Ultimate Baseball
Road Trip Blog

How many stadium tours take you on the Green Monstah!?
June 5, 2008 - East Coast 1 started off in Boston, MA where some of the guests arrived a day early and some arrived on the day of the game.  We began our baseball trip by taking an escorted tour of Fenway Park. Bill “Spaceman” Lee and his wife, Diana, joined us on our tour as well.  Allowing guests to speak with him have pictures taken, get autographs signed, and hear some stories from when he played for the Boston Red Sox. 

It was a cold misty day in Boston, but we got to see a lot of the stadium and were given a lot of information about the park.  We got to go to many parts of the stadium, but my favorite was the Green Monster.  It was a great view of the entire stadium and a once in a lifetime opportunity. If you can ever get the opportunity to take any type of stadium tours in Fenway take the opportunity!

Players Make Baseball Vacation Packages Unique
May 28, 2008 - Bill "Spaceman" Lee and Dick Drago are joining Big League Tours when we tour Fenway Park on each of our East Coast tours this summer. We have had several players join us at the ballpark for stadium tours or other events including Vida Blue, Tom Browning, Len Barker, Al Hrabosky and Ron Kittle, to name a few, . It always makes the baseball trip special when you get to spend time with guys who have played the game. The players joining us in Boston will be no exceptions.

Here's some background on Bill Lee taken from his website, billspacemanlee.com: Bill Lee pitched in the Major Leagues for 14 years, 10 of which were with the Boston Red Sox. The California native amassed a career record of 119-90 including three consecutive 17-win seasons with the Red Sox. Ron Sheldon, the creator of Bull Durham admits to modeling Kevin Costner's unforgettable character on Lee. Bill earned the nickname 'Spaceman' early in his career for his nonconformist attitudes, his outrageous comments and for hinting more than once that he enjoyed recreational drugs. Lee was always eager to challenge his coaches and managers, most notably Don Zimmer, who he mistook for a gerbil. Because of his unconventional approach to the game and his candid views on social issues, Lee was a fan favorite for years in New England and later in Montreal. A shoulder injury sustained during an on-field fight contributed to Lee's eventual retirement.

Here are some quotes from Bill: "I'm mad at Hank (Aaron) for deciding to play one more season. I threw him his last home run and thought I'd be remembered forever. Now, I'll have to throw him another." "Do they leave it (Fenway's Green Monster) there during the game?" "My Karma ran over my Dogma." And my personal favorite, "You should enter a ballpark the way you enter a church."

Here's some background on Dick Drago taken from baseballlibrary.com: Drago made the majors when he was picked by the Royals in the expansion draft, and he became the ace of their struggling staff. Improving with the rest of the team, he had his best season in 1971 (17-11, 3.01), but his record suffered when the team declined in 1972 (12-17 despite a 2.99 ERA). Boston acquired him for 1974, and in their AL championship season in 1975 he was their bullpen ace with 15 saves. He saved Games Two and Three as the Red Sox swept the A's in the ALCS, but lost Game Two of the World Series in the ninth inning on a Ken Griffey double. His three scoreless innings of one-hit ball in Game Six kept Boston in the game, and they won on Carlton Fisk's famous homer in the 12th inning. Traded to California for 1976 and then to Baltimore in mid-1977, he returned to the Red Sox for 1978 and had his last good season in 1979, going 10-6 with 13 saves.

The players will be joining us for our escorted tours of Fenway Park. Bill Lee will be on our East Coast 1 and East Coast 3 Tours. Dick Drago will be joining us on the East Coast 2 Tour.