that day – she said she didn’t know anyone and well felt a little out of place. After a few beers and a bowl of Mundungo she was having a great time and all the folks who I worked with just welcomed her with open arms to the CRI (Creative Response Inc) family.

The game itself was kind of a dud with one exception – Sammy hit a home run and the folks from my company went crazy waving their Dominican flags, singing songs and hugging each other like the Cubs had just won the World Series. As we were leaving the ballpark Shawn said to me – “thanks for taking me to the game today and what a great day to be our first ballgame together”.

After that day whenever Shawn came to visit me at work all the employees would come over and give her a hug and kiss like she was family – she said she always felt like a Queen when she came to visit. Later that year we were moving into a new apartment and I asked a few guys from work if they had a panel van to help us with our move. They said sure and they would be over at our place at 9 am. Well the doorbell rang at 9 and when I opened the door there were over 30 people there to help us move with 4 trucks. I asked Ramon – the leader of this group – why so many people showed up and he said all he mentioned is we are helping Shawn and Bob move and they all wanted to help – he said we were family. Funny that during the move we were not allowed to touch or move anything – they did it all and when we offered to buy lunch they all pitched in for the pizza and beer.

I had blogged earlier that I had tickets at the will call window the day David Cone threw his perfect game at Yankee Stadium. When I went to pick up Shawn to go to the game – her family was having a cook out and talked us into staying for the cookout. Later that afternoon – one of Shawn’s cousins yelled down from her window that Cone has a perfect game thru 5 innings. We ended up watching the remainder of the game on a 17 inch TV with rabbit ears in the backyard. The date of that game – July 18, 1999 – 6 days earlier than what turned out to be our first game together. And I was typing this and the flood of memories of that day at Shea and the way everyone accept Shawn into our work family with open arms, I am so glad that we didn’t go to Yankee Stadium that day and instead had the Cub – Met game as our first game of many together.

When I was making the schedule for the Quest the first thing I did was list all the places where the Cubs were playing and on what date. When I saw the Cubs at Citi Field on September 6th – I knew it was fate to make this game and ballpark my final one.

I guess that’s it for today – oh that’s right I was in Toronto last night and ballpark #29. Ok – quick mention of Toronto – cool city, nice airport, ballpark not so nice and the Yankees won and I saw Hip Hip Jorge and A-Rod hit homers. My seats were cheap – or at least I think they were cheap, still trying to figure out the whole conversion of US into Canadian. My iPhone didn’t work – well the 3G internet part so I was having internet withdrawals. I didn’t say “hoser” once until now and I did have fun ending every sentence with an “ay”. I will circle back with a more detailed blog about Toronto and I know everyone is waiting for the blog about all the times Mikey, Jo and I got yelled at a few weeks ago in Boston.

Take 2 – I guess that’s it for today. I want to wish everyone a safe and fun Labor Day weekend. So for now this is so long and good bye and the next time we talk – the Quest will be complete!!! As you can see in the picture – the celebrating has already begun.

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Tuesday, September 1, 2009

 

Bobby D's Blog - Quest Day 151

 



The last 2 ballparks are this week – Toronto on Thursday and Citi Field in NYC on Sunday - so next week at this time my Quest to see a regularly scheduled game at all 30 MLB ballparks will be complete – still kind of hard to believe.

This past Sunday I was fortunate to score a ticket to the most prized Fenway section – the Monster Seats. The face value of a Monster ticket is $160 but sell on Stubhub and other ticket agencies for 5 to 6 times that especially for a weekend game. I made a promise to a few folks that I wouldn’t blog about how I got the ticket – just to say thanks to those people that know I am thanking them.

The seats are very cool and the view is amazing. Each seat is like a mini bar stool and has a long table to lean on. The 1st row is the way to go because as you go up to rows 2 to 4 you can’t see the field directly below the Monster. I had gotten there early for batting practice and actually caught 2 BP home runs. I of course found a few kids and gave them the balls and told them to tell all their friends of the great catch they made to get the ball. There was only 1 home run hit during the game and that one didn’t even stay up on the Monster – it hit off the Sports Authority sign and bounced back on the field. Dustin Pedroia hit a double off the wall that was directly below me and for a few moments I thought it was going to make it, but petered out.

Would I pay $160 or more for a seat up there? No – it is nice to say I did it and if someone gives me a ticket up there I won’t say no (hint, hint) but for $90 you can get a Loge Box seat 10 rows off the field. Also the concessions are very limited on the Monster and the line to get anything up there is about an inning long and the only beer they sell is Miller Light. I also didn’t see or hear any vendors up there. I would much rather pay $45 and sit in the Wrigley Bleachers and basically have the same view. But that’s me.

This Thursday I pop into Toronto to see the Yankees – Blue Jays game at the Rogers Centre. A few times this season I have postponed a trip to Toronto for other opportunities. It is funny now that I view the trip this week to Toronto as a nuisance. The reason it is a nuisance is because this weekend promises to be amazing and I have to get thru Toronto and ballpark #29 to get to the final ballpark – Citi Field. I am fortunate to have family and friends who are coming from near and far to hang with me at Citi Field. There will be 16 of us at Citi Field and thru some luck we were able to get a 1st base infield Suite for the game that as fate would have it – holds 16 people.

I am now going to turn this part of the program over to my good friend Just Jill who a few weeks ago was in Dallas on business and was able to catch her beloved Red Sox play the Rangers in Arlington. Below are her observations and do not necessarily reflect those of this television network:

So the Red Sox vs. Ranger game on August 14th is why I love baseball. That’s right it is a passion for me right down to one of my first memories as a kid was loving my “Property of the Boston Red Sox” sweatshirt. Why do I love baseball so much? Besides the fact that it is America’s past time, I love because the game is never over until it is over! That’s right it can be bottom of the ninth, 2 outs, 2 strikes and the losing team can still come back and win the game. There is no time limit and I know that is why some people hate it, investing sometimes four hours into a baseball game but really what other sport has the possibility of every pitch, every movement causing a team to score; a stolen base, a dropped pop fly, or a way back outta the park homerun.

Friday’s game at Rangers Ballpark in Arlington was one of those games. In the end it was my Red Sox that came through in a big way. One of the stars was new acquisition, Victor Martinez and he is revved up for another pennant race. Martinez had his biggest hit since coming over from Cleveland with a go ahead double with two outs in the ninth. In the ninth, the Sox came from a two run deficit adding six runs to the board.

One the line for both teams; the wild card race. The win put Boston a game and a half ahead of the Rangers in the American League Wild Card Race. We won’t talk about what happened after that since I wasn’t there.

Lester looked good and I was so happy to see him pitch, he is one of my favorites. Lester struck out eleven tying him for the most K’s this season! Of course my new favorite player is Frank Francisco, the Rangers closer who gave up 7 hits and 6 runs in the ninth and blew the save. Thanks to Jonathon Papelbon for pitching a scoreless ninth, the bottom of the ninth seemed pretty tame after the previous half inning.

Now on to the park and the fans. The park all in red brick and steel beams is pretty impressive when you walk up. It is shiny and clean and new which is what I guess I didn’t like about it. I did like the architecture, and the fact that you can bring your own food in. How cool is that? Although the selection of food was vast and very Texas-BIG! I had, of course, a hot dog with cheese on it. Boy you wouldn’t catch me eating that at home but hey it’s a ballgame. Inside the almost 50,000 seat stadium is offices too. That would be a great place to have an office. I think I will have to talk to my boss about that one. Also there are shiny electronic scoreboards and ads everywhere, which I didn’t like. They keep flashing, “Make some noise” at Fenway nobody has to say make noise! (Editor’s note – Boston people are just loud in general). The fans also seemed pretty tame. There were some people yelling at me in my Red Sox attire, one drunk behind me kept saying I should go get some chowdah. If I could I would have but unfortunately you can’t get chowdah in Texas. Also, the fans didn’t seem to know what to do, the organ player would start banging away on the keys and the fans were silent. Hello, you are supposed to clap to the organ. Two more observations, the girls there were dressed to the nines, like they were going to a club or something, someone needs to tell them this is a baseball game and last but not least the hats. Yes the hats. You see Red Sox fans wear old, dirty worn hats and Ranger fans wear new, shiny hats that were just bought at the park that day.

Thanks Jill!!! The picture attached to the blog is Jill dressed to the 7’s in her not so shiny, very dingy with sweat marks Red Sox cap. Yes Jill, I know you have told me you don’t sweat.

I guess that is it for today. So for now this is so long and good bye and please check back on Friday for a very brief blog about the game in Toronto but a very detailed memory of the first baseball game Shawn and I went to on July 24, 1999 – Cubs at Shea against the Mets and it is no coincidence that the same teams play this Sunday for my final game of the Quest!!!

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