Why go to all 30 just once? Why not see every league opponent play at all 30?
Greetings to all fellow ballpark chasers. I just found out about this group today and joined right away. I live between Chicago & Milwaukee, so I am fortunate to have 3 ballparks within 65 miles. The other 27 require road trips. My first road trip was to Cleveland & Detroit in 1962. It took me until 1976 to get to every active ballpark, and then expansion came in 1977.
By the mid-80's I had developed the lifetime goal of seeing every league opponent play in every league location, home & away, in both leagues. By the time we got up to 30 teams (16 NL, 14 AL), this meant there were 422 opponent combinations. I completed that on October 2, 2009 (Astros at Mets). By that time, Montreal had moved to Washington, and it required me to start chasing the Nationals all over the place, as well as getting to all 15 NL opponents in our nation's capital. That I finished this year.
Now Houston has changed leagues, so you can imagine what my focus will be in the seasons just ahead. With the advent of interleague play, I was confronted with the impossible task of seeing every combination of those games. However, I'll see how many I can do before I hang them up. I have seen just over 100 interleague games as of now. (Total lifetime games 1,165).
Naturally, the big question I have for all of you is whether or not any of you have also accomplished this, or are well on your way to doing so. I am aware of only one other person who has done this, and that is Jim Waddell of Glendive, Montana. We met quite by chance at Enron Field in April of 2001 and became great friends. From then on, we meshed our annual schedules as much as possible. As of now, we have seen 102 games together, at least one at all 30 locations. He finished our mutual goal the year before I did, in 2008.
So, who else is up for doing all 14 league opponents at all 30 locations? J.Salvo
Replies to This Discussion
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Permalink Reply by Jim Wood (46 MLB) on
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This has crossed my mind before, but the sheer enormity of the task made it one mission I'd be ok with skipping. I have been to all 30 and have now included seeing my White Sox at all 30 (15 down, 15 to go).
If you do this please post updates here. That is amazing!
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Permalink Reply by Eric Kabakoff (35) on
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John, I salute you! That is a ridiculously ambitious goal and one I wish I had thought of. Please post updates as you progress.
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Permalink Reply by Bob D (MLB 30/48 total 442) on
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I think I read about you on line somewhere a couple of years ago. I think it is cool that you did this and enjoy that. It is not exactly my goal. I do want to see each team play at the Mets (I'll get this done eventually) and ideally I would like to return to see the Mets in each park(probably won't finish this one), but I am not going to each mlb park at least 15 times. I have too many other things I want to see. I like going to minor leagues(185 parks) and colleges (83) as well. I do enjoy hearing other chasers stories.
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Also Your post gave me a reason to filter my 344 mlb games and find out the most common matchup I have seen is Mets @ Montreal 13 games . As a Mets fan, the home team I have seen play the most visiting teams is obviously the Mets 20, the Yankees 14. Outside of NY , Washington and Pittsburgh 7 each. The visiting team I have seen play against the most home is also Mets 14. The Reds 7 (@ Cleveland,Cubs,Mets,Philadelphia,Pittsburgh,St Louis,Washington) and Oakland 7 (@ Atlanta,Baltimore,Cleveland,Mets,Minnesota,Tampa Bay,Yankees) would be next
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Despite 42 trips to NYC since 1972, I still consider it the most difficult road trip of all. You have as many toll stops as we have beer joints in Wisconsin.
I've seen 17 teams at the Mets, all 14 current NL opponents, Montreal, Houston and just one interleague game (Tampa).
At the Yankees I've got 13 current AL opponents (lacking Houston), Milwaukee (when they were in the A.L.), and 2 interleague games (Braves, Mets), for a total of 16 opponents.
I did many of these games when I was stationed at McGuire AFB, NJ during the 1972 and 1973 seasons. JS
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