Day 1: Citizens Bank Park, Philadelphia; August 9

Today is day one of what I hope will be 45 days cruising the country and visiting all 30 MLB ballparks. Sounds like a once-in-a-lifetime trip, right? Well, not exactly. I did the same trip 10 years ago in the same 1997 Jeep Wrangler. This time the route will be different as will many of the parks, but hopefully not the result. In 1998 I did make it to all 30 in about 7 weeks- barely- and am ready to do it again. This time I will make a documentary appropriately titled "Twice-in-a-Lifetime". Please buckle up and enjoy the ride with me!


I live in NYC but spent the past week in Delaware with a friend on a vacation planned LONG before the ballpark trip. The ballpark trip has been been in mind for over a year but really didn't come together for sure until about mid-July....We arrive in Philly about 4:00 and check in the hotel. We get to the ballpark about 5:30. I talk to some REALLY fired up Philly fans for the documentary. Many complain about the team EVEN THOUGH THEY ARE IN FIRST PLACE! This is going to be pretty good! We buy tickets from a scalper at 7:15 for $20 over face value because I hear a guy say "we only have a couple left." It would pretty much suck if I didn't get in the first game on this trip! The plan right now is I'm pretty much going to show up a most parks without tickets. This should make things a little more interesting....The people we are sitting next to sold the tickets we bought to scaplers for $20 BELOW face value. God Bless America! This is my first time at Citizens Bank Park and it lives up to the hype! There are many highlights but the amazing crab fries from Chickie and Pete's really stand out as does the cool area in the outfield for fans to hang out....

Next up: Shea Stadium, NYC.