Ultimate Baseball
Road Trip Blog

April 5, 2011 - Don't you love to head out on vacation? You get time to explore a new destination, take in new sites, and enjoy the company of your friends and family without all the pressures of being at home or work. That's especially true when you allow someone else to handle all of the details for you when you purchase a baseball vacation package!

You can rest assured that our baseball road trip planners will assemble a vacation for you that won't just be a trip, it will be an experience! We'll make sure you stay in great hotels, sit in great seats, take behind the scenes baseball stadium tours, and get up close and personal to the game we all love so much.

The baseball season has arrived and our tour vacations are filling up - so don't wait too long to sign up for the premier sports travel package that you've always wanted!

Topics: explore, group travel, baseball vacations, baseball road trips, baseball tours, baseball vacation package, big league tours, sports vacation, group tours, MLB road trips

April 5, 2011 - What's better than getting the MLB team schedules for the coming year and working with our baseball road trip planners to build the perfect travel packages? Going on the tours, of course!! And it's finally here! Yep, it's time to load up and head out for the first of our MLB road trips of the 2011 baseball season.

Today we're headed to Atlanta to kick off our Atlanta and Augusta tour that includes Masters events at Augusta National, golf in Atlanta, and the home opening series at Turner Field between the Phillies and the Braves. The next few days will be filled with many exciting elements but also provide the participants plenty of time to relax and unwind.

Let's do it. Let's get on the road!

Topics: Atlanta, Turner Field, baseball road trips, MLB road trips, Baseball

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

Topics: baseball road trips, baseball tours, Baseball

Topics: baseball road trips, baseball tours, baseball stadiums, Baseball

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

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

February 2, 2011 - The first of our baseball road trips in 2011 will begin with two days at Augusta National, taking in a practice round and a competitive round of The Masters Tournament. Our guests will be able to walk the hallowed grounds with their favorite pro-golfers in search of the illusive green jacket.

After a free day in Atlanta (can you say golf anyone?), we'll enjoy a couple of baseball games including the Opening Day ceremonies for the Braves as they kick off their first weekend homestand of the year against their Eastern Division rivals, the Philadelphia Phillies.

Friday's game is an evening game and Saturday's game is in the afternoon. That's a great way to see Turner Field at different times of the day. We'll have the evening free in Atlanta with plenty of time for dining or entertainment in this great southern city.

By now, you've come to know Big League Tours as the premier provider of baseball vacation packages. Check out all our 2011 tour vacations to see which one suits you the best.

Topics: Opening day, Atlanta, Braves, Turner Field, baseball road trips, Phillies, baseball vacation package, big league tours

Topics: baseball road trips, big league tours, Cincinnati

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