Kind of lost in shuffle after returning from last week’s trip to New York City and across New England were the completion of two Ultimate Sports Road Trip milestones - we can now claim bragging rights to having visited EVERY ballpark and stadium in the AA Eastern League and the short-A New York Penn League in their current and active venues.

We sort of did a mini celebration and a high five at LeLacheur Park in Lowell last Saturday, as well as Merchantsauto.com Stadium in Manchester later that night. No, it didn’t have the drama and emotion of the official USRT finish line in Detroit back in 2002, but still satisfying nonetheless.

So now we have prepared both those league’s pages on the USRT site. Want to do a rapid fire tour through both leagues, with thumbnailed photos and descriptions of each venue? Then click on for the New York-Penn League as well as the Eastern League and follow us along!

I’ve had it with the lovefest.

How many freaking times have I had to hear “this is the last time (insert event here) will be played at Yankee Stadium” and “What an historic and wonderful stadium this is”. Enough! Quite frankly I could give two bits about The House That the Overwieght Philandering Former Brooklyn Dodger Coach Built.

If you’re here to read another glowing review of Yankee Stadium, move on. This one definitely isn’t for you.

It’s for the rest of us out there, those who can’t stand the Yankees with a passion, for those who believe that being named Murderer’s Row and the Evil Empire really aren’t good things to be referred to as. And I have a few random thoughts about the passing of this incredibly overrated venue and the unbelievably overhyped club that plays in in it. Basically some of the moments and stories that I’ll remember most from Bronx.

Yankee Stadium….ahhh yes. Where Casey Stengel managed the Yanks to seven World Series titles and ten pennants in twelve seasons. Then he was told to not let the door hit him on the way out.

And you thought the Mets were classless after firing Willie Randolph.

Where Roger Maris was despised in many corners of the Yankees organization for having the gall to make a run at the Babe’s hallowed single season home run record. Heck, even Barry Bonds was revered in San Francisco while doing the same.

A place so enamored by fans in the sixties that the woeful crosstown Mets outdrew them at the box office as the Yanks won pennants.

Where the Yankees had the nerve to have a player called out on a result of too much pine tar on the bat(common sense prevailed)……where slapping a ball out the hand of a fielder as they run to first is acceptable practice.

Where CBS ran a clinic in “how to run an iconic franchise into the ground”. Are they willing to buy in again? Just wonderin’.

Where a team can have a nine digit payroll yet cut dental benefits for the grunts in the office that take the 4 train to get to work in the Bronx.

Where Howie Spira became a national figure resulting in George Steinbrenner being banned from baseball for life….oh, nevermind.

Ditto for Brian McNamee. Still fresh news so I won’t go there.

Where Jason Giambi “apologized”.

Where the Yanks’ dynasty of the nineties was sparked by the most egregious blown call of the post Denkinger era. Thank you Jeff Maier, who in typical arrogant and pompous Yankeefan manner was paraded around like some conquering hero in the following days.

Where the Yankees’ wild spending on players threw the salary structure of baseball out of whack and stifled the competitive balance of the game .

St. Louis had Jack Buck, the Dodgers have Vin Scully, and the Yankees have this.

Where managerial stability reached an all time low, just ask the seventeen managers in seventeen years. Better yet, just look up Billy Martin.

I can just hear it now….” oh but, but, this is where Ruth and Gehrig played!!!”

Yes, they also performed at Dunn Field in Elmira. Take a ride if there if seeing a field where they played ball is that important to you.

“What about all those championships!!!”…money was a big help, don’t you think?

I have to admit, I felt no chills, no feelings of awe, no sense aura or mystique on Sunday as I wandered through the sterile and cramped walkways of Yankee Stadium while meandering through the hordes of fans wearing their crisp, brand new caps and their jerseys with players’ names on the back(a clear sign of a fan on the wagon) as they spent the day cheering on the easiest team in sports to root for.

It was nothing like all the other times I’ve wandered through a ballpark in its final days. There was no twinge of sadness, no feeling of relief that I was able to come here one last time and drink it all in and enjoy the experience. Simply a feeling of “good riddance, I’m outta here” was sufficient on this day.

For me, it’s always been about dollar signs and how the Yankees have always had far more of that than anyone else in the sport and how(surprise, surprise) they’ve been able to use that wide gap in revenue to produce more on field success than any other club in the game.

The sad thing is, the new joint will help the Yankees in that regard even more as you can bet prices for everything from scorecard pencils to luxury suites will set a new standard for revenue generation in baseball. Just like Sunday, next year we’ll go, we’ll cross it off the list and gleefully head off to Citifield to complete the New York doubleheader.

-Peter Farrell

Sunday afternoon, and it was time for the marquee event of this journey – one final USRT visit to the hallowed grounds of Yankee Stadium.

With stadium traffic, construction of the new ballpark and everything else going on, we decided to park the car in one of the neighborhoods north of the stadium on the #4 line, and then simply rode the train into the ballpark. We craned our necks in anticipation, and all of sudden, there it was! The cranes, the construction and the gleaming new Yankee Stadium, rising next door to the venerable old place. It is still one great sight to see.

The streets were bustling with fans on a beautiful warm Sunday afternoon, and really, the neighborhood surrounding Yankee Stadium is really pretty cool. Tucked underneath the elevated train platform are a ton of small merchandise shops, restaurants, taverns and bodegas catering to the baseball fan. The smells in the air and the cacophony of noises is great to just soak in.

We walked around the new ballpark and took pictures and then made our way in for one final time. One final game.

And what a game it was! The West Division leading LA Angels were in town for what could be a playoff preview, and the packed house was disappointed early as the Angels took a quick 5-0 lead and were seemingly in cruise control. But the Yankees chipped away and tied the game at 5, then took an 8-5 lead in the 7th and the place was absolutely going nuts.

Then the crowd got deflated as the Angels Mark Texeira hit a grand slam home run to give his team a 9-8 lead. But the Yankees would storm back in the bottom of the 8th, plating 6 runs to eventually win the game 14-9. Amazing!

We hung out with our friends Gary Herman and Mike “The King” Casiano. These guys are big Mets fans and definitely not Yankees supporters, so their Shea Stadium antics are much more muted and sedate here at The Stadium. These guys have also been doing a lot of road trip planning now that the NHL schedule is out, and like us they await the NBA schedule which should be out in a couple of days. They’ve got a visit to Buffalo the first weekend in November for the Bills/Jets game at The Ralph on their radar, so we will look forward to welcoming them if that comes off.

It was a long game, and we took one long final look at Yankee Stadium before heading back to the subway station. By the time we got back to the car it was 5:20PM and the ride home to B-lo awaited.

Five ballparks in four days in five different states. This summer road trip was yet another awesome one!

We raced, really raced, up Hwy 3 (listening to the Bisons game on a crystal clear KB 1520 signal from Buffalo the whole time) and arrived at Merchantsauto.com Stadium in the 5th inning. Of course, that game was sailing right along, when lots of base runners, pitching changes and a tied score would have suited us much better.

Merchantsauto.com opened just three years ago, and when we last visited Manchester (back in 2005 for the AHL All Star Game at Verizon Wireless Arena) this was just a big hole in the ground. Sandwiched in between I-293 and the downtown core, there is but one way in and one way out of the place and onto Granite Street.But the signature of the venue isn’t even a part of the stadium itself; a six story Hilton Garden Inn dominates the outfield, and the rooms there surely have a great view of the action. The pool area and patio was pretty crowded with fans watching the game on the field, but even though the hotel property literally abuts the outfield wall, they have nothing to do with the fisher Cats. “we really don’t have a good relationship with them” explained Media Assistant Tim Hough.

Part of the stadium includes the just opened the spacious Samuel Adams Bar and Grill out in left field. Plenty of HD televisions, a long mahogany bar, table and bar seating and a great view of the action. This is the hangout at the stadium, but actually, with the monster wide concourses, lots of concession stands, a small but nicely done Ted Williams Museum behind home plate, this is a pretty comfortable place to enjoy a game with plenty to see and do.

We saw no scoring in this one - it was 2-1 Manchester when we arrived, an even though Connecticut mounted a threat in the 7th and 8th, they could not push the tying run across. The game ended, and in the same night we celebrated yet another USRT accomplishment - all 12 Eastern League venues DONE!

This trip has blown by so fast, and one more adventure awaits - tomorrow we get up early and drive down to the Bronx for our farewell visit to old Yankee Stadium. We plan to park up at the northern end of the 4 line and take the train to the stadium.

Check out the outfield at the home of the New Hampshire Fisher Cats

So why is Peter giving the “up yours” to LeLacheur Park in Lowell, Mass.?

Until 1995, Pete’s beloved Elmira Pioneers were a part of the New York Penn League, at which time the team was sold to business interests in Lowell. Don’t know if there were Mayflower vans at midnight or anything like that, but there probably were a couple pick up trucks and a U-haul, and just like that organized professional baseball was gone from Elmira forever.

I’m walking around, marveling at this beautiful gem of a ballpark, with its decorative ornate wrought iron gates, and brick facade, lush landscaping, spacious merchandise store near the main entrance. Pete, meanwhile, is shaking his head and muttering to himself.

Get over it! That was 13 years ago!

LeLacheur Park is one pretty stadium, situated right near downtown Lowell and just blocks away from their AHL venue, Tsongas Arena. The venue opened in 1998, and the team has a continuous sellout streak which goes all the way back to 1999. Incredible!

The nice thing about this ballpark is that it has all the bells and whistles of a state of the art ballpark - a video board, spacious concession stands, a nicely appointed team store, a ground floor picnic and buffet area called the Gator Pit, an open concourse with a view of the field. Yet no suites or club level, glass enclosed bar area for premium customers, valet parking, and all that nonsense.

Jon Boswell, the team’s Media Relations guy, couldn’t have been nicer, and spent time with us showing all the features of the ballpark, took us downstairs and fixed us up with a great meal, and made us feel very welcome.

Out in the concourse they have a glassed display with all the bobbleheads distributed at LeLacheur Park over the years. And there we spotted it - a Wade Boggs bobblehead, with Boggs wearing the Elmira Pioneers “E” cap. A piece of Elmira at LeLacheur Park. That made Pete one very happy boy!

The game was scoreless until the bottom of the fifth inning, when Lowell scored the first run of the game on a sacrifice fly RBI. Just like that the game was official, and for the USRT, one more milestone - all 14 NY-Penn venues DONE! A journey that began at Batavia’s Dwyer Stadium in 2002 was capped here in Lowell. We high fived our accomplishment, then raced out of the building to head up to Manchester. That game was already in the bottom of the second, and we had more baseball on this evening’s plate!

We had a massive rainstorm come through Lowell around 30 minutes before game time. Luckily it did not cancel the game and we got underway around 645PM.

Part two of our doubleheader up in Manchester also had a delayed start, so we arrived around the 5th inning. One crazy night but we are here and we made it!

Will have much more later on. Oh… great MEDIA FOOD in Lowell - racks of ribs, sirloin tips, chicken wings, italian sausage. great stuff!

When you have the AA affiliates of the Boston Red Sox and the New York Yankees squaring off, you know it’s going to be a more intense than usual matchup.

Add “Jonathan Papelbon Bobblehead Night” for the first 1000 fans through the gates, a Friday night with great weather, and that translates into a packed house at Hadlock Field in Portland, home of the AA Sea Dogs.

A large crowd waits to get their hands on a prized bobblehead

Prior to making our way to the ballpark, we actually drove over to the Cumberland County Civic Center, a mile away right n the middle of downtown. We were hoping to find some evidence, a massive banner maybe, of the AHL Pirates new affiliation with the Buffalo Sabres. Alas, there was no such thing, nor a billboard or banner anywhere in the city, so we then drove over to Hadlock Field, found a space on the street close by, and made our way over, only to find a huge line of fans snaking around the building. Bobblehead giveaways will do that at a ballpark, and it was still almost 2 hours to first pitch!

Hadlock Field opened back in 1994, and even though it is a “newer” ballpark, it has a more mature feel to it. The designers of this venue took advantage of every square inch of real estate. The Exposition Center next door (home to the local pro roller derby team) almost juts into right field. Pavilion seats with drink rails were added to the right field last year, and the “Maine Monster”, a likeness of the more famous Monster at Fenway, dominates the left field outfield. The outfield walls are a cornucopia of ads, the line score is displayed in the Monster, right next to that is a small dot matrix board, and in right field is a modest sized video board.

Make no mistake, Portland, Maine is a Red Sox town. Almost everyone in the stands is wearing some sort of Sox gear, and loud cheers came from the crowd as they showed new Red Sox outfielder Jason Bay on the video board do his first at bat in a Boston uniform, and again when he made a highlight reel catch later in that game.

With the tight stadium dimensions, this is one very intimate venue. Fans sit right on top of the action, and with the high walls throughout the outfield, the seating bowl almost feel claustrophobic. There is absolutely no covering at all in the seating bowl, so that probably makes for little shade on a hot day or protection from the elements. Not a good thing.

There is a great energy and atmosphere in this building, and you can feel the excitement as fans stomp theri feet on the metal risers in the upper part of the seating bowl to make the building shake. In the middle of the 8th, they play “Sweet Caroline” and of course, everybody sings!

Unfortunately for the home team, all the foot stomping and cheering could not bring them a victory, as Trenton took a 3-0 lead and then withstood a 7th inning Sea Dogs rally to win the game 3-2.

So in addition to seeing Dan (see previous post), props and thanks to Chris Cameron from the Sea Dogs for setting us up with credentials for Sports and Leisure Magazine and for all his hospitality.

After the game we’re off to Manchester NH and our Sheraton hotel… tomorrow we got a doubleheader on tap at two ballparks 30 miles apart from each other - a 5PM start in Lowell, and then we shoot over to Manchester for a 7PM first pitch. Fun huh?!

This amazing building in downtown Burlington has been rehabbed and is now a branch of Citizens Bank

Church Street is an active and vibrant pedestrian mall, replete with restaurants, outdoor cafes, street vendors and retail. Maybe we should get one of these for downtown Buffalo. Oh wait… Nevermind!

Burlington’s waterfront along Lake Champlain has museums, restaurants, piers and parkland

Another view of Lake Champlain… we looked hard to find “Champ’, the legendary Lake Monster, but no luck!

Here we are at Centennial Field in Burlington, and believe it when we say “wtf are we doing here!”

First if all, getting from Buffalo to Burlington is one big clusterf**k. Heading down the I-90 towards Albany is easy enough, but once you point the car northwards and veer off the Northway, things get a bit dicey. The views of Lake George and Lake Champlain are bucolic and breathtaking, but for the 90 mile or so drive through this beautiful piece of country it is a winding two lanes with plenty of obstructions, slowdowns, and scant few chances to pass the slowpokes. We left Amherst at 6 AM and arrived at the ballpark just after the first pitch.

Centennial Field is every bit of the old NY-Penn League, much closer on the opulence meter to Oneonta than Brooklyn. It is tucked away in a residential neighborhood adjacent to the University of Vermont campus, and foreboding signs warn people not to park on the side streets. There are only a few parking spaces right at the ballpark, but a satellite lot about a mile away and a free shuttle service ferries people to the stadium. (We flashed our Bisons credential and they let us park beyond the centerfield fence, square in the midst of Danny Carnevale territory Ohhhhh..My Cadillac!!!)

Concrete risers with wooden seats, paint peeling, a wooden grandstand roof, your bare bones scoreboard listing “home” and “guest”, self standing concession stands outside the grandstand along an asphalt concourse. This venue is among the oldest in the NAPBL and it really shows. But if you pine for the baseball experience of days gone by, Centennial Field is baseball nirvana.

Amongst the ballpark dreck concession offerings is one neat treat, and it’s a dessert - “Chessters” is a frozen custard sandwich, with vanilla ice cream packed in between two chocolate chip cookies. Thumbs up for that! Otherwise, the pizza was actually pretty good here, while the boiled frankfurters on a bun were truly forgettable.

Being the only day game of the entire Lake Monsters season, it was a pretty full house and plenty of kids in the stands, and this game went 14 innings before Brooklyn took the lead for good with a two out RBI single, and held on to win the game 5-4. Yes we stayed for the entire game, even though our eyes were drooping a bit after the cock a doodle doo departure and the long ride.

We’re at the Sheraton right near the ballpark, and we actually got upgraded to a “club room” which means access to this nice lounge with free munchies and beverages and internet access. Sweet!

So we’re gonna rest up a bit and maybe head into downtown Burlington later tonight to tip a couple.

Tomorrow we got a ride through the beautiful hills of New Hampshire and Vermont as we make our way to Portland, Maine for Day 2 of the tour. Do we do the 250 mile trip mostly via interstate, or the 190 mile drive through winding hills and roads? We’ll make that call as we depart.

Five ballparks in four days…The Ultimate Sports Road Trip is at it again!

Thursday morning (very very early) we point the car eastward for a 1PM matinee in Burlington, Vermont and Centennial Field, home of the NY-Penn League Vermont Expos Lake Monsters.

Friday we continue eastward towards Portland, Maine and the Eastern League Portland SeaDogs. Will there be a Dan Hickling sighting? (Our firend Dan is a free lance sportswriter living in Portland who covers for a lot of outlets in the northeast… we have yet to see him at Dunn Tire Park this year).

Saturday is doubleheader day… a twilight start in Lowell, Massachusetts, home of the NY-Penn League Spinners, then we race over 35 miles north to Merchantsauto.com Stadium in downtown Manchester, new home of the Eastern League New Hampshire Fisher Cats.

We wrap it all up with a farewell visit to Yankee Stadium on Sunday, and get to hang out with our favorite road trip buds Gary and The King and their posse.

Of course there will be daily photos and stories of all our hijinks and adventures, so check in and follow us along!

Schedule day is always a big one for the Ultimate Sports Road Trip.

By now we know the routine… the NFL releases their schedule in mid April with big fanfare; ditto for the NHL, which usually is released right around the baseball All Star Break. The NBA comes out with theirs two weeks later, and then the AHL piggybacks on them. As for MLB, the teams each release their respective schedules in dribs and drabs… some teams announce the following year as soon as the regular season is over, while others (i.e. Mets, Yankees, Braves and Red Sox) are exasperatingly late in announcing.

As for NCAA college football… the big aggravation there is that many teams don’t release start times until 12 days before the games are played, and that makes it tough to plan, say, a Saturday college doubleheader, or calculating driving times.

Even now, we’re going to be in Bloomington. Indiana on Saturday, October 11 for the Indiana/Iowa football game, as a prelude to our visit at Lucas Oil Field the following day. What time is that game? Who knows! Why does it matter? Well, the Sabres season opener is Friday night October 10. If the kickoff in Bloomington is 12 noon, we have to hit the road Friday and will miss the hockey game. If it’s a night game, we can depart after the Sabres, catch some zzzz’s in Cleveland, and continue on Saturday.

Anyways, we got very little help in terms of “alignment of the planets” from the NHL schedule gods (a Sabres at Leafs game 12/6 in Toronto the night before the Bills/Dolphins game would have been awesome, for example).

These past few days, we sliced and diced the schedule, and since Artvoice gives us a small travel budget for us to cover road games, that certainly helps out, so we decided on these hockey games:

Thur 1/1 Buffalo at Toronto

Mon 1/19 Buffalo at Florida

Wed1/21 Buffalo at Tampa

Sat 2/28 Buffalo at New York Islanders

We’ve added a couple more OHL games (including the soon to be shuttered Windsor Arena, home of the Spitfires and former venue for the NHL Detroit Red Wings, we’re stopping there on Columbus Day/Canadian Thanksgiving as we make our way back from Indy). We also are filling out a roadie the second weekend of September, which may yet change depending on college football start times.

We’ve got the last weekend in October open as well, and right now we’re thinking AHL venues in the midwest which remain on our “to do” list. Or we might just stay home.

Here is the USRT schedule. Lotsa cool adventures await!

(By the way, we’ve also updated the roster of “new venues” on our web site. Construction is currently underway on seven new venues in the four major sports. Here is the lineup.)

We’ve reported in this space in the past about the impending move of the International League Richmond Braves to suburban Atlanta, Georgia for the 2009 season. There they will be known as the Gwinnett Braves and will play in a new ballpark which is hastily being built along I-85, in order to be ready in time for April 2009.

Yet back in Richmond, the R-Braves aren’t ready to call it quits just yet. Despite pressure from civic officials in Richmond, the Braves have yet to opt out of their lease at The Diamond, which runs through 2009.

Why the hurry? Richmond is trying to plan their baseball future in a post Braves world, and one idea has the AA Eastern League Erie Seawolves relocating to Richmond. There are also RFP’s due for ballpark redevelopment proposals, none of which can move forward until the R-Braves’ departure is a totally done deal.

Meanwhile back here in USRT country, we have penciled in a planned trip to Gwinnett County for 2009, and that has us saying “&$%^@*)!!!” rather than jumping for joy. Why, you wonder? The distance will involve a flight rather than drive, plus we just did a return visit to Atlanta’s Turner Field a couple years ago so no pressing reason to see that venue again when there are several other MLB yards overdue for another looksie. So that means lots of expense just to visit a AAA ballpark, and maybe tie in some A-ball teams like the Rome Braves or the Greenville Drive.

*Sigh*, but that is what we do… we are the Ultimate Sports Road Trip after all.

Posting again from my hideout in suburban Buffalo, the City Where Great Ideas Go To Die. Whether it be a signature bridge, major waterfront zoo, or Bass Pro on Lake Erie(gee, a fishing store on a Great Lake - who would kill that idea). Yep we would here in Buffalo.

And now it’s the Seneca Casino in downtown Buffalo that the nitwit, crackpot obstructionists kill off. Once again a vocal minority throws around a ton of lawsuits to stop something positive in the community until one of them actually succeed in destroying it.

What the hell does this have to do with us? I don’t know, part of me is venting against morons who are doing their damndest to maintain Buffalo’s negative status nationwide. But I suppose it’s also a reminder to me of all the casinos that we’ve passed by or stopped into on our travels.

We don’t gamble…stop that, we gamble very little and certainly don’t make a point to do so on any of our sports roadies. Yet we’ve managed to stumble into quite a few along the way. Two in St. Louis….one in KC……Vegas obviously….and a stop at the Greektown Casino in Detroit the night before the final stop(12/02) @ Ford Field where I hit a slot jackpot for $2500 - and haven’t bothered to hit one since. And those are casinos I remember being in, frankly.

And it hits me as I write this just what a nonsense position these anti casino folk have taken on this issue. Allow me to tear it to shreds using the above.

“A casino will only draw locals, not tourists” - Bullsh*t, I’ve been to more casinos than I can think of as a tourist visiting a town. You know darn well people who come into Buffalo from the outside will most certainly hit that place. A businessman, a gang of visiting team’s fans going to a Sabres/Bills game…they’re heading there. You know it, I know it. Cut the crap.

And as far as locals go, the ones who will lose the most business aren’t other restaurants, bars and such. It’s those bingo halls, Monte Carlo nights at the church, and the scratch off tickets at the Wilson Farms that’ll take a hit. Tit for tat, simple as that.

The strange thing is, amidst all of the talk in the aftermath of Judge Skretny’s decision no one has brought up a major factor as to why the demand for casinos in Western New York came to be. The photo below will be a huge hint.

When Casino Niagara opened late in 1996 it was a smashing success raking in the coin by the millions. No doubt in huge part thanks to all of the Western New Yorkers who took their hard earned money made on this side of the border and spent in Canada.

The casino was a great addition to the Falls, so much so that they added a permanent one nearby, and opened a smaller operation in Fort Erie as well. And hence came the idea of “Hey, why not one over here! If people are going to spend casino money, why not build one here so the money stays here!!!”

Yep I know, the deal that the City of Buffalo made with the Senecas and the state stinks. In a perfect world(which the delusional obsNIMBYwhackos see as the only solution possible) the city would see more than the 5 to 7mil that they’re supposed to take in.

But remind me again how much money did the City of Buffalo and the City of Niagara Falls get from the Canadian casinos when they were the only place to go locally? Empty pockets….zero dollars…..nil….nada….zilch….nothing….which is less than a few mil last I checked.

It’s this line of thinking, the notion to keep dollars where they are made that got Detroit it’s three casinos, and when people’s heads clear it will be this line of thinking that gets Buffalo it’s newest attraction. One that brings in people from out of the area, one that increases options for entertainment in downtown Buffalo, and one that keeps some of the dollars here in the area.

A privately financed 330m$ investment at no cost to the taxpayer? On land that no businessman would touch with a ten foot pole? And we’re saying no????

Welcome to Buffalo, what can I tell you….where great ideas go to die.

Peter Farrell

Breaking news out of Oneonta as the Oneonta Athletic Corporation, headed by 88 year old Sam Nader and 95 year old Sid Levine, has sold the NY-Penn League Oneonta Tigers to a New York City ownership group which already owns two AA teams.

Nader and Levine are the last two living members of the ten man corporation, who in 1966 each put up $1000 to buy the franchise (cost $7500) and start up capital to run the team. The men agreed that if anyone dropped out, they would sell their share at the original purchase price to the remaining members of the group. To put this financial arrangement in perspective, the O-Tigers were appraised at $1.8-million in 2007, and could fetch an even higher price if the team were to relocate to a bigger market and a better facility.

Terms of the sale were not disclosed, although as part of the agreement the new owners have committed to keep the team in Oneonta through at least the 2010 season.

The USRT made the visited to Damaschke Field back in 2003, and believe us when we tell you that this facility is as simple and old school as it gets. A tumbledown main entrance (pictured above), little more than wooden bleachers and a picket fence with genuine knotholes ringing the outfield. We met Sam Nader on that night, and he invited us to sit with him in his “box”, if you will, and regaled us with baseball stories and his experience as a long time owner of a baseball team. It was a special and magical experience for us.

On that night his son Bill was grilling hot dogs at the one concession stand, and other family members were tending to game night duties around the field, or in the trailer behind the third base grandstand which served as the team office.

One more unique feature about Damaschke Field - it is the only “dry” ballpark in the NAPBL - no beer served.

You can bet that the beer taps will be flowing at Damaschke come 2009.

We are pleased to unveil the official Ultimate Sports Road Trip venue profile for Nationals Park in Washington, D.C., which becomes a part of the 122 team roll on the USRT web site.

Last night at Dunn Tire Park, we were watching the Bisons throw a one-hitter to defeat the Scranton/Wilkes-Barre Yankees 3-0, but our primary attention had us busy evaluating and scoring Nationals Park, based on our 100 point system. Here are the scores:

Architecture 9
Food and team store 7.5
Scoreboard and electronics 6.5
Ushers 9
Fan support 5
Location and neighborhood 5
Banners and history 8
In game entertainment 5.5
Concourses/fan comfort 9
Bonus: Presidents Race 2, Cherry trees 1, Home plate entrance timeline 1, Homestead Grays memorabilia 1

TOTAL 69.5

The total score gives the Nats an 8th place ranking (tie for 8th actually) in our evaluation of the 30 MLB teams. Not bad!

During our interminable wait at the *chuckle* Nats Express bus stop, we chatted up our story with more than a few Nats fans waiting in line, who then pleaded with us to score their venue higher than that of the hated Baltimore Orioles. By checking the rankings you will see that they fell two points short of upending Camden Yards. Element for element, these two ballparks have everything going for them… what tips it in favor of Baltimore is the neighborhood. The Inner Harbor is a tremendous place for the fan, visitor and tourist; Navy Yards is a work in progress.

For anyone who has been to Nationals Park … Agree? Disagree? We sure would like to hear from you!