St Louis and Kansas City

Last year, we did a tour that included two games of the Royals at Minnesota, a day off, and then two games at Milwaukee (Dodgers and then Guardians). That was a great trip; not only because we got to run in the mascot race in Minnesota, but because they were new states, cities, and ballparks. The off day was a travel day in which we took in Madison. Madison is awesome, Milwuakee was great. Minneapolis was weird. The game in Milwaukee against the Dodgers was my first indoor game and I'm glad of that as a thunderstorm raged outside. Of course, Ohtani didn't do much; but was great seeing him play again as well as seeing Kwan and Ramirez and whomever was on the Brewers. Otherwise, I found it oddly dark and really missed seeing the sky.

This year we did two games in a ghost town called St. Louis and two games in Kansas City in four consecutive days. Driving, as we did from Minneapolis to Milwaukee, from St. Louis to Kansas City. Minnesota and Wisconsin were fan more beautiful than our journey west through Missouri. 

Busch Stadium was nice, and the reported 19K and 18K fans in attendance against the Pirates on Wednesday night and Thursday afternoon were big fat lies. Is there a way to find out the actual number through the gates and not ticket sales? The Arch was cool too. Otherwise, there is nothing appealing in St. Louis. We did this trip to see McCutchen, of course. The teams split the wins.

We saw the Tigers and Royals split two games in Kauffman Stadium which is a nice, though sadly aging and dated ballpark. I was not prepared for how hilly Kansas City and that region was! But Kansas City is everything that St Louis is not at the moment. The city was lovely, there was stuff to see and do, places to eat! And even people! The fans were out in KC which was nice in one way, but it made seating uncomfortable compared to St Louis, where we had rows and rows around us that were barren. We missed seeing Skenes and Skubal, each, by one day! 

We got Brandon Donovan magnets in St Louis and in Kansas City, a Bobby Witt Jr bobblehead and a Hawaiian shirt. None of which I want. Let me know if you do and we can work something out.

In both cities we did the Cardinals and Royals Halls of Fames. We had to pay to see the Cardinals one, located outside of the ballpark; the Royals was located inside Kauffman. So I guess we had to pay to see that too, in a way. I didn't realize that the Royals were so stingy about retiring numbers! Just three: Brett, Howser, and White. I imagine they will do Alex Gordon and Salvador Perez sometime before 2050. It was a very small and modest HOF and I was glad to see so many former players in the team HOF. The Cardinals have had a longer and more successful franchise, so it makes sense that their HOF was big. 

Some pictures:

 

It was great to see two more ballparks and to step foot in Kansas (the state). As well, to see McCutchen play again. Missouri is a state which I think some people might not realize has two ball clubs. I mean, I was just there and I already can't really remember that it does! However, it joins Florida, Ohio, Illinois, Texas, New York, and Pennsylvania as having two and exactly two teams. California doesn't count. Their five teams is stupid greedy.

I've now seen games in the following cities:

Baltimore (Memorial Stadium, Camden Yards)
Boston
Cincinnati (Great American)
Cleveland (Progressive Field)
Kansas City
Los Angeles Dodgers
Milwaukee (American Family)
Minnesota (Target Field)
New York (Old, New)
New York (Shea, Citifield)
Philadelphia (Veterans, Citizens Bank Park)
Pittsburgh (PNC Park)
San Francisco (AT&T or whatever it's called now)
St Louis  
Washington (RFK, Nationals Park)

That is fifteen teams in more than fifteen parks. I have taken a tour of Wrigley and been to Seattle in the off-season and visited the team store there, but haven't yet seen any games there. According to my check-ins on the At Bat app, I've seen 27 different teams. I'm sure I've seen more than I've logged (as in all current 30 teams plus the Expos). Aside from seeing Spring Training games in Florida, there isn't much of a desire to see games there.  

When I got back from the trip, I had these three cards waiting for me from a Bluesky giveaway!

Thanks for stopping by!