Ultimate Baseball
Road Trip Blog

Major League Baseball has updated several of the game times for the 2014 season. One of those game times has necessitated a change in our June tours on the West Coast. We have changed the start dates (and reduced the price) for the West Coast June, California Gold June, and So. California June tours. Just click the links below to see the new info and pricing.

We continue to add game times and other itinerary items to our 2014 tour web pages as they become available. The online brochures are not yet updated, but will be soon. Please check out the website to see if there is new information on your favorite tour. Here's the link:

Please let me know if you have any questions. I look forward to having you join us in 2014 on a luxury baseball tour.

Where has the time gone? We've been putting the finishing touches on our baseball vacation packages and hosting the tours. We're now looking up and realizing that we're in the midst of our final tour for the 2013 season. Yikes!

We'll catch up with our blogging activity to share with you some of the details and great fun that we had on the road this summer - starting with our Midwest to our West Coast to the East Coast and several variations in between.

While we're doing that, you can also check out our Facebook page with pictures and some highlights of our tours: https://www.facebook.com/BigLeagueTours.  

We've had some fans ask us to give them an idea of the itineraries on our luxury baseball tours. Some want to know how much free time they will have, others are interested in the game times, travel times, etc. Since we are offering a special $200 off the  West Coast Tour right now, I thought I would give a quick "thumbnail" version of our itinerary for the West Coast Tour.

June 11- Guests check into the San Diego Hilton Gaslamp Quarter. Meet with the BLT Tour Host around 4:30PM. The group will travel to Petco Park for the 7:10PM Braves/Padres game.

June 12- Short drive to check into the Anaheim Marriott. The bulk of the day free before going to Dodger Stadium for the D'backs/Dodgers, 7:10PM

June 13- Free day in So.Cal. We can help with Knott's Berry or Disneyland tickets, etc.

June 14- Possible stadium tour before the Yankees/Angels game, 7:05PM.

June 15- Fly to San Fran in the AM. Check into the San Fran Hilton. Rest of the day free to explore.  We can help with attraction tickets like Alcatraz, etc.

June 16- Early game with Mariners/A's at 1:05PM. Evening free in San Fran.

June 17- Possible stadium tour of AT&T Park before Padres/Giants, 7:15PM

There will be a Big League Tours Player Experience on the one of the days as well. Player and time TBA.  This is going to be a great tour.  I hope you will join us.

If you would like to book your West Coast Tour- CLICK HERE.

Please let me know if you have any questions.

Our West Coast Baseball Tour flew from San Francisco to Los Angeles. After the travel day and free morning to explore LA on their own, our guests headed out to Dodger Stadium on July 4th to see the Dodgers host the Cincinnati Reds. Here's a view from our seats. 

We started the night with a visit with Reds broadcaster andformer MLB pitcher, Chris Welsh. Chris hung out with us at field level and then took us up to the broadcast booth to see things from that vantage point. The booth is pretty small so we only went in three people at a time. Here's a shot of our three with Chris. 

I would have to say the highlight for me, though (and no slight intended for Chris), was to meet the voice of baseball, Mr. Vin Scully. As we were exiting the visiting team's booth, Chris introduced us to Mr. Scully who graciously spent a few minutes talking with us. It was surreal to be talking with the man who I've listened to all of my life calling the Dodgers games. 

Here we are with Mr. Scully, in the Dodgers broadcast booth. What a fantastic time. Thanks to Chris and Mr. Scully for making our visit so memorable!

Check out the Game Summary on MLB.com. 

Major League Baseball teams and stadiums are located in some of the greatest cities that our country has to offer. So it only stands to reason that we allow our guests time to explore these cities while on our baseball tours. That's been one of our basic features since we began Big League Tours in 2006. The other part of that, is we give you the flexibility to see what you want to see, to make the trip what you want of it and not be forced to do things you aren't interested in. 

San Francisco is one of those great cities. And explore it we did. From the moment we touched down, we began our exploration. We stayed right in the heart of Frisco. Our guests were given Metro Passports and could ride anywhere in the city for free as much and as often as they wanted. 

We also like to help our guests plan out their free time if they'd like us to. Knowing that Alcatraz tours sell out days or weeks in advance, we asked our guests if they'd like to take that tour and booked it for them. Here's a shot from inside the infamous prison, with our headsets on taking the audio tour. 

Our guests were able to spend time at Pier 39's restaurants and shops, Ghiradelli Square, Chinatown, and other parts of downtown San Francisco. They were also able to venture to the north part of the city and see the Golden Gate bridge up close. 

Another thing you have to do in San Francisco is ride a trolley car. Here'a a view of the ride that we took from Ghiradelli Square back to our hotel near Market Street. As you can tell from the picture, the sun was out and things had cleared off this afternoon. We had a lot of fun standing on the platform and getting a unique experience this city offers. 

If you are looking for baseball vacation packages that offer you the advantages of group tours but the flexibility to explore on your own, we hope that you'll consider traveling with Big League Tours. We truly offer the best of both worlds!

The following day we took our west coast baseball tour guests to San Francisco. We hopped a short flight and arrived at SFO in the early afternoon. Once we checked into our hotels, everyone had the afternoon and evening on their own to go see the sites. We provided 3-day metro cards that allowed our guests to use the public transportation to go practically anywhere in the city.

By now, I'm sure you're picking up on my love of food. Yeah? So when in San Francisco, a city that's known for its great food, how could I not explore just a bit? We opted to go to Rocco's Cafe, a local Italian spot that we discovered by watching Diners, Drive-ins and Dives.  

Chef Don, founder of Rocco's, paid our table a visit and chatted with us for quite a while. Turns out he's quite the baseball fan. In fact, Rocco's is so close to AT&T Park and the food is so good, that we've heard several of the Giants players, managers and staff members frequent the restaurant. I'm sure that several members from the visiting teams make their way to Rocco's too. If they don't, they're missing out!

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. 

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!!

Ah, yes. Players have reported to camp, Spring Training games begin in about a week, and baseball news has heated up. All those things mean that baseball trips are just around the corner!

I'm personally hosting a couple of our tours and have started putting together my plans for the non-baseball portions of our itineraries. For instance, on our West Coast Tour, I'm looking forward to seeing Pike Place Market in Seattle, touring Alcatraz in San Francisco, and eating authentic Mexican food in San Diego.

I'm also really looking forward to meeting up with Big League Tours' customers in their hometowns and at their home stadiums. They can always give us a local take on the ballpark, the team, and the city's sites and attractions. I'm in the picture to the right just outside of Yankee Stadium with a couple of guests from California. We're planning to catch a game together at AT&T Park when our baseball tour comes through town. Can't wait to re-connect!

So it's not too early to begin your tour planning for the 2012 baseball season. Find the tour that suits your needs and start laying in all the "extras". Let us know if you need help planning that perfect baseball vacation package!

Check out our 2012 Baseball Tours, Download a trip brochure, and Sign-up for the baseball experience for a lifetime of memories!