Baseball has always been a part of my life. My dad was raised in southern New Jersey across the river from Philadelphia, so we rooted for the Phillies growing up and went to many games at the old Veterans Stadium. I was sorry to see the Phillies lose to the Houston Astros in this year’s World Series.
I rooted for the Phillies this time around because I’m a Boston Red Sox fan and I couldn’t bring myself to cheer on the Astros when my childhood team was playing for the title. I live in New England, so being a Sox fan goes without saying.
My brother played shortstop for many years for teams my dad coached. My mom, sister, and I spent many summers watching my dad pass on his love of the game.
Luckily, my husband likes baseball as much as I do. He grew up the son of a minor league baseball player in the 1950s and played himself right through college. His dad is in the Maine Baseball Hall of Fame. Together we are trying to see all 30 Major League Baseball stadiums. So far the count is 15. It would have been 16 if the San Diego Padres would have played in the drizzle. Honestly, it was just drizzling!!
I have to say one of our favorites is Citizen Bank Park, the replacement for Veterans Stadium in Philadelphia. The view of the city is fantastic and it’s just a fun place to watch a game. My brother takes his son there every year.
My husband and I always get to each stadium when the doors open so we can walk around without too many people. We trek to the top row and sit and take in the view. And of course, you can’t forget about the food. In Philly, we went with Bull’s BBQ instead of the old standby…cheesesteak. “Bull” was the nickname for Greg Luzinski, a left fielder for the Phillies in the 1970s and 80s. It was delicious!
I’m sorry the baseball season is over, but it’s only 94 days until pitchers and catchers report again. Maybe next year we’ll try and see one of the 15 remaining stadiums on our MLB bucket list.
Genealogy Tip: Get out and make memories of your own that your descendants will want to write about in their own blog someday.
***UPDATE*** Last week I finished my blog post by saying I was going to see if the National Archives had any more information on Andrew Bothel’s hospital cards. Well, it turns out they did. I wrote to them and within the week they were kind enough to send me the 4 hospital cards they had on Andrew. He was severely wounded on 1 June 1864 with a musket ball injury to the right hip. He had recovered enough to be furloughed on 22 June 1864 and returned to duty on 24 March 1865, about 3 weeks before the end of the Civil War. Another takeaway from this…you won’t get what you don’t ask for…so ask!