Ultimate Baseball
Road Trip Blog

Our West Coast Tours are some of the most popular every year. In 2014, we are adding some new variations that include 3, 4, 7, & 8 night vacations, and we're offering them in two different months. You can select the Full West Coast Tour, the California Gold Tour, the Southern Cal Tour, or the Baseball on the Bay Tour. Below are the links to all of our tours out West next season. Don't forget- book by Dec. 15th and get 5% off. Use discount code EARLY when booking your tours. 

Please feel free to call or email with any questions.

 

 

Topics: Dodgers, San Francisco, Seattle, baseball tours, baseball stadiums, baseball vacation package, baseball road trip, ballpark tours, big league tours, AT&T Park, Angel Stadium, Dodger Stadium, Safeco Field, Giants, A's, Angels

Our day started off by visiting the 5 Spot Cafe on Queen Anne. The menu was very inventive and the food was delicious. It was the perfect way to start off a full day of siteseeing and baseball tour activities!

We then took the bus down to Pike Place Market. We paid homage to the original Starbucks location and then walked the market. Witnessed the fish throwing that has become known around the world. Even bumped into Dustin Pedroia (the Red Sox were in town) at the market!

In the middle of the afternoon, we connected with our group at the hotel to officially kick off the tour. After they received their goody bags, we headed out to Safeco Field. This was the first time for all of our travelers to visit the stadium so we went early to give everyone time to take a look around.

Here's a view from our seats early in the game. About the middle of the 6th inning, it started to mist or rain a bit so they closed the roof. I had gone up to the upper deck to take some pictures and realized in just the last minute or two that it was closing. 

Even if you take the train to Safeco as we did, I would recommend entering the stadium at 1st Avenue and South Royal Brougham Way. It's a much more inviting entrance and will give you a much better feel for the ballpark than any other entrance. It's much larger and also helps you avoid having to change levels to walk around to home plate. 

Topics: west coast baseball tour, Seattle, baseball tours, Safeco Field

The first day of our West coast baseball trip was a free day for our guests to arrive at their leisure, get settled in the hotel, and see a few sites in Seattle. Our tour group stayed in the heart of Seattle within easy walking distance of the Space Needle, Pike Place Market, and lots of restaurants and shops. 

The first afternoon we walked to the Space Needle. It's hard to believe that this structure is 50 years old. I personally hadn't visited the needle or that area for 26 years. From what I could remember, it appears that the park and area surrounding the needle have been re-built or re-vitalized.

We were a little disappointed that we didn't go up in the needle but it was so overcast that we wouldn't have been able to see much. At $19 per person, we didn't feel that we could go up and not see anything and feel that it was worth it. For another day!

We had also had a recommendation from a friend to check out Top Pot Donuts. Holy cow, they were great! We're all fans of different kinds of donuts so we sampled several. 

All I can say is that if you are ever in Seattle, you have to stop in!! My personal suggestion is the Maple Bar and a cup of Americano. 

You know, as I sit here and right this blog post, I'm thinking that it would be worth a trip to Seattle just for these doughnuts!!

Here's a photo from their website that's of their 5th Avenue location. Nice atmosphere, great folks, fabulous doughnuts and coffee!!

Topics: west coast baseball tour, Seattle, baseball trips, baseball tours

Topics: Mariners, San Francisco, Seattle, big league tours, MLB tours, AT&T Park, Reds, Cubs

March 27, 2009 - Big League Tours is headed to Seattle in August to see the Yankees take on Junior, Ichiro and rest of the Seattle Mariners. While it's always fun to visit Seattle or take in a series wherever the Yankees are playing (love 'em or hate 'em), one of the highlights of this MLB tour is that we're being joined by Dave Henderson, former outfielder for the Mariners, Red Sox, Giants and A's.

Here's a clip of his biography from baseballlibrary.com:

The Red Sox acquired Henderson during the 1986 pennant drive. He hit a two-out, two-run homer for Boston in the top of the ninth inning of Game Five of the 1986 LCS with the California Angels one strike away from their first World Series appearance. The game was won on Henderson's sacrifice fly in the 11th inning and also featured a home run by Bobby Grich that popped out of Henderson's glove and over the outfield wall.

Traded to the Giants on September 1, 1987 to make room for rookie Ellis Burks, Henderson helped the Giants to a division title and then signed as a free agent with Oakland that winter. The centerfielder posted career-high totals of 24 homers, 38 doubles, 100 runs, 94 RBI, and a .304 batting average, (51 points above his previous career average) for the AL champion 1988 A's. In the 1989 WS, he hit home runs in consecutive innings in Game Three after just missing one in the first inning (a double off the railing).

Henderson was the Mariners' first pick in the 1977 free-agent draft. At the time of his trade to Boston, Henderson was Seattle's career leader in home runs and was tied for the team lead in extra-base hits. He is the nephew of Joe Henderson, a pitcher with the White Sox and Reds in the 1970s.

Join us on this Seattle Tour for what promises to be one of our great baseball vacation packages for the year. You can learn more about this and our other MLB Tours by visiting our website, bigleaguetours.com.

Topics: Mariners, Red Sox, Seattle, big league tours, Yankees