Ultimate Baseball
Road Trip Blog

Topics: Royals, White Sox, Wrigley Field, Brewers, Busch Stadium, Cardinals, Twins, Cubs

Topics: Royals, Mariners, Blue Jays, Toronto, baseball tours, baseball stadiums, Brewers, Baseball

February 10, 2011 - We're excited to announce the first of our player appearances for our 2011 baseball road trips. MLB Standout, Buck Martinez, is joining Big League Tours on the opening day of our Midwest Plus Tour in Toronto. 

Buck will be joining us for the portion of our baseball tour that we call our "Big League Player Experience." On this tour package, as on every tour we offer, we bring in former MLB players to share their experiences in and around the game that we all love so much. It's just another way that we help you get inside the game and is always a fan favorite on our MLB Tours.

But this appearance has a special offer associated with it...

Buck has offered to take 12 of our guests up to the radio booth prior to the 12:37 game at the Rogers Centre. As of the point of this posting, a few more guests can still join in this exclusive portion of the tour. So don't hesitate to sign up now for this tour so that you can get one of the 12 special escorted tours of the press area from Buck himself!

Once the game is over, we'll return back to the Renaissance Center, the hotel connected to the Rogers Centre, for a full meet and greet with Buck and all of our guests.

Here is Buck's bio from the Blue Jays website:

Buck Martinez returns for his second season as the Blue Jays play-by-play announcer…
The 62 year old brings with him 42 years of baseball experience, including 20 years as a player, 21 years in broadcasting, and two as a manager… Beginning in 1967 when he was signed by the Philadelphia Phillies, Martinez spent 20 years as a catcher in professional baseball with the Kansas City Royals, Milwaukee Brewers and his final six seasons with the Blue Jays… He appeared in the postseason with Kansas City in 1976, batting .333 in the 5-game ALCS against the New York Yankees… Wrote two books about his experiences with the Blue Jays, "From Worst to First" (1985) and "The Last Out" (1986)… Among his 12 seasons associated with the Blue Jays, he served as manager for Toronto in 2001 and part of the 2002 season, compiling a 100-115 record… In 2006, he managed the United States team in the inaugural World Baseball Classic… Martinez' first experience with broadcasting came in 1982, when he covered the American League Championship Series, the World Series and the All-Star Game for the Telemedia Radio Network…. His television broadcast career began in 1987 as a color commentator for the Toronto Blue Jays on TSN… Began working with ESPN radio and television in 1992, and in 1995, Martinez was awarded a Sports EMMY Award for his work on ESPN's coverage of Cal Ripken's 2,131st consecutive game… For the past seven seasons has worked as a television analyst for the Baltimore Orioles and has also served as a co-host of XM Radio's Baseball This Morning show on the MLB Home Plate channel…. Martinez also contributed color commentary for Sunday afternoon games on TBS, as well as for the network's postseason coverage… A California native, Martinez attended Sacramento City College, Sacramento State University, and Central Missouri State University. He and his wife, reside in Clearwater, FL. They have one son, Casey, a 47th round pick by Toronto in the 2000 First Year Player Draft.

Don't miss your chance to on this mid-summer baseball road trip that incudes games at 4 different stadiums plus a day at Niagara Falls. And don't forget, your trip could include an exclusive trip to the radio booth with Buck Martinez!

Topics: Royals, Opening day, Toronto, baseball road trips, big league tours, MLB tours, Brewers

August 30, 2010 - The final destination point for our Midwest 2 Tour was Kansas City. We drove over from St. Louis in the morning and stopped at Kauffman Stadium (or The K) for an afternoon game. The Angels were visiting the Royals on an incredibly hot afternoon ballgame that had us looking for shade, visiting the fountains, and making our way to the ice cream shop in left center.

This was my first trip to The K. I certainly liked it. It was easy to get to and park, easy to get around in, had great site lines and lots of fan and family activities in the outfield sections. I have heard people describe The K as the best minor league ballpark in the Major Leagues. I can understand that now. It did have a "small" feel to it, which wasn't bad at all, but it didn't feel like any other stadium that I have visited in the bigs.

One thing that was a real disappointment to me was that, being in Kansas City, I expected there to be pit barbeque stands inside the ballpark. Why wouldn't you, right? If Baltimore can have Boog Powell's and Philly can have Bull's Barbeque, wouldn't you expect KC to incorporate something of its city's heritage?

The real treat for me, I would have to say, was to see Zach Greinke pitch for the first time. I couldn't believe with all the baseball road trips that I have been on that I hadn't seen him pitch. Funny how the schedules work out but it seems like every time I see the Yankees, Andy Pettite is on the mound. We must be on the same rotation... Anyway, back to Zach... He didn't pitch that well the day we saw him but it was still great to watch him work in person. He was also up against Jared Weaver who was pitching well in the June heat. Check out the box scores on the Royals website.

Topics: Kansas City, Royals, St. Louis, baseball road trips, Baltimore, Yankees, Angels