Tour 2026: MLB Homerun Derby & All-Star Workout Day

All photos of Philadelphia, All-Star Village, All-Star Workout Day, and Homerun Derby available on Flickr.

Monday was the jewel event of All-Star Week: the Homerun Derby.  Gates didn't open until 5pm, so we had some time to kill.  We started our day at the All-Star Village back at the convention center.  It was nearly identical to the Fan Fest we went to 12 years ago in Minneapolis and had many of the same features: the "world's largest baseball" to greet you when you walked in, giant team store (from which we refrained significantly more than in 2014), baseball-related activities, baseball exhibits, a Topps Cards shop, player autograph sessions, and even the same S.Preston minimalist art gallery.  I remember meeting the artist at the Minneapolis fest just as he was starting out and talking through concepts and ideas for new prints, and now he's so successful that he didn't even show up to his own gallery - and I own several of his prints, including the County Stadium one I suggested to him.  We took some hacks at the batting cage just as we did in 2014, but sadly the 2026 version did not have an activation where you could race a virtual big leaguer.  I probably still would not be able to beat Bryce Harper 12 years later, but I'd like to believe my pants wouldn't have fallen down this time.  The other activation we participated in was softball speed pitch.  Let's just say I was not even close to approaching the 70mph these girls typically throw.  There were long lines for everything as expected, including the Monday morning Budweiser line.  It's a cool fest and it's nice to have something for visitors to do between events, but once you've seen one you've seen them all.  After a couple hours we'd seen everything we were interested in and walked across the street to Reading Terminal Market for lunch.  This market opened in 1893 under the former Reading Railroad Terminal (yes, the same Reading from Monopoly) and still operates today as one of the largest and oldest public markets in the country.  There had to be at least 100 vendors in there, and was mostly hot prepared food as opposed to the fresh farm goods and nonperishables type of market.  I finally got my much-anticipated cheesesteak here, and although it would not be considered authentic by Philadelphia's high standards, it was delicious.  Note to those visiting Philly: a real cheesesteak is just steak and cheez whiz, with or without onions ("Wiz Wit" or "Wiz Witout").  No other types of cheese, no peppers, nothing else.  After eating huge dense sandwiches in a hot stuffy market, we both needed to go lay down back at the hotel for a bit (getting old sucks).  We then had a couple of drinks at a pub called The Dandelion down the street, and before we knew it it was time to head down to the park.

We had significantly more time to explore CBP than we did on Sunday, and we did a couple of laps before heading up to our upper deck seats.  It's hard to remember what has changed since our last visit, but looking through old photos, it looks largely the same aside from the batter's eye ivy growing in fuller and obviously a new modern scoreboard.  Citizens Bank Park is not the best park in the league, but it's certainly above-average, and is pretty close to how I would lay one out if I was drawing one up from scratch.  The club we were in Sunday seems to be the biggest change in the years since 2007, so I'm grateful that Erik splurged for those seats.  Speaking of splurged, the tickets for the homerun derby cost more than I care to admit, but it was so worth it and All-Star Week is simply a must-do for any baseball fan at some point in their lives.  We were still full from Reading Market, so we spent the majority of our walking around focused on finding the "Liberty Bell Beers" that were supposedly available for All-Star Week, but we never found them nor saw anybody with them.  We filled that gaping void in our souls with ice cream helmets instead.  Erik devoured a decadent "Schwarbomb Sundae" which included a fried strawberry Uncrustable and topped with Fruity Pebbles, while I opted for a normal human amount of ice cream.  With our waist bands expanded, we made our way up to our seats and watched a couple hours of BP and pregame.  Our seats were basically the cheapest we could find but actually not bad at all, about halfway up in the 400 level directly behind home plate.  We had a great view of the Philly skyline from here that we could not really see in 2005 or '07 from the lower bowl.  Munetaka Murakami put on a show in batting practice and earned my pick to win the Derby.

Erik and I have never really cared for the All-Star Game itself and have always preferred the homerun derby.  Even when the ear-bleeding Chris Berman was on the mic for the old ESPN broadcasts, it was always what I looked forward to the most during the break.  It certainly feels like it has now become the jewel event of All-Star Week, and that is due in large part to it being an event that is made for television, with opportunities do to things with cameras and media and players that you just can't do during a normal game.  This was the first year the event was covered on Netflix, and by all indications, Erik and I got the better end of the stick being there in person.  One thing you can't adequately capture on TV is the crowd and the atmosphere.  Philly fans are notoriously harsh and difficult fans, and it was cool to see how invested they were in the exhibition, even if that meant booing everyone who was not a Phillie.  They even booed kids who dropped fly balls in the outfield.  Some of this I think is them just leaning into a stereotype a little bit, and we were more than happy to join in.  For as much as Philly fans will voice their displeasure with you, they are also the best fans in the league to have in your corner if you give them a moment to be proud of.  The roar of the sellout audience for Bryce Harper and Kyle Schwarber being introduced was deafening and emotional, and it made you want to cheer for them along with everyone else.  When I saw the home-plate shaped boxing ring set up at second base, I got so excited to hear that Rocky theme and see Sly Stallone saunter his way out, but that would be our second major disappointment of the day.  They opted for Philly's own Michael Buffer instead and it was still quite the spectacle.

Jordan Walker ended up winning the derby with an epic final round against hometown hero Kyle Schwarber.  MLB abandoned the timed rounds that have been in place since 2015 and changed the rules this year to closer mimic the old rules.  Batters had 20 swings in the first round and 15 in subsequent rounds.  For the final swing of each round, the pitchers switched to a magenta ball that could go on as long as batters kept homering on it.  It was clear that batters were not picking it up out of the hand and I think I can recall only one homer on the magenta ball.  This includes the final round, which Walker won controversially because for whatever reason, he did not see any magenta balls that round.  He was behind by 3 or 4 homers going into the final ball and ended up going on a hot streak to win.  Maybe they ran out of the magenta balls or maybe it was an honest mistake by the pitcher, but there is no such thing as an honest mistake on Philadelphia sports talk radio, and conspiracy theories abounded the next day.  As much as I hate to admit it, the most impressive individual round was by William Contreras' asshole brother Willson.  He cranked the longest homerun of the day at over 490' and posted the highest first round score with 13.  Contreras is probably accustomed to getting booed and used that as fuel rather than a distraction.  I'll give him credit though - at least he didn't charge the mound.  On Tuesday, he would become the first player in MLB history to participate in the All-Star Game while under active suspension.

This was the first trip I can recall in a long time where at least one of us didn't have to wake up at dawn to catch a flight, so we actually got a good night's sleep and parted our separate ways on Tuesday morning.  I know I say this every year, but I always leave these trips with a heavy sense of gratitude and joy that we still get to do these every year.  Most years I only get to see Erik once, so we always value our time together.  Next year's trip will be interesting with the impending lockout, but we've got a framework of an idea in the works.

park stats and rankings
(see original rankings from 07/14/07):
aesthetics - 7
views from park - 7
view to field - 8
surrounding area - increases to 4 (new Stateside Live! bar)
food variety - 9
nachos - 6
beer - 7
vendor price - 6 (new specialty All-Star items are pricy but regular items are fair)
ticket price - decreases to 5
atmosphere - 8 (Futures was a 6 and Derby was a 10)
walk to park - 2
parking price/proximity - 9
concourses - 9
team shop - 8
kids area - 8 (new category - includes Philly Phanatic climbing wall and mini playing field)

best food - Philly cheese steak from Tony's
most unique stadium feature - Liberty Bell
best jumbotron feature - Philadelphia trivia
best between-inning feature - Futures Game "Race to the Majors"

field dimensions - 329/401/330
attendance - 43863

HOMERUN DERBY PARTICIPANTS: 
Willson Contreras, Boston
Jordan Walker, St. Louis
Jac Caglianone, Kansas City
Munetaka Murakami, Chi White Sox
Ben Rice, NY Yankees
Junior Caminero, Tampa Bay
Kyle Schwarber, Philadelphia
Bryce Harper, Philadelphia

winner - Jordan Walker
score – 12-11 final round, 31 total
stadium - Citizens Bank Park

Tour 2026: MLB All-Star Sunday

All photos of Philadelphia, Futures Game, and MLBx All-Star 3-on-3 available on Flickr.

We woke up rested and refreshed for a Sunday packed with more All-Star events, but we started the day with our one bit of non-baseball sightseeing of the trip.  Erik and I kickstarted the morning by each going for our own separate 2-mile jogs.  Turns out we're getting too old to go on 4-day binges and not exercise.  We didn't have a scenic hiking trail at our disposal like we have the past few years, so we settled for a nice run through the city.  Erik headed west to the Philadelphia Museum of Art to run up the Rocky Steps, but I had already been there once before, so I opted for the opposite direction towards Independence Hall.  I stopped to take a bunch of pictures there and got distracted several times on the way back, so it wasn't a super efficient run, but it's hard not to immerse yourself in all the history when you're visiting Philly.  After a quick dip back at our hotel rooftop pool and then telling Erik that did not count as his shower for the day, we got cleaned up and headed right back for Independence Hall, this time to go inside and see the Liberty Bell.  The bell is basically within a separate building that seems to have been built around it so as to not disturb the famously cracked bell.  Words cannot describe what it was like to be within mere feet of one of the most significant artifacts in the 250-year history of our country.  We also saw the original buildings where the constitution was debated and signed, the foundational remains of the former presidential mansion, and the building where Thomas Jefferson penned the Declaration of Independence.  It was all truly inspiring and left me speechless with awe.  I also learned in our time there that the square outside these buildings is technically a National Park, so I was happy to cross one off the list.  We probably could have spent hours touring everything there, but alas it was time for ball.  We hopped on the SEPTA subway west and south to Citizens Bank Park around 11:00am.

The SEPTA B-line ends at the ballpark, so pretty much everyone on the train with us got off at the same stop.  Philadelphia has its baseball park, football stadium, and arena all in this same area in South Philly, surrounded by almost nothing but parking lots.  It's kind of the opposite direction that most cities are going these days, but it seems to work well for a city as large and transit-oriented as this.  Security lines into the stadium went pretty smoothly and we made our way up to the second deck where we had tickets in the Cadillac Hall of Fame Club.  I'm not sure if this existed when we were there 19 years ago, but I do know it underwent a significant renovation this past offseason in preparation of this event.  From what I'm reading, the remodeling seems to be mostly cosmetic in nature, with all new finishes and aesthetics, and an increased amount of chef-driven culinary offerings.  I would best describe this club as a cross between the club levels at AmFam and Target Field.  Like at AmFam, it takes up pretty much the entire level and you can walk through it from end to end, and just being on the level itself requires a club ticket.  It is lined with quick grab-and-go food and beverage stands on the side opposite the field just like at AmFam.  It also pulls in elements of the Truly On Deck at Target Field, which is connected visually to the field with direct access to seats on the other side of a wall of glass.  This club has some soft seating and the team Hall of Fame inside of it, including their World Series trophies, just like at Target.  It really combines the best elements of both and I loved it.  The thing I appreciated most about it was it has a lot of specialty food items that you didn't have to wait 10 minutes for them to make it to order.  All the food was laid out packaged under heat lamps, so I was able to grab a silo of Miller Lite from the cooler, a Philly grilled cheese, and pay for it, all within literally 30 seconds.  Granted, I will say that Citizens Bank Park was half-full at best for the Futures Game, so maybe this is not always the case at a regular Phillies game.  The food in the AmFam club just plain sucks, and at Target it is either slow or buffet style, so the Phillies were doing it right.  My only complaint is I would have liked it to be a little wider so you could fit some actual bar seating in there.  There were some walkup bars, but it basically just felt like more of just a fancy concourse.  Other than that one minor thing, I highly recommend the Hall of Fame Club to any visitors.

Another major perk of the club was access to shade and air conditioning on this hot afternoon.  We were in our seats for close to 4 hours, and only towards the end of the MLBx event did the sun start to creep our way.  There were two events at The Bank on Sunday, the first of which was the Futures Game.  This is an annual game showcasing 50 of the top rising stars in the minor leagues, and this year's game was particularly star-studded with 38 of the 50 being ranked in the Top 100.  After experimenting with some other formats in the past, this year's game was AL vs. NL just like the regular All-Star Game.  The teams wore some pretty sweet "American" and "National" uniforms that I wished the MLB players would also wear instead of angrily reverting back to tradition.  The game featured two Brewers in the starting lineup for the NL squad - 3B Luis Pena and #1 overall prospect SS Jesus Made.  Pena had the defensive gem of the day with a sensational over the shoulder catch in shallow left, and Made went 1-3 with an RBI groundout.  The future is bright in Milwaukee and I'm excited to see both of these players on the big league team in the next few years.  It's hard to identify any standout players in a 7-inning game that was constantly cycling in substitutions, but Seth Hernandez was definitely one of the players I was most looking forward to seeing and he did not disappoint.  Seth struck out 2 in his lone inning of work and topped 100 several times on the radar gun.  He might have gone #1 overall in the draft last year if player development staffs did not have a natural aversion to right handed high school pitchers, but he is absolutely dominating in A-ball right now and it will be scary to see what he looks like in an already stacked Pirates rotation.  Rays C Nathan Flewelling took home the Larry Doby MVP Award due to his pinch-hit 2-run homer in the 6th.  Phillies 2025 1st round pick Gage Wood got the start for the NL and allowed Leo De Vries to score on a single, 2 steals, and a groundout.

Following the brisk Futures Game was the MLBx All-Star 3-on-3 competition.  MLBx is MLB's response to the rising popularity of Banana Ball and is essentially a co-ed team homerun derby with defense.  This is sort of a barnstorming exhibition tour lead by Nick Swisher and this was its All-Star Sunday debut, replacing the oft maligned Celebrity Softball Game.  I actually thought it was really fun to watch, but just way too long.  It was four teams of 3 that faced off in two semi-final matchups and one final matchup, and each match was 3 innings apiece, so it just got to be a lot and the novelty of it wore off quickly.  There were 3 teams led by former Phillies legends - Ryan Howard, Jimmy Rollins, and Shane Victorino - and one Braves team led by Andruw Jones that was just awful and got booed incessantly.  I think Jones might have only hit one homerun in 2 minutes, and keep in mind the fences were only about 200 feet away.  The celebrities were as always not memorable and contributed nothing, but the softball players were the real stars of the show.  Alyssa Brito in particular just put on a clinic and must have mashed 30 or 40 homers herself.  It's kind of patronizing to pair 20-something professional softball players with 4 guys who have never picked up a bat in their life and 4 retired guys who haven't played in 10 years, so I hope this event served as a wake-up call to all fans watching that the AUSL is the real deal.  I've caught a few games here and there on ESPN and it is a fascinating sport.

After a long day at the ballpark, it was still not even 5pm yet, so we were not ready to head back to the hotel.  We stopped by a new Stateside Live! venue across the street for a couple of brew dogs.  This space opened up just in time for the All-Star festivities and was a lot like the one we went to in Arlington a few years ago, basically an expansive beer hall with a tall wall of TVs, games, a separate bull riding bar, and a more intimate "Miller Lite Tavern" which was sadly closed for a private event.  We met a couple of local dudes here and had a nice conversation about our travels and all things baseball.  After Stateside, we ate dinner at a quaint wood-fired pie joint in the Rittenhouse Square neighborhood we were staying in, and had a quiet night in watching Major League.  I was proud of how we paced ourselves on this trip, but part of me did wish we were 25 again and could have closed down a dive bar somewhere.

FUTURES GAME STARTING LINEUPS:
 
American League
Leo De Vries, SS, Athletics (AA)
Franklin Arias, 2B, Boston (AA)
Ralphy Velazquez, 1B, Cleveland (AAA)
Walker Jenkins, CF, Minnesota (AAA)
Blake Mitchell, C, Kansas City (A+)
Caleb Bonemer, 3B, Chi White Sox (AA)
Ike Irish, DH, Baltimore (A+)
Nelson Rada, LF, LA Angels (AAA)
Theo Gillen, RF, Tampa Bay (A+)
Kade Anderson, SP, Seattle (AA)

National League
Eli Willits, 2B, Washington (A+)
Roldy Brito, CF, Colorado (A)
Jesus Made, SS, Milwaukee (AA)
Charlie Condon, 1B, Colorado (AAA)
Josue De Paula, LF, LA Dodgers (AA)
Alfredo Duno, C, Cincinnati (A+)
Ethan Salas, DH, San Diego (AA)
Luis Pena, 3B, Milwaukee (A+)
Edward Florentino, RF, Pittsburgh (A+)
Gage Wood, SP, Philadelphia (AA)

pitchers of record – Anthony Eyanson (W), Kash Mayfield (L)
time of game – 2:10
attendance – not posted
score – 6-1 AL (F/7)
Brewers score that day – 14-5 L

Tour 2026: Coca-Cola Park

All photos of Coca-Cola Park available on Flickr.

It was a little over an hour north to part two of our Saturday doubleheader - a Lehigh Valley IronPigs game in Allentown, PA.  We normally just buy walk-up tickets when we go to non-major league games, but we made sure to purchase these in advance because the I-Pigs are perennially one of the highest attended teams in all of the minor leagues.  That was evident right away when we arrived to full parking lots and were forced to park in a garage across the street.  This did not bother us at all, but on the contrary got us excited to be a part of a 2nd consecutive sellout minor league crowd; this was a far cry from the St. Paul Saints and New Hampshire Fisher Cats games we normally frequent.

Coca-Cola Park was built to house the former Ottawa Lynx, who moved to Allentown following the 2007 season.  As we approached through the parking lot, we were greeted by a rather disappointing and drab exterior, almost resembling a mall.  I was expecting to see a stadium that showcased the beauty of steel, as the famous Bethlehem Steel is what the Lehigh Valley is known for, but I guess they must have went with EIFS and masonry in protest of their bankruptcy.  I'm an architect so I'm going to find fault in just about any design, but I will say that it had the appropriate scale and presence of a AAA ballpark.  This ballpark gets so many fans on a regular basis that they have entry down to a science and were directing people to different gates based on what type of tickets they have.  We ended up walking into the right field corner gate just as we did in Hartford, and we were greeted by a giant food plaza and an intoxicating aroma of pork.  The IronPigs go all-in on the pig theme and you can get just about any sort of pork food dish imaginable here.  We literally had to go on the team website and peruse all of the options just to make sure we didn't miss any options when selecting our dinners.  We had both eaten barely anything by the time we got there and I was salivating just from waiting in line.  I went with the Porker Pierogi Bowl and Erik had a pulled pork parfait, and both were heavenly.  Items such as a Three Little Pigs Sandwich, pork poutine, pork mac & cheese, and candied bacon on a stick were just a fraction of the other options.  Variety and taste are both important but are only a part of our concessions ranking, with vendor price being perhaps equally as important.  We were pleasantly surprised with the affordability here, which speaks to the massive crowds this team draws on a nightly basis in a very blue collar part of the state.  I only paid $10 for my meal, and I would not have been shocked to pay twice that just about anywhere else.  Tickets were nearly half what we paid in Hartford for basically the same seats.  It was only $10 for a 32oz IPA.  It's not the most glamorous minor league ballpark by any means, but the value for your money and the sellout crowds at an I-Pigs game are unrivaled.

Continuing in the community blue-collar spirit of this ballpark, aside from your typical suite level there were very few private areas, with almost everything accessible either to all fans or with an individual ticket.  There was an expansive tiki bar in left field and an open bar in right field that were open to all fans, and we spent a few innings at the RF bar.  I loved the picnic patio in the LF corner that had the seats angled facing directly toward the batter, and I also enjoyed the flame stacks that shot fire upward for homeruns.  The money for this place does have to come from somewhere, so it is unfortunately about the most advertisement-filled stadium you'll find outside of Roger Dorn's redecorating in Major League II.  There are walls of scaffolding whose sole purpose is to display ad signage, and there is no square inch left uncovered in the outfield.  This is but a minor drawback to an otherwise delightful experience in Lehigh Valley.  I was also happy to not run into any of my ex-fiancé's family while we were there, so that was a bonus.

The I-Pigs battled the Columbus Clippers on this night, and came away victorious by a score of 6-3.  As is typical at the AAA-level, the rosters were a hodgepodge of prospects on the doorstep of the big leagues, a bunch of dudes filling out the 40-man roster, a few guys on rehab assignments, and some has-beens and never-will-be's clinging on for one last gasp.  Carter Kieboom and journeyman dickbag Tommy Pham fell into the latter category for Lehigh Valley.  Kieboom acquitted himself well with a 2-run double, but Pham went 0-3 and was batting .183 as of Saturday's game.  We had a fun time heckling him and asking how his fantasy football team was doing (go ahead and google "Tommy Pham fantasy football" if you don't know what I'm talking about).  Chuck King managed just 5 innings and walked 5 but still got the win.  Bo Naylor went 2-5 out of the cleanup spot on a rehab assignment with the Clippers.  Unfortunately, the Phillies and Guardians #1 prospects both did not play in this game.  Aidan Miller is currently on the IL for the I-Pigs, and Ralphy Velazquez was likely already in Philly preparing for the Futures Game we would see him in on Sunday.

Following the game, we were treated to another wonderful fireworks display.  We then of course blasted "Allentown" by Billy Joel on the way home, and immediately passed out after a long and exciting Day 2.

park stats and rankings:

aesthetics - 6
views from park - 2 (blocked by ads)
view to field - 6 (lots of foul territory)
surrounding area - 2
food variety - 10
nachos - 10 (I didn't see any, but I'm just giving them a 10 because I'm sure they had pork on them)
beer - 10 (they have a great beer garden)
vendor price - 9
ticket price - 9
atmosphere - 9 (sellout)
walk to park - 4
parking price/proximity - 3 (across the street for $5)
concourses - 9
team shop - 9
kids area - 8 (good proximity to field and free)

best food - can't go wrong with anything porky
most unique stadium feature - huge crowds, row of seats in front of bullpen
best jumbotron feature - inserting Rodney Dangerfield dancing in Caddyshack into other movie clips
best between-inning feature - pork race

field dimensions - 325/400/325
starters - Logan Allen (COL) v. Chuck King (LHV)
opponent - Columbus Clippers
time of game - 2:37
attendance - 10000
score - 6-3 W
Brewers score that day - 7-6 L, 3-2 L

Tour 2026: MLB Draft

All photos of Philadelphia and 2026 MLB Draft available on Flickr.

Saturday was the day I was most looking forward to of the trip and also the most exhausting.  It was the one day we had to set an alarm, and we were on the road for Philly a little after 7:00am for the 4+ hour drive.  The bulk of this drive would be on our old Tour nemesis - I-95 - so we knew to expect traffic and made sure to give ourselves plenty of time to make it for the first pick at 1:30.  It started out beautifully as we headed south to New Haven and west along the Long Island Sound, but sure enough we slowed down through the Bronx and into Newark.  Why there is not a better bypass system to get around New York City, I'll never know.  It was our longest drive of the trip, and we mostly passed the time listening to a very entertaining reggae radio station we stumbled upon, featuring a thick-accented Jamaican DJ that was eager to repeat the same event ad reads over and over.  We also made a pit stop in New Jersey, at which I learned that it is the only state in the union where it is illegal to pump your own gas.  We made it into downtown Philly just before noon, got checked into our hotel, and walked past city hall over to the convention center for the Draft.

Up until 5 years ago, the Rule 4 Draft was historically held in early June, which was always an incredibly inconvenient time as most college players are still in school and many of the top picks might even still be playing.  The draft back then was also extremely inaccessible to the average fan.  The advent of MLB Network and the rise of social media helped with this some, but it was never the spectacle that the NFL or NBA drafts are.  That all changed with with the latest CBA in 2021 when it was formally moved to be integrated with All-Star Week.  This change gave the league an opportunity to better market the sport and give prominence to this event like never before.  Fans visiting a city for the All-Star Game could now go watch the draft in person just like all the other major sports.  I'm not sure how it's been the last 5 years, but this year it was free but you had to register for an opportunity to be one of the supposedly 250 fans let in.  The Luck of the Tour was on our side once again and I was selected!  Fans started being let in at 12:30, and we rushed up the escalator to claim chairs as close as we could to the stage.  On the way to our seats, we passed by rows and rows of analysts and team representatives actually working the draft, as well as multiple television crews.  It felt like we truly had VIP access, and quite simply it was one of the coolest baseball events I've ever been a part of.  To be in the same room as star former players, media personalities, and the commissioner of baseball, not to mention the honor of witnessing the most important moment in the lives of a few dozen athletes, was something I'll never forget.  Erik and I were memorialized on TV and the internet several times in our Brewers and Twins jerseys respectively, cheering loudly for each pick.  It all felt like a crazy dream that we got to be there, and it was my favorite part of our trip.  Any baseball fan needs to add this event to their bucket list ASAP. 

My one complaint for this particular iteration of the event was the very limited concessions.  We ended up leaving about 3 hours in after the Brewers #25 pick, but the draft lasted well into the evening and really your only options were popcorn, pretzels, and soda.  It definitely wouldn't have been enough real food to sustain us had we chosen to stay longer.  In the pro column, I loved how much they tried to make it a very personal experience for the limited number of fans in attendance.  This is clearly an event best suited for television audiences, but MLB Network and the emcee made every effort to entertain the crowd during the breaks and made sure we more than just 250 flies on the wall - and all the free swag didn't hurt either.  It felt like we were a part of a live studio audience that just got kind of a peek behind the curtain of how the draft runs, and it was a pretty indescribable feeling.

One other major factor in the MLB Draft gaining more popularity in recent years is that draft picks make a faster impact in the big leagues than ever before, and the White Sox #1 overall pick of UCLA SS Roch Cholowsky was perfect evidence of that.  It used to be that a team would pick a guy, and he would get exiled to the minor leagues and nobody would hear from him again for 5+ years.  It's not uncommon now for the top picks or polished college players to get called up to the majors within 1-2 years.  Many experts believe that Roch will be ready for the bigs as early as next year and that that was a factor in them choosing him.  There are many "inside baseball" reasons for this fast tracking that I won't get into here - the slashing of minor league teams is one of the many - but it's undeniable that it makes the Draft more exciting for the casual MLB fan when they can visualize these players helping their team sooner rather than later.  The first 4 picks were chalk - Cholowsky (or Cha-loose-kee as our commissioner says), HS SS Grady Emerson #2 to the Rays, Georgia Tech C Vahn Lackey #3 to the Twins, and UCSB P Jackson Flora #4 to the Giants.  The Pirates and Royals then selected a couple of moderate surprises projected to go lower in the 1st round and it was off to the races.  UNC P Jack Schaffner #20 to the Red Sox and HS SS Trey Ebel #25 to the Brewers were the biggest surprises of the 1st round, if you define "surprise" as merely the biggest gap between their rank and where they were selected.  Any Brewers fan or draft expert should know by now that it's never a surprise for them to take a value pick in the 1st round to save money for spending later in the draft, which is exactly what they did when they stole TCU OF Sawyer Strosnider at the back of the 2nd round.  This is famously how the Brewers managed to snag Cooper Pratt away from a college commitment a few years ago, and now he is their starting SS with a long-term contract.  For as amazing an experience the draft was, by the time the Brewers picked it was starting to get a little redundant, so we left after that to head to our 2nd part of the day in Allentown.

2026 MLB DRAFT ROUND 1/PPI/1A: 

1.  CHW - Roch Cholowsky, UCLA, SS

2.  TB - Grady Emerson, HS, SS

3.  MIN - Vahn Lackey, Georgia Tech, C

4.  SF - Jackson Flora, UC-Santa Barbara, RHP

5.  PIT - Derek Curiel, LSU, OF

6.  KC - Zion Rose, Louisville, OF

7.  BAL - Eric Booth Jr., HS, OF

8.  ATH - Drew Burress, Georgia Tech, OF

9.  ATL - AJ Gracia, Virginia, OF

10.  COL - Tyler Bell, Kentucky, SS

11.  WSH - Chris Hacopian, Texas A&M, 2B

12.  LAA - Jared Grindlinger, HS, OF

13.  STL - Trevor Condon, HS, OF

14.  MIA - Jacob Lombard, HS, SS

15.  ARZ - Ryder Helfrick, Arkansas, C

16.  TEX - Gio Rojas, HS, LHP

17.  HOU - Logan Hughes, Texas Tech, OF

18.  CIN - Justin Lebron, Alabama, SS

19.  CLE - Liam Peterson, Florida, RHP

20.  BOS - Jack Schaffner, UNC, RHP

21.  SD - Coleman Borthwick, HS, RHP

22.  DET - Cameron Flukey, Coastal Carolina, RHP

23.  CHC - Cade Townsend, Ole Miss, RHP

24.  SEA - Ace Reese, MS State, 3B

25.  MIL - Trey Ebel, HS, SS

26.  ATL - Carter Beck, Indiana State, OF

27.  NYM - Carson Wiggins, Arkansas, RHP

28.  HOU - Jack Radel, ND, RHP

29.  SF - Carson Bolemon, HS, LHP

30.  KC - Tyler Rabe, Ole Miss, RHP

31.  ARZ - Blake Bryant, HS, RHP

32.  STL - Tegan Kuhns, Tennessee, RHP

33.  TB - Taj Marchand, HS, SS

34.  CHW - Landon Thome, HS, SS

35.  NYY - Hunter Dietz, Arkansas, LHP

36.  PHI - Tyler Spangler, HS, SS

37.  COL - Daniel Jackson, Georgia, C

38.  COL - Logan Reddemann, UCLA, RHP

39.  TOR - Cole Carlon, ASU, LHP

40.  LAD - Bo Lowrance, HS, SS

venue - Pennsylvania Convention Center, Philadelphia

Tour 2026: Dunkin' Park

All photos of Hartford and Dunkin' Park available on Flickr.

I just got back from Philadelphia on our Tour 2026 trip, and recency bias aside, this was probably a top 5 all-time trip for us.  One of the main reasons we decided to go to the all-star festivities despite having already done that in 2014 was to be a part of the USA 250 celebrations in the birthplace of our nation, and that definitely added another layer of pomp and circumstance and excitement.  But of course, we fit in some minor league ball first.  I flew in to Albany a day early to visit another friend, and Erik graciously picked me up there en route from New Hampshire to Hartford, Connecticut for our first stop of the trip to see the Yard Goats.  It was about a 2-hour uneventful drive from Albany to Hartford and we arrived with a few hours to spare before first pitch, so after checking in to our downtown hotel, we hit a couple of bars on a cool pedestrian street nearby, Pratt Street.  The first was Urban Lodge Brewing followed by Vaughan's Public House.  The slow transition from folks skipping work to watch the World Cup to old women pregaming the Lionel Richie concert next door was entertaining to say the least, and both places were really fun and energetic.  After tossing back a few, we walked the 4 blocks to the park and got in around an hour before the 7:10 first pitch.

Dunkin' Park opened in 2017, and at the time of its inception, it became Hartford's first foray into affiliated ball in over 6 decades.  The tale of the stadium is a very common tale for new cities luring a minor league team, in this case moving the former Rock Cats over from nearby New Britain.  It opened to rave reviews including several "Best Ballpark" awards, and was envisioned as a catalyst for an area of downtown known as DoNo (Downtown North).  Grand visions take grand amounts of money, and this ballpark is infamous for its troubles with cost overruns nearly from the start, which delayed its opening by a full season.  The city would eventually fire the original contractor and developer and a lawsuit was filed over the whole mess, which was ruled in favor of the city for a mere fraction of the contract sum.  That feels like a distant memory now, and nearly 10 years later, the immediate surrounding area has been slow to develop around it.  I went for a walk around the park early the next morning only to find several large empty blocks of dirt and not a single adjacent business open.  It's a familiar cautionary tale that no city ever seems to learn their lesson from, but we were in Hartford to watch ball and not play politics - and judging by the large crowd of people at the game and all the Yard Goats gear around town, nobody else seems to care anymore either.

The main entrance to this ballpark is in the right field corner and is marked by a tall concrete tower with the Dunkin' logo at the top.  This is where we walked in and was really the only area of activity around the park.  The other sides of the park are primarily brick and concrete with a few side gates, but otherwise not many windows or other opportunities to see in.  The edges make an attempt to engage with the street, particularly along Main Street, but it's pretty obvious there were some cost saving measures on the other three sides.  There was nothing of interest that drew my eye or enticed me to want to walk anywhere off of Main.  What you would traditionally call the "front" of the ballpark behind home plate is on the southwest corner of Main and Pleasant, and there is actually a storefront space here that is some sort of clinic or community center.  It was a nice attempt to blend the park into the community and a larger development, but again when it's closed and everything around it is closed or vacant, it doesn't really serve a purpose other than taking away a nice opportunity for a grand main entrance.  This site definitely has potential if it ever starts to fill in, but the main deterrent as in many other cities is a giant freeway running just south of the site that effectively cuts it off from the rest of downtown.  Dunkin' Park is a clear attempt by the city for transformational development on the north side of the interstate, but while there is definitely some new construction happening, as of today it is nowhere near fully realized.

The interior is where this park shines, and where you will find some of the more unique spaces and features compared to most other parks of this level.  With a capacity of just over 6000, it is one of the smaller parks in the Eastern League, and the Yard Goats make great use of every square foot of a challenging footprint.  The first thing you notice walking in from right field is the 2nd deck in right field, which is one of the few if any outfield upper decks I can recall ever seeing at a minor league park.  This is not like a tiered party deck or anything either, we're talking a full deck with 6 rows of actual seats.  It reminded me a little of the 2nd deck we encountered at a Windy City Thunderbolts game, except in that case it was very odd and seemed to exist just to exist, and here in Hartford it was probably out of necessity for a tight site.  What makes it even more interesting is the field level seating below the 2nd deck is behind a net, so a player could theoretically hit a ball off that outfield net and it would still be in play - only the 2nd deck is in homerun territory.  There is a concourse that walks under this 2nd deck at field level with a 333' distance marker next to a striped yellow line, so either this deck was added after the park opened, or this is a cute way to highlight that it is incredibly short down the RF line.  Walking through the outfield behind the batters eye you arrive at a goat tent.  Not a tent selling goat to eat (which is what I really wanted) but rather a goat petting area.  My kids would have gone nuts to see that, but it also seemed cruel to put it in the dark back corner with no air movement.  Emerging from this tunnel, the concourse opens up into a large "Travelers Patio" area in left-center complete with picnic seating and a BBQ stand, from which Erik got some delicious bacon-wrapped meatballs and I enjoyed a frosty IPA.  There is also a nice open bar/patio area closer to the left field pole.  The main concourse contains the majority of the food stands, and what they lack in goat-themed items they more than make up for with Dunkin' Donut-themed items.  There was a donut bun hamburger, and I went with the donut hole nachos, which was one of the best foods I've ever eaten at a ballpark.  I am one who typically avoids super messy foods, but I couldn't resist trying it, and I devoured almost the entire plate myself.  I also liked the tiny press boxes that were off-center instead of one giant one blocking the middle, and I loved the field level suites adjacent to the dugouts.  Overall I think they nailed the private-to-public area ratio and I really enjoyed the variety of seating.  It's a park where almost no two sections look the same yet it is very cohesive, which is tough to pull off.  It's easy to see why this stadium has won so many awards, and I would put it near the top of the AA stadiums I've been to (hard to top the lazy river in Frisco, but I don't know that I'd want to sit in a river of Hartford city water).

The game pitted the Rockies-affiliated Yard Goats against the Mets-affiliated Rumble Ponies, with Hartford prevailing by a 7-2 score over last-place Binghamton.  The top Rockies prospect in the game was 2B Roc Riggio, a 2023 draft pick of the Yankees who was acquired as part of the Jake Bird deal last year.  He went 1-2 with a double and 3 walks out of the 3-hole.  SP Jack Mahoney was masterful, striking out 9 over 7.2 strong innings.  He gave up a bomb to a rehabbing Luis Robert Jr. in the 8th to put an end to his night and that was the only earned run he gave up in his outing.  I'm not even seeing him in the Rockies Top 30 despite have a sub-2 ERA.  There was nobody else I recognized on the R-Ponies aside from Robert and none of their top 30 prospects played in the game.  Y-Goats SS Andy Perez continued his great season with 2 RBI out of the leadoff spot, and RF Braylen Wimmer had multiple RBI in the win as well.

There was about a 5-minute Radio Flyer fireworks show that started almost immediately after the game.  On our way back to the hotel, we were unsuccessful in acquiring last minute Lionel Richie tickets, so the concert must either have been over already or he passed out on stage.  Probably for the best as we had an early wakeup call to get to Philly for the MLB Draft!

park stats and rankings:

aesthetics - 7
views from park - 5 (decent view to downtown from left field, mysterious windowless concrete building in left)
view to field - 8
surrounding area - 5 (downtown Hartford is a few blocks but immediate surrounding area is deserted)
food variety - 9
nachos - 10 (donut hole nachos!)
beer - 8
vendor price - 8
ticket price - 7
atmosphere - 8 (sellout)
walk to park - 6 (at this point in my life, just walking past tall buildings gets bonus points)
parking price/proximity - n/a (walked)
concourses - 7 (a little tight in some areas but unique)
team shop - 7
kids area - 3 (all I saw was the goat pen)

best food - donut hole nachos!
most unique stadium feature - upper deck/short porch in right field
best jumbotron feature - The Hartford credit card shuffle
best between-inning feature - goat rodeo

field dimensions - 325/400/308
starters - Bryce Conley (BNG) v. Jack Mahoney (HFD)
opponent - Binghamton Rumble Ponies
time of game - 2:44
attendance - 6687
score - 7-2 W
Brewers score that day - PPD

STANDINGS AND UPCOMING SERIES AS OF 7/15/26:

Brewers 59-37, +5.0; 3 v. Marlins, 3 v. Mets, 3 v. Rockies

Twins 48-49, - 3.0, -- WC; 3 @ Cubs, 4 @ Guardians, 3 v. Athletics

2026 GAMES ATTENDED:

Erik - 7

Peter - 20

Major Anniversaries for Brewers

(photo of Borchert Field, Milwaukee ca. 1911)

It feels like the USA Semiquincentennial has been capturing the minds and spirits of Americans for most of this year (and rightfully so).  With that event now come and gone, I wanted to draw attention to a couple of significant baseball anniversaries happening this year in Milwaukee that I feel have gotten lost in the excitement of America250.  The first of these is the 25th Anniversary of the opening of what is now referred to as American Family Field.  This technically occurred on April 6th of this year, but is being celebrated with an Alumni Legends Game on July 24th.  At least one member of the Brewers from the last 25 years will be represented in this game, and it is a follow-up to the extremely popular Alumni Homerun Derby that occurred for the 25th season last summer.  The headliner will undoubtedly be Ryan Braun, who to this day remains one of the most popular and greatest Brewers of all time, still my favorite player of all time, and not to mention is still on the Brewers payroll and an important part of the Milwaukee community.  He is 42 years old, but looks like he could suit up tomorrow and not be much worse of a DH than Christian Yelich is right now.  This event features $2.50 beer and brats and I really wish I could attend if I weren't working at German Fest.  I would be shocked if this doesn't become a semi-annual event, so I'm sure I'll get there one day.

The other lesser known but still important milestone occurring for the Brewers this year is the 125th Anniversary of the original Brewers major league franchise.  Most Brewers fans probably know that the current iteration of the team began as the Seattle Pilots in 1969.  Many Brewers fans probably also know that the current Atlanta Braves had a stint in Milwaukee from 1953-1965 at County Stadium, winning it all in 1957 for the city's only baseball championship to date.  There may even be some fans old enough to remember that Milwaukee had a minor league team - also called the Brewers - for half a century until the Braves came to town, who played at old Borchert Field, which has since been paved over as present-day Interstate 43.  However, it takes a particular baseball weirdo like myself to know that for one season in 1901, the Brewers briefly existed as a major league franchise in the newly-formed American League.  In fact, the American League was actually founded as a major league at a former hotel in Milwaukee, and there is still a plaque on MLK & Kilbourn commemorating this event.  Following the 1901 season, the Brewers would relocate to St. Louis to become the Browns, and would eventually go on to become the modern-day Baltimore Orioles.  So technically, if it wasn't for Bud Selig moving the Pilots in 1970 and saving baseball in Milwaukee, we might all be Orioles fans, or Braves fans, or God forbid maybe even Cubs fans.  May 6th 2026 marked the 125th anniversary of our original major league hometown 9 and it is a milestone worth celebrating.  If you want to get even more in the weeds, there were also some minor league versions of the Brewers that date back to the 1880s, but let's just stop our lesson at 1901 for today.

Stay tuned next week for a full report on Tour 2026!

STANDINGS AND UPCOMING SERIES AS OF 7/6/26:

Brewers 55-33, +6.0; 5 @ Cardinals, 3 @ Pirates

Twins 44-47, - 4.0, -1.5 WC; 3 v. Guardians, 3 v. Angels

2026 GAMES ATTENDED:

Erik - 3

Peter - 16

Black Sox Park

All photos of Freeport Black Sox Classic available on Flickr.

Saturday was a whirlwind of a day and I learned that when it comes to Town Ball schedules, you have to be flexible and adapt.  I had planned to attend a game in St. Augusta which is about 20 minutes east of our house, but when I arrived a little after what was supposed to be first pitch, not a soul was to be found on the field.  I tried not to panic (admittedly difficult for me) and quickly turned down the next street to park and collect my thoughts, for a long enough period of time that the owner of the house I was in front of might have been suspicious of something nefarious going on.  Instead it was quite the opposite - I was scouring ball schedules on my phone.  I finally found another game occurring at Black Sox Park in Freeport, which was over a half-hour back in the opposite direction.  I hustled back west on I-94 as fast as I legally could and arrived at what the internet told me was the Freeport ballpark, but was actually just a playground.  By this point, I had been driving over an hour and my frustration was building, but I was also pot-committed and determined to watch ball somewhere, so I just started stubbornly driving around to other fields in Freeport I could find on Apple Maps, hoping that one of those was Black Sox Park.  Amazingly, this town of 675 people has 3 ball fields, and third time was a charm as they say.  This experience taught me two things.  #1 is that I always need to have a backup plan from now on, as it is not uncommon for these type of games to be cancelled with no warning or update whatsoever (the same thing happened to me in Luxemburg last year).  #2 is that many of these town ball parks have incorrect addresses or just no address at all, so just entering the name of the field on my phone is not always good enough.  Once I actually found the field and parked, I had a quiet chuckle about the ridiculous ordeal, and I couldn't help but think that Erik's "drive towards the light towers" method of navigation would have actually worked much better than an actual map in this case.

I got out of my car and laughed again when I saw the very address I was trying to locate was in large black letters on the roadside monument sign.  The field was empty but there was still a crowd of fans, so I thought maybe the game was over already but I was at least going to walk around and have a beer while I was out this far.  After snapping a few pictures, a team comprised of what looked to be younger players took the field for fungoes, so my next thought was maybe I missed the town ball game but there is some sort of junior game happening now.  I also noticed several other teams changing clothes and milling about.  I finally realized what was happening - I had stumbled upon a tournament!  Black Sox Park was hosting their annual Freeport Black Sox Classic for the entire weekend, and I happened to arrive there between games.  Eight teams are invited to played a double-elimination style tournament, and the game I was about to see was the Clearwater River Cats v. the Aitkin Steam - which explained why so many other teams were on the road today when I was looking at schedules.  I parked myself a couple rows from the top to witness some of the most regimented fielding practice I've seen in a long time.  A good round of fungoes is almost like watching a ballet or basketball passing drills where everyone is beautifully in sync with no wasted motion.

As for the ballpark itself, this was another impressive one, which was not overly surprising since they are a host site for a tournament.  On the player side, it had a very well maintained field with a nice symmetrical outfield fence, an above-average electronic scoreboard, a locker room/restroom building, ample space for batting cages, and quality masonry dugouts - all luxuries that are not a given at any particular town ball park.  The main structure as you approach the field from the parking lot is a 30+ foot tall rectangular building with equipment housed on ground level and the press box at the top, with a large canopy extending over 10 rows of bleachers between this building and the backstop.  To the right of the grandstand is a concessions building fairly close to the field.  These two structures really framed the seating area nice as in Spring Hill, but this site was a little more open and less closed in, with farmland as far as the eye can see to all sides.  The concession stand here was one of the more exceptional ones I've seen in town ball, featuring hamburgers with fried onions grilled fresh to order, various other meats from a local butcher, for some reason golf on a projector screen, and also a wide selection of team merchandise for sale, including cool Black Sox caps and bleacher back seats.  However, with this variety and menu comes higher prices.  The gold standard for town ball park prices seems to generally be $3 dogs and $25 12-packs of Busch Light, and in Freeport those are priced at $4 and $30 respectively - still not breaking the bank by any means, but worth mentioning.  Maybe the prices were just higher because it was a free tournament, which would make sense.  I liked the brick wainscot that tied all of the individual structures together and I thought it was a really comfortable and well composed park.  Most town ball parks seem to face the "incorrect" cardinal direction of west, so if you're lucky enough to find one with a covered grandstand like Freeport has, that will greatly impact your experience.

As I mentioned earlier, I didn't actually see the Freeport Black Sox play, and it was a little disappointing because I was excited to see if they were wearing Field of Dreams style uniforms.  Between all of the driving around and the long warmup before the game, I also only stayed for a couple of innings.  These were two of the younger, more athletic teams I have seen at this level.  I'm accustomed to more of a bar-league softball level of talent, but Clearwater in particular had some good looking ballplayers, aside from the enormous first baseman who had a gut hanging over his belt and made other players go fetch bats for him.  It was another gorgeous day for baseball and I wish I could have stayed longer, but I left for a good reason - more ball!  After attending my first ever tripleheader just a couple months ago, Saturday would be another one for me as I saw parts of two more games in Cold Spring at their annual "Day at the Park" celebration.  This is an annual event consisting of the Springers, the Rockies, the local Legion team, and the senior team playing a quadruple header that culminates with live music after the final game.  It's the ballpark's main fundraising event of the year and one of the few games they actually charge admission to, and I was happy to finally get to go to this awesome community gathering.  Megan and the kids met me at the Cold Spring games, and I can't think of any way I'd rather spend Father's Day Weekend than watching ball with my family.

park rankings and statistics

(for purposes of amateur/town ball rankings, some categories are changed to just yes/no questions):
aesthetics - 7
views from park - 4
view to field - 6 (lots of foul ground)
surrounding area - 1
concessions - yes
nachos - no
beer - yes
vendor price - 8
ticket price - 10 (free)
atmosphere - 6
walk to park - 1
parking price/proximity - 10
concourses - 5
team shop - yes

kids area -  if you count the lone plastic slide, yes

best food - burger w/ onions
most unique stadium feature - concessions/team store combo stand
scoreboard - electronic

lights - yes

best between-inning feature - watching fungoes between games

field dimensions - 325/380/325
teams - Aitkin Steam v. Clearwater River Cats
time of game - unknown
attendance - there were more players there than fans
score - 6-2 Clearwater
Brewers score that day - 4-3 L

STANDINGS AND UPCOMING SERIES AS OF 6/22/26:

Brewers 46-29, +5.0; 3 @ Reds, 3 v. Cubs, 4 v. Reds, 3 @ Diamondbacks

Twins 38-41, - 3.5, -1.0 WC; 3 v. Dodgers, 3 v. Rockies, 3 @ Astros, 3 @ Yankees

2026 GAMES ATTENDED:

Erik - 3

Peter - 15