ORIGINALLY WRITTEN TOM STOPPEL
When Jim Elliott and son Joshua sing “Take Me Out to the Ball Game” during a seventh-inning stretch, they’re serious about it.
Elliott, vice-president for advancement at Tabor College, and 16-year-old Joshua returned home last week after a marathon road trip that covered 4,627 miles between July 14 and 25.
In the process, the baseball-loving duo attended 12 major league baseball games in 12 days in 12 different cities.
“All along we intended to spend quality time together,” Jim said. “We thought this would be a great father/son time-and we both love baseball.
“I would definitely recommend this trip to any diehard baseball fan,” he added. “It was great.”
Planning began modestly but quickly blossomed.
“We had looked at going out ast to visit family the week of the Fourth of July,” said Jim, a Philadelphia native. “When we started, we were looking at a couple of days. But then we began adding days and thought we could stretch it out if we waited until after the All-Star break.”
The trip was a first for both adventurers.
“We’ve never done anything like this before,” Jim said. “We’d never gone to more than two games in a weekend.”
Reaction to the proposed trip varied. Jim said wife Karen had a definite opinion.
“She thought it was crazy,” he said with a smile. “She was concerned about all the driving, but most people thought it was pretty neat.
“Not too many people were surprised I was doing the trip, but they were surprised Joshua was such a big baseball fan.”
The morning the twosome left, Karen took a window marker and wrote the names of all the teams Jim and Joshua were going to visit. On the back window she wrote: “2005 Father/Son Baseball Tour.”
“We know some folks that have done baseball trips but I don’t know of anybody that’s done this many games,” Jim said.
Starting in Minneapolis on a Thursday night, the pair attended games on consecutive days in Milwaukee, Detroit, Cleveland, Boston, New York, Philadelphia, Washington, Pittsburgh, Cincinnati, Chicago and Kansas City.
Meticulous in detail, Elliott budgeted the entire trip from gasoline to seating to snacks.
“We allowed $400 for gas and actually spent about $420, so that was pretty close,” Jim said. “The cheapest gasoline we found was $2.14 in Iowa and the most expensive was in New York City, where it was $2.49.
“We thought it might cost a lot more back East, but it really wasn’t that much more.”
During their odyssey, the duo saw 18 different teams play. Who did they root for?
“I like the Yankees and Dad likes the Phillies,” Joshua said.
“My wife is from upstate New York, so Joshua’s grandfather had an influence on him with the Yankees,” Jim said with a laugh.
“We decided to root against the team that was competing against our own favorite team in the wild-card race,” Joshua added. “But if there wasn’t anyone like that, we cheered for the home team.”
While Jim managed to see his beloved Phillies play, Joshua wasn’t as fortunate. The Bronx Bombers weren’t in town, so the duo settled for watching the New York Mets in New York City.
“I’ve seen the Yankees play in Kansas City, though,” Joshua said.
The pair secured tickets to seven of their games in advance via the Internet and purchased tickets for the other five at the gate.
“We spent an average of $20 each per game on tickets,” Jim said. “We didn’t buy the most expensive seats.”
But even the best-laid plans have flaws.
“At Milwaukee, we got to the game and figured we’d buy bleacher seats for $12-but they were sold out and all we could buy were box seats, so we upgraded,” Jim said. “Actually, we didn’t find general admission seats at any of the ball parks.”
Seat selection varied from outfield box seats at Shea Stadium in New York to outfield-reserved in other stadiums.
Twice they were relegated to upper-level seating due to availability.
“In Boston we had obstructed view seats,” Jim said. “They sell out just about every game in Fenway Park, so these seats had a pillar obstructing our view.
“We could barely see the batter and we couldn’t see the catcher or the umpire at all-that’s how obstructed they were. But they were still some of the most expensive seats on the trip.”
Fortunately for the Elliotts, two seats opened up in their row early in the game and they were able to see just fine after all.
No baseball game would be complete without refreshments, and the budget allowed for those, too.
“Josh was more of a hot-dog eater while I sought out the Italian sausage,” Jim said. “I personally liked the New York Mets sausage the best.”
“I liked them all,” Joshua added with a smile.
About half the stadiums allowed the pair to carry in a small soft-sided cooler, which they used to caddie necessities like peanuts and beef jerky.
“We’d buy a large soft drink at each stadium and keep the souvenir cup, then fill it with water,” Jim said. “We really tried to keep hydrated.”
For Joshua, the signature of the trip came in the form of souvenirs-whether they were purchased or the pair was lucky enough to hit a promotional give-away.
“I bought a different souvenir in each city,” Joshua said.
“A couple of games we hit the promotions,” Jim said. “We got everything from Ivan Rodriguez T-shirts to White Sox caps to umbrellas in Washington.”
Joshua also managed to snare three baseballs during their trip.
“We got one at Fenway, one at the Washington game and one in Kansas City,” Joshua said.
“At Washington, we had mezzanine seats out in right field and Mike Gallo, a pitcher for Houston, threw a ball up to Joshua,” Jim said. “That was pretty cool.”
An area the duo trimmed the budget was nightly accommodations.
“Nine of the 11 evenings we stayed with family or friends, so that was really nice,” Jim said. “Seeing old friends and family was a highlight for me and we got to spend some time with my parents as well.”
A native of the East Coast, driving wasn’t a problem for Jim-although the pair did run afoul one time.
“The worst part was coming from Massachusetts to New York,” Jim said. “We got lost going through the Holland Tunnel in New York City and came out the wrong way in the round-about.
“That was a long day and we didn’t get back to my folks’ house until 2:15 a.m.”
Amazingly, the pair was at every ball park when the gates opened. They watched every inning and stayed for every pitch -all 3,494 of them.
Jim’s favorite stadiums were venerable Fenway Park (“It had the best atmosphere”) and the glitzy PNC Park in Pittsburgh (“It’s right along the river and has a great view of the city”).
Joshua said Fenway Park was his favorite older stadium (“Yawkey Way outside the stadium was pretty much all shopping and a street markets”) while his favorite modern stadium was Miller Park in Milwaukee (“I liked the retractable roof”).
One venue Joshua didn’t like was U.S. Cellular Field, the home of the Chicago White Sox.
“If you had an upper-level seat, you couldn’t go down for batting practice or downstairs to the best gift stores,” he said. “That was kind of a bummer.”
Generally, folks the duo met were receptive and inquisitive about their trip.
“People really showed interest in what we were doing while our van still had the writing on it,” Jim said.
For this father/son duo, the souvenirs of their trip may one day be lost, but the memories will last forever.
“Being able to reconnect with friends and family will always be a highlight of this trip,” Jim said. “But the special time I spent with Joshua and being able to spend time with my son will always be in my mind.”
If the opportunity arose and the trip was recreated, would they make any changes?
“We would have liked to have seen games in St. Louis and watched the Cubs play but we couldn’t get tickets,” Jim said. “But overall I don’t think we’d do much different other than maybe trying to squeeze Toronto in.”
Other plans on the radar include a weekend jaunt to Texas to watch the Houston Astros and Texas Rangers.
“We’ve already talked about doing a West Coast trip, although that would be a little bit more driving,” Jim said with a smile. “But I could see us doing that-that would be a lot of fun.”
