In the early days of Facebook, there used to be an attached app called "Stadium Tour." On it you could log not only every baseball stadium you've been to, but every arena, every stadium for any sport you can think of, at all levels, including ones that were no longer in use. It was the most comprehensive stadium tally I've ever seen and one that Erik and I used quite frequently to wage war against each other. Well, that app went the way of the dodo quite some time ago, and since then much to my shock and dismay, I have not found anything even close to it. With all of the people that tour stadiums particularly ballparks I could not believe not even one person had thought to develop an app beyond just the 30 MLB teams. I've been tracking all of my ballparks on a Word document like some sort of caveman.
I finally discovered something pretty comprehensive called Hardball Passport. It plays off of the popular MLB passport books that came out a while ago that you can get physically stamped at a ballpark. This particular website goes even further and offers a database of games that goes back 40 years in which you can track game results, stats, and every park that has been open since then. It has all current MLB and MiLB parks on it, as well as many defunct ones. By "checking in" to certain ballparks and in certain quantities, you can unlock many badges or stamps, say for instance visiting every park in California, or all 30 MLB teams. You can set up challenges to keep yourself on task for ballparks to visit - in my case, I have 4 parks left of 16 in the Midwest League. You can plan roadtrips on it because all of the team schedules are at your fingertips; it certainly would have been nice to have this for our 2007 tour. The coolest part and the advantage of having this online rather than paper form is the database available to you at all times. I know what the Brewers record was in all games I have attended, what the best hitters were of all my visits, and I can see how many times I have been to each park all at the click of a mouse.
No college, summer collegiate, or spring training parks yet, so I still need my Word document, but it is still a cool website for anybody who is a ballpark chaser like myself.
STANDINGS AND UPCOMING SERIES AS OF 07.16:
Brewers 38-52, -18.5 (3 v. Pirates, 2 v. Indians, 4 @ Diamondbacks)
Reds 39-47, -15.5 (3 v. Indians, 4 v. Cubs, 3 @ Rockies)
Twins 49-40, -4.5 (3 @ Athletics, 3 @ Angels, 3 v. Yankees)
2015 GAMES ATTENDED:
Erik - 13 (+14 worked)
Peter - 28
touch with baseball when his childhood heroes Robin Yount, Paul Molitor, and Jim Gantner retired but the Great Home Run Chase of 1998 reignited his passion. As a student at the University of Wisconsin-Milwaukee, Erik became involved with the campus chapter of Habitat for Humanity. With this group Erik traveled to Portland, OR and Baltimore, MD to work on construction projects and help the group raise $25,000 to partially sponsor a house in Milwaukee. Also at UWM, Erik met Peter Nagel. The two attended their first Brewers game together during Opening Weekend 2003. Despite their failure to ignite the coals at their first tailgate, the two had a blast and were soon making weekly trips to the ballpark. Erik has gone on to several colleges and changed careers several times, and has moved all the way out to New Hampshire, but has always stayed true to his baseball roots by holding part-time stadium usher jobs. To this day he looks back fondly on his incredible cross-country journey.
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