East Coastin'

Well, Southern California's had it about up to here with me, so I'm heading to the East Coast with dear ol' dad on a once-in-a-lifetime baseball excursion taking us from Boston to New York and finally in Philly.

Here's the complete itinerary:

Saturday, May 3
Arrive in Boston around 4:00 PM. Check into the Hotel Commonwealth, which is right across the highway from Fenway. (Should I want to, I could open up the window to our room and peg -- okay, not peg...maybe have the ball eventually roll to a stop against -- bottom back-end of the Green Monster.)

Don't believe me? Here's a photo I just took from said window:


Sunday, May 4
This morning is what I'm calling "Breakfast with the BoSox Brass"...my dad and I will be joining our host Patrick "Sully" Sullivan along with his cousin Jared Porter (Director of Professional Scouting for the Red Sox) and Bill James (Senior Advisor of Baseball Operations for the Red Sox) at the Eastern Standard Kitchen & Drinks in Kenmore Square. What better to start off a trip than with sausages and sabermetrics!

After breakfast, there's a 1:35 PM tilt between the Rays of Tampa Bay (Scott Kazmir's season debut!) and my Red Sox, who have young Jon Lester on the mound. Joining us will be Patrick and his wife Johanna (whom I went to middle school with back in Long Beach...it's a small world after all!)

Monday, May 5th
At the butt-crack of dawn, we're heading by way of rental car from Boston to upstate New York...Cooperstown, to be exact; home of the Baseball Hall of Fame. It's a four hour drive, so most of the morning will be spent traveling but we'll still be able to spend half a day on Monday at the Hall. Using my dad's insider connections to the baseball world, we'll be receiving a private behind-the-scenes tour of Cooperstown, making the trip all that more exciting.

Tuesday, May 6th
A full day at the Hall of Fame. Honestly, the place is like the Smithsonian...you could spend a week there and not see everything you wanted to.

Wednesday, May 7
We arrive at the New York Helmsley (not quite the prestigious Welshly Arms, but hey...) in midtown/Times Square. That night we take in the Indians-Yankees game. In all actuality, THIS is the game this trip was built around. You see, storied Yankee Stadium is closing down after this season and neither my dad or myself had seen a game there, so we just HAD to make the trip out east.

Thursday, May 8
A nice relaxing day...my dad is visiting a family friend then meeting up with baseball author and blogger Alex Belth for some sight-seeing and a game of catch in Central Park. I, on the other hand, will also be visiting a friend, new New York-transplant Natalie, who has the most-unenviable task of entertaining me. Hopefully we'll be able to meet up with friend and former classmate Becky, also a Long Beach-to-New Yorker.

Friday, May 9
Back to baseball! Dad and I head this time to Queens and check out a match-up featuring two young studs, Edinson Volquez of the Cincinnati Reds and Mike Pelfrey of the New York Mets. Like Yankee Stadium, Shea Stadium is closing after this year. While it doesn't exactly have the same aura of Yankee Stadium, Shea is still a great ballpark...the homerun apple, the '86 World Series ("It gets by Buckner!"), the residue of cocaine left behind by Daryl Strawberry and Doc Gooden, the smell of piss embedded in the concrete...okay, I'll stop there. Joining us is Alex and another baseball internet luminary, Darren "Repoz" Viola of Baseball Think Factory. (I'm really geeked about meeting Repoz...I think in another life, I could have been him. I'm looking forward to matching wit and banter with him...he's got me by a longshot, sure, but I'll still be excited.)

After the game concludes, we pick up a rental and head west to Philadelphia.

Saturday, May 10
On Saturday morning, we meet up with family friend Dave O’Brien, former Athletic Director at Long Beach State, Temple University and Northeastern University. Dave’s now works with a few schools in recruiting athletic directors. We’ll be playing golf with Dave and one of his sons at their Philadelphia country club in Philadelphia. Drinks and dinner with the O’Brien family will concluded the week.

Sunday, May 11
Back in New York, we head home on good ol’ Jet Blue, leaving JFK at noon. Thanks to the time difference, we’ll touchdown at Long Beach just before 3 PM, enough time to spend Mother’s Day with Mom.


Not a bad trip, eh?