Ultimate Baseball
Road Trip Blog

July 16, 2011 - Chris Welsh
Big League Tours is pleased to announce that former Major Leaguer, and current Reds broadcaster, Chris Welsh will be joining us in Chicago as our part of our exclusive Big League Player Experience on the Reds Road Trip to Wrigley.  Chris will visit with our group on Saturday evening after the Reds/Cubs game that afternoon.

Bio: Chris Welsh is in his 19th season as Reds TV analyst following a 5-year Major League career with the Padres, Expos, Rangers and Reds. Chris went 21-31 with a 4.45 ERA, 8 complete games and 3 shutouts in 122 career appearances, including 75 starts. From 1993-2009 Chris and partner George Grande worked together for the 17 seasons as the longest-running TV duo in Reds history.

He is a graduate of Cincinnati's St. Xavier High School and earned a bachelor's degree from the University of South Florida, where his baseball coach was Hall of Famer Robin Roberts. In addition to his television work, Chris is a partner in Champions Sports Academy, which builds and operates numerous sports training facilities throughout the country. He also teaches pitching in the offseason, is the featured speaker at several national baseball forums and publishes articles on baseball.

Trip Details
In case you've missed it, transportation is now included with the Reds Road Trip.  We will be picking up guests in Cincinnati for the ride to Chicago.  There is a possibility of a stop in Indianapolis, too. 

We will pick up folks in Cincinnati on Thursday, August 4 for the first night's lodging in Chicago.  Then we'll go to the game on August 5th fresh and well rested.  We'll attend the games on 6th and 7th, then return home after the Sunday game so everyone can be at work on Monday (yuck, we know, but we don't control that part!).

But, book your tour this week.  We will be closing the reservations for this tour on Monday, July 18.

Topics: Wrigley Field, big league tours, Chicago, Reds, Baseball, Cubs, Cincinnati

Topics: baseball vacation package, Wrigley Field, Chicago, Reds, Cincinnati

Topics: stadium tours, Milwaukee, baseball tours, baseball stadiums, baseball vacation package, Brewers, Chicago, Reds, MLB road trips

April 1, 2011 - After a long, cold, miserable winter, Opening Day finally arrived. And none too soon. We made our way to Cincinnati yesterday for the parade, ceremonies (aren't fly-overs one of the coolest things on the planet??), and ball game at Great American Ball Park. The weather was a little iffy yesterday but it didn't deter the 42,000+ fans from taking in the festivities celebrating the first game of the season of the oldest franchise in the Majors.

As a Reds fan, the game started a little, ok, very rough. If I remember right, Volquez had given up three runs before he recorded his first out. Not the way you want to start off the regular season. But after that, he seemed to settle down for several innings.

The topper of the day, though, was the 2-out, 3-run walk off home run by Ramon Hernandez! The Reds had 40 some come from behind victories last year and started off the same way they finished the regular season last year. Here's the box score from the game.

Heading to the ballpark yesterday just made us more excited for baseball road trips that we have planned for the 2011 baseball season. If you are looking for baseball vacation packages that are done the way you want 'em, make sure you check out our site for the details on all of our upcoming tour vacations. You'll be glad you did!

Topics: Opening day, baseball road trips, baseball vacation package, Reds, Great American Ball Park, Cincinnati

February 23, 2011 - We are so happy to be associated with the Cincinnati Reds ballclub.  They are an absolute first class organization and have been extremely helpful to us.  Big League Tours was pleased to be a part of the Western Tour of the Reds Caravan a few weeks ago where we enjoyed meeting lots of Reds fans, and promoted some of our baseball road trips, including our tour to Chicago to the see the Reds on "The Reds Road Trip." 

The Reds really know how to treat their fans.  Folks from the Reds Hall of Fame, Ticket Sales Dept., and Reds Community Fund joined Hall of Famer Marty Brennaman, Gold Glover Brandon Phillips, Reds Legend Lee May, catching prospect Devon Mesoraco, Asst. GM Bob Miller, and former Reds standout Ryan Freel on the Caravan. Everyone had a great time. 

I also want to mention something that I thought was a true display of class by Brandon Phillips.  At the Castleton Square Mall, in Indianapolis, it became evident that many people who had waited in line for a long time would not make it to the autograph table before the Caravan was scheduled to leave.  Phillips stood up from the table and walked down the line to sign every autograph so no fan was disappointed.  Not only did he sign, he spoke with the fans, took pictures, and in general, was extremely generous to everyone.  To me, that is what makes Brandon Phillips a true superstar.

Thanks to Charley Frank, Executive Director of the Reds Community Fund, for putting us on the Caravan, and to CincinnatiUSA.com and Ed McMasters, for sponsoring the event.  We are already looking forward to next year.

Topics: baseball road trips, big league tours, Chicago, Reds, Cincinnati

January 28, 2011 - Pitchers and catchers can report to Spring Training in a little over two weeks which means that it won't be long until we have Major League Baseball! That also means that it's almost time for MLB road trips!

In December we announced a package that we're offering in partnership with the Cincinnati Reds Community Fund. It's a weekend in Chicago to see the Reds play the Cubs for three games at Wrigley Field. Baseball fans will enjoy the series at Wrigley from great, lower-level seats as well as great hotel accommodations in Chicago, meet & greets with an MLB player, transportation to the stadiums, and a Big League Tours host on the tour.

We'll be out promoting the baseball tour this weekend at a few of the stops for the Reds Caravan. We'll also have information about all of our baseball vacation packages. So whether you're thinking of taking family tours or group travel tours, stop by and chat with us about the 2011 baseball season and see which of our tour vacations are for you.

Topics: baseball tours, baseball vacation package, Wrigley Field, big league tours, sports vacation, Chicago, Reds, MLB road trips, Cubs

Topics: baseball tours, baseball vacation package, big league tours, Chicago, Reds, Cubs, Cincinnati

August 3, 2010 - Where has the summer gone? I can't believe that the last of our small group tours is going to kick off this Friday. It should be a fantastic trip. We'll start in Detroit on Friday, catching the Angels at Comerica Park against the Tigers. We'll then load up the bus on Saturday and make our way to Cleveland. Once in Cleveland we'll take a private stadium tour of Progressive Field before seeing the division rivalry of the Twins and the Indians.

Sunday involves a short hop over to PNC Park in Pittsburgh for an afternoon game between the Rockies and Pirates. For our travelers who haven't been to this stadium, it's a fantastic place to catch a game, especially a day game with the view of the river, bridges and downtown Pittsburgh as the backdrop. After the game, the group will make its way to Cincinnati for the next two nights.

Monday will be the perfect ending to the tour. We'll take a tour of Great American Ball Park and be joined by Mr. Dave Parker. As most of you will recall, The Cobra was the MVP in 1978, appeared in six All Star Games, won three Gold Glove Awards, and was an instrumental member of the 1979 World Series Championship team with the Pittsburgh Pirates. Cobra will share stories from his playing days, talk baseball with our guests, and take pictures with the group. Here's a picture from his appearance with our group in 2008. Looks like he could still play, doesn't it?

We'll finish the tour with the heated division rivalry between the Cardinals and the Reds with a game and series that couldn't be hotter or mean more for these two teams.

Stay posted for up to the minute posts from the final tour of our 2010 sports travel packages.

Topics: Rockies, Comerica Park, Tigers, Indians, Progressive Field, Detroit, sports travel and tours, Cleveland, PNC Park, Pirates, group tours, Cardinals, Reds, Great American Ball Park

May 28, 2010 - As much as we fancy ourselves on being great trip planners and including really cool features on our trips, there's always the opportunity for the unexpected to happen, too. And in this case, I'm talking about the unexpected in a really good way.

We always plan to be at the baseball stadiums early so that we can explore the ballparks, take in batting practice, and have the chance of getting a baseball or autograph in the process. Our recent road trip to Atlanta was no different - except for the unexpected.

The event occured during the Reds' batting practice. Several of the players had stopped by to sign autographs for fans around their dugout. One of the local kids in a Braves t-shirt asked Jonny Gomes if he could have his batting gloves. Jonny's off-handed response was, "yeah, right."

Jonny hit the batting cage, took the obligatory jog around the bases, and then headed back towards the dugout and where we were sitting. We're assuming that since my son was wearing a Reds jersey (or it could have been that he just hadn't hounded Jonny or the other players), Jonny walked back over to our section and handed his batting gloves to him. He was thrilled to say the least.

Our hope is always to provide an experience that you'll never forget, gifts for baseball fans, if you will, so we package a lot of fun stuff into our group travel tours. But like Woody Allen said, "95% of life is showing up." Being at the games early gives you a greater chance to get closer to the game that we all love so much. So the next time you head out on one of your baseball road trips, allow time for the unexpected and maybe you'll be given a gift of your own!

Topics: group travel, Atlanta, baseball road trips, baseball trips, baseball stadiums, group tours, Reds

Topics: Atlanta, Braves, Turner Field, group tours, Reds