Ultimate Baseball
Road Trip Blog

September 14, 2008 - There are families who love baseball, but then there are families who LOVE baseball. Corrin and her mom, Terri, and her step-father, Dave, absolutely love baseball and everything to do with it. Corrin even goes as far as to say, "I loooooove baseball, more than most people do." Dave and Terri reside in the Twin Cities of Minnesota making them avid Twins fans. Corrin originally from there is also a Twins fan but now lives in Chicago where she attends many White Sox and Cubs Games.

They joined Big League Tours on the East Coast 2 trip. On one of our longest MLB roadtrips of the season, they made their way to Baltimore, Washington D.C., Philadelphia, New York, and Boston seeing six stadiums in seven days. They chose this trip because of the number of stadiums offered and the fact that they were going to be able to see Yankee Stadium, Shea Stadium, and Fenway Park all in one stop. A favorite memory for them was being able to take in the action of a ballgame on the Green Monster.

We dubbed Corrin, Terri, and Dave "the walking family". They took total advantage of every extra second they got in each city. One of their favorite parts about the trip there was ample time in each city to do some site seeing on their own. While in Washington D.C. they walked over four miles doing site seeing and didn't think twice about it. They were a family just having a great time on their vacation making the best of every moment. So, to the families who love baseball, are you ready to join us for one of our sports travel packages? You'll be glad you did!

Topics: Fenway Park, Yankee Stadium, Green Monster, MLB road trips

Group Tours Brings Families Together
September 8, 2008 - Baseball isn't just for the guys anymore. Two of the most loyal and die hard fans to travel with us were a mother and daughter duo from Texas. Betty and Suzanne decided that they wanted to attend a game at "the house that Ruth built" before the Yankees moved into the new Yankee Stadium. Betty was researching trips and their options and came across our East Coast 1 trip including Fenway Park, Cooperstown, and Yankee Stadium. Things that drew them in were guaranteed stops at three of baseball's most sought after sites. Betty and Suzanne are pictured here with Bill "Spaceman" Lee. Lee, a former pitcher for the Boston Red Sox, joined our guests on a private, escorted tour of Fenway Park. 
 
"The Best part of the trip was getting to make memories with my mom!" states Suzanne. She says that getting to see live baseball in both of these historic places was unforgettable. She recalls the first game at Fenway Park and her mom's reaction. "I wish everyone could have seen her face as she sat down with her scorecard and pencil twenty rows directly behind home plate at Fenway Park. My 63 year old mom was giggling like a 15 year old, and I was doing the same!" I can agree with Suzanne with this statement because I had the opportunity to sit next to them at the Boston game. It has been a great experience working with Big League Tours, but nothing tops seeing the looks on our guests' faces when they sit in their seats and begin to experience what we work so hard to achieve.

Suzanne and Betty achieved their goal of seeing the Yankees play at Yankee Stadium before then end of this year.  They even got to see a Yankee Stadium first where Johnny Damon hit a walk-off game-winning single in the bottom or the ninth. It was the first time a Yankee had ever gone 6-for-6 at Yankee Stadium. Suzanne said, "My mom and I had a wonderful time together. We very rarely get girl time together and thoroughly enjoyed the trip! I'll always remember this time together with her. One of the guys on the tour with us took the trip with his college-age son. He said that it made his heart glad to see a mother and daughter spending time together like this at our age. It gave him hope that he and his son would continue to stay close as they get older, too."

Topics: Red Sox, bucket list, baseball tours, Fenway Park, Yankees, Yankee Stadium

The Unexpected Parts of Sports Travel Packages
July 8, 2008 - It's always fun to head out on one of our group travel tours knowing that we're going to meet MLB players through our Big League Player Experiences.

However, what you don't know is whether there will be an opportunity to meet other players while we're taking our sports travels.

One such opportunity presented itself to us in Boston. There's a sandwich shop out on Yawkey Way that bares the name of famed Red Sox pitcher, Luis Tiant. The shop is the El Tiante, which serves up a cuban sandwich amongst other spicy favorites. (Even my daughter knew about this stand since it was featured on Rachael Ray!) And occasionally, it serves up autographs from the legend himself.

So get out there on your own baseball trips and look for the really cool stuff. You never know what might be waiting for you when you get there. Of course, if you want to ensure that your sports tours are filled with the cool stuff, book your baseball vacation packages with us. We'll make sure that it you get all the good stuff!

Topics: Boston, baseball tours, Fenway Park, MLB tours

Another Great Game On One of Our MLB Road Trips
July 8, 2008 - If seeing a game at Fenway Park is perfect enough as it is, we were able to witness a fantastic game this time, too. The Red Sox trailed the Twins the whole game until the bottom of the 8th inning.

If you've been to Fenway, you know the ritual is to sing Sweet Caroline, the Neal Diamond hit from the 70's, in the middle of the 8th with 37,000 of your closest friends. In most cases, singing any Neal Diamond song would seem corny at best. However, since it's at Fenway, that somehow makes it really cool. It also gets the crowd pumped up and into the game. If you haven't witnessed this in person, it's worth a sports vacation to see it!

Something about that song must have given the Sox themselves the boost they needed because they rallied to score four runs to take the lead. The most exciting part of the rally had to be Manny's two run shot over the Monster to tie up the game, insuring that we were going to have a fun end to the game no matter what. Click here to read the details and see the box score from the game.

Topics: Red Sox, Boston, baseball tours, Fenway Park, Green Monster, MLB road trips

Private Stadium Tour of Fenway Park
July 8, 2008 - This sports vacation left the home town of baseball to head to the oldest ballpark in the Major Leagues, Fenway Park. It's always a great way to end a baseball road trip at Fenway...

The stadium tour moved through many different sections of the park including the Right Field Roof Deck, the State Street Pavilion, the Infield Grandstand and, of courses, the Green Monster.

The highlight of the baseball stadium tour was being joined by Bill "Spaceman" Lee. Bill always has some great stories about his playing days in the Big Leagues. Here's a picture of our group with Bill inside Fenway Park.

Topics: stadium tours, Red Sox, Boston, ballpark tours, Fenway Park, sports vacation, Green Monster

Topics: Boston, New York, Fenway Park, Yankee Stadium, MLB road trips, hall of fame, Cooperstown

Final Game of Our Six Game Baseball Travel Tour
June 24, 2008 - As we headed into Fenway for the final game of our baseball road trip, I thought it was fitting that we started the tour in Baltimore with one of the finest, if not the finest, retro parks in the league and then we wrapped up the tour in Boston at the league's oldest baseball stadium.

It's interesting to see the contrast at this park with only 35,000 or so fans in the seats versus most other stadiums that seat 40,000 - 55,000+ fans. You are so close to the action here regardless of where your seat is. The only thing you have to be concerned with is an obstructed view. We've found the best way to avoid that is to sit low enough that the only thing that could possibly block your view is the batter in the on deck circle!

The other option for seating that guarantees an unobstructed view is on the Green Monster. I have to admit that before I was ever in Fenway or had ventured to the top of the Monstah, I couldn't imagine anyone wanting to sit up there for a game. However, I can honestly say that it's a fantastic place to watch a game. Since the wall is so shallow, you feel like you are the left fielder for the whole game. It's incredible. I would highly recommend getting seats up there at least once in your life.

Topics: Red Sox, baseball trips, ballpark tours, Fenway Park, Green Monster

Taking a Private Stadium Tour of Fenway Park
June 24, 2008 - Fenway Park has a charm to it that is unlike any other baseball stadium that I've ever visited. I'd have to say it's my favorite park. We began our visit to Boston with a private escorted tour of Fenway. (We were lucky enough to get Kim again. Great job, Kim!) The tour is a great mix of history and facts about the team, the ballpark and baseball in general.

One of the things that we like to do on our package tours is to bring in MLB players to share their experiences, sign autographs for our guests, and to have their pictures taken. This baseball trip was no different. We brought in Dick Drago, a pitcher with the Red Sox in the '70's. Dick pitched in the 1975 World Series and shared many stories about playing during that era. He's pictured with our group as we toured the ballpark.

While there are any number of sports travel packages that fans can choose from, we think that our Player Experiences are a key differentiator for Big League Tours. It's a way for us to make the baseball road trip into a truly MLB road trip!

Topics: stadium tours, Red Sox, baseball trips, baseball vacation package, Fenway Park, Green Monster

Topics: Red Sox, baseball road trips, Fenway Park, group tours

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!

Topics: stadium tours, Red Sox, Fenway Park, Green Monster