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A New GWR Record and Many New Ball Park Chaser Friends
The Streak ended at 30 MLB Parks in 23 calendar days!!
I broke my old record of 24 days by being-Fastest to see all 30 MLB parks in 23 days from April 6th to 28th!
Sked is here: fastestthirtyballgames3021.wordpress.com/2012/04/18/30in20/
Follow me-@chuckbooth3024 on twitter
https://mlbreports.com/gwr-tracker/ or at my official website for all updates!
Monday, Apr.30/2012
Ken Lee, Chuck Booth, Lori Martini and Roger Ratzenberger after the final pitch in Ball Park #30 in 23 days for Chuck Booth’s New World Record. Camden Yards is the sight of this picture.
Monday April.30/2012
MLB Park # 30 Day # 23
OAK 1 @ BAL 10
April.28/2012
Oriole Park at Camden Yards
Chuck Booth (Lead Baseball Writer and @chuckbooth3024 on twitter)- I am going to do this segment in reverse. I am jumping right ahead to the last game of the streak. Sure I have eight other recaps (besides this one) to still post that were technically before this game, but I need to write about this game first. I will post parks 22-24 on Wednesday and 25-29 on Friday. I will also have the Expert Interviews for Chase Field, Miller Park, US Cellular Field, The Great American Ball Park, Busch Stadium and PNC Park updated by the week’s end. Eventually all of this information will be available on my website at www.thirtyballgames3021.wordpress.com. The game had wrapped up in Busch Stadium for what was game #29. My wing-man Ken Lee, had done some great driving work to help me with 2 straight double-header even before heading to St. Louis. As we left the city on I-70, I took on the duties of driving. Ken had exhausted himself in the process of helping me. I started the 1st 8 hours of driving towards Baltimore. This would be park number 30 in only 23 days. For me I knew this would mean another world record. In the back of my mind it was a long time between cities so I was gearing up to face the challenge. I was rested up as much as I had been in several weeks. The driving was actually a nice change from being a passenger.
Chuck Booth’s 30 MLB Park Quest: (Games 16-21)
The Streak stands at 23 MLB Parks in 18 calendar days!!
Chuck Booth: I am the World Record Holder for-Fastest to see all 30 MLB parks in 24 days (2009)!
In 2012, I am going for 30 MLB Parks in 23 days from: April 6th to 28th.
Follow me-@chuckbooth3024 on twitter
Follow my streak all the through to the bitter end. Schedule is this link:
https://mlbreports.com/gwr-tracker/ or at my official website for all updates!
fastestthirtyballgames3021.wordpress.com/2012/04/18/30in20/
Tuesday April.24/2012
Ken Lee, Chuck Booth and Doug Miller all at Safeco Field for the game #18 in 14 days on April.19/2012. (They would later be featured on TV several times above the King’s Court Seats. ) Chuck also had a special welcome wave from the TV Jumbo Tron and was given a free gift bag from the Seattle front office.
MLB Park # 16 Day # 12
CHC 2 @ MIA 3
April.17/2012
New Marlins Ball Park
‘Chuck Booth (Lead Baseball Writer and @chuckbooth3024 on twiter)- It was a great day for a new baseball park. During this trip, anytime that I have had a single game only for a day, I have felt a little bit more relaxed while watching the action. I flew into FLL (Fort Lauderdale Airport) really early and caught up on some writing. I was fully rewarded with my National Car Rental to the tune of a Chrysler 200 that was black in color. I made my way to my Best Western Hotel near the airport. Check in time was not till 3 PM, but I was able to coerce the staff to let me take a room early. I really appreciate the professional way the Best Western staff always helps me in the travels. Read the rest of this entry
You Shake, Rattle and Roll On A World Record Chase
Tuesday, April.11/2012
Chuck at Dodger Stadium
Chuck Booth (Lead Baseball Writer and- @chuckbooth3024 on twitter)- My step-mom is a retired executive from Air Canada. Back when I was a teenager, Nancy taught me how to travel properly, by how to pack, schedule and always be able to adapt when things go awry. I am pleased to say that she had an incredible influence on me becoming a travel expert now. Her slogan was always; “You gotta learn how to shake, rattle and roll when traveling.” My dad (Tom Booth), helped teach a proper demeanor for my 3 brothers and me while on vacation that I also implement. He said to us “You guys are going to encounter several things when traveling. “If you break, lose or-your items are lost for you, just replace them immediately and don’t let it consume you. After all, why should you be miserable on vacation?” These are motto’s I live by while traveling. I perpetually move forward and don’t look back. While I am glad this trip has generated a lot interest, really the passion here is baseball and traveling. If by some chance I don’t best my own record, I will have fun watching a baseball game in every city again. “You have nothing to prove in this world other to anybody but yourself!”
I have encountered numerous ways of being delayed in chasing baseball parks. Last night was no different. I sat in the San Diego Airport ready to embark on my flight to Cleveland that was supposed to be part of a Progressive Field/Oriole Park at Camden Yards day-night doubleheader. Out of all the 10 doubleheaders that I placed to attempt during this World Record chase, this particular one I would rank the second toughest. The only doubleheader I thought was tougher was the Angel Stadium/Petco Park double header. Ironically enough, I converted that doubleheader. So when the flight was cancelled last night-(due to mechanical failure) I knew I had to think fast on my feet. The Airline was offering up help to fly on other flight, or destinations within reason. Much to my dismay, the airline was not even able to fly me into the second half of the double header n Baltimore, thus creating a plane flight domino. Adding to the severity of the pressure, was I had to think of something fast because the airline needed to help me book a morning flight out of San Diego.
Whenever I plan one of these trips, I have a depth chart for each team. I am lucky that after a few hours of placing this schedule together, I also come up with many different alternatives. Missing the game in Texas the other night for a small delay was nerve-wracking, but maybe it was all meant to be. When I expressed to the airline that I wanted to fly to Dallas, they quickly were on board with that option. The other dominoes came to me quickly. I moved Cleveland to the 25th as part of PNC Park and Progressive Field Ground Transportation doubleheader. As part of my original streak attempt when I first dreamt up another run at this, the schedule had this exact doubleheader. Cleveland was the last team in the Majors to post their start times. When the Indians scheduled a matinee for the 11th of April, it opened up another doubleheader attempt for me by placing the Orioles with Cleveland. All I had to do was bring Detroit into the doubleheader chance with Pittsburgh instead. Now that I am not going to Progressive Field today, I am able to re-schedule the easier to attain doubleheader. Baltimore was switched to the date left vacated by Texas on the 27th of April. This left Detroit. I knew the team played on the 22nd of April.
One of the reasons I went to Chase Field last Friday, was to protect myself against something like last night. That Chase Field game is now the 1st game of the streak. I moved Detroit into their slot on the 22nd. All the teams have a home in the streak again. What is more incredible about this: is that by shifting these cities around and shuffling transportation costs this little maneuver is going to save me $300. I was dreading having to schedule the Texas game after the streak ended, whether it was driving 17 hours or flying, it was going to be costly and time-consuming, I managed to switch out all my flights and actually have a surcharge in my favor. Since I am flying to Denver from Dallas tomorrow, it was a cheaper flight from almost anywhere when you near a travel day fare. Now I am flying to Dallas for a plane fare I spent $160 to originally go to Cleveland for. This day of plane for to Dallas would probably be in the $500-$600 area.
By re-scheduling the trip this way, it also frees up more availability should I have to make up another game or two. That Detroit game doubleheader was risky. If I was running the streak near perfect, I could have risked it and then shuffled the Tigers to the very next day and forego the Cincinnati/Chicago White Sox doubleheader on the 25th. This was not the case and I need that 26th doubleheader. If I kept that doubleheader and missed the Tigers, the next date they were home was April.30th (or the 24th day of the streak.)
Moving Detroit to Sunday the 22nd is pretty decent too, I have a doubleheader for Chicago and Milwaukee on the day before. This is about a 7 hour drive to Michigan. Ken Lee will now attend at least 8 of my games with me for this streak. The Pittsburgh/Cleveland double dip is very doable. The Pirates game should end around 3:30. It is only a couple of hours drive to Progressive Field from there. I would give us a 80-85% chance to hit this game. If for some reason we don’t, the Indians play on the 27th- through the 29th. Other doubleheaders remaining are the TOR-NYY (Yankees play on the 27th-29 in case of miss) ATL-STL (Cardinals play on the 27th-29 in case of miss) CIN/CWS (The White Sox play a series on the 27th-29th). CHI/MIL (The Brewers do not play so I will need the DH). I also give us a 80-85% of making this. Finally I have the Boston/Washington DH (If I miss WSH-I can move them into the Marlins slot of the 17th and then re-do the Marlins from the (27-29 series).
So far I have had 2 missed doubleheaders in this trip that were entirely out of my control. Now a 30-22 schedule hangs in the balance. Whatever happens throughout the rest of the trip is up in the air. The 2009 streak of 30-24 seems even more impressive now than before. In a night where I have already logged 17,000 Air Miles for this trip and running on all fumes, I was able to come up with the best viable solution I could. So whenever I have a chance, I will sleep comfortably about my performance on this trip thus far. I go into tonight’s game looking for my 8th Ball Park in 6 days. Its been a tough 20 hrs-fighting airlines-car rentals not having cars and several doubters and haters-i made it 2 the ballpark-suitcase/briefcase and all-scoreboard says 8 gms 6 days parks 30/22 days
NEW SCHEDULE UPDATED APR 11
With a flight cancellation last night, it has caused me to reschedule several games for the streak. The Arizona D’Backs game now becomes the official game #1. If the game was changed from the original, it will be highlighted in red. I also changed the PIT/DET doubleheader to now be a PIT/CLE Doubleheader on the 25th ave. I lost one of my doubleheader attempts today, but at least I am not taking an a zero.
Game#1 Day #1 Friday April.06 Chase Field in Arizona 4:10 PM (Completed: Arizona wins 5-4)
Game # 2 Day # 2 Saturday April.07 Angels Stadium in Anaheim 1:05 PM (Completed LAA loses 6-3 to KC)
Game # 3 Day # 2 Saturday April.07 Petco Park in San Diego 5:35 PM (I Have 2 doubleheader attempts with SD as Game 2 of the day)( Completed: San Diego loses 6-5 to the LAD in 11 innings)
Game # 4 Day # 3 Sunday April.08 Minute Maid Park in Houston 1:05 PM (Completed: Houston wins 3-2)
Game # 5 Day # 4 Monday April.09 Citizens Bank Ball Park in Philadelphia 1:05 PM (Citizens Bank Ball Park Season Opener) (Completed: Philly loses 6-2 to the Miami Marlins)
Game # 6 Day # 4 Monday April.09 Citi Field in New York (NYM win 3-2 over WSH)
Game # 7 Day # 5 Tuesday April.10 Dodgers Stadium in Los Angeles 1:05 PM (Dodger Stadium Season Opener) Completed: LAD wins 2-1 over Pit)
Game # 8 Day # 6 Wednesday April.11 The Ballpark in Arlington 7:05 PM
Game # 9 Day #7 Thursday April.12 Coors Field 1:05 PM
Game #10 Day # 8 Friday April.13 AT&T Park in San Francisco 1:35 PM (AT & T Park Season Opener)
Game # 11 Day # 9 Saturday April.14 Target Field in Minnesota 12:10 PM
Game # 12 Day # 10 Sunday April.15 Rogers Center in Toronto 1:07 PM
Game # 13 Day # 10 Sunday April.15 Yankees Stadium in the Bronx 8:05 PM
Game # 14 Day #11 Monday April.16 Fenway Park in Boston 11:05 AM
Game # 15 Day #11 Monday April.16 Nationals Park in Washington 7:05 PM
Game # 16 Day #12 Tuesday April.17 New Marlins Ballpark 7:05 PM
Game # 17 Day #13 WED April.18 Turner Field in Atlanta 12:10 PM
Game # 18 Day #13 WED April.18 Busch Stadium in St. Louis 7:15 PM
Game # 19 Day #14 THUR April.19 Safeco Field in Seattle 7:10 PM
Game # 20 Day # 15 Friday April.20 Kauffman Stadium in Kansas City 7:10 PM
Game # 21 Day # 16 SAT. April.21 Wrigley Field in Chicago 12:00 PM
Game # 22 Day # 16 SAT. April.21 Miller Park in Milwaukee 6:05 PM
Game # 23 Day # 17 SUN. April.22 Comerica Park in Detroit 1:05 PM
Game # 24 Day # 18 MON. April.23 O.co Coliseum in Oakland 7:05 PM
Game # 25 Day # 19 TUES April.24 Tropicana Field in Tampa Bay 7:05 PM
Game # 26 Day # 20 WED. April.25 PNC Park in Pittsburgh 12:35 PM
Game # 27 Day # 20 WED. April.25 Progressive Field in Cleveland 7:05 PM
Game # 28 Day # 21 THU. April.26 Great American Ballpark in Cincinnati 12:35 PM
Game # 29 Day # 21 THU. April.26 US Cellular Field in Chicago 7:11 PM
Game# 30 Day # 22 FRI April.27 Oriole Park at Camden Yards. 7:05 PM
***Thank you to our Lead Baseball Writer- 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 23 days click here or on the 30 MLB Parks in 23 days GWR tracker at the Reports click here. To Purchase or read about “The Fastest 30 Ballgames Book, ” please click here ***
Please e-mail us at: mlbreports@me.com with any questions and feedback. You can follow us on Twitter and become a fan on Facebook. To subscribe to our website and have the Daily Reports sent directly to your inbox, click here and follow the link at the top of our homepage.
The First Five Games of The Streak
Tuesday April.10/2012
Douglas “Chuck” Booth at Citi April 9th
Chuck Booth (Lead Baseball Writer and @chuckbooth3024)- Well, I finally get a chance to breathe for one second. Too bad it was at the expense of the events that transpired yesterday. Contrary to popular belief, this world record streak is not a walk in the park. Traveling is a hard thing to do at the best of times. I will break down the trip synopsis game by game. I am breaking down the travel games at Parks day by day. Read the rest of this entry
The Priceline ‘Bidding Tutorial’ for Baseball Road Trips
Saturday March 17, 2012
Douglas ‘Chuck’ Booth (Baseball Writer)-I am constantly grateful for living in an era that you can negotiate prices for almost anything. Such as everything we do in life, you become better at something the more you practice at it.
I use Priceline for most of my lodging on baseball road trips. The only circumstances I would not use Priceline is if I am only going to be staying in a room for five hours or less. For Cars, I usually have 20 free car rentals a year but that is only since I rent cars for 365 days a year. People owning their own cars are better off bidding on Priceline. So here is the process that I came up with that tends to have the greatest results. Read the rest of this entry
Time Management and Planning Tips for Baseball Road Trips
Friday March 9, 2012
Douglas ‘Chuck’ Booth (Baseball Writer)- You have booked your vacation time off work after scouting out the Major League Baseball Schedule this year(Usually posts Sept.15 for the next following year). You then either have to buy plane tickets or organize Ground Transportation to move around to these cities, in a lot of cases you will need to do both. Most people do not want to feel rushed on vacation, as chances are their real life is already like this and they are looking for a reprieve from a hectic pace. Obviously, the better travelers would already have priced out everything from flights to: parking, food, lodging, gas, car rentals, taxi cabs, tickets, tolls, luggage, add that to electronic considerations like; roaming charges for cellphones and all forms of picture-taking like maybe additional Memory Cards. You are left with a lot of planning and money management to tackle. You have finagled a way to pay for your vacation, however how do you go about the process in stages? Read the rest of this entry
Public Transit is A Cheap Method of Travel to MLB Parks
Friday, February 24, 2012
Douglas ‘Chuck’ Booth (Baseball Writer)- I am sure all of us know how grinding it is to make a baseball game in terms of traffic. Well add to that problem with unfamiliarity of the area and this can be a stressful time. I learned some valuable lessons in my 30 park trips. Some of the expertise I crafted came from deep research. If you are traveling with 1-3 people, you are better off trying to find yourself on public transportation. In most cases, price and time wise, taking public transportation is effective. You just have to know what you are dealing with. I will break down all 30 MLB Cities-with quick hints and suggestions. Read the rest of this entry
Sample of what my Friday Travel Blog will Cover
Friday, February 03, 2012
Douglas ‘Chuck’ Booth (Baseball Writer)- Since writing about traveling to ballparks is what I know most about, I thought I would take the next 9 weeks (before the season starts) writing articles that extensively go through every part of my expertise. Over the course of the last five years I have done countless hours of research on this subject matter, so I am going to share my information with you in hopes you may save some time or money this 2012 MLB season. I am sharing my knowledge of: baseball tickets, maps, frequent flier miles/reward points, car rentals vs. driving your own car, hotels, airports and finally time management & budgeting. Here is a sneak preview of what I will be posting.
Car Rentals
The best way to ensure that you have money available on your credit card, (keeping in mind that most rental places take a $200 minimum deposit), is to bid on your car through www.priceline .com. There is a feature where you can bid on your car rental for specific airport locations called ‘BID NOW.’ You can offer a price that you have to pay immediately, but in most cases you will find a serious discount. I have often bid 40% of the average car rental per airport price and had the offer go through. Anyways, 80% of the time your winning bid will come back to rent from Alamo/National Car Rental.
Car Rentals
Alamo/National is the best car rental company by far in the United States. Not only do they have exceptional customer service—–they also do not charge your credit card for any $ amount more than the price of your rental. Do yourself a favor and also sign up for ‘The Emerald Club Rewards Program’ from National. They have airport bypass the counter options that enable you to USE self-serving kiosks that do not require you to stand in line at the car centers-rather pick your class of car and proceed to the exit. Other car rental companies have deposit charges that are held against your credit card. If you are going on a 4 city trip, you can easily have up to $800-1000 dollars locked up in these deposits, this can be harmful in you enjoying your trip. Not all of us have the affordability to have so much money unavailable. An average of 5-8 days is what it will take for the deposited dollars to be restored when your car rental is completed. National is the only car rental company in which you can redeem a free earned day car rental for a one-way drop off without paying an excessive fee if you have earned a free rental reward day. I will give you an example. This means you can rent a car in Los Angeles and drop it off it Albuquerque, New Mexico within the 24 hours for no money extra. Also with this incredible deal, is that you pay just pennies in taxes for your accrued free rental days, where other car rental places can charge up to $20-30 just in taxes alone despite offering you the free day for a rental reward. Perfect for that baseball traveler that wants to head in one direction!
Priceline
Priceline is great for bidding on car rentals, but is also fantastic for hotel rentals where you can use the same option to bid for your price of hotels. Honestly, when we are all in the middle of a big baseball road trip, the last thing we want is to spend excessive amounts of money on a hotel we are not going to use other than a quick sleep and shower. Wouldn’t you rather spend a lot more time at the ball yard? Again by bidding on the hotel, and paying for it right away you can ensure on a more of a budget/cost certainty. Even if the front desks take a small deposit at time of check in—these transactions are quickly released when you check out. The best to bid is too low-ball your first few offers, then gradually increase your bidding. Now Priceline does make you alter your bid for every declined request you submit, so the key is to not act aggressive in frustration when you don’t win the bid. The key here is to be patient. After 24 hours, you can re-open up all columns to bid again with an increased offer from your first one. Just chart your offers to slightly increase your amount until you have success. I would not suggest you use Priceline for airline flights because the winning bid will usually feature layovers, or more importantly, the times of the flights on won bids may not be conducive to arriving in time for a baseball game in your destination city.
HOTELS
For those economy travelers such as myself, I implore you to use Motel 6 and/or Super 8 as hotel chains to stay throughout the USA. They are decent hotels for the $value you pay. The best feature about these hotels is the ability to check in by 11am-12pm. Most 3-5 star hotels have check in times that start and 3 or 4pm. Again if you are flying or driving in from some other place do you really want to drive around for 3-4 hours sight-seeing because you are simply waiting for a check in time? Most baseball parks open their gates by 5PM for night games. Plus with these places cash is preferred, so they do not require a deposit on your credit card. If you are staying in the same city or have sufficient time to stay in one hotel, I would recommend you use Priceline to bid on your hotels. You can save up to 50% off with winning bids on 2-5 star hotels. Keep in mind that most of those hotels can save you money vs the budget hotels, with their free breakfasts.
Travel Note:Traveling to other cities with luggage is hard to finagle sometimes. When arriving in a new city, there may be time constraints or monetary issues that make you think about your luggage. Before you make any purchases for your trip, you must be cognizant of where your luggage will be at all times throughout the travel. You will not be allowed to bring your suitcase through security at the ball parks. Most cities will not even allow you to bring a briefcase into the games. So therein is a dilemma. If you are able to make it to your hotel before the game then your luggage will be okay. The same can be said if you have rented a car. The toughest games for luggage management are day games when arriving from other cities. For the Eastern Seaboard there is an ally you can use—and it is called ‘Amtrak.’
Amtrak Trains/Greyhound Buses
Both of these methods of transportation are a great way to see a bunch of baseball games fast while missing a lot of cluttered highway traffic, particularly in: New York-Baltimore-Washington-Philadelphia-Chicago-Milwaukee. Not only will you save gas/traffic scenarios-but Amtrak has a baggage check option at most stations for $3-4 dollars an item per day. All you have to do is have an itinerary, (coming or going) and you can check your luggage items. You will have to monitor the hours of operation for these places-however this option is exceptional when attending matinée games in any of these cities. New York’s Amtrak Station-(New York Penn Station), is a life saver when you can drop off your luggage and avoid renting a car. ‘Greyhound Bus Lines’ is also a good alternative for this in the cities of : Tampa Bay-Miami-Los Angeles-San Diego-Minnesota-Cleveland and Pittsburgh.
Kayak.com
Early morning flights are usually the cheapest airfares. I always use www.kayak.com when booking flights into baseball cities. If you are flying to cities like Cincinnati-Milwaukee-Detroit-Houston-Atlanta-or Dallas you may be shocked at how much they charge for flights. There is a way to get back at those airlines. I have done the following several times. Since these are hubs for other cities from big airlines, I would check flights from your starting departure and use your intended city of these listed above as a stop-over and then you can walk off the plane during the stop-over if it is cheaper—-and providing you are traveling without checked baggage—example. Three years ago I had to fly from Pittsburgh to Detroit during a double-header attempt for the first day of my World Record Chase. I needed a Pittsburgh Northwest Airlines flight that left at 5:15 PM directly to Detroit that arrived at 6:28 PM—it was the only non-stop flight that I could get that would give me a chance to make the Detroit game on time. There was a problem when the price came back was $500 for what was less than a 500 mile flight! I went to work with my strategy. I came up with a flight from Pittsburgh to Chicago-with the 1st leg of the trip being my flight that arrived in Detroit at 6:28 as the layover. The price for this flight was $130. There are many instances of this. I will explain more in the book how I used this scenario for a flexible schedule in case of make-up games.
Air Lines Best To Fly With:
Southwest Airlines–‘I wanna get away’ feature at http://www.southwest.com is a good price point for all of this airline’s domestic flights. Southwest might be marginally higher in price than some other airlines, however they do not charge for the 1st 2 checked bags as you may have seen from their steady TV Ad Campaign. They also do not charge transfer flight fees. This airline is setting the pace for customer price gouging acknowledgement.
Air Tran Airways-Quite frankly, they are the best airline in the USA for MLB fans. They are cheap, have newer airplanes with the most leg space for a coach ticket. They also offer more one-way non-stop tickets in the morning. Oh yeah…They are the official airline of XM Sirius Radio. You can listen to MLB games live in flight, or during off hours you can catch up on all of your favorite shows on XM Home Plate. Air Tran only charges $75 in case you have to change your flight at anytime plus the difference in flight. This price is half of most of the legacy airlines. Should you miss your Air Tran flight they also let you fly stand-by for the rest of the day on any remaining flights to your city of destination.
This is just the start as I will provide a game plan for all of the 30 MLB cities. I will take a look at all facets/methods of travel-that will include money and time-saving tips. After all, don’t we all want to see as many baseball games as we can without being hit in the pocket-book?
*** Thank you to our Baseball Writer- Doug Booth for preparing today’s feature on MLB reports. To learn more about “The Fastest 30 Ballgames” and Doug Booth, you can follow Doug on Twitter (@ChuckBooth3024) and click here Doug’s website, fastestthirtyballgames.com***
Please e-mail us at: MLBreports@gmail.com with any questions and feedback. You can follow us on Twitter and become a fan on Facebook . To subscribe to our website and have the daily Reports sent directly to your inbox , click here and follow the link at the top of our homepage.
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