BaseCrawl

BaseCrawl Chapter 10: Busch Stadium's street beats

Thu, 19 Nov 2009 22:20:45 -0800

We saw a lot of street musicians during our baseball road trip across America, but Busch Stadium produced something we hadn't seen: four men playing the same instrument.

These competing saxophone players presented a clear opportunity to satisfy our curiosity. What inspires a street musician to perform for baseball fans? How much do they make? What's their story?

Each of the 30 ballparks we visited had a distinct personality, and the saxophone players we spoke to helped tell the story of Busch Stadium, as well as highlight the rhythm and blues scene of St. Louis.

Tailgaters Anonymous � College World Series

Fri, 23 Oct 2009 13:44:48 -0700

Take a look at Brad and Kyle. These guys are among a distinct group of college baseball fans who love the College World Series, so long as they don't have to watch any baseball. They'd just as well play "Beat the Meat."

The College World Series draws a strange mix of fans like Kyle and Brad to see the eight remaining teams in NCAA baseball duke it out for a national championship. Aside from the stereotypical beer-drinking college boys, the event draws thousands of Nebraskans and Iowans who are plenty interested in watching the games. They just love baseball more than they do any particular team.

Our journey to Omaha's Rosenblatt Stadium was a nostalgic visit for Troy. This is where he rekindled his love for baseball watching his alma mater win national championships in 2006 and 2007. Although the Beavers had been eliminated at the time of our visit, their storied three-year run left a lasting imprint on Omaha.

Eternal Hope, Royal Mess

Sun, 11 Oct 2009 18:01:51 -0700

Nolan's gone, but the basecrawl continues ...

We were certainly surprised by what we found in Kansas City. The woebegone Royals were circling the drain as usual, yet you wouldn't know it looking around from your seat in Kauffman Stadium. The fans had more life and enthusiasm than Billy Mays.

If we hadn't known any better, we'd have thought we were watching a team in the pennant race. Royals fans stick by their team with a strange mixture of pride and embarrassment.

Stop No. 8 on our baseball road trip also presented a unique opportunity to visit the Negro Leagues Baseball Museum. Located in the historic 18th & Vine district of Kansas City, the NLBM showcases a rich part of American history, but also reminds us of baseball's segregated past.

Battle of the Beer Teams: Denver

Fri, 25 Sep 2009 20:51:24 -0700

Planning a 10-week, 17,000-mile road trip through 40 states is a massive undertaking. This basecrawl � a quest to see one game at every Major League ballpark � happens to be framed around three weddings, one for each of our travelers. No sooner has the game in San Diego ended when our basecrawlers begin an all-night push to Denver so Nolan isn�t late to a rehearsal dinner and a reunion with his girlfriend. Game No. 7 takes our team to Coors Field and a battle of the beers. Everyone appears to be riding a �mile high,� but stunning news is about to completely alter the nature of this road trip.

Baseball Psychology

Fri, 25 Sep 2009 20:39:07 -0700

Ever wonder why certain people root for certain ball clubs? Or why a baseball fan's sex drive fluctuates with the ups and downs of his favorite team? As the quest to hit all 30 ballparks in one season continues, our basecrawlers use their stop at Petco Park to take a look at the physiology and psychology of fan behavior. The San Diego Padres are playing Daren's beloved Mets, and our native New Yorker sees his mood swing like a batter taking a hack at a Jake Peavy fastball.

Scout's honor: Oakland Coliseum

Wed, 23 Sep 2009 14:40:11 -0700

When Troy was 7 years old, a professional baseball scout gave him a business card and made a tacit promise: "Call me in 11 years and I'll give you a personal tryout to play for the Oakland A's."

During a stopover in Portland, Oregon, our basecrawlers discover that Troy's father has held onto the business card for more than 20 years. With Oakland Coliseum the next stop on their baseball road trip, our basecrawlers attempt to reconnect with one of Troy's influential childhood figures.

The BaseCrawl Begins: Seattle

Sun, 20 Sep 2009 23:25:49 -0700

The long-delayed BaseCrawl videos have finally arrived.

Chapter 1 of our story takes three friends to the Pacific Northwest. Our travelers intend to see one game at all 30 Major League ballparks in a single season, and the home of the Seattle Mariners is the site of Game No. 1.

This is the first in a series of documentary shorts that were created in the Current.com format. In each of these videos, we attempt to tell a story, profile a character or explore an idea. America's baseball cities are the backdrop for these videos, but the baseball games are not necessarily the subject of our stories. You can learn more about our project here.

In this first video, we take a brief look at a new-era ballpark, and how it resembles a small city in so many ways. It can provide food, shelter, clothing, sanitation, medical care and security for tens of thousands.

When you set out to hit every MLB stadium in a season, it's easy to take for granted just how much you'll depend on these ballparks for basic needs. For our three travelers, the ballparks will be serve as second homes over the course of 10 weeks � providers as well as places of entertainment.

BaseCrawl | A baseball road trip for the ages

Wed, 17 Sep 2008 05:12:26 -0700

What's New

9.16 BaseCrawl's second teaser trailer

We have two BaseCrawl updates to announce.

First, Troy has written a new blog titled "I thought I had seen it all ..." He reveals EXACTLY how much it cost to gas up a vehicle and drive it 17,000 miles to every Major League ballpark in one summer. He also writes about the secret to pulling off a baseball road trip such as this on a relatively small budget, and all the people who made it possible. This blog features a slideshow, too, that you can find right here.

The other update, of course, is our second "teaser" for our forthcoming series of documentary shorts. We were not short on inspiration or motivation, but as we dove headfirst into new territory, all three of us found video journalism more challenging than expected. This teaser reveals some the challenges we met, the stupid mistakes we made and the overall buffoonery involved in stumbling through something for the first time. In a way, it also underscores the challenges we still face as we attempt to put it all together in the editing room.

Here's the description for the video:

"Three friends -- a math professor, a freelance journalist and an unemployed ecologist -- set out to chronicle a basecrawl through all 30 Major League ballparks in one summer. But the inspiration and motivation driving their documentary is tempered by technical problems, poor preparation and a general lack of experience. Yet they didn't let little things -- like learning to use the camera -- get in the way of their attempt to bring humor, insight and a unique perspective to America's storied pastime."

You may notice that our "Video Pods" tab at the top is now working. You'll eventually be able to scroll through all our videos there. These videos are currently being hosted on MySpace and YouTube, and may be found elsewhere shortly. Expect most of our video pods to be hosted by Current.com, the wonderful user-powered network that's democratizing journalism and filmmaking.

More to come ...

BaseCrawl | A baseball road trip for the ages

Sat, 06 Sep 2008 02:37:43 -0700

What's New

8.26 BaseCrawl's first teaser trailer

We are proud to unveil the first real video associated with BaseCrawl. We don't mean to be a tease, but this is just a teaser trailer for our project. There's a second teaser trailer on its way, too, that we'll post in a few days.

If you're curious, all the footage you see in this teaser was shot with "Gobbles," the name we assigned Camera No. 2. It contains no footage from "Timmy," our Camera No. 1. We're still busy converting that footage to a digital format we can easily edit.

The video pods are coming shortly. They'll begin appearing here as soon as they come out of the editing room. There will be one video pod associated with each game we attended during the summer, for a total of 31 (including the College World Series). But these pods will not be about the games themselves. They'll be about the people we met, the stories we heard and the baseball culture we observed. Each pod will range between 3 and 8 minutes. I've you want to see an example of the style and format, feel free to check out a non-baseball video pod Troy submitted to Current TV regarding the 2008 election here.

In between editing video we have written a few new blogs. Troy has written a tongue-in-cheek ranking of the worst places to watch a ball game in his new blog "Ranking the 'Bottom 10' ballparks." This is to complement Daren's recent blog ranking the best ball parks.

Daren has also written a heartfelt eulogy to BaseCrawl, reflecting on his emotions and thoughts now that our journey is over. It's called "I hate hot dogs" and gives subtle clues to his current whereabouts.

Again, if you've made your way to this site and followed our adventures, we cannot thank you enough. Please stay tuned ...

�

Basecrawl | A baseball road trip for the ages

Fri, 15 Aug 2008 04:35:07 -0700

What's New

8.4 The end is just the beginning

Three friends began this journey May 24 in Missoula, Montana. Two finished it Aug. 4 in Phoenix, Arizona. After watching the Diamondbacks pummel Pittsburgh, Daren and Troy completed the first part of the mission: attend one game at every Major League ballpark in one season.

Arizona is a relatively new baseball team. So we spent the day asking fans: "Who was your favorite team before the Diamondbacks?" As you can imagine, the answers varied widely, and with each new team mentioned we were able to reflect on our journey. This will be the subject of our last video pod. Daren also reflects on all the parks we've seen by ranking them in his latest blog: "Wait! It's Over?"

Our project has gone through many incarnations, beginning as an unreasonable idea for a wild vacation, then manifesting itself as platform for journalism, storytelling and a series of short-form docs. We pooled our resources, drained our bank accounts, charged our credit cards and somehow made it to the end. But it's not really the end.

The quest is technically over, but the mission is just beginning. There will be several more updates in the next few weeks as we go through our footage and assess a plan to release our video pods. We are very appreciative of everyone who has taken an interest in our little project, enjoyed our scrappy photo albums and followed our blogs. We've had so much fun doing these things, but this is actually a video journalism project. And that part of BaseCrawl is now getting under way. We met great people, saw incredible places and heard amazing stories. We can't wait to bring these to you in moving pictures. The "video pods" tab at the top of this page might even start working soon.

In the meantime, we're still blogging. Again, don't forget to read Daren's eloquent ranking of all 30 parks here. Who's No. 1? Is is PNC Park or Yankee Stadium? All our photo galleries are up to date, too, including a few new pictures from Chase Field.

We'll be back shortly with some more closing thoughts, a summary of how much money we spent on gas (everyone wants to know) and updates on the progress of our project.

Thank you for following our journey. Please stay tuned.

Sincerely,
Daren, Troy (and Nolan)

Basecrawl | A baseball road trip for the ages

Wed, 13 Aug 2008 01:40:42 -0700

What's New

8.2 Snickerdoodle, Texas Ranger

What is the fastest way to the heart of a Texas Ranger? It might be chocolate chip cookies, or maybe snickerdoodles. At least that's the impression we got after spending some time with The Cookie Lady, pictured above with Rangers dancers.

We ignored our original itinerary and took our time getting to the Dallas area, arriving three days behind schedule to watch the Rangers lose to Toronto, 6-4. But no matter, once again it was the amazing people we met and the interesting things we learned.

In this case it was Shirley "The Cookie Lady" Kost, her husband, Cal, and their famous cookies. Shirley's been baking cookies for Texas players for about eight years now. She's a fixture at Rangers' BallPark where she uses her season tickets to share cookies and joy with everyone around her.

We believe you can tell a lot about a baseball player by the cookies he eats. For instance, did you know that Ian Kinsler prefers snickerdoodles? Or that Frank Catalanotto's favorite cookie is pineapple/pecan combination with carmel icing known as the "Cat's Meow?"

Or how about Josh Hamilton, the rising star with the big guns and the big bat? Take note, kids: Hamilton always requests oatmeal raisin from The Cookie Lady.

We'll have more on Shirley and her husband, Cal, after we finish our video pod on baseball in Texas. In the meantime we've posted a few more mediocre photos, including some from the largest urban bat colony in North America and others from the game in Arlington.

It's off to Phoenix and our final stop on this BaseCrawl.

Basecrawl | A baseball road trip for the ages

Sun, 03 Aug 2008 22:52:54 -0700

What's New

7.28 Astros fans in a league of their own

Some baseball fans have an incredibly odd way of expressing their love for their favorite teams. Such is the case in Houston where we were directed by folks on the message boards toward three unique Astros fan clubs: The O's Bros, Los Caballitos and The Little Pumas.

We made it our mission to explore the topic of fan clubism during our stop at Minute Maid Park. We found The Little Pumas' Web site before arriving in Houston and met them before the game. Daren then became an impromptu member of their club, donning a puma outfit and having one of his more interesting experiences at a baseball game. He writes about it in his new blog: "Welcome to Texas ... now go home!"

At the game we also were able to connect with the fine gentlemen known as Los Caballitos. They wear sombreros, ride stick horses and root for Carlos Lee. Check out their MySpace page here and an article we found on them here. More on them to come when we put together our video pod ...

Unfortunately we were not able to connect with The O's Bros, the loyal fans of Roy Oswalt. They're known for sometimes wearing wizard robes and performing a famous strikeout dance every time their favorite pitcher gets another K. Oswalt was pitching this night, but we were told the core members of The O's Bros were out of town. Sorry we missed you.

The Astros ran away with a 5-4 victory over the Reds, but once again we closed this chapter of our baseball road trip more pleased with the friends we made and the times we had. Troy has posted some pictures from Houston here, and we've compiled a few more here. The Little Pumas also posted their own blog about meeting us here.

We're headed to Dallas to eat some cookies ...

Basecrawl | A baseball road trip for the ages

Thu, 31 Jul 2008 03:38:20 -0700

What's New

7.27 Behind every favorite team is a story

Twenty-seven down, three to go. We've parted ways with Florida, the East Coast and are headed west to mess with Texas after surviving Bourbon Street.

Troy has written a new blog titled "The business card that changed everything." Troy takes a moment to reflect on his own personal pastime, and the chance encounter with a professional scout that shaped his childhood obsession with the Oakland A's. The business card pictured above was given to Troy when he was 7 years old, and we ask anyone who knows what became of this man to send us an e-mail. Troy goes into greater detail in his new blog.

We were stunned by the devastation still evident in New Orleans three years after Katrina. Still photography is not the focus of this project, but we've posted a few new photos from New Orleans here that don't quite do justice to what we witnessed. But we have a lot of video footage that we'll share with the world ... eventually.

We also had another BaseCrawl moment and lifetime first. Shortly after passing the 15,000-mile mark, we entered Houston and promptly ran out of gas on the interstate. As we sputtered to a stop on the side of the road, we both looked at each other and said, "BaseCrawl." For us, this word has become synonymous with "FUBAR."

On deck is our date with the Houston Astros and their zany fan clubs.

Basecrawl | A baseball road trip for the ages

Wed, 30 Jul 2008 04:29:31 -0700

What's New

7.24 This guy has a lot of balls

Pictured above is Dennis "The Menace" Shrader. He has a lot of balls, literally and figuratively. Before we saw the Rays lose 8-1 at home to Troy's A's, we visited Schrader's home in St. Petersburg for our upcoming video pod on what drives people to collect things -- in this case, baseball things.

Schrader collects autographed baseballs. He has more than 3,000 of them -- the largest private collection in the world. His balls have been autographed by seemingly everyone, including Babe Ruth, Marilyn Monroe, Joe Dimaggio and Fidel Castro. Schrader and his wife, Mary, were two of the more interesting people we've met on our baseball road trip and we can't wait to show you their video pod when we're finished. You can learn more about Dennis and his collection at www.littlecooperstown.com.

In the meantime, Daren has posted two new blogs. His first, "Quiet down everyone! I'm watching the scoreboard" recounts our experience watching the Marlins get smoked by Atlanta, although Daren wasn't paying much attention to the game on the field. (By the way, the home team has lost the last five BaseCrawl games). Daren also writes about his childhood memories of Florida, and how much he misses his blanket in "I think I saw Figment on Bourbon Street."

As always, we met many great people in Florida. Nicole and Kevin put us up -- and put up with us -- for two nights in St. Petersburg. Thanks guys! We also said farewell to our impromptu BaseCrawl member, Emily Rice, who brought us much joy and comic relief during our five days together.

New pictures are everywhere, and our map is up to date. Photos from Atlanta can be found here, Tampa Bay here and a few Marlins photos here.

We're now headed to a place where the stars at night, are big and bright ...

Basecrawl

Sun, 27 Jul 2008 08:25:53 -0700

What's New

7.21 New faces and places in Baltimore, Atlanta

We recently checked game Nos. 24 and 25 off our baseball road trip list, watching Baltimore and Atlanta choke at home. We're entering the homestretch of filming and collecting information for our quasi-documentary project. Editing looms ...

Troy has written a new blog on how he'd rather have an Oriole on his shoulder than dirty Sox on his feet. Troy wore his Tigers jersey to our recent game at Camden Yards, unaware -- at first -- that Detroit was the visiting team that day. He compares this experience to wearing the Tigers jersey around White Sox fans at U.S. Cellular Field where ... well ... just read about it in "I'd proudly wear an Oriole on my shoulder."

We have picked up a new BaseCrawl crew member to bring us back to three. Emily Rice has picked up where Nolan Rice left off, and we couldn't be happier (there is no relation between these Rices). Emily is Troy's grad school classmate. She's been with us for four days, accompanying us to the contest in Atlanta where she watched her favorite manager get ejected for a record-setting 141st time. Oh, and her favorite team lost 15-6 against the woebegone Nationals.

Troy has written another new blog that covers Emily joining our team and the quirks of Southerners. It's called "Southern Hospitality and my date with Moonshine." Don't forget to click the links on that one. A special thanks goes out to Maureen and Marshall Rice for putting us up for two nights and showing us an incredible time.

As always, we've updated our photo galleries and you can find all of those on the left-hand side, including pictures from Baltimore here.

More to come tomorrow.