Big League Tours Offers Sports Packages In the MidwestAugust 9, 2008 - Midwest 1 kicked off on Friday August 8th at U.S. Cellular where our guests were able to have a one on one experience with Ron Kittle. Kittle played left field and designated hitter for the White Sox in 1982-86, 1989, and 1991.
He also played for the New York Yankees, Cleveland Indians, and the Baltimore Orioles. Kittle took the group into the Jim Beam Suite and talked a little ball with everyone. He told stories from his career as well as his experiences with other players, best moments, and what he's doing now. Big League Tour guests were able to ask questions of Kittle and just chat with a Major League Player, guests also able to get autographs signed and pitcures taken. Kittle currently works for the Chicago White Sox, but in his free time he is building benches out of baseball bats and baseballs. Check out his website and see what he has to
offer.
After speaking with Kittle we were able to head into the stadium to see the Red Sox take on the White Sox. Buehrle pitched a a great game for the White Sox allowing them to win the game. Buehrle was impressed with the amount of Red Sox fans that made their way into U.S. Cellular, but he soon quieted them with his impressive pitching. For official stats of the game please
click here.
Topics:
stadium tours,
White Sox,
baseball tours,
Chicago,
U.S. Cellular Field,
MLB road trips
Want Great Seats? Stadium Tours? Meet a Player? Great Hotels? Time to Explore?I started this business a few years ago because I didn't like how other tour companies were offering their baseball trips. Many of them offer 10 - 14 day trips that require you to ride on a bus for hundreds, if not thousands, of miles.
They stay in hotels that are outside of the cities so that you don't really get to explore them while you're there. And, unfortunately, the seat locations aren't great.
Here are a couple of blog entries from
their customers:
- "We then headed up to our seats (in Yankee Stadium) which were just a few feet from the moon. Like at Shea we were 4 rows from the top but this time we were in right field. We could not see most of the right field fence so we hoped all activity would be in left field...It sounds like our seats are pretty horrible tomorrow night too so hopefully we can scope some better seats."
- "2800 miles of riding in a bus with almost no sleep and too many hot dogs but what an adventure it was." I bet. Not my kind of adventure...
- "Tickets were in the upper deck and I made a vow in 1991 never to sit up there again. We left the group to suffer from fear of falling out of their seats..."
If the sound of these comments leaves you concerned about booking other group travel tours, check out our tours and rest assured that you'll never have an experience like they've described.
Topics:
stadium tours,
sports travel and tours,
baseball trips,
baseball vacation package,
testimonials
Private Stadium Tour of Fenway ParkJuly 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
Baseball vacation packages at their longest and finest!June 30, 2008--I just got back from the longest trip that Big League Tours offered this summer. We accomplished a groundbreaking six stadiums in six days out on the east coast. We started out in Baltimore where we saw the Orioles beat the Astros 7 to 5. We then took a stadium tour of Camden
Yards. This is by far my favorite park to this date. It is the most sense pleasing park I have been to so far. Now when I say sense pleasing it is not only eye pleasing but smell, touch, and the sound of the park are all spectacular. If you ever have the opportunity to go I highly recommend it!
Next, we took off to Washington D.C. where we saw the Texas Rangers VS the Washington Nationals. In this 14 inning stretch the Nationals finally accomplished what they had set out to do they beat the Rangers 4 to 3. Next stop on our baseball trip was a quick stop in Philadelphia to see them take on the Los Angeles Angels. Angels definitely flew into play and the Phillies just could not hold them off and lost the game 2 to 6.
As our baseball trip was way under way we headed to New York to see the Yankees and the Mets play. Yankees turned out on top when they played the Red's in the rain delayed day game. However, the Mets as lucky Felix Hernandez had a great and bad game all in one. He went up to bat in the second inning and hit a grand slam becoming the first American League pitcher since 1971! Then in the fifth inning there was a play made at home and Felix was taken out by the runner. He tried to pitch again but you could see him wince in pain as he put weight on his left leg he was then taken out of the game.
Our last stop was Boston where we met up with Dick Drago a pitcher who played for the Red Sox in the 70's. We got to hear some great stories from him and it's always great fun to have them reminisce with all of us. Then we got to see the Diamondbacks take on the Red Sox where the Sox beat the Diamondbacks in a nail biting close game. For part of the game we were able to stand on top of the green monster. It was amazing! Unfortunately we didn't have any grand slams when we were up there, but it was still a once in a lifetime opportunity. This was a long and packed trip but it was one of the best baseball road trips I have been on so far. I can't wait till next year...
Topics:
stadium tours,
baseball vacation package,
big league tours,
Nationals Park
Taking a Private Stadium Tour of Fenway ParkJune 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
Our Escorted Baseball Tour Heads to Shea StadiumJune 23, 2008 - Shea Stadium is one place that I don't think will be missed by many when it's gone. Aside from its unattractive appearance on the outside, many of the seats face the wrong direction (center field instead
of the pitcher's mound/home plate), even the great seats sit too low so that the people in front of you are blocking some portion of the field, and every two seats you have an aisle or an obnoxious bar next to you. I suppose the bars are supposed to give you the feeling of a "box seat". Instead, it gives you the feeling that you are either watching the game from a cubicle or your own jail cell (which is more likely for many of the Mets' seasons especially last year's melt down in September).
The new Citi Field, however, is very attractive from the outside. You can see it just outside of the outfield walls from Shea Stadium. I've been told that its design was inspired by Ebbets Field. I'm excited to see the new ballpark when we head to New York City for one of our baseball travel tours in 2009.
Topics:
stadium tours,
Citi Field,
baseball tours,
baseball stadiums
Taking an Escorted Tour of Yankee StadiumJune 23, 2008 - One of the best ways to experience Yankee Stadium is on a stadium tour that gets you access into sections of the stadium that you would otherwise not see. Our started in the press box where I'm always reminded that, had I paid more attention in English class, I could have had one of the best seats in the ballpark...and been paid to sit in it!
We then made our way to Monument Park. I've been here several times but I always find new things to read and see when I'm there. This section of the baseball stadium really helps to solidify the position of the Yankees as the most storied franchise in all of baseball.
Because of a slight rain, we made our way through some tunnels to get to the Yankees dugout. While it's always fun to walk on the warning track, it was interesting to see parts of the stadium that I hadn't seen before. We saw the visitors clubhouse and their tunnel to their dugout. We saw pictures throughout the tunnel of Yankees through history. And we made our way through the tunnel from the Yankees clubhouse into the dugout where I shot this photo of the plaque with the famous quote from Joe DiMaggio.
If you haven't purchased a ticket for a stadium tour of the old Yankee Stadium, it might just be too late. The team has had such high demand for the tickets that it appears that they are sold out for the year.
Topics:
stadium tours,
baseball tours,
big league tours,
Yankee Stadium
Stadium Tour of Camden YardsJune 20, 2008 - We began our day with an escorted tour of Oriole Park at Camden Yards. After being blown away by this facility the night before, it was great to get a behind the scenes tour of such a great ballpark. It's just too bad that Boog's Barbeque wasn't open for another round...
The tour itself was fantastic. We started on Eutaw Street, which is now the space between the outfield seats and the warehouse, and managed to make our way through every level of the ballpark. Our guide, Susan, led us through the tour that was part Orioles history, ballpark history, as well as Baltimore facts and history.
Here's our group sitting in the Orioles dugout.
This has to have been the most thorough stadium tour that I have ever been on. I believe it was the most enjoyable, too. Thanks to Susan and everyone at the tours office in Baltimore!
Topics:
group travel,
stadium tours,
Orioles,
baseball tours,
Oriole Park,
Camden Yards
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
Players Make Baseball Vacation Packages Unique
May 28, 2008 - Bill "Spaceman" Lee and Dick Drago are joining Big League Tours when we tour Fenway Park on each of our East Coast tours this summer. We have had several players join us at the ballpark for stadium tours or other events including Vida Blue, Tom Browning, Len Barker, Al Hrabosky and Ron Kittle, to name a few, . It always makes the baseball trip special when you get to spend time with guys who have played the game. The players joining us in Boston will be no exceptions.
Here's some background on Bill Lee taken from his website, billspacemanlee.com: Bill Lee pitched in the Major Leagues for 14 years, 10 of which were with the Boston Red Sox. The California native amassed a career record of 119-90 including three consecutive 17-win seasons with the Red Sox. Ron Sheldon, the creator of Bull Durham admits to modeling Kevin Costner's unforgettable character on Lee. Bill earned the nickname 'Spaceman' early in his career for his nonconformist attitudes, his outrageous comments and for hinting more than once that he enjoyed recreational drugs. Lee was always eager to challenge his coaches and managers, most notably Don Zimmer, who he mistook for a gerbil. Because of his unconventional approach to the game and his candid views on social issues, Lee was a fan favorite for years in New England and later in Montreal. A shoulder injury sustained during an on-field fight contributed to Lee's eventual retirement.
Here are some quotes from Bill: "I'm mad at Hank (Aaron) for deciding to play one more season. I threw him his last home run and thought I'd be remembered forever. Now, I'll have to throw him another." "Do they leave it (Fenway's Green Monster) there during the game?" "My Karma ran over my Dogma." And my personal favorite, "You should enter a ballpark the way you enter a church."
Here's some background on Dick Drago taken from baseballlibrary.com: Drago made the majors when he was picked by the Royals in the expansion draft, and he became the ace of their struggling staff. Improving with the rest of the team, he had his best season in 1971 (17-11, 3.01), but his record suffered when the team declined in 1972 (12-17 despite a 2.99 ERA). Boston acquired him for 1974, and in their AL championship season in 1975 he was their bullpen ace with 15 saves. He saved Games Two and Three as the Red Sox swept the A's in the ALCS, but lost Game Two of the World Series in the ninth inning on a Ken Griffey double. His three scoreless innings of one-hit ball in Game Six kept Boston in the game, and they won on Carlton Fisk's famous homer in the 12th inning. Traded to California for 1976 and then to Baltimore in mid-1977, he returned to the Red Sox for 1978 and had his last good season in 1979, going 10-6 with 13 saves.
The players will be joining us for our escorted tours of Fenway Park. Bill Lee will be on our East Coast 1 and East Coast 3 Tours. Dick Drago will be joining us on the East Coast 2 Tour.
Topics:
stadium tours,
Red Sox,
baseball vacation package,
Fenway Park,
big league tours
