Photos: A day trip to Birmingham, Alabama

Since I was kind of sick at the start of the baseball season, I pretty much missed the entire opening homestand for the Braves.  Which is kind unfortunate, considering the Braves won five out of the six games they played in Atlanta, but now they’re on the west coast, and will be out there for like another week, or so it will feel.  Or maybe it’s just that I really relish the novelty in visiting ballparks I haven’t been to before, over my home park, who knows really.  So the first baseball game I went to live this year would be a new one.

Despite having lived in Atlanta for the past nine years, I’d never actually stepped foot in the state of Alabama before.  I’ve never had any reason to, and I can’t say that I’d never felt compelled to visit for any other reason than baseball.  Living where I live, I’ve had my share of exposure from Alabamans, most of them less than positive.  Too much Roll Tard and absurd loyalty to college football spawning irrational idiocy.  But with Rome and Lawrenceville already off the list, it left me with few alternatives.  And with the Braves’ double-A affiliates from Mississippi playing in Birmingham, it looked like good of reason as any to make my first ever trip into Alabama.

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Real Men Don’t Wear Small update: The Arizona Fall League

‘Tis an odd time of the year for me to be making an update to this ongoing project, but the Arizona Fall League doesn’t operate on the same timeline as the rest of Major League Baseball.

Having never been to the state of Arizona in my entire life previously, the Arizona Fall League was a perfect excuse to go out there for a visit for the first time.  A glorified exhibition league of minor league all-stars, championing the notion of “tomorrow’s superstars,” the AFL is a mini league consisting of six teams spread out throughout the remote Phoenix area.  In my first ever visit out to Arizona, I managed to find time to visit five of the six parks, and subsequently write entries into my ongoing project of the pursuit of visiting ballparks across America.

As far as pure baseball trip experiences go, as I’m sure I’ve said it before, I’m pretty much ruined.  The cost-effectiveness, quality of baseball and relaxing nature are second to absolutely nothing else, and it’s going to be something, when I’m forking over fifty bucks to sit way far from the field at some Major League ballpark in future years.

Photos: Arizona Fall League Roadtrip

Alrighty, I’ve got so much fucking writing to do throughout the rest of this month, it’s not even funny.  Well, actually it kind of is, because it’s almost entirely, self-appointed!  LOLME.

Anyway, despite the fact that I’m behind pace in my Nanowrimo story, I’m still confident that I can hit the 50,000 word mark.  Even if I am taking time out of it to brog in my personal brog that I love so very dearly.  It didn’t help any causes that I spent five days out in Arizona over the last week to watch baseball and probably gain about 20 lbs.

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Photos: Miami Trip, Day 2

An ice truck in Miami.  Are you thinking what I’m thinking?

Day 2 of my trip to Miami featured a little bit of beach, more baseball back at Marlins’ SunLiphinShark Player Robbie Stadium which more or less kind of sucked to no surprise, and then a little bit of evening wandering around South Beach after the previously shown kayaking experience.  BTW, kayaking renting done through South Beach Kayak, to which I would highly recommend if anyone else were to be interested in doing the same.

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Real Men Don’t Wear Small Update: Sun Life Stadium, Miami, Florida

I was in Miami last weekend.  I’ll post more on that when I get the opportunity to do so, but the primary reason was to go visit the Florida Marlins ballpark, before they ditch the “Florida,” and become the Miami Marlins in 2012, complete with brand new ballpark.  Real Men Don’t Wear Small update featuring the Marlins’ final season at Sun Life Stadium, in Miami, Florida.

Real Men Don’t Wear Small Update: Ripken Stadium

Corresponding with my recent trip up to Aberdeen, Maryland, the most recent Real Men Don’t Wear Small update features Ripken Stadium, home of the Aberdeen IronBirds, the short-season A-ball developmental team of the Baltimore Orioles.  Translation: a level below the minor leagues, for really, really young draftees and teenagers to get a taste of what professional baseball is like.

Real Men Don’t Wear Small Update: Kansas City Royals, St. Louis Cardinals

Two more of the 30 Major League Baseball parks were visited in the most recent Real Men Don’t Wear Small update.  The Kansas City Royals’ Kauffman Stadium, and St. Louis Cardinals’ Busch Stadium III were tackled in consecutive days, and as a bonus, double-duty was pulled after the Cardinals game, and a trip out to Sauget, Illinois, to see the independent Gateway Grizzlies at GCS Ballpark was made.

With Kansas City and St. Louis off the board, my current count is at 20 MLB parks visited, meaning only ten more to go.