Listing Through Life

We spent the morning touring Niagara Falls, then drove up to Toronto along the shore of Lake Ontario. We passed Exhibition Stadium, where the Blue Jays played until 1989.

We parked about half a mile from the Sky Dome and walked around outside. That’s the CN Tower behind the Skydome.

The fan gargoyles were located on either side of the hotel entrance.

We spent some time looking at the incredibly-expensive souvenirs in the large gift shop then went to the world’s largest McDonald’s. I bought a Big Mac and my wife got a McDog. There were restaurants and food counters and gift shops, all on a grand scale, all over the place.

The gates are arranged so we could only get to the part of the stadium near our seats, which meant that we could only get to the upper deck. I wandered around some to take pictures

While we were in center field, we could look down on Scott Sanderson warming up in the Yankee bullpen.

The stadium was sold out, so we couldn’t all sit together.

I was in the front row of the upper deck just down the third-base line from home plate. my wife was in the seat directly behind me, and I was able to rest my head on her knees (although she sat next to me while we ate until the other fans came). On one side of me there were two old guys who had season tickets and were very friendly. They told me stuff about the stadium and gave me tips about what to look for with certain Blue Jay batters. On the other side of me were two punk kids with ugly haircuts and bad attitudes. They got up every other inning to buy food and never missed an opportunity to bump me or give me a dirty look. Instead of getting angry, I smiled at them, and we were soon getting along. By the middle innings they were friendly and asking me questions like “How come this guys batting average has gone down since his last at-bat?” I said they were friendly, not intelligent.

Yep, we were in Canada — centre field.

The Blue Jay on his scooter in the fifth inning.

Eighth inning: Pat Tabler of the Blue Jays batting with the bases loaded. He had a career average of near .500 with the bases loaded and, in fact, singled to right to drive in a run. I took the photo because I thought in infield looked crowded.

Don Mattingly of the Yankees popping out to third. The Blue Jay pitcher is Bob MacDonald.

The Blue Jays won 11-7.

This was our first commando-style baseball vacation — we went with two other couples. The six of us packed into a van with our luggage and a year’s supply of junk food. Our first stop was Tiger Stadium in Detroit.

We arrived an hour and 15 minutes before game time. We parked about three blocks from the stadium, in the parking lot of a church. We were packed in tight, with no more than eight inches on each side of our vehicle and no hope of leaving until enough people left to make a channel.

Our seats were even with first base, 20 rows up from the field, but they were lousy. Even as close as we were, we were five rows behind a pillar. My view of the first baseman was blocked. Considering that the Tiger first baseman was Cecil Fielder, this was quite a blockage. We bought lunch in the park and ate while waiting for the game to begin.

Note how deep center field is. In various photos you can also see the right field upper deck that hangs over the field and the second-level center-field bleachers that are fenced off from the rest of the park.

Tiger Stadium is the Edsel of ball parks — interesting from a historical perspective but not very functional. The seats were narrow. The aisles were infrequent, so when we had to get out, we had to cut in front of a dozen people. We couldn’t see the scoreboard from where we sat. But hanging from the pillar that blocked our view were two TV monitors that showed replays, highlight films, and stats. They both had the same picture, but with two different color shades for us to choose between. Before the game, I wandered around a bit and took some photos

The view from center field. Notice how close the press box is to the field.

Ken Griffey, Jr. just singled and is leading off first. Tiger first baseman is Cecil Fielder, and the shortstop is Alan Trammell.

The Tiger pitcher is Frank Tanana and the third baseman is Travis Fryman. But notice the bullpen. The groundskeepers are on a bench, but the players are in a cage!

Rob Deer at bat in the fifth inning. Note how short the Tigers’ dugout is. And note the “No Pepper Games” message on the wall behind Pete Incaviglia in the on-deck circle … First of all, why not? Second thing; who is ever allowed on the field who wouldn’t know this?

The Tigers won 7-2.

I went to the game with three friends. When we got to the park, we took some photos of the ever-decreasing Old Comiskey. I reached through the fence and picked up a small piece of brick from the walls.

We had time before the game started, so we visited the tiny White Sox Hall of Fame. The displays were poorly-done and crowded, and we only stayed perhaps 15 minutes.

I bought supper at the park — Polish sausage and curly fries. The game started 36 minutes late because ESPN was covering it. The wait for the first pitch was long, but it didn’t seem to take as long as the wait between pitches — this was a very slow game. It finally ended at 11:23. The fans around us were loud, rude, vulgar, and drunk, as is frequently the case at Sox games.

I finally got to see the new scoreboard explode, as the White Sox hit five home runs. but they still managed to lose 12-9. I got home at 12:40.

I went to the game with three friends.

Our seats were on the third-base side, between home and the Cubs dugout. The view was great, but we were right on the main aisle. In this photo, you can see our seats just to the right of the stairway.

Second-inning action: Shawon Dunston is on first after singling. Joe Girardi, Cub catcher, is batting (he grounded out 5-3). The Expos first baseman is Andres Galarraga and the catcher is Mike Fitzgerald.

Third inning: Shawon Dunston dodges a wild pitch. The ball can be seen between the umpire’s legs.

Eighth inning: Chico Walker just pinch-hit and singled. He leads off first as Mark Grace bats. Ryne Sandberg is on-deck.

Eighth inning. Ryne Sandberg bats.

The Cubs scored three in the eighth to win 7-6.

I went to the game with two friends. It was the perfect night for a baseball game — in the high 60s, with a clear sky and a slight wind. We had a lot of laughs and didn’t notice until the game was over that it had been rather dull. The White Sox lost 2-1.