Baseball Trip Replay - Day 46 - July 8, 1994

July 8 - Slept late. Met more of Andrea's cousins. We then went to the Circuit City to get my stuff installed. The mall that this particular CC was in was really, really lame. One very bad record store, one pathetic book store, and nothing much else. Andrea and I milled around and mostly talked until the stereo was finally installed. We made our way downtown, and went to the Coca-Cola Pavilion downtown. A true monument to capitalism. We went to the Underground, which is a large mall under downtown. Found some food, and found a better record store. Went to the game. We were running a little late, but the game was rain-delayed 25 minutes, so I didn't miss anything. Andrea had got her ticket later, so our seats were far apart, but she found me later, and we sat together because of no-shows. It only took two hours for Bob Tewksbery to shut out Greg Maddux and the Braves as St. Louis won 2-0. (Another note for baseball fans: Maddux lost four times in 1994. I saw two of them). Atlanta Fulton County Stadium is going to be replaced for the Olympics, and that's probably a good thing. It's yet another boring, circular, multi-purpose stadium. They had a fire there a couple of years ago. Lightning had struck the satellite dish that received out-of-town scores, so that scoreboard just sat dark. The colors are hideous, an awful light blue and a dark red. I don't mind the tomahawk chop, but they never got it really going for my video. Darn. Getting out was pretty awful, as downtown Atlanta is a maze and not designed very well.

Game Log: https://www.retrosheet.org/boxesetc/1994/B07080ATL1994.htm

The retrosheet.org link contains a link to a SABR (Society of American Baseball Research) story on the same game:

https://sabr.org/gamesproj/game/july-8-1994-tewksbury-goes-the-distance/

2020-07-08 I'm a little more woke now. The Tomahawk Chop bothers me a lot now. And the Braves are thinking about trying to ditch it: https://www.msn.com/en-us/sports/mlb/atlanta-braves-considering-eliminating-controversial-tomahawk-chop/ar-BB16uejd?li=BBnb7Kz

Good riddance (if they follow through).

Baseball Trip Replay - Day 45 - July 7, 1994

July 7 - Time to drive to Atlanta. The drive was pretty smooth; however, I ran into a snag in Chattanooga. There was a series of major accidents on Interstate 24 right before the intersection of Interstate 75. I moved about 3/4 of a mile over about 90 minutes. I finally got off at a city street, snaked my way downtown, and got back on the freeway. I got back on the first exit after the major accident, and they were busy cleaning sand off of the freeway and righting a semi. I could not figure out why I seemd to be the only person who got off of the freeway and went through town.

Anyway, finally got to Atlanta. Andrea Terrill had contacted her cousin Clark and his family, and that is where I was staying. Clark and Suzan have two kids and a dog, so the house is kind of frenetic most of the time. The family had just returned from a long trip to New Orleans, and everybody's nerves were kind of frazzled. Suzan offered to cook some dinner for me and Andrea, but I thought it would just be easier on everybody if Andrea and I just went out. We found a good Italian place, and ate and caught up with life. When we got back, I was put up on the couch. However, because the kids would be up at 6, they moved me to the five-year old's bed about then so I could sleep.

Route - I-64 East to I-57. I-57 South to I-24. I-24 East to I-75. I-75 South to Atlanta.

Baseball Trip Replay - Day 44 - July 6, 1994

July 6 - Called the Acura dealer in town. He said that to replace the radio/tape player was about an $800 job. So I went to circuit City instead and got a CD changer, tape player, and replaced my blown speakers in back (which would have been even more at the Acura place). However, all of the Circuit City installation centers in St. Louis were closed on Wednesday. (Why you ask? Why is the sky blue? Why is the grass green? Why does it cost $800 for the factory replacement in the first place?) So I stuffed the stuff into my trunk and made an appointment in Atlanta for the only center that had a slot available. I also got my oil changed and got my scoresheets copied at Kinko's (ooh, aah). The Frueh's got home, and we went to the game. Actually, we went to a brew-pub called the Taproom first. Nice place, good lager. Evidently, they had real trouble opening because Anheuser-Busch didn't want them to, and good ol' A-B controls a lot of St. Louis.

Got to the stadium in time for the starting line-ups. Another cookie-cutter, circular sixties multi-purpose thing. It does have little arches over each section in the upper deck, and they each have a little light under them. Also, the view of downtown and the Gateway Arch from behind home plate is quite spectacular. When the sun in shining, the stadium is extremely, overwhelmingly red. They take this cardinal red stuff seriously. Their caps are so red one has trouble seeing the edges when framed against the Astroturf. Its hurts the eyes. This was the first time I got to see the Astros (GO ASTROS!) on this trip, and I was not disappointed. Houston won 7-6. Drabek was uncharacteristically rough to start, giving up five runs. However, Sutcliffe also gave up 5 runs (this was NOT unexpected), and it was left up to the bullpen. Houston's was better. Cool. The Frueh's were great hosts, a lot of fun at the ballpark, and have a great pool. It was nice being able to take a dip at 11 PM, something not possible in Northern California because it is too cold. It has been annoyingly hot all summer, however.

Game Log: https://www.retrosheet.org/boxesetc/1994/B07060SLN1994.htm

Baseball Trip Replay - Day 43 - July 5, 1994

July 5 - Drove to St. Louis. On the way, my car radio became possessed. It would randomly change stations every one or two seconds, and it thought that there was a tape in the player once when there wasn't. It did this several times, and I finally had to give up and turn it off.

Grr.

Got to St. Louis and realized that I hadn't ever called for directions to Rich Frueh's father's house. What's worse, it didn't seem that I had the number. Fortunately, Rich's father was listed, and I got hold of him fine. Arrived, finished watching the Cardinals-Astros game on TV, and went to bed.

Route - US 41 South to I-55. I-55 South to St. Louis.

Baseball Trip Replay - Day 42 - July 4, 1994

July 4 - Found out that the game I was going to in Wrigley Field had turned into a double-header since a game had been rained out the last time Colorado had been through. Cool.

Wrigley is the best park in the National League, and I think it's cool, but there are several parks in the AL that I like better. I miss the big-screen TV. The park is clean, and has that old park charm, and the ivy and the buildings across the street with the people on the rooves are really cool.

The first game went fast, and while was watching it, I was listening to the USA-Brazil World Cup game in the radio. Too bad about the USA, but they did great just to get there.

The second game got underway, but in the seventh inning there was a rain delay. This is when I really miss the big-screen TV. They got back underway again, and went into extra-innings. There was another rain delay in the 14th inning, this time sixty-nine minutes. They got back underway, but they had thrown two pitches when the rain started again. They played through until the Rockies had scored two in the top of the fifteenth, and stated the bottom of the 15th, but then again, they stopped playing. They had another fifty-two minute delay, and finally, they played out the fifteenth inning. The first game started at 12:06 PM, the second game was over at 10:15. Longest day of baseball I have ever been through. Don't think I want that to happen much to me anymore.

First game score: Chicago 4, Colorado 3 on a two run single by Derrick May in the bottom of the 9th off of Bruce Ruffin.

Second game score: Colorado 4, Chicago 2, 15 innings, 3 hours plus of rain delays.

Found my way back home and showed David the videos that I had made so far.

Game #1 Log: https://www.retrosheet.org/boxesetc/1994/B07041CHN1994.htm

Game #2 Log: https://www.retrosheet.org/boxesetc/1994/B07042CHN1994.htm

Wrigley Field

I have no idea who these players are.

Game 2 went so long it required more pages.

Baseball Trip Replay - Day 41 - July 3, 1994

July 3 - Once again into the maelstrom. Back to Chicago to pick up the Cubs. I am very tired of Ohio and Indiana and Southeast Chicago. I thought I would be clever and not get stuck on the torn up freeways of Chicago, so I took Lakeshore Drive through the city. Mistake. Chicago was having its Fourth of July fireworks show, and there were a million and a half people lining the parks and streets of Lake Michigan. Took quite a while to get through this mess.

Got back to David Raitt's and Valerie Tardiff's place about 8:30. There was a significant chance that they wouldn't be, but I could use their apartment anyway. Isn't that cool? Aren't they wonderful people? But they were indeed home; there were dirty dishes on the dining table and the day's World Cup results had been written in on the chart on the fridge. Watched TV until they got back from Wilmette's fireworks show. Chatted for a while and went to bed.

Route - I-279 North to I-79. I-79 North to US-19. US-19 North to I-76. I-76 West to I-80. I-80 West to I-80-90. I-80-90 West to I-90. I-90 West to US 41. US 41 North to Wilmette.

Baseball Trip Replay - Day 40 - July 2, 1994

July 2 - John and I went to lunch in an area not unlike the Village in Houston or downtown Los Gatos or University Village in Seattle. Lots of little shops with lots of college students running around. The rest of the afternoon, I took care of some paperwork and then I went to the game.

Three Rivers Stadium is one of the cookie-cutter, circular stadiums from the sixties, and it was very familiar. The game was delayed half an hour by rain, but once it started, it didn't rain any more. Cincinnati clobbered Pittsburgh 8-1. It wasn't pretty.

Game Log: https://www.retrosheet.org/boxesetc/1994/B07020PIT1994.htm

Baseball Trip Replay - Day 39 - July 1, 1994

July 1 - Well, if I had looked at the map before I stayed an extra night in Boston, I would have realized that it is a 12 hour drive to Pittsburgh. The game started a 7:05. I realized that I wasn't going to make it early, but I lucked out. This is one place in my schedule that had an extra day in it anyway, so I decided to just go to the game on Saturday. Not much to say about this day other than I drove to Pittsburgh. I do hate the interstates in Pennsylvania; they are in terrible shape and under construction and have low speed limits and aggressive cops. Ugh.

Pittsburgh is is a beautiful place; it is situated where two rivers combine to form the Ohio River, and it is in the valleys of these rivers that the town lays. There are lots of hills and rivers all over the place. The view as you go exit the tunnel into downtown is fantastic.

I found John Greiner's house. He is living with a couple of other CMU grad students. It's a typical bachelor house; messy but not unsanitary, lots of college-type furniture, computer in the dining room, etc. They seem like pretty swell guys, and we watched TV until everybody went to bed.

Route - I-95 South to I-78. I-78 West to I-76. I-76 West to the I-70 split. I-70 West to I-79. I-79 North to I-279. I-279 North to Pittsburgh.

Baseball Trip Replay - Day 38 - June 30, 1994

June 30 - I decided to stay an extra day in Concord and drive to the stadium in Pittsburgh. (I found out later that this was a miscalculation). I went to Walden Pond, which is quite near Richard's house. I finally met Richard's wife, Kathleen, when she got home from work. She brought home a man I hadn't seen in 15 years, Jack Sieber. Jack, Richard and I all went to junior high together, and we are all now programmers. Jack looks quite a bit different; he used to look like a red-headed Roy Orbison, now he just looks like another tall, long-haired programmer-type. We all had good pizza for dinner, and talked until fairly late.

Baseball Trip Replay - Day 37 - June 29, 1994

June 29 - Got up and talked with Leslie some more until it was time to leave. Drove to the Alewife T station in Concord and took the T to Fenway Park. I like Fenway. It's nice and cozy, and the seats all face home. It's kind of strangely shaped, but that is a characteristic of these old places. The 37' wall in left is really cool. It was raining all of the way to the T station, but it had stopped for the game, and everything started on time. Leslie and Chuck met me at the game.

The Yankees beat Boston 4-3 in ten innings with home runs by Danny Tartabull and Jim Leyritz of NY. After the game, Leslie, Chuck and I were walking out of the stadium and were passed by Jim Kaat and Sean McDonough (I believe that is his name) of ESPN (in their snappy blue TV jackets) and one of the guys that does SportsCenter. Ooh, ahh. My brush with fame for the trip.

Leslie, Chuck and I said our goodbyes at the Park St. Station, and I drove to Richard Wells' house. Richard and I talked to very late. He and I went to junior high together, and we both went to Rice. We talked and talked about what each other was doing and about the huge number of people that we both knew in school.

Route to Concord from Providence - I-95 North to Massachusetts 128. Massachusetts 128 to Massachusetts 2. Massachusetts 2 to Concord.

Game log: https://www.retrosheet.org/boxesetc/1994/B06290BOS1994.htm

Baseball Trip Replay - Day 36 - June 28, 1994

June 28 - Got up at 5 to take Anna to the airport, and got on the road. The Customs guy for the US didn't even ask me my name. After about two hours on the road, I realized that I still hadn't really caught up on sleep, so I pulled over in a rest area and slept for a couple of hours.

Got into Providence about 4 and went to Leslie Baker's house. We talked for a while, and then Margo Ballou showed up, and soon after, Leslie's husband, Chuck Halfen got home. Leslie cooked some spaghetti, and we ate, and talked to all hours of the morning.

Route - Quebec 133 South to Vermont. Quebec 133 becomes I-89. I-89 South to I-93. I-93 South to I-495 around Boston. I-495 South to I-95. I-95 South to I-195. I-195 East to city streets.

Baseball Trip Replay - Day 35 - June 27, 1994

June 27 - Had a wonderful day. We got up and took the Metro to the Botanical Gardens and Insectarium. We went through Insectarium quite thoroughly. Neat place. Started by this famous Quebecois entomologist whose name escapes me now. After that, we walked through some of the botanical gardens, but it was raining, so we skipped out before we got through all of it.

We then went to Basilique Notre-Dame, the oldest cathedral in Montreal. Anna wasn't used to seeing snow scenes or teepees in the stained glass. The alter has what looks like a miniature cathedral standing on it with statues of Christ and various saints. Like a lot of the rest of the artwork, it was very three dimensional. There was a smaller chapel behind the alter with a really cool cruxifiction scene on it. I can't really describe it very well though.

As we were leaving we noticed that there were lots of people milling around the alter, and crews were setting up TV cameras. Then a person with a string bass started warming up. It seems that the OrchestreSymphonique de Montréal was going to have a rehearsal for its summer festival. We stayed and listened to them rehearse Listz's Les Preludes. It was wonderful!

We left and walked back to the hotel through Old Montreal, a section of town that is very much like waterfront towns in Europe. Lots of closer together brick buildings on brick streets.

After gathering strength and food, we went to the game. Le Stade Olympique is a silly place. They build this place with a retractable roof. However, the way it retracts is almost unbelievable. The roof is a large tarp with cables connected to several points. There is a tower where the cables are connected to a winch, and they retract the roof by pulling it up to the tower. They had the 76 Olympics here, but the retractable roof wasn't ready until 1985. What a hack.The stadium also has many seats which don't face the field at all.

Another bizarre place.

The game was great. Atlanta and Montreal were playing, and Atlanta came into the game with a 2.5 game lead on Montreal. 45000 people showed up. It was the largest crowd in six years. Ken Hill faced Greg Maddux, and the pitching matchup lived up to its billing. It was 2-2 until the eighth, when Montreal scored 5 runs, including a big, three-rum home run by Cliff Floyd. (Note for baseball fans: this was Greg Maddux' last loss on the road until early in the 1996 season).

What a great day!

Game log: https://www.retrosheet.org/boxesetc/1994/B06270MON1994.htm

Baseball Trip Replay - Day 34 - June 26, 1994

June 26 - To paraphrase a friend of mine:

"ONTARIO - LAND-D-D OF-F-F DARKNESS-S-S!!!" (Note the echoes)

Seems he has never driven across Oklahoma in the daylight, and there is nothing to see there at night. Ontario is real dull at night also. They were having fireworks in Sudbury, which was cool. All I remember about Ottawa was that the freeway was built into a trench that ran the length of the city, and as a result, nothing in Ottawa was visible from the freeway. The freeway starts in Ottawa; before that the road is just a two-lane highway with a 90 km/h speed limit. After years cursing US Interstates because they are so incredibly dull, I found myself wishing for one that crossed Ontario. It would have helped had it not been raining through most of this drive.

The sun started glowing on the horizon through the clouds about three. It finally came up about 4:45. I crossed into Quebec about 5:00, and reached Dorval airport about 6. I bought a book and read it to stay awake until Anna arrived.
Anna's plane was on time, and I met her outside the customs gate. We found our hotel, and checked in. The Queen Elizabeth was great; we got really good rates for a first-class hotel. We slept most of the day. We got out that evening, and went walking around. We decided to go see The Lion King, and then went back and ordered room service. Good food, not expensive. Did I mention that I liked this hotel?

Route - I-35W North to I-35. I-35 North to US 8. US 8 East to US 2. US 2 East to Michigan 77. Michigan 77 North to Michigan 28. Michigan 28 East to I-75. I-75 North to Sault-Ste. Marie. Ontario 17 East to Ontario 417. Ontario 417 becomes Quebec 40. Quebec 40 East to Montreal.

Baseball Trip Replay - Day 33 - June 25, 1994

June 25 - Now it was time for the worst drive. When I originally planned this trip, I allowed two days to get between Minneapolis and Montreal, which is reasonable. However, my wife and I decided that she would meet me in Montreal, and the only way we could schedule it had her arriving at Dorval airport at 9 AM on June 26. This meant I had about 25 hours to drive 20. I left St. Paul about 9 AM. I reached Sault Ste-Marie about 7. Canadian Customs went through my car completely, and it took forever. They opened every bag and asked me about 50 questions before they let me through. I got back on the road to cross Ontario.

Baseball Trip Replay - Day 32 - June 24, 1994

June 24 - Got up and wrote status reports while watching World Cup on TV. Decided to get some Canadian money before the game. Tried to find the American Express office in downtown St. Paul, but it was gone, and the phone had been disconnected. Got money from a bank.

Made my way to the Hubert H. Humphrey Metrodome. I call it the Metrobubble, since the roof is inflatable and held up by air pressure.

HHH has no parking to itself, so when you park, you get reamed by the local parking lots. The stadium is an extremely bizarre place. I grew up with indoor baseball and turf, so that did not bother me. The stadium is just strange. It's basically a square, and on three sides, they have normal seats, but in right field, they have retractable folding layers of football seats, and they cover a lot of them with this large plastic tarp, what is commonly known as the Hefty bag. Balls that hit this thing die and fall straight down to the turf.

In addition to the stadium weirdness, it was Minnesota Dairy Night, and they gave us cheese graters as promotional items. They had Miss Minnesota Dairy, and all during the game, they were putting factoids about the Minnesota Dairy industry up on the scoreboard. Sigh. Minnesota won 4-1 on a well-pitched game by everybody's favorite retread, Jim Deshaies.

Game log: https://www.retrosheet.org/boxesetc/1994/B06240MIN1994.htm

It's the Minnesota Twins cheese grater:

It's really cheesy.

Video clips:

And the scoresheets:

Baseball Trip Replay - Day 31 - June 23, 1994

June 23 - Drove to St. Paul from Cincinnati. There is no good way through or around Chicago right now. I 90-94 through downtown is being rebuilt, and is a mess. They are working on the Illinois Tollway (I-294) a lot. So this was kind of aggravating. It also rained most of the day. While in Ohio and Indiana, I didn't care, since there is nothing to see anyway, but I like Northern Illinois and Wisconsin, so I was glad when the rain finally went away. I also should have checked the map; I could have saved an hour or two by going up I-90 from Chicago instead of I-94. Oh, well.

Got here about 9.

Route - I-74 West to I-465 in Indianapolis. I-465 North-West to I-65. I-65 North to I-80-94. I-94 West to I-294. I-294 North to I-94 in Wisconsin. I-94 West to St. Paul.

Baseball Trip Replay - Day 30 - June 22, 1994

June 22 - I got up and drove to Cincinnati. You know, I am tired of the O. J. Simpson story. I normally enjoy sports talk radio shows, but that's all they ever talk about. Sigh.

The place I stayed was nice enough, but I don't know about the neighborhood. I really don't like Cincinnati much. I almost went here for college, but I'm glad I didn't.

I got to the stadium. This, along with Oakland-Alameda, Veteran's, Three Rivers, Busch and the Astrodome, is one of the cookie-cutter circular multi-purpose stadiums built in the sixties or early seventies. It's better than Milwaukee. However, it's kind of dull. Both the Bengals and the Reds want a new place to play, but how is this small place going to pay for it?

However, this place is baseball happy. Lots and lots and lots of red baseball caps everywhere. Cincinnati is the team to beat currently in the NL Central, since Houston is doing the usual and getting pummeled by Colorado. Sigh.

During the game, USA beat Columbia in the World Cup prelims. Unbelievable. The Rockets played Game 7 tonight, and they were leading when the game was over.

The game was great. Cincinnati scored once in the first. San Fransisco answered with a run in the top of the second, but Cincy scored another in the bottom of the second. Barry Bonds led of the fourth with a solo home run, and the game was tied. The Reds scored a run in the bottom of the eight, and brought on the closer, Jeff Brantley. Matt Williams blasted a home run in the top of the ninth to tie it again. The bottom of the ninth went like this:

Monteleone pitching. Boone fouled to catcher. Dorsett doubled to left. Walton ran for Dorsett Howard announced as pinch-hitter for Brantley. Hickerson came in to pitch. Brumfield hit for Howard. Brumfield walked. Sanders hit a fly ball to center; Walton went to third. Beck came in to pitch. Larkin hit a single to right, Walton scored. Reds won 4-3.
The Rockets weren't on the radio in the car. Grr. Got back to the room. The local NBC affiliate decided not to broadcast the NBA finals. Unbelievable. So I found a station on the radio through the static, and listened to the last minute.

ROCKETS WIN!

Now, you must understand. The concept of a championship to a sport fan who grew up in Houston is foreign. The Oilers have been to the playoffs thirteen times, but they have only two very early AFL championships from 1960 and 1961 to show for it. The Astros have been to the NLCS twice and played very well, but lost. The Rockets lost twice to Larry Byrd and the Celtics in the NBA Finals. UH went to the Final Four and lost. I was honestly expecting the Knicks to open up a thirty point lead and coast to the win.

But the Rockets won.

WE WIN! WE WIN!

You will have to forgive me.

Route - Michigan 20 East to I-75. I-75 South to Cincinnati.

Game Log - https://www.retrosheet.org/boxesetc/1994/B06220CIN1994.htm

I actually have some video clips from the game. They let me take in the camera, and I managed to get this tape digitized.

And the scoresheets:

Baseball Trip Replay - Day 29 - June 21, 1994

June 21 - I decided to stay another day here and drive to Cincinnati and only stay one night. So today, I played clarinet and bass clarinet with Kennen. It was a struggle to play Kennen's bass clarinet. He uses much harder reeds, and some of the keys are in weird places. Still we had a good time. After we got tired, we talked some more.

Kennen is trying to get a position at a college, so he was extremely interested in my clarinet choir tapes, as he might have to do one. We listened to most of them over the time of my visit.

That evening we went to a picnic concert at CMU. The group wasn't that good, but we had a good time anyway. Kaylee loved it. There was grass and there were dogs and there were people. It was the solstice, so the sun was still up when we left at 9. We went back and talked some more. We then remembered that Kennen had wanted to install ClarisWorks on his SE, but he only has low density disks. After working around that problem, we realized that he has System 6.0.1, and of course, ClarisWorks requires 6.0.4. Sigh. In addition, FileMaker's About Box crashes. Sigh. Oh, well.

I got to bed quite late.

Baseball Trip Replay - Day 28 - June 20, 1994

June 20 - Joanna works as a professor of flute at Central Michigan University. She took me to her studio, loaned me flute and gave me some pointers. I think she really helped. She gave me some embouchure pointers, and helped me with some articulation problems I am having. This was great.

We went back, and I took a nap. We went out for Chinese food, and went back to the apartment. Kennen and Joanna wanted some video footage of Kaylee, so we took some. We talked a while and went to bed.

Baseball Trip Replay - Day 27 - June 19, 1994

June 19 - I got up early and cleared out so that I could get to Tiger Stadium, a nice three hour drive. Tiger Stadium is the oldest stadium in baseball right now. I don't remember the year it opened, but I think it was 1911. Anyway, as a result, parking is a nightmare. It is better than Candlestick, but not by much. I parked in this church lot down the street from the stadium.

And they don't let video into the stadium. Sigh.

This is a strange place. The upper deck hangs over the lower deck almost completely, and there are pillars everywhere. About one sixth of the seats have an obstructed view of the plate. Where I was sitting, I could only see the ball when it was pitched, right when it left the bat and when it was fielded. As a result of all of the obstructed views, they show the game on monitors while it is going on. So you too can pay $12 to watch the Tigers on TV with no sound. Anyway, after all of this, it would be a shame for them to replace this place. Ty Cobb played here. With all of its quirks, this place is right out of history. All this game needs is 28 Camden Yards.

The Tigers won 3-1, and everybody was surprised at the pitcher's duel. Rookie pitcher Gohr pitched a whale of a game, pitching seven and two-thirds innings, giving up six hits, one run, walking two and striking out seven. Detroit won 3-1.

I went back to Mount Pleasant, and Kennen and Joanna made yummy food for dinner. Kaylee is really adorable, and she is fun just to watch.

Route - US 27 South to I-96. I-96 East to Detroit. Reverse for trip back.

Game Log: https://www.retrosheet.org/boxesetc/1994/B06190DET1994.htm

A precious child

Baseball Trip Replay - Day 26 - June 18, 1994

June 18 - I drove to Mt. Pleasant from Washington. Mt. Pleasant is three hours north of Detroit. I forgot to account for this, so this turned out to be a thirteen hour drive. Sigh. Not much to say here, just a long day of driving.

I got to my cousin's house about 1 AM. My cousin, Kennen White, and his wife, Joanna Cowan White, have a baby who is about 11 months old. I think her name is spelled Kaylee. Kennen was still up, and we talked a little bit before I went to bed.

Route - I-495 to I-270. I-270 West to I-70. I-70 West to I-76. I-76 West to I-80-90. I-80-90 West to Intestate 475 in Toledo. I-475 North to US 23. US 23 North to I-96. I-96 West to US 27. US 27 North to Mt. Pleasant.

Baseball Trip Replay - Day 25 - June 17, 1994

June 17 - Becky took me to work in the morning. I met Senator Bingaman; he is a nice, middle-aged guy. Seems to be a perfect Western politician; he looks like he has spent a lot of time with horses out on the range. Becky then took me about the Capitol building, and got me in to see the Senate and House chambers, including going onto the Senate floor. I had a good time doing this; I could see myself in politics.

After Becky really had to go to work for real, I went to the Smithsonian Air and Space Museum. I really liked it, but I hope that they update some of the displays soon. There was some out of date info, and some of the text was worn away. Nothing like places like this to remind one of the seventies.

There is a relatively new display about computers and space with some truly amazing old computers. Scary stuff. They also have a couple of films about computers that are truly, truly awful and seem to me to only be vehicles for the computer companies that sponsor them to show their insignia. Sigh.

I didn't get through this place, but I don't think I missed *too* much. Sigh.

I then drove to Baltimore and Camden Yards. It's really easy to get to, which was a welcome relief from DC. Camden Yards is a neat place; they have closed off Eutaw Street and made it part of the stadium. They have stocked it with food places, souvenir stands, and bars. They don't let you in to the actual stadium until about an hour and a half before the game. Until then, you can hang over the walls and watch batting practice. Actually, the bleachers are open, so fans can watch batting practice from their seats. The walls, however, are five feet high or so, so you have to be fairly tall to see, and they don't let kids sit on top, so their were a lot of fathers with kids on their shoulders.

They let us in, and I found my seat. The seats down the line are my only real complaint about this place; they face the area between second base and center field. It's amazing that this happened in a stadium so young. This is a nice place, but I prefer Jacobs Field.

The O's fans have their idiosyncrasies. They say "O" real loud when "Oh, say does that star-spangled" line comes around, and they don't sing "Take Me Out to the Ballgame" when the seventh inning stretch comes around. Instead, they play "Thank God I'm a Country Boy". Gack.

And frankly, I am tired of seeing the Orioles. I keep running in to them; they were in Oakland, and Kansas City, and now here, and I think I have another game with them later.

I was sitting, watching the game and listening on the radio, as I normally do when I go to the game alone, when the O. J. Simpson chase came on the radio. So while they were playing the game on the field, I was relaying what was going on to the people around me. A very surreal experience. The Orioles beat the Twins, 9-2. Stars of the game included Chris Sabo, who went 3 for 4 with one walk, one double, 2 RBI's and one run scored; and Leo Gomez, who went 3 for 4 with a double, home run, walk, 2 RBIs and 3 runs scored.

I got completely lost in Washington again trying to get back to the apartment. I hate driving in this city. Just when you find a street on the map that you think will work, it gets blocked by a monument, and the continuation has no sigh. After an hour and a half in the city, I found the apartment again. By this time it was 12:30, and OJ had given himself up. I went to bed.

Route - Washington 295 to I-495. I-495 North to I-95. I-95 North to Baltimore. Reverse route back to Washington.

Game Log: https://www.retrosheet.org/boxesetc/1994/B06170BAL1994.htm

Baseball Trip Replay - Day 24 - June 16, 1994

June 16 - Don't ever drive in this place.

I really think that Pennsylvania, Maryland, Virginia, and North Carolina are the best places to live in this country. The drive was nice. The area has just enough mountains not to be flat, has tolerable summers and winters if you like snow, and is pretty with lots of trees and streams. Really cool area.

Washington, however, is pretty ratty. Once you get past the nice monuments, buildings and museums, the city is a dump, ill-maintained with a discontented population. It also has the most screwed up street systems. I got completely lost trying to get to Mike and Becky Lepalla's house.

I finally got there. Mike works as a legal lackey in the Department of Labor, Becky works for Senator Mike Bingaman. They had a friend visiting whose name escapes me. She is in seminary, and reminds me of Shannon Kimball-Auth. Becky and Mike's apartment is rather small, but given housing costs in Washington and what they are probably making, I don't feel that this is unusual. They have a cat and a dog and I had a good time playing with them. Mike and I had to go get a visitor's parking permit for my car, and the police station was decidedly unimpressive. It seems that the weird bureaucracy of Washington makes it impossible to do city services right.

After catching up on gossip, we all went to bed.

Route - Ohio 14 South to Pennsylvania. Ohio 14 changes to Pennsylvania 51. Pennsylvania 51 East until merge with Pennsylvania 65. Pennsylvania 65 to I-79. I-79 South to US 40. US 40 East to Intestate 68. I-68 East to I-70. I-70 East to I-270. I-270 East to Intestate 495. I-495 South to George Washington Parkway. George Washington Parkway to I-395. I-395 to city streets.

Baseball Trip Replay - Day 23 - June 15, 1994

June 15 - What a wonderful baseball park.

I got into Cleveland about noon, and found a place to stay. Turns out there is a metro line right by this motel, so I did not drive to the game. I took the train, and when you get out of the train, you walk through a mall. The fountain in the mall is really cool. It has ropes of water leaping out and falling in a hole a little away randomly, so you have these random arcs that look like they are alive jumping around.

The stadium is beautiful. Cleveland is an extremely industrial city, so the stadium was designed to match the buildings and bridges. The outfield looks up into the skyline. It's great. It has a little over 42000 seats, and they come close to selling out every game. The field has reasonable dimensions, unlike the Ballpark at Arlington. The scoreboard is nice; I don't know; it seems basically perfect for Cleveland. The game was great too. The Indians were behind 3-0 in the bottom of the eighth and tied it, then Jim Thome hit a homer in the 13th to the picnic area in center field. The place is baseball happy right now.

Had no trouble getting back to the motel. All in all a good day.

Route - I-71 North to Cleveland.

Game Log: https://www.retrosheet.org/boxesetc/1994/B06150CLE1994.htm

Baseball Trip Replay - Day 22 - June 14, 1994

June 14 - I left David and Valerie's about 10 o'clock. Got to South Bend, Indiana around 3 and spent forever finding the Woodwind and Brasswind. Finally found it, and bought a clarinet mouthpiece, and tried out the three top-of-the-line bari saxes. The Selmer is great. It's the only model that is better than mine.

I then set out for Columbus. US 33 goes through a very, very long urban stretch through South Bend, Elkhart and Goshen, IN. Took about an hour and a half to get through all of it.

Got into Columbus about 9:30 EDT. Turns out that I have met Margaret, Gail and Jeff before. Jeff even remembered me. Had a good time figuring out whom we all knew at Rice. Anna would have hated it, as she gets tired of Rice gatherings. Then everybody had to go to bed.

It is very hot this summer in the Midwest, and nobody has AC. Ah, well. Lot's of nights sleeping in sweat. Just like old times.

Route - US 41 South to I-80-90. I-80-90 East to US 33. US 33 East to Columbus.

Baseball Trip Replay - Day 21 - June 13, 1994

June 13 - Got up and felt good. David and Valerie went to work about 10. David left me directions to get to Jiffy Lube so I could change the oil again. Got that done, and then found the Saxophone Store in Evanston. Borrowed an alto and tried out mouthpieces and bought one, a hard rubber Yanagasawa. The Lawton was just a little better, but it was twice as expensive, and for my fourth saxophone, I decided that it wasn't worth it. Had lunch. Got back and made some house-related phone calls. David and Valerie got back, and we got on the train for Commiskey Park.

Comiskey is relatively nice. It's very clean, quite roomy, and there don't appear to be any bad seats, but it's kind of sterile. The game was great, if you like baseball. The Sox won 1-0. Jason Bere pitched eight innings, giving up no runs, two hits, and striking out 14. Roberto
Hernandez pitched the ninth for the save. Bobby Witt pitched a good game for Oakland, but, well, it is Oakland after all. Then we took the train home.

David is a very nice guy, and Valerie is very bubbly. They are both extremely sharp. I thoroughly enjoyed my stay with them.

Game log: https://www.retrosheet.org/boxesetc/1994/B06130CHA1994.htm

Baseball Trip Replay - Day 20 - June 12, 1994

June 12 - I got up and felt much, much better. The sinus headache was gone, and most of the other symptoms were too. I was still a little stuffy, however. Got on the road about 10. Took highway 45 down here. Wisconsin is absolutely beautiful. Lots of green with little rolling hills and trees and pretty farmhouses. Lots of Victorian era barns. Good stuff. Got to David and Valerie's place about noon. They are very nice people; they cooked two delicious meals for me and would not let me help clean up. He is from Guilford, south of London, and she is from Montreal. They are both grad students at Northwestern. They just graduated. Valerie is taking a job at UT Austin, and David will be doing postdoc work in Tallahassee. Their apartment is a carved-up Victorian in a neighborhood with a lot more of them. Wilmette is a northern suburb of Chicago on the shores of Lake Michigan. Seems like a nice place. A couple of their friends, John and Marty, came over for dinner. They are nice people. Marty is quite a bit older than me, in her fifties, and John is about my age, so they make an interesting couple, if indeed they are one. They are, however, buying a house together, so we had things we could talk about. All in all, a pleasant day. I really like the meeting-people part of this trip. Route - US 45 South to Lake Blvd. in Skokie. Lake Blvd. to Wilmette

Baseball Trip Replay - Day 19 - June 11, 1994

 June 11 - Started off feeling ok, I guess. So I went to the Milwaukee Art Museum. Right by it, they were having a big festival. A couple of thousand people with music and barbecue. It dawned on me watching people come and go that it was a gay and lesbian thing, and the museum ticket teller confirmed it.

Looked at art for about three hours. They neglected to tell me their video policy at the entrance, so I got scolded. Seems you can scan the art and use it as backgrounds, whatever that means, but you can't just stand there and film it. So I stopped. But I am not erasing what I got before that. Reasonable museum. The modern American collection is particularly impressive, and they had a glass collection which was amazing.
About 4, I developed a sinus headache, so I went back to my room and doped up and went to sleep, hoping not to miss the game.

Got up in time for game, and felt better. Not great, was still really tired and stopped up, but went to the game anyway.

Milwaukee County Stadium is very bland. They don't have DiamondVision, which is ok, but they play video with the light-bulb scoreboard. Uggh. Looks like an Apple II screen. Bob Eucker is good on the radio, though, and the sausages are quite yummy. Cleveland won, 5-2.

Game Link: https://www.retrosheet.org/boxesetc/1994/B06110MIL1994.htm

Baseball Trip Replay - Day 18 - June 10, 1994

June 10 - Got back on the road. Got to Chicago just in time for rush hour. Not only that, but they are rebuilding the Kennedy freeway, which is the busiest in the city. Traffic was horrible. Once I got through that, Northern Illinois and Wisconsin are very nice. Got into Milwaukee about 8. Had real trouble finding a place to stay. It's a nice town; lots and lots of brick buildings, parks, breweries, and Lutheran churches. But not many motels. Finally found one on west side of town. By this point, I really felt terrible; I was stopped up and had a touch of fever.

Route: I-57 North to I-90-94 (Kennedy Expressway). I-90-94 West (North) to I-94. I-94 North to US 41. US 41 North to I-94 (avoids toll in Illinois). I-94 West to Milwaukee.

Baseball Trip Replay - Day 17 - June 9, 1994

June 9 - Left Dallas for Milwaukee. Drove a lot. At one point, in rural Arkansas, I was trying to take a shortcut from I-40 to I-55. Didn't work out, there was a sign missing and I ended up on a dirt road with very poor, very black people living in shanties looking at me like I was crazy. Other than that, the trip was long. I was starting to get stuffy now. Sigh. Stopped in Cairo, IL, just across the border from Missouri on I-57. Just in case you were wondering, that's pronounced "Carrow". The motel was a dive, but it was clean. I went to the truck stop to get a newspaper, but all they had was bad pornography and cigarette smoke. Truckers are depressing. And to think I really wanted to be one for a while when I was growing up.

Route - Texas 183 East to I-35E. I-35E South to I-30. I-30 East to I-440 (Little Rock, AR). I-440 East and North to I-40. I-40 East to Arkansas 218. Arkansas 218 North (East) to I-55. I-55 North to I-57. I-57 North to Cairo.