At seventeen, I had one goal — to see Craig Biggio get 3,000 hits. Biggio would be the 27th player in the history of baseball to join the 3,000 hit club and I needed to be there.
My love of baseball started with a helmet full of ice cream at the age of nine and turned into a summer job working for the Astros as a tour guide. In the middle, I begged my parents to buy me tickets to see Biggio’s big hit, which of course could happen at any time that season.
My dad agreed under the condition that I did the math. It looked something like — .250 career batting average, leave out the away Sunday games he didn’t play, average number of plate appearances, margin of error, etc. In the end, we bought two weeks’ worth of tickets and I prayed Biggio wouldn’t get the hit at an away game in the middle.
On June 28, 2007, Biggio went five for six. He tried to get a double – his signature hit – for 3,000 but was tagged out. The game paused. He celebrated with long time teammate, Jeff Bagwell, on the field.
In the bottom of the eleventh, the Astros were losing 5-4. We’ve got two strikes and Biggio is stepping up to the plate. He hits a single to keep the Astros alive. Pence gets a double. Berkman is hit by a pitch. Lee hits a walk off grand slam. Astros win.
Best of all – I’ll never forget watching that game with my dad.
All that to say, I loved baseball so we decided to visit all the stadiums. Oh, Jon’s a huge fan too. You should watch his post season celebration video.
The Baseball Stadium List
Angel Stadium of Anaheim – LA Angels
AT&T Park – San Francisco Giants
Busch Stadium – St. Louis Cardinals
Chase Field – Arizona Diamondbacks
Citi Field – New York Mets
Citizens Bank Park – Philadelphia Phillies
Comerica Park – Detroit Tigers
Coors Field – Colorado Rockies
Dodger Stadium – LA Dodgers
Fenway Park – Boston Red Sox
Globe Life Park – Texas Rangers
Great American Ballpark – Cincinnati Reds
Kauffman Stadium – Kansas City Royals
Marlins Park – Miami Marlins
Miller Park – Milwaukee Brewers
Minute Maid Park – Houston Astros
Nationals Park – Washington Nationals
Oakland County Colisuem – Oakland Athletics
Oriole Park at Camden Yards – Baltimore Orioles
Petco Park – San Diego Padres
PNC Park – Pittsburgh Pirates
Progressive Field – Cleveland Indians
Rogers Center – Toronto Blue Jays
Safeco Field – Seattle Mariners
Target Field – Minnesota Twins
Tropicana Field – Tampa Bay Rays
Turner Field – Atlanta Braves
US Celluar Field – Chicago White Sox
Wrigley Field – Chicago Cubs
Yankee Stadium – New York Yankees
9 down 21 to go. Wrigley Field has to be my favorite so far.
I bought a Jay’s shirt in Toronto. Jon disowned me.
Tell me about your favorite stadium and baseball stories.