“Even a bad game at the ballpark is a good thing.“

(George Falkowski author of “Meet Me at the Bat” and “Ballpark Therapy”)

For those of you reading this who know me as a Leyton Orient and football (soccer for the benefit of any readers from across the Pond that may have been lured in!) obsessive, I also have a huge passion for all things baseball. Having spent two years from the age of 9 until 11 living in Westfield New Jersey (my apologies George!), I not only played the game as a kid but was also drawn in to loving the whole ballpark experience, most specifically watching my beloved New York Yankees.

At this point it is probably worth explaining for the benefit of those that haven’t experienced a lot of baseball where the Yankees sit within the grand scheme of baseball fandom. By far the most successful franchise (remember US sports are structured differently) in history having won the World Series (basically the championship) 27 times, and having had the benefit of a whole galaxy of superstars playing for them, including the most famous baseball player of all time one George Herman “Babe” Ruth; the Yankees are also despised by fans of every other team as a result of their success, their huge payroll, a perceived arrogance and sense of entitlement. This hatred was crystalised best by former Boston Red Sox president, Larry Luchino, who coined the term the “Evil Empire” (as in Star Wars) to describe their historic rivals.    

For most Europeans, baseball can be seen as some unfathomable sport that seems to just be glorified rounders played by players in strange kit but which for some reason seems to captivate Americans. Trust me though, once you grasp the basics and get a feel for the traditions, the culture, the history, and the somewhat quirky fan experience, the game is absolutely absorbing, and going to ballparks (read: stadiums/ grounds) is an incredibly enjoyable experience.

Despite being marooned on the other side of the Atlantic for the 40 odd years since returning from New Jersey, I have made a concerted effort to stay involved with watching the game live. My dad and I once undertook a “baseball tour” that encompassed 5 games in 4 cities in 9 days. I have been to both incarnations of Yankee Stadium multiple times and have been to games at: the New York Mets (at both Shea Stadium and their current Citi Field home), both the White Sox and the Cubs in Chicago, the St Louis Cardinals, the Philadelphia Phillies, the San Francisco Giants, the Toronto Blue Jays, the Boston Red Sox, the Seattle Mariners and the San Diego Padres. Plus of course I was there for each of the three London Series at the London Stadium. It’s fair to say that my obsession is showing no signs of abating, if anything it is actually getting worse!

In planning our holidays for the summer of 2025, I somehow managed to “convince” the better half that she not only wanted to go to the States again, but that she also wanted to come and watch some baseball games with me. We originally planned a trip encompassing New York City (to watch the Yankees obviously!) but also Houston and Atlanta for the middle of May, as soon as Leyton Orient’s season had finished, naturally! Sadly life was to intervene, and we unfortunately had to postpone our trip until August although we had to regrettably drop Houston as one of our stops.

Prior to this year my wife Kay’s relationship with America’s favourite pastime could probably at best be described as “tolerant”. However, credit where it is due, after an intense induction course (which consisted mainly of us watching as many games on TV as we could with her “expert” husband explaining the intricacies of what was happening), to my, and undoubtedly her, astonishment she actually started to develop an interest in watching the games and amazingly seemed to grow to enjoy them. By the time the middle of August rolled around we were both champing at the bit to get underway.

The Ballpark Experience

For those who have never experienced a baseball game in the flesh, it has to be said that going to a ballpark is a much different experience from attending a football match in Europe. The atmosphere is as much about having a day out as watching what’s happening in the game intently. There also isn’t the edgy atmosphere that we get at football. Instead it is more about having fun, eating and drinking and, certainly in the case of Yankee Stadium, spending as much money as possible while you are there. In many ways it is almost like going to an amusement park with a sporting contest thrown in.

Food and drink make up a huge part of visiting any ballpark, with all sorts of options available from the traditional hotdogs, beer and Craker Jack (caramel coated popcorn and peanuts) to local specialties and specifically designed dishes relevant to a particular team or locale. There are also hawkers roaming the stands to sell you food and drink without you having the inconvenience of even leaving your seat, at a premium price of course!

The fans in attendance are decked out in a broad range of team or baseball specific merchandise from the almost compulsory hat to jerseys, T-shirts etc. There is a whole variety of entertainment on the big screens and/ or on the field between each inning. Anyone who has ever seen a baseball game even briefly on TV may well have heard the organs that aim to charge up the crowd whenever there is a lull. 

Often there are promotional giveaways, usually for games that may not be a big draw in terms of crowd numbers. These could be anything from bobblehead toys, jerseys, t-shirts, caps and even bats. I remember once attending Yankee Stadium with my dad and brother on Yankee Bat Day when all kids in attendance got a free wooden bat and were then encouraged to wave it above their heads during a break between innings. Very different from the 80’s British football experience!

Perhaps the most well-known activities are the singing of the national anthem (or anthems if Toronto feature) before the game for which everyone in attendance removes their caps and stands up, and the “Seventh Inning Stretch” (the period between the two halves of the 7^th inning) when all the crowd get up and literally have a stretch, while joining in with the singing of “Take me Out to the Ballgame” and other locally specific songs.

Each park is unique with quirks and features to each one, some even have museums and onsite restaurants, and it is perfectly normal to have a wander around all parts of the stadium even while the game is going on. Can you imagine even trying that at a football match?

Minor League Baseball

As there is no league structure with promotion and relegation in US sports, the Minor League system plays a fundamental developmental role. There are five different levels: Rookie Ball, Single-A, High-A, Double-A and Triple-A, with the latter being the level just below the Major Leagues. In the past the majority of teams, while independently owned, were affiliated to a Major League team and acted as a kind of “farm system” where young players could gain experience, injured top-line players could rehab after injury, and where players needing to find form etc could do so.  Most teams tended to have a Minor League affiliate at each of the levels and there were also a number of independent (unaffiliated) teams.

However in 2021 as part of a significant restructuring Major League Baseball (MLB), the governing body, reduced the total number of teams to 120 (4 per Major League team) from 160. This controversial decision left many proud Minor League teams without the vital income that an affiliation deal used to bring, and many towns and cities outside of the major markets facing the prospect of losing their local team altogether. Imagine the Premier League deciding that they wouldn’t support the English Football League leaving all the 72 teams scratching around for income to pay the bills. They couldn’t do that could they…oh hang on a minute…

Minor League Baseball is even more about entertainment and community engagement than the major leagues, as getting people into the ballpark is a vital source of revenue. As a result it has evolved into a very quirky, even wacky, sporting experience. There are all sorts of frankly bizarre team names and logos (particular favourites of mine being the El Paso Chihuahuas, the Albuquerque Isotopes (for fans of the Simpsons!), the Binghamton Rumble Ponies, the Toledo Mud Hens and the Rocket City Trash Pandas, although there are many many more, and some teams have even developed alter-egos for special event games). 

Because of the need to think outside the box to draw a crowd, both the entertainment and the promotional giveaways tend to be creative and fun, if not sometimes down right nuts. Although in a similar vein to the way in which football fans in England and the UK are turning to the lower and non-leagues after being priced out of or becoming disillusioned by the commercial greed of the biggest clubs; baseball fans are turning to the minor leagues as a more attractive (and affordable!) option.

Having learned a little about the minor league world from the excellent books by George Falkowksi (as mentioned earlier), Will Bardenwerper and Paul Caputo & Chris Creamer (all well worth a read if you do find yourself curious about this different version of baseball watching), I was desperate to go and taste the Minor League experience in all its glory.  

Stop 1: Hub City Spartanburgers @ Brooklyn Cyclones

Whenever most people think of New York City they will usually focus on Manhattan, Central Park, the Statue of Liberty, the Empire State Building and the like. In baseball terms it will inevitably be about the New York Yankees, and maybe the Mets. However there are two minor league teams: the Brooklyn Cyclones (High-A affiliate of the Mets) and the Staten Island Ferry Hawks (a new independent team who have replaced former Yankees affiliate the Staten Island Yankees- more on them later) operating within the city limits, while the Long Island Ducks (another independent team) are based on suburban Long Island.

The Cyclones play at Maimonides Park just off the boardwalk at Coney Island. If you haven’t heard of Coney Island, it is probably fair to describe it as New York’s equivalent of Blackpool or any similar British seaside resort. It is regarded as the birthplace of the modern American amusement industry (think amusement arcades, funfair games, rollercoasters and many other rides). It is also home to the “world renowned” Nathan’s Famous hotdog restaurant chain and the (in)famous annual 4^th of July hotdog eating competition- when around 20 “competitive eaters” try to eat as many Nathan’s hotdogs as they can in 10 minutes. If for some strange reason you want to experience the event in all its “glory”, it is easily found on Youtube – with no apologies whatsoever if you find yourself put off hotdogs, or any other food for that matter, for a considerable time afterwards!

Welcome to Coney Island!

It takes about an hour or so on the subway to reach Coney Island from Manhattan, and of course the pair of us being big kids at heart made sure we arrived a good 3 hours plus ahead of the game starting. We had a bit of a mooch around the funfair and a few beers in a couple of bars on the boardwalk before heading for the park.

On our way in we were both handed a free bobblehead figurine of Pete Alonso who had just broken the record for the most home runs by any Mets player in history and of course had played with the Cyclones while coming up through the ranks. We hadn’t expected this at all and only realised how valuable they were when a fellow fan asked us if we needed both and two bystanders suggested we should charge him $200 for it! In the end we ended up giving one of ours to a lady whose son was a huge Mets fan but hadn’t been able to make it to the game that evening.

The ballpark itself is fairly compact but neat and tidy and the view from the most expensive seats (just $20 each, a fraction of the price for similar at a Major League park!) looks straight out across the boardwalk, amusement park attractions like the Cyclone roller coaster and Parachute Jump which light up as it gets dark, and the nearby beach. It is a truly stunning view although it would be matched by one later in our trip.

The view from the “posh” seats at Maimonides Park

The most celebrated food item is of course the Nathan’s hotdogs, although Kay was particularly chuffed with her “bucket” of cocktail for just $30 that lasted her for the best part of the first half of the game. There was a strange chap wandering around in a crown and geeing up the crowd, who we initially assumed was an overenthusiastic fan, but turned out to be King Henry a children’s magician and on-field MC for the team who performs magic and baseball-related acts for the crowd. There are two mascots, both seagulls (unsurprisingly!), called Sandy (after legendary Brooklyn Dodgers pitcher Sandy Koufax) and his son Pee Wee (after Dodgers’ shortstop Pee Wee Reese). There is also a race between characters dressed in hotdog costumes called Ketchup, Mustard and Relish every game which is almost as much of an attraction as the game itself.

Kay with her “bucket” of cocktail

The game itself proved to be closely fought throughout. Hub City opened the scoring in the top of the 1^st inning thanks to a home run by Dylan Dreiling. The Cyclones took the lead in the bottom of the third when Boston Baro singled in a run and then Trace Willhoite was hit by a pitch with the bases loaded.

Things settle down a bit for the next few innings, so we took the opportunity to load up on Nathan’s hotdogs (well what else would we eat given the venue?) and more drinks. We got back just in time to witness the Spartanburgers register another couple of runs in the 7^th with Brooklyn responding with 2 runs of their own in the bottom half of the inning, to make the score 4-3 for the home team with 2 innings to go.

The outcome of the game was decided in the top of the 9^th inning when Hub City plated 3 runs with the Cyclones unable to respond making the final score 6-4 to the visitors. The two teams would meet again in the League Championship series in September, so clearly we knew what we were doing in watching this game.

As we exited the ballpark there was a spectacular firework show that is in fact a regular Friday night feature at Coney Island and not something organised by the baseball team. It had been a very fun evening, and it’s fair to say that right there and then both of us had become fans of Minor League Baseball in all its glory.

Stop 2: Chicago White Sox @ Atlanta Braves

After a weekend in New York doing many of the things that we always enjoy while in town: eating hamburgers at the absolutely amazing Smacking Burger (literally based in a Mobil gas/petrol station and definitely worth a visit!), visiting the markets on the upper west side, and Kay’s personal favourite watching the Central Park Dance Skaters strutting their stuff, on Monday we headed down south to Atlanta.

Without wanting to embarrass my darling wife (well not too much any way!), when we originally booked the trip she had initially confused Atlanta with Atlantic City, and for quite some time thought we were going to the “Las Vegas of the East Coast” in my “home state” of New Jersey. Still, always the intrepid sports adventurers we thought we might as well go and see what the capital city of Georgia and host of the 1996 Olympics was all about.

Atlanta is very much a city of contrasts. On one hand it is a growing city based around the film, technology and hospitality industries; on the other there is very evident poverty. Once we had found our bearings, yep we found an Irish bar Meehans (pronounced Mee-Hans, as we were informed by the barman with a Deep South drawl), to establish as our local, we soon grew to like the city.

The main tourist attractions in the downtown area are the Centennial Olympic Park- although beware of the “interesting” characters that lurk around the immediate area, the Georgia Aquarium, the World of Coca- Cola and the College Football Hall of Fame. While we eschewed the aquarium (once you’ve seen one big tank of fish, you’ve seen them all, right?), we spent a morning in each of the latter two over the course of our stay, both of which proved fantastic fun based around interactive media and all sorts of other entertainment. If you ever find yourself in Atlanta they are both 100% worth your time.

Through a contact Kay had managed to secure us excellent seats at Truist Park to watch the Atlanta Braves take on the Chicago White Sox on the Tuesday evening, they even came with the option to add on a VIP batting practice experience (essentially being on the field to watch the players warm up before the game).

After spending the morning at World of Coca-Cola, lunching at Meehans including the local delicacy of crispy Brussels sprouts (strangely moorish but very very filling), we took the advice of the locals and headed up to the Battery, where the ballpark is, to avoid the worst of the traffic. Almost as soon as we got into our cab the heavens opened, the rain was literally bouncing back up off the tarmac. Once we arrived we sought shelter in a local car park where the affable security guard even took a couple of pictures of us for our records.

In the rain at Truist Park

We didn’t have to wait too long for the rain to abate, and we made our way towards the park.  Truist Park is the second most recently built ballpark in the Major Leagues, opening in 2017. Rather unsurprisingly given the weather, batting practice had been cancelled but it gave us more time to explore the surrounding area. The Battery is a purpose-built entertainment and residential area full of bars, restaurants, hotels, shops, a concert hall and apartment buildings. It was just a shame that a combination of the uncertain weather and the poor form of the Braves and the visiting White Sox, meant the early crowd was sparse.

The park itself like many / most of the newly built ones has all the modern comfort and features you would expect from a new stadium but also has tried to keep a retro-feel to the whole design. It certainly feels like an ideal place to watch a baseball game.

Kay about to enter her new spiritual baseball home

On the way in we received our second free gift of the tour when we were handed a 7” vinyl record featuring the music of one of three local bands, specially chosen by Spencer Strider one of the Braves’ pitching staff.  It certainly seemed exciting until it dawned on us that we don’t actually possess a record player anymore and haven’t for a number of years!

After a good old mooch round the various bars and patio decks, we settled into our seats ready for the start of the game. Thankfully the rain seemed to be holding off so we didn’t have to contemplate the dreaded rain check. For those not familiar with this baseball practice: if a game is unable to be completed (or even get going) as a result of adverse weather, all ticketholders are offered the opportunity to redeem their ticket for a future game at no extra cost. A fine and sensible approach for locals but for obvious reasons, something absolutely dreaded by tourist fans.

Not long after the game was underway Kay’s contact came to visit us with the kind gift of a Braves hat each. Right then and there was when Kay decided that from now on she was most definitely a Braves fan as well as a fan of anyone playing the Yankees.

The view from our seats at Truist Park

The game itself was to turn into something of a seesaw encounter. The Braves got off to the ideal start when Michael Harris II’s 2-run homer in the bottom of the first put them ahead early. The White Sox responded in the top of the 3^rd scoring 3 runs to take the lead. Jurickson Profar’s 2-run home run in the bottom of the next inning put the Braves back on top 4-3.

The top of the 5^th saw the White Sox seize the momentum in the game, plating 5 runs and taking a seemingly commanding 8-4 lead. They then added another 2 in the next inning. With it looking for all the world like there was only going to be one winner, and mindful of the fact that we needed to get ourselves back into town, we enjoyed the 7^th Inning Stretch and went in search of a cab.

There were all sorts of official and unofficial taxis in the various parking areas outside the park, so we jumped in the first one that we came across. We were back at the hotel much speedier than we had anticipated and tipped the driver with our free vinyl for the ease and reasonable price of our journey. When we walked into the hotel bar we discovered that the Braves had scored 5 runs in the bottom of the 7^th and then another 2 to win the game in the home half of the 8^th. I guess you live and learn that in baseball there is almost always a chance of a comeback, no matter how unlikely it looks.

To be continued…