People Will Come Ray...

I walk by this case a few times a day. It reminds me of pre-2020 and how I miss traveling to cities and baseball stadiums and watching baseball in person.

Each one of these balls is a story. The people met, the people that may have traveled with, the cities and locations and the food and beer.

With thinking about that a little more I thought it would be cool to write about these moments and stores and get those memories out. With that I created this group. I know that life is busy but over the next weeks and months I hope to get some of them down and written. I don't want to rush getting them all out there quick because I feel that won't do them the justice that each one deserves.

Like a lot of stories over time some memories get skewered and become a bigger fish than they really were. Some of these may do that, some may not but there are some great memories in that case. When ball parks open up again I look forward to adding more to this too.

As for were to start, well no better place to start but the beginning. Look for the first pitch sometime soon.

Boston

Day 1
Flying out there, through St Louis the plan there was filled with Red Sox, Yankee and Cubs fans.  That was really cool and a picture of what was to come.  I got into town, did some Lyfting to get to my AirBNB, which was really nice, but maybe in an area of town I should have checked.  It’s not bad, and I really never felt bad, but did hear some gun shots.  But it worked well for what I needed it to be and was walkable to places.

I went straight to the Old North End and walked around.  I hit a place for lunch and had a beer with some clam chowder, that was pretty good.  I then walked toward the old bars, the Bell in Hand and The Green Dragon.  As I was walking to the Green Dragon I ran into “Liam Nesson” Freedom Trail guide.  This guy I met in 2015 and was one of the cool guys that stuck out that trip.  Well I walked by him and he noticed my Iowa gear and dropped a line about the Hawks.  Was awesome.  I walked then into the Green Dragon.  Great history with the bar and it has some great beer.  Sam Adams Boston Brick Red!  Sitting there a gal across the way started talking to me.  She was from Toronto there on a pharmaceutical business trip.  We talked for about an hour or so there and was really cool.

Wandered across the street to the Bell In Hand with the gal from Toronto and mozied up the bar.  On the way across ran into some kids from the NCAA Div 3 champion Hockey team and got a picture with a player and the trophy.  Kinda cool happening to just have that happen.  They were going to throw out the first pitch that night before the Sox/Yankees game.

The Bell In Hand also boasts some history also as the oldest bar in America.  Another place with some exclusive Sam Adams beers, this time I had the 26.2, made only in a certain time in Boston by Sam Adams for the Boston Marathon.  Good stuff again.  Ended up sitting next to 3 fire fighters from Las Vegas, and their wives/others.  They were pretty cool.  Talked to them for about a half hour or so.  They kept egging on the gal about trying to go Vegas.  It was funny.  They were in town for the game that night verse the Yankees and then vs the Cubs the next night.  After they left, a group an older guys came in and sat by us.  Like most that weekend, they were in town for the games and to see Fenway, from Florida this time.  Hilarious group of guys and I’m sure they had an epic time based on the time I chatted with them and their plan.  Never saw a guy chug that much beer that quick than the guy there.  Gone quick.

I decided to get going and go see some history in and went toward the little area and also Paul Revere’s house and hopped on the trail.  This is where things got cool!  Went to Mike’s Pastry to get a cannoli.  This was a place I didn’t get to go to last time in Boston and made sure I hit it this time.  As I was walking there and putting cash in my wallet, I get to a street corner, and look up and see ANTHONY RIZZO!  The Cubs were off that day and I thought a few might be out on the town, but this was AWESOME.  Rizzo, his gf and looked like a brother and someone else all had cannoli’s.  I wanted to ask for a picture with him, but he had a mouth full of cannoli, and he really wanted probably just time to relax.  But I did talk to him asking him “how are you doing?” and “thanks for last year.”  I was still in awe and star struck but I at least got to get some words out.  That was FUN.

I followed the trail to Boston Common and wandered then into the Original Cheers and sat at the corner, ala Norm, by 2 gals from Chicago.  As I got there in the evening, you started to see more Cubbie Blue coming into town.  We sampled beers and chatted about the Cubs, the Rizzo meeting and the town and 2016.  They were really fun and basically continued the trend of people I met this trip.  All just really fun and talked and all kinda in shock that I went out there all alone and praised me for going out and living life.  They even took a picture of me and posted it on Facebook in order to create drama.  That was fun for them, and we’ve texted during the series.  It was all in good fun.  They left and went for seafood and had their own encounter and met Kris Bryant that night.  All cool for there for them.  I stayed for one more beer and talked to a couple there from NOLA that were LSU fans along with Cubs fans.  We chatted Hawks/Tigers and the Capital One Bowl.  They love Ferentz and the Hawks program with the loyalty.  Interesting to get their SEC perspective on the Hawks.  Talked life, kids and beer with them too.  Awesome people.

I ended the night heading to Harvard, and John Harvard Brewing Company, supper and more beer there and wandering around that campus.  In front of the non-John Harvard statue statue was a stage they had set up.  Life lesson, if there is a stage out there DANCE ON IT AND OWN IT!  So I did.  Out in the yard were some light up teeter totters for the students during final week.  They had music blaring and every time the teeter totter would hit the ground they would light up.  I sat there and watched kids spending hundreds of thousands of dollars on their education just sit there and act like 7 & 8 yr. old kids.  It was fun and refreshing.  Ended the night with another Mike’s Cannoli and then went home to crash.

Day 2

Woke up a lil hungover, nothing a donut and coffee (I thought) would cure.  Started out walking the town in the morning in a hoodie and jeans (and to foreshadow – maybe didn’t help me later in the trip).  I walked through the campus of Northeastern University, small little place that is just placed there right in the city between Fenway and the financial district.  At the financial district, I got to walk down the final meters of the Boston Marathon.  Looking at it, thinking of all the things that happened there 4 years ago with the bombing, and then the Mark Wahlburg movie kind of gives you chills.  The Finish Line was still painted and I got the picture of it.  It would have been cool to have myself running thru it but you know traffic was involved.

After that I went after more history on the Freedom Trail and hit the Granary Burial Ground.  Resting place of Samuel Adams, John Hancock and Paul Revere.  This place is really cool and the resting place of so many prominent individuals.  It didn’t give the chills as the Washington grave site but still really cool.  This moment was also the time I saw a preview of what I would see at Fenway with all the Cubs fans there.  Next then was lunch at Sam Lagasse’s, for a pastrami sandwich.  This place was on Diners, Drive Ins and Dives and was a decent and HUGE sandwich.  I only ate half of it, which may have been a good thing.

One place I didn’t get to in 2015 that I watned to see was the USS Constitution, old Iron Sides.  On the way there I did walk right by the Garden and see the Bobby Orr statue.  I didn’t check if there was a Larry Bird one but there has to be right?  I got over walking to the bridge and ended up meeting a pilot from Delta as we were walking the same place.  We talked for about 30 mins, discussing the issues going on with United, North Korea, stuff in Boston and the ship and his upcoming trip to London.  Really cool guy, and hope to be on one of his flights, hopefully on the way home from DC in June.  Iron Sides had a bunch of scaffolding in dry dock to get it all fixed up so that was kind of a bummer but still it’s an amazing ship to view and think that it was in the navy for George Washington and named by him.  Really cool and sent that picture to dad.

At the USS Constitution I met up with Steph and we wandered down to a bar, had a beverage and talked a bit, and caught up with life about all aspects.  Always good to catch up with her.  We then walked our way to Regina’s pizza, the spot she showed us in 2015.  Good lil historic pizza place.  About this time I wasn’t drinking or eating on pace as I usually am, and well the ride back to the AirBNB to get the tickets showed that, got sick.  It was really quick but all over I-93.  Thankfully, hanging out of the Lyft, I didn’t get hit and ended up pushing through through the night, but didn’t drink up as much and it kind of took a bit out of me.

Next stop was Fenway, and I wasn’t letting getting sick keep me from there and the Cubs-Red Sox.  Again CUBS FANS EVERYWHERE.  Had a drink at the Cask n Flagon and got my 2 extra tickets sold.  SWEET!  And then wandered over to the Bleacher Bar.  At the Bleacher Bar had some water…aka Bud Light…and some gravey fries for the first time ever.  Steph ordered those, and I had a couple and went easy on my stomach all night.  Hence the Bud light.  Getting into the stadium, and walking up the ramp to see the green grass, sun light always give me chills.  Add in that it was a perfect day and the green monster looming over in left field.  It was awesome.

The tickets were in the old wooden seats in left field, and had some great people around us.  The gals from Maine were funny to interact with and the guy infront of me was hilarious.  And add on that had the Boston accent that I just wanted to hear him talk more history.  The Cubs had a bad first inning, made it a really fun close game but lose 5-4.  Kris Bryant crushed one over the green monstah in the 1st inning, but the rest was just blah.  I was pretty tame during the game due to my gut but it was still a good time.

Day 3

Didn’t sleep that well with the gut and heat, but Day 3 was all about Sam Adams.  Saturdays at the brewery, the trolley driver to Doyle’s is LEGENDARY!  I walked my way up through the town to the brewery and got on the first tour.  The tour was nothing really new from 2015.  The beer making process hasn’t changed at all and the hops still smell when you crush them in your hands.  I got the few samples at the brewery and then wandered out to the gift shop, where I ran into the trolley driver, Jason.  It was awesome.  Talked to him and got a picture with him before the trip to Double fist pump, DOYLES!

In 2015 at Doyle’s they had a beer called Black and Gold, that they only sold at Doyle’s and the Garden for Bruins games.  Great beer but didn’t have it.  The list was pretty limited this time but they had Cherry Wheat from the source!  Grabbed a couple of those and talked to a couple from New Hampshire that were Sox and Cubs fans.  Mentioning that I was from Iowa, a couple overheard me to the right who were Iowa grads.  Small world, and we had great conversation.  Nice young couple.  Even though I wanted to go easy on my gut, I had to get the Rueben.  The trolley driver raves about them and it was one of the best ones I’ve had.

With the Cubs losing the night before part of me wanted to hit the game Saturday to see a W, bought a ticket behind homeplat in the stands and walked toward Fenway again, and small world happened again.  Sat next to a gal from Sioux City most the game.  The Cubs ended up hitting 3 homers (Rizzo, Miggy, Zobrist) and won the game 7-4!  I got my W out there.

I spent the rest of the night just walking around Boston.  Getting sick had kinda been a damper, and I was missing a P.I.C. to carry me along the way and keep me going.  Walked around till about 9 and decided with the flight home early the next day to call it a night.

Overall Boston was a great trip!  Got to see 2 games at Fenway in a great series that should be a preview of October.  I hit Sam Adams, didn’t get a few other breweries hit that I wanted to but maybe again I’ll be out there.  I ran into the Trolley driver and Liam Nesson at the Quicny Market.  The worst part of the trip was not eating the seafood I wanted to get.  I missed out on that.  Luckily I’ll be in Baltimore later this summer and be able to get some there.  Don’t know when I’ll go back to Boston, but also next time I’m going to have some friends along there.

Today Was A Good Day!

Fun talk w a lady on the train this am...made friends w 2 gals from Seattle... made friends w Rick and Rick jr at Sluggers and got invited to their family outing at a dive bar South of Wrigley...hugged a strange man after the win....sang a Mexican song with Red Sox fans and befriended the bar manager and his wife. Oh and Fly the W. Now supper at Howell's & Hood.

    

    

    

New York Trip

This is a little late, but better late than never!!

So the trip has come and gone to New York and Yankee Stadium and it was a lot of fun. New York is nice to visit, but glad I'm back here in Iowa. Dad loved Yankee Stadium, Empire State Building and Mimi's (he has his own table there now). 52nd and 2nd if you’re ever in NYC. Glad the Yankees won for him; if they would have lost I think the trip would have had a different tone for dad. But instead we had a great night and time together the 3 of us.


Day 1-Wednesday—The Arrival

After waking up early in Marshalltown, we got to Cedar Rapids at 4ish at the airport. After Dad getting wanded because of the aluminum foil on his gum, we got up to our terminal and sat there for about 90 minutes. Going to get on our American Airlines flight, I was lucky and got chosen for a random check. So I got wanded, and bag unpacked and that was fun.....not. The flight to Chicago was good and quick. After a 2 hour lay over in Chicago we flew about 2 hours to NYC La Guardia. We were a lil longer because we circled waiting for the clearance to land. So we land, and head to our hotel, the Waldorf=Astoria. Very impressive from the outside and the lobby and main level floors. We get to our room and I've stayed in a lot better rooms. The Drake Hotel in Chicago is a lot better. Our room was just an old hotel with some noticeable things that could have been done up a little better. We head out of the hotel and grab a NYC hot dog from a vendor. Very good dog, spicy mustard, and head toward the Chrysler Building. Didn't go up top, just through. We head out to go to the Empire State Building. On the way we hit Grand Central Terminal. Pretty cool place, could see how one could get lost there if you don't know your way around. Was looking for Cyclops, Toad and Sabertooth! They weren't there. Darn. Next we hit the Heartland Brewery on the basement of the ESB. Great beer. Chatted with a guy from Seattle in town for the Yanks-Sox and then I was lucky to get my ear chatted off by some crazy lady who was a professor of psychiatry at Columbia. Her dead husband was famous, she was world famous, and her kids were world famous. And repeated all of her stories like 3 times. Meet a guy there who was asst manager from Chicago, and I had my Bears shirt and Cubs hat on, and he said "HEY, Cubs and Bears fan? I don't know if I should buy ya one or two beers." At the time he didn't buy us any, but we'll come back to that. We head up to the 86th floor of the ESB with some Aussie's who flew 36 hours to get to NYC, cool people. I agree with Dad, it's amazing what people did in the 1930's to make that building. Great views from there, you could see Shea Stadium, the Statue of Liberty, Central park, Ground Zero, Yankee Stadium and anything else pretty much. Stayed up there for a good hour probably then headed back down to the Heartland Brewery for supper. Walk into our booth and the ass't manager says "Hey I didn't get you the beers” I said "No, not yet...." He responded he'll get them. We order our drinks, they come and the waitress says, "They are on the house” We got about 20 bucks of drinks free because I'm a Bears/Cubs fan. Sweet! Good food, had some Ravioli. We head back to the hotel and drop dad off there about 8pm. Mike and I head towards time square. We see St. Patrick’s Cathedral, Radio City Music Hall, Saks 5th Ave, Tiffany & Co, and Trump Tower. Stop at Mickey Mantle's Sports Bar just south of Central Park. Drink there for about 2 hours. The bar tender Tammy wasn't too impressed with Iowa folk it seemed. Meet a guy from KC who was arrested at the US Open for scalping an extra ticket for under face value. Poor dude has a court date in October. The rest of the night, Mike and I wandered down to Times Square at night and it looks like it does on TV. I did think it would be bigger, but still cool. Stopped ant M&M world, saw a few bright lights from the ESPN Zone and the Broadway shows, and bought Shawnna a purse from a NYC street vendor for 30 bucks. Great deal! And did find a Ray's Pizza! Mystery meat pizza is gooooood! Hit the Waldorf after midnight and crashed to get ready for the game on Thursday.

Day 2-Thursday—Yankees vs. Red Sox
Woke up and then got ready to go and hit a little place called Cafe Ruffles. Breakfast for 3 cost us 60 bucks. Told ya you could go broke eating in this town. After wards we went to get on a train to head up to the Bronx. On the way down the subway we heard a "Go Hawks” Dad was wearing his Hawkeye hat. We get down waiting for a train and find out that the guy who said it was behind us, and from Fort Dodge. We go to NYC and meet a guy who is an hour from Des Moines there for the same reason we are. We ride the trains which weren't bad, just hot as a sauna down in the subway. Empty out at the Bronx and walk out to see the New Yankee Stadium first. It looks amazing. Gonna be a really nice building. So we go into to the house that Babe built. When dad walks out of the tunnel to see the green grass, it was almost like he saw a shrine. Walked right out to right field, and saw the famous white facade with the All-Star game logo. Got pictures of the whole thing. We walked around to left field to get to Monument Park but they closed it 45 mins before the first pitch, so we missed out on that. So that sucked. We made our way up to our seats. Prob about 8 rows from the top under the awning, in the shade and right on top of home plate. Great seats for 129 bucks a pop. The game went on. Dad started chit chatting with some guys from Uruguay who live in Jersey and buy and mostly sell alcohol. Got a free pop from them. The game went on; the Yanks were down 2-0 in the 7th and looked like the Yanks would get swept. In came Jason Giamibi to pinch hit. ARod had just popped out and having a terrible series. Giambi saw the 1st pitch and launched it some 420 feet over the center field wall. The place went nuts. 2-2. No action till the 9th. Yanks loaded the bases. Up came ARod. He K'd. The crowd boo's again for the 4th time. In comes Jonathan Papplebon to face the Giambino. First pitch, strike 1. 2nd pitch a ball. Next pitch Giambi shoots a liner into center field and THE YANKEES WIN! Could see tears in Dad's eyes. Glad he got to see the Yanks win especially over the hated Red Sox. After time in the subway back to midtown we hit a little place called Mimi's. Get the corner table in the outside of the restaurant and there and windows all around so we can see into the city. Great seats. Dad get's CC on the rocks and Mike and I drink beers. Had some great veal pizzaiola. Great dish. Also had my first cannoli. Great food. We drank there for a lil longer. I think there was about 100 bucks of alcohol on the bill. Afterwards we head up to a little Irish pub called Naills. The bartender was a witch. Wouldn't play any of my country music on the juke box. Sucked. But did meet some Chinese volleyball players. One was born in South America, works on German cars, and drinks Irish beer. How's that for a combo? Drank there for a while, then walked by a place called Fukumatsu. That's just funny. We were all pretty lit by the time we crashed. Dad even drunk dialed mom. Probably one of the best nights of my life.

Day 3-Friday—Wall Street/Statue of Liberty

So Friday was a trip to downtown Manhattan. The day started with lunch from a vendor on the street. A few bucks got us a drink, 3 donuts and 3 bananas. Wish we could get that deal here in Des Moines. We then hit the subway down to the financial district. When we arrived we wanted to go to ground zero. We saw where the twin towers once stood. We think there was a place to look into the fenced in area but we couldn’t find it and didn’t want to stray too much to try to find it. Was kind of surreal though. Then we walked down to Wall Street. I noticed the church “At the Wall” (from National Treasure!) It was there. No Nicolas Cage though. So that was cool. Dad & I got pictures underneath the Wall Street street sign. On the block was the Stock Exchange. Where few ruin the financial futures of all. All around were Army men with automatic weapons. A far cry from what Times Square was like. Really serious and quiet. Across from the Stock Exchange was the building were George Washington was sworn in as the 1^st President of the United States. Kind of cool. So we couldn’t get into the Stock Exchange, and we headed south. Saw the Gold Bull. Dad & I got a picture in front of the Bull, and then even got a shot of the back to make sure it was a Bull! It was. We ate lunch at Subway and then headed for the ferry to the Statue of Liberty. It was like herding cattle there. It seemed like all the people getting on were just there for the Statue and then back again to NYC. We got a great shot of the Lady. Also Ellis Island. It was really cool. I wonder what it would have been like back 70-100 years ago. Coming home from a war or an immigrant seeing it, Americans now are lucky we don’t have to be in those shoes and take it for granted. After the ferry dad was getting tired and we subwayed it back up to the Waldorf. Mike and I headed back to Times Square area to find the Ed Sullivan Theater and Hello Deli. After a few turns we found it. Got a picture with Rupert G and my first souvenir for myself, a Hello Deli t-shirt. Mike and I then went to the NBC studios, saw where the Today Show is filmed and then bought a few more souvenirs for Shawnna & the kids. Back to the Waldorf dad and I relaxed a bit before supper and Mike went down to the Bull & Bear bar to see a MSNBC show talk about the markets. Dad and I met him outside and we headed back to Mimi’s. We walked by a grocery store that had all the fruit outside, just like you see on TV, really cool. The smell of the fruit could stop you in your tracks. Back at Mimi’s we walked in and the bartender remembered us. CC on the rocks for dad and beers for Mike & I. Mike got supper that night. Got the piano man to play another round of “New York, New York” before we left. And Dad got his free t-shirt. After supper dad wanted to head back to the Waldorf instead of going out. Mike and I headed back to Naills for a few drinks. College football was on! Mike and I drank there and talked to a few lawyers who wandered in from their office. One of them played football at SMU. He was no bigger than Kyle. Tells you why SMU is TERRIBLE! We drank till about 11 or so, one of the lawyers bought us a shot of the smoothest tequila I’ve ever had. We started to wander up to the Waldorf again, but I had to get one more slice of NYC pizza before the night was over. Dad was calling us to make sure we knew we had a flight at 5 am the next day. Got back and crashed.

Saturday—Back to Iowa

As soon as the wake up call happened we were up. 15 minutes later our stay at the Waldorf-Astoria was over. We walked out the main entrance, the door man had a cab for us waiting and we climbed in, and headed back to LaGuardia in the rain. We got there early enough to grab a juice and breakfast and Mike napped a bit, then we boarded the plain to Chicago. Seeming to be quicker than the flight to NYC we were in O’Hare for our layover there. We sat waiting for our jumper to Cedar Rapids for about an hour. I spent it walking around O’Hare and texting and looking for anything on the Iowa football game. Once boarded, Mike had to check his bag, and in less than an hour we were at Cedar Rapids. We got Mike’s bag, walked to his truck and had Gary & Ed on to listen to on our way back to Marshalltown. I got home to the kids and Shawnna to great big hugs. I got out their souvenirs and started to unpack and tell stories. Addy got a pink “Big Apple” shirt, Brady a Derek Jeter #2 t-shirt jersey, and Shawnna a pink “New York” shirt and her purse. I got my Hello Deli shirt and a lot of memories.

Fast Forward to Father’s Day 2009, there’s no way to top the gift for dad that we got him in 2008, but the 2009 gift had a hint of 2008 in it. I got dad a framed picture of him, Mike & me at Yankee Stadium and Shawnna made him a Yankee blanket. He liked both a lot.

The trip was a lot of fun, and I hope it’s not the last like that, had a great time with Mike & Dad in that setting. New York was a fun place to visit, but glad I live in Iowa. I still want to take Shawnna there sometime! But no shopping for her!!! :P

Mike, I and Dad at Yankee Stadium after the Yankees beat Boston.