The Passing of a Legend - Sparky Anderson

Posted by Big League Tours on Wed, Nov 23, 2011 @ 03:30 AM
Novmeber 6, 2010 - I was saddened to learn earlier this week that Sparky Anderson had been placed in hospice care and then learned that he had passed away on Thursday. Sparky will forever be tied to some of my greatest childhood memories. Growing up in Central Indiana in the 70's, we spent many a weekend in Cincinnati rooting on Sparky's Big Red Machine.

It's those memories, the love of baseball, and my family that ultimately lead me to start Big League Tours. The formula was developed back in the 70aking family tours over long weekends, sitting in great seats, meeting ballplayers, staying in the heart of the city - those were things that I remembered the most from my childhood baseball road trips and things that we'll always include on our travel packages at Big League Tours.

So here's to Sparky and the team he lead for inspiring me to create a business that will hopefully endear another generation, in some small way, to the game that he contributed so much to. Thanks for the memories, Sparky. You will be missed but never forgotten.
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Topics: baseball road trips, big league tours, Cincinnati

Road Tripping with the Family

Posted by Big League Tours on Wed, Nov 23, 2011 @ 12:30 AM
May 22, 2010 - I just returned home from our Atlanta Tour - a three-day, two-night trip that featured two baseball games at Turner Field. We had fantastic weather, the hotel was great, our seats were even better (pictured on the left), Dad and Son at Turner Fieldand both games ended with walk-off hits or homers. They don't get much more exciting!

But as I reflect on the tour, I'm reminded of the things that caused me to want to start Big League Tours in the first place.

I really love the game of baseball and want to experience it in a unique way every time I take a trip. That's why we get to the park early, sit in great seats, and arrange for meet and greets with MLB players.

I also really enjoy getting to spend quality time with my family. On this tour, I was accompanied by my dad and son, the two folks who inspired me the most to start this business. Our small group tours provide you with the advantage of having things included that I mentioned before and also giving you the flexibility to do things on your own. And when taking family tours, we think it's important that you get that time so we make it available to you.

And finally, traveling can be difficult or at least a challenge, especially if the mode of transportation isn't great or the locations of your stay are suspect. We make sure that all of the logistics are top notch and take care of all the details so that you can just show up and enjoy a premier sports travel tour.

Those things sound simple but they are what make us different from the other guys. It's what got me in this business and it's what we love to do.
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Topics: Atlanta, Turner Field, sports travel and tours, big league tours, group tours, family tours

Welcome, Vida Blue!

Posted by Big League Tours on Tue, Nov 22, 2011 @ 11:45 PM

May 11, 2010 - Excitement isVida Blue with BLT guests in San Francisco mounted here at Big League Tours about our upcoming baseball road trips as today we received word that Cy Young Award winner and Oakland A's great, Vida Blue, will be taking time to meet and chat with all of us while in the 'City By the Bay'!

Blue, one of the most storied left-handed pitchers of all time will be joining the Big League Tours group on June 25th - fielding questions, signing autographs and taking photos with fans. No stranger to BLT, Blue has regaled our group with classic stories surrounding his days in the league as well as winning an MVP award and an insider look at winning the World Series.

Vida Blue is just the first of many baseball greats (former and current) who will join the tour to give us all more insight into the game and help us deliver the complete fan experience to make your sports travel or sports tour the ultimate trip.
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Topics: sports travel and tours, baseball trips, big league tours, Oakland

Planning for Road Trips

Posted by Big League Tours on Tue, Nov 22, 2011 @ 11:00 PM
April 12, 2010 - USA Today recently printed an article, "How to Plan Your First Road Trip." The author provides nine pointers that would be a good idea for you to incorporate if you're taking family tours or sports vacations of any kind. Here's are the highlights:

Overview
The iconic road trip seems to be reserved for young people, heading out with a few buddies and nary a care in the world. But first road trips can occur at any age and can last from a couple of days to an entire summer. Planning any trip requires a little care and consideration, but in the case of a first road trip, it is especially important to be thorough and leave leeway for the unexpected.
  • Step 1 - Purchase roadside service insurance.
  • Step 2 - 
Bring your car in for a once-over.
  • Step 3
 - Keep a small kit of safety supplies with you.
  • Step 4
 - Buy a paper map.
  • Step 5
 - Make a list of places you want to see and prepare a realistic time line.
  • Step 6
 - Plan overnight stays.
  • Step 7 - 
Record a hefty playlist for your MP3 player.
  • Step 8
 - Keep a small cooler stocked with beverages and a couple of snacks.
  • Step 9 - 
Allow time for the unexpected.
This looks like a great list if you have time to do this on your own and you're interested in looking up all the details for your baseball road trips. But what occurs to me is that we've already done all this work for you at Big League Tours when you purchase one of our baseball vacation packages. That's one of the things our clients tell us they love the most - the fact that they can show up for the tour and everything is taken care of for them.
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Topics: baseball road trips, baseball vacation package, big league tours, sports vacation, family tours

Helpful Tips About Our Package Tours

Posted by Big League Tours on Tue, Nov 22, 2011 @ 10:00 PM
March 22, 2010 - BASEBALL, BASEBALL, BASEBALL.It’s not ALL we think about. In fact, while every Big League Tour is designed to provide you with an experience that’s loaded with unique baseball-related events, we’ve also designed each trip to provide you with the freedom to plan some of your own activities. Restaurants, museums, even shopping malls - you’ll have time to explore these unique destinations on your own. Just don’t be late for the game!   
 
Here are some more details about our baseball vacation packages you might find helpful.
 
TICKETS
In most cases we’ve secured field level tickets for the games, attempting to make the sportsShot from our seats at Fenway Park tours as enjoyable as possible. Certain tours will feature reserved suites or party rooms which will allow us to have former major league players join us for private meetings at the ball park.
 
RENDEZVOUS POINT
Every trip starts at a specific rendezvous point in our destination city (most likely our hotel). Unless otherwise noted, you’ll be able to get to the rendezvous point whichever way works best for you - live close, drive on over - live farther away, you’ll probably fly in to join us. Have a question? Give us a call and we’ll talk it over.
 
WALKING
Some walking will be required on our trips. Whenever possible we’ll be taking baseball stadium tours, and when possible walking from the hotel to the stadium. As most stadiums (and our hotels) will be situated in the downtown areas, plan on walking to lunches, dinners and shopping. The bottom line? Bring comfortable shoes and be prepared to see the sites!
 
HOTELS
We’ll be staying in great hotels (Hyatt-, Marriott-, and Omni-level hotels). Hotels have been chosen based on their quality, location to the stadium, and proximity to other points of interest. You won't be stuck 200 miles away from civilization on our group travel tours. You'll be able to fully enjoy the cities that we visit.
 
WHO SHOULD ATTEND
The trips are designed for fans of all ages. You should consider that the trips will require time on a motor coach, sitting at games, and walking. As long as anyone is capable of handling these elements, they should get along fine. No events are planned in facilities that have age limits. The only request is that you think about the others on the trips so they aren’t put in an uncomfortable situation.
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Topics: stadium tours, sports travel and tours, baseball stadiums, baseball vacation package, big league tours

Updates to the Friendly Confines

Posted by Big League Tours on Tue, Nov 22, 2011 @ 09:15 PM

February 10, 2010 - Fans who have taken baseball travel tours to Chicago, know that Cubs fans love their Wrigley Field - and they should. It doesn't get much better than being in Wrigleyville on game day. From the minute that you step off the "L", you are in the heart of the action. Vendors line the streets selling t-shirts, to peanuts, to water, to tickets. Throngs of people mill around outside the stadium, many of whom are walking to or from the famous Wrigley Field sign that greets you on the corner of Clark and Addison, pictured here during a night game.

As you would expect with any venue built in 1914, there are constant renovations and repairs taking place. One of the coolest changes taking place this year is that we'll be able to watch players working on their swings in the batting cage under the right field bleachers through a one way glass.

Big League Tours is offering a couple of ways to get to Wrigley this year. We have travel package tours that will get you there including our Midwest 1 and  Midwest 2 tours. And for those of you located in Central Indiana, we're offering day trips for the first time this year where we'll leave Indianapolis, head to Chicago, Cincinnati or St. Louis for games and come back after the game. We have a few options to see the Cubbies so check out the tours and join us, won't you?

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Topics: baseball vacations, St. Louis, Wrigley Field, big league tours, Chicago, Cubs, Cincinnati

Returning Travelers with Big League Tours

Posted by Big League Tours on Tue, Nov 22, 2011 @ 09:00 PM
January 30, 2010 - One of the things we pride ourselves on at Big League Tours is offering tour vacations that our guests enjoy. It makes us even happier when our guests become repeat customers. That's why this is such a great time of year for us when we're finding out who is going to join us on our package tours this year.

One such group of guys traveled with us in 2008. They took a Midwestern tour that year but this year they are joining us out West. Here is a testimonial that we received from them.

"I traveled with a relative and his 10-year-old grandson, who was awestruck most of the time. The Midwest 2 Tour was our first with Big League Tours and was by far the best of the four I have taken, the first three with another company.  George had taken two other tours with another company.

The price of all the tours (we've taken) was comparable, but the services provided by Big League Tours was far superior, in our opinion.

"The primary things that set Big League Tours trip apart from the others, in our opinion, was two-fold: 1) location and quality of the hotels and 2) location of the game ticket seats.

"On this tour, we visited four cities and ballparks (Detroit, Cleveland, Pittsburgh and Cincinnati). The hotels were all located within walking distance of the ballpark (15 minutes or less), and all our tickets were in the lower level. Great seats at all parks.

"Another added touch that we liked was the idea of staying downtown in the cities visited, which made it easier to become more familiar with the cities (Detroit has a fabulous river walk).

"On this tour, we had a sit-down visit with baseball great Dave Parker, a two-time major league batting champ, who had a long and illustrious major league career. This was a great experience for us. This, to us, was the exclamation point to the whole trip.

"We would recommend traveling with Big League Tours." Bob Ward (Texas) and George Wood (California)

Thanks to Bob and George for the kind words about the group travel tours that we offer. And when booking with us again this year, George commented that, "We didn't even look any where else. We knew we were booking with you." We're glad you're coming back!


We hope that you'll join us this year so that you can experience the difference of a Big League Tour!

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Topics: group travel, Detroit, Cleveland, baseball tours, Pittsburgh, big league tours, Cincinnati

What Makes Us Different?

Posted by Big League Tours on Tue, Nov 22, 2011 @ 08:30 PM
I'm often asked, "What makes your BLT traveler with Bill "Spaceman" Lee atop the Green Monster at Fenway Parkbaseball travel tours different from anything else that's out there?" That's a great question and one that we love to answer!

2010 marks the fifth season of escorted tours for our company. I started Big League Tours when I couldn’t find a company that offered package tours the way I wanted to see the various parks. Since we’re fans first, our goal is to offer you tours the way you want them. Here are some things that make us different from the other guys:
  • We get you in the action, arranging meet & greets with players, front office management, or broadcasters
  • We also make sure you have great lower-level seats
  • Our tour vacations take place on long weekends, making it an easy trip to arrange for the guys or even for family tours
  • We stay in great hotels in the heart of the cities, making sure your trip is a complete experience
  • We take pride in our flexibility, we plan plenty of activities that you can join or break off on your own
  • We always do our best to minimize travel time to allow you the maximum amount of time at our destination.
Check out some of the testimonials from our clients to see what they have to say about us and our tours. You can also visit our ballpark images, photos that our travelers have taken from parks all over the country.

We’re planning exciting things for this year and hope you'll join us and fans from all over North America as we experience baseball like never before. Let us know if you have any questions. And if you can, join us on a Big League Tour this coming year for a fantastic baseball experience.
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Topics: group travel, baseball tours, baseball travel, big league tours

2010 Baseball Trip Feature: Midwest 3

Posted by Big League Tours on Tue, Nov 22, 2011 @ 08:15 PM
January 6, 2010 - Looking for one of the best baseball bus trips available? Check out our Midwest 3 tour package. You'll get to see four of the Midwest's best baseball stadiums in four days. We'll travel in a private luxury motor coach to the stadiums and between the games, we'll setup baseball stadium tours and other escorted tours when the schedule allows.

Comerica Park night gameThis tour starts in the Motor City where the Angels will be in town to take on the Detroit Tigers. Comerica Park, pictured at the left, is a great park to visit. The team and the city really did a great job with this ballpark.

The next day we'll drive to Cleveland to see the Twins take on the Indians at Jacob's Field. (I know it's Progressive Field but that still doesn't seem right...)

Sunday morning we'll take a short drive to Pittsburgh for an afternoon game at PNC Park, another very well done stadium that replaces a 60's/70's vintage concrete bowl that was so prevalent in those days. Don't forget your Primanti Brothers sandwich!

We'll wrap up the last of our tour vacations for the summer with a stop in Cincinnati. We'll snag a tour of the Reds Hall of Fame Museum before seeing the NL Central division rivalry between the Cardinals and Reds at 7:10PM. I'd recommend the Montgomery Inn barbeque. Can't go wrong there!

This baseball vacation package promises to be a great time. For more details on this baseball tour and our other sports tours, visit BigLeagueTours.com.
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Topics: stadium tours, Comerica Park, Indians, baseball tours, baseball vacation package, PNC Park, Pirates, big league tours, Reds

2010 Baseball Trip Feature - Big Apple

Posted by Big League Tours on Tue, Nov 22, 2011 @ 07:45 PM

January 2, 2009 - A favorite one of our MLB Tours each year is our Big Apple Tour. This premier sports travel package includes two games at Yankee Stadium and one game at Citi Field. We'll stay in the heart of midtown Manhattan where you'll be close to Times Square, Fifth Avenue, and Central Park and so many restaurants, shops and sites.

This tour will provide you with two great chances to enjoy games at Yankee Stadium as the Yankees host the Blue Jays in an AL East division rivalry. The times for the games haven't been posted yet but we're sure that we'll either be entertained with fireworks for the 4th of July at Yankee Stadium or we'll be able to enjoy the festivities in the world's greatest city.

The next day we'll take a stadium tour and explore the city before we head out to Citi Field to see the Reds take on the Mets in their new home. If you haven't been to Citi Field yet, you should make the trip. It's a fantastic improvement over the old Shea Stadium. The design did a great job to incorporate old stadium features with up-to-date comforts.

To see more about this and other tour vacations being offered by Big League Tours, visit our website now to get all the details.

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Topics: Citi Field, Blue Jays, big league tours, MLB tours, Yankee Stadium, Reds, Mets

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