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Friday April.13/2012

Follow Chuck Booth’s  streak all the through to the bitter end.  Schedule is this link:

https://mlbreports.com/gwr-tracker/ or at his official website for all updates!

Chuck Booth (Lead Baseball Writer and @chuckbooth3024 on twitter)- I joined Craig’s baseball community website in 2008 (ballparkchasers.com.)  I must say that all of us ballpark fans have a lot to thank him about. Craig launched Ballpark Chasers with the vision of connecting baseball fans around the world, especially those with the life goal of seeing all Major League ballparks. Since going live, Ballpark Chasers has doubled each year in total members and has quickly become the Internet’s largest collection of amateur ballpark images.   In my honest opinion, his website has been the catalyst on so many of us upping the ante on chasing parks around the country.  We are wiser fans and our pocketbooks are definitely a little heavier than they used to be with using his website here as a reference guide for all 30 MLB Parks.  I am proud to call Craig a friend and can’t thank him enough for all of the support he has given to me in my baseball endeavors.  I recently chatted with Craig about Coors Field.  Here is what we discussed.

DB: “Welcome to the MLB Reports Experts Interview Craig.  Please tell us about yourself and then give us a bit of background information on your life as Rockies ticket buyer?”

CL: “Thanks for having me, Chuck. I currently reside in Redmond, Washington with my wife and daughter. For work, I created a social network for baseball fans after meeting countless people who shared my same life-goal of visiting all 30 Major League ballparks. I quickly realized that there was no community for this, nor a way for us to track our progress. Ballparkchasers.com launched with the idea of connecting people around the world that share my same passion as well for a way for us to blog, organize our ballpark photos, and help plan our next ballpark trip. After three seasons, we now offer a widget for Chasers to track their stadiums that they have visited, post meet-ups for the games they will be attending and even a ticket exchange service.

As for my Colorado connection, I grew up in a Denver suburb and attended numerous Rockies games at Mile High Stadium as well as Coors Field. Also, being a die-hard Reds fan, I made a point of catching several games every season when the Reds came into town.”

DB: “Your website ballparkchasers.com has exploded into one of the best venue information sites in the world.  Did you ever think it was going to grow this much this fast?”

CL:  “We are really happy with the growth over the first three seasons. The members that have joined are very active and value the social network we are trying to provide. There are still so many Chasers out there that haven’t heard about us, so that keeps us going.”

DB: “Besides adding New Marlins Ballpark, what are your plans with the website this year Craig?”

CL: “We just launched the ticket exchange service after getting feedback from Chasers that they want a way to easily exchange, trade or sell their tickets. Our ballpark meet-up feature is also fairly new. This is a tool for members to post the games that they are attending and publicly invite others to join them. I would love to see one day that during every Major League baseball game, there are Chasers in the stands and meeting up with each other. So to answer your question, we will be working on promoting these new features and getting feedback from members on how we can perfect it.”

DB: “Coors Field, while nice, is one of the hardest parks to get to from the airport. Do you think this drives away some casual fans visiting the city?”

CL: “I don’t think so. If a casual fan is willing to fly somewhere to attend a game, they are not going to be bothered by having to rent a car or taking a cab into the city. Although the location is not convenient to downtown Denver, DIA is a major international airport, which provides more direct flights to and from, as well as cheaper airfare.”

DB: “What advice would you give for somebody experiencing Coors Field for the very first time?”

CL: “I always recommend for any first time experience at a ballpark to arrive an hour before the gates open. This will give you plenty of time to walk around the perimeter of the ballpark and see what makes it unique. For Coors specifically, you have B’s Ballpark Museum within walking distance. It’s a hidden gym filled with tons of baseball memorabilia.  Before you go into the ballpark, check out one of the surrounding microbreweries for a pre-game meal. Once inside Coors Field, a lot of fans like to go to the top deck to take a picture in the purple row of Coors Field. This is the row that marks a “mile high” above sea level. Make sure to go to the seats in right-center as they provide the best view of downtown and the Rocky Mountains.”

DB: “What exactly are Rockpile tickets?  I heard they are the cheapest ticket in MLB, is this the case?”

CL: “I can’t imagine there being a cheaper seat in baseball! Rockpile tickets are just $4 for adults or $1 for children under the age of 12 or adults over 55. These seats are in distant center field and I don’t recommend them for someone wanting to pay close attention to the game.

DB:  “What is the food like at Coors Field? What is your favorite ballpark food there?”

CL: “The food is certainly one of the best in all Major League parks. You have a great restaurant, Blue Moon Brewing Company, which offers fabulous micro brews and traditional American food. A quicker option is Rocky Mountain Oysters. This is a must try if you haven’t experience them before. Just make sure and ask what they are after you eat them!”

DB: “What is your favorite all time game that you have been in attendance at Coors Field?”

CL: “By far is was the All-Star game in 1998. It was the summer after I graduated from high school and a buddy and I splurged on tickets that cost over $400 each. We heard about the beanie baby giveaway and figured we could fetch at least half of our money back by selling them after the game. We lucked out and a couple wanted to sit by their friends so we swapped tickets and moved from the left field to 20 rows behind 1st base. Of all the baseball games I have attended, this has never happened to me. But it couldn’t have happened during a better game!”

  Craig is a co-author of the FB30!!!

DB: “Since they started putting the baseball in the humidifier, Home Runs have steadily gone down at the park.  As a fan, you saw them when baseballs where flying out of the yard, which game do you like better at Coors, a 10-7 game or a 1-0 game? “

CL: “Although it was a fun game to watch, I am more of a baseball traditionalist a prefer an old fashion pitchers dual.”

DB: “As someone who spent some time in Denver, what would it mean to the city if they won the World Series?”

CL: “It would be incredible and would bring a lot of new fans out to the ballpark. Denver is a rare city that can support all four major sports. The Nuggets and Rockies are the two that have yet to capture a championship. It’s has to happen eventually, right?”

DB: “Thank you very much Craig.”

*** A big thank you goes out to our Coors Field Expert Craig Landgren for participating in the expert article Series. To read more about all 30 baseball Parks click here for chaser guides that have all the information you need to become a seasoned veteran yourself***

*** Thank you to our Baseball Writer- Douglas “Chuck” Booth for preparing today’s feature on MLB reports.  To learn more about “The Fastest 30 Ballgames” and Chuck Booth, you can follow Chuck on Twitter (@ChuckBooth3024) and you can also follow Chuck’s website for his Guinness Book of World Record Bid to see all 30 MLB Park in 20 days click here  or on the 30 MLB Parks in 20 days GWR tracker at the Reports click here. To Purchase or read about “The Fastest 30 Ballgames Book” please click here ***

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