No game today: Just canceled flights at CVG

 A week ago today, Thursday, June 16, was the last day I did not go to a professional baseball game. It feels like months ago. I don't know how I'll handle returning to society. But the baseball part of the trip is over. Seven games, six days, four parks. The voyage started last Friday by car, took an expectant mode of transportation when I got on a bus at 3:40 Wednesday morning and today it ends (let's hope) with a Delta flight from the Greater Cincinnati Airport in Covington, Ky., (a k a CVG) to LaGuardia in Queens (a k a LGA).

I am exhausted. But the trip exceeded expectations. Other than catching a foul ball or being invited to throw out the first pitch.

The doubleheader was a blast. Great to see the Reds pick up the nightcap. Great seats behind first base dugout. Made some new friends from Columbus and N. Kentucky. Last night's game was the first without a hot dog for me. I think I'll be able to go the rest of the year without eating another hotdog. Plus, I don't think any hot dogs can compare to Great American Ball Park's Big Red dogs.

The Originals: The 1869 Cincinnati Red Stockings Base Ball Club, the first professional baseball team.

While I was hoping to catch an Amtrak train home so I could focus on writing about the trip, it was sold out. Apparently the next train comes through Cincinnati on Wednesday. Weird. But at least I got a full-body scan when I arrived here — just after finding out my original flight was canceled. But U.S. Airways got me on a direct flight through Delta. I would have been in the air already and headed to Charlotte before flying to LGA. This new flight leaves nearly four hours later but is due to get in just about 45 minutes later. I'll take it.

The Greatest: The starting eight of the Big Red Machine, baseball's best lineup from 1-8, in history. Not too shabby in the field either.

More to come. I hope. But now that I'm thirsty, I have to pack up all my stuff to walk 30 feet to the Starbucks. Does Delta offer free Wi-Fi on their planes?

Day 6: Let's play two

After that lovely bus ride that seemed to take forever, I arrived back in downtown Cincinnati. My room wasn't ready at the hotel. But by sitting in the lobby I struck up a conversation with a man from Toledo. He liked my Mr. Redlegs hat and he gave me his box seats, around 30th row, behind the first base dugout. I've always said that some of the most generous people in Ohio come from Toledo.

He was on his way to Omaha for the College World Series. I was on my way to my sixth straight day of attending a professional baseball game — my third at Great American Ball Park in Cincinnati. And it was about 14 hours after we saw the Pirates beat the Orioles in Pittsburgh.

I'm tired. I maybe put together three hours of sleep on the Greyhound trip, which included an hour layover in Columbus. I used to take a bus from that same Columbus depot to Athens when I went to Ohio University. It looked and felt the same as it did over a decade ago. But I didn't see anyone selling drugs in the men's room. That was a first.

I sat again in the Moon/Sundeck at the stadium for the first five innings. I believe this is first time I've attended a Major League game alone. Let me tell you: It was a hell of a lot better than attending with Brian and Nick.

Not really. It was just different. I spent the later innings wandering around the stadium trying to check it all — the artwork (which features a cool Big Red Machine mural made of tiles and a tribute to the original Cincinnati Red Stockings of 1869, the first professional baseball team) and the different views of the game. From the upper deck to the right field stands and all along the concourses behind the infield seats, you have a good view of the action.

There is a carnival-like atmosphere at Great American. There's a woman on stilts, a juggler, jazz quartets, a 50/50 raffle that benefits the Reds Community Fund, which really does some cool things around the area for kids. There are a bunch of games — many of which I think would have been cool to have at Riverfront Stadium. 

The fans are some of the friendliest in baseball. Yankee fans have been telling me that. While I've never seen a game in St. Louis, I can't imagine a better group of fans to watch a game with. There is no consistent swearing like you hear in New York. And most people are rather courteous and laid back. You do, like at every baseball game we've attended, hear louder people talking and complaining about the game in such a way that they show they don't understand it enough to criticize batters' swings at off speed pitches. I don't understand enough myself, which is why I try to keep quieter.

But enough of this. Next game is in about two hours. I have plans.

Sitting in the Pittsburgh bus depot

I'm surrounded by napping travelers lying along the floor of the Greyhound Bus terminal in downtown Pittsburgh. I have my ticket to Cincinnati in hand. Millennium Hotel booked downtown. I just don't have a ticket to either of the games tomorrow/today/in about nine hours. But I will deal with that when I'm back in Cincinnati.

We visited PNC Park, home of the Pittsburgh Pirates, this evening. They clobbered the Orioles in front of a large Bucs crowd. The stadium is gorgeous. We were sitting in section 115, behind home plate. It was a good view of the action. It really is a breathtaking park. There appeared to be dozens of standing-room nooks throughout the stadium for you to catch some of the action. But having that view of the Pittsburgh skyline and bridges — at least from our seats — really gives the stadium a cavernous, yet open feel. Leave it to Pittsburgh.

The Pirates were honoring the 1971 team, which is the second most recent Bucs team to win the World Series. The players looked sharp in throw back jerseys. Both teams sported those '70s pull-over jeserys and belt-less pants. There weren't enough stirrups, however, for them to truly be throwbacks.

Thanks to the pregame ceremony we made it inside in time for the first pitch. We watched the top of the first from the deck beyond the left field wall. By midway through the game, we could see that area and the spiral ramps behind it full of fans leaning on the railings, watching baseball.

At the suggestion of a family friend back in Connecticut, we grabbed a Primanti sandwich. The line was long for the roast beef, steak or capiola fried up and thrown on freshly baked white bread with french fries and coleslaw (I hope I'm not forgetting something). The sandwich was pretty good. It was sure a lot of stuff between bread. I would like to try it some time at an actual restaurant than at the ball game. The worst part was, where our line was we had no TVs to keep up the action during the game. There were six lines for these sandwiches on three sides of a square-like building on the first base side that houses the Pitt delicacy. If you are going to have to wait at least a half inning to get food, it would be nice to be able to see some of the game.

If I had any complaint of the park, it's that there is not enough monitors to see the action when you are out of site — but still still — to the game.

This was supposed to the official end to the baseball road trip — with some options open for games elsewhere if schedules and budgets allowed it. Going back to Cincinnati was certainly not in the plans. But the double header later today was just too much to pass up. Now I just need to find some tickets.

Since I started writing this, we've loaded onto the bus, made room for all the passengers and the lights are off while some people sleep and college kids trade traveling war stories. I'm typing at my laptop while I have some power. We are scheduled to arrive in Columbus at 7 this morning. Then I change for Cincinnati while this bus continues on to Indianapolis and St. Louis.

What the hell. I'm going back for a couple more.

With the Reds-Yankees game rained out Tuesday night, they're playing a day/night double-header Wednesday. I've decided I can't pass up a chance to go to both games. Nick and Brian both have to get back to New York. Nick is flying early in the morning. Brian is driving later in the morning. And, as Nick just said to me: "Josh, you are getting on a bus in three hours. Ha ha ha. I'm jealous."

Next stop: 100 Joe Nuxhall Way, Cincinnati, Ohio.

I haven't ridden aboard a Greyhound bus since I was a student at Ohio University. But it was just $35 to buy a ticket online. And Hotwire offered a great deal on a downtown 3.5-star hotel. And I still have the rest of the week off.

I'll worry about how I am going to get back later. I can no longer imagine a day without going to a baseball game. And we did never see a day game.

By the way, PNC Park is second only to Wrigley — and probably Fenway — as the most beautiful place I've seen a baseball game. And it was a night to celebrate the 1971 championship team. The Bucs and the Orioles wore throwback jerseys. The Pirates caps were light brown/golden with a black classic Pirates P and a black brim. I grabbed one for myself.

Now I have to figure how to pack for a trip I'm already on.

Return to Cincinnati: Montgomery Inn Boathouse

The last time I had ribs within the greater Cincinnati area, a players strike was looming in Major League baseball. It was August 1994 and my parents had driven the family out to Cincinnati for a visit. We saw a couple Reds-Dodgers games, the last series for the Redlegs that season. Montgomery Inn is a local institution, founded by the late Ted Gregory, a k a The Ribs King. I went to Montgomery Elementary School, just down the Montgomery Ave. from the Inn.

The Gregories now have four locations, including the downtown Montgomery Inn Boathouse. A circular building that looks out onto the Ohio River and the banks of Kentucky. We were lucky enough to get get a seat right against the large glass windows on the first floor. That picture above is of a riverboat making its way down the river. This picture is of the Boathouse. A place that did not disappoint.

We had seen a great game on Sunday. The Reds held of the Blue Jays, 2-1. Brian and Nick were offended when Fransisco Cordero, the Reds closer, entered the game in the 9th to "Enter Sandman" — Mariano Rivera's entrance music at Yankee Stadium. But they got over it by the time we got some drinks and fresh, hot Saratoga chips with hot Montgomery Inn barbecue sauce for dipping.

We told the waiter, Jerry, that we've been traveling for days and this was our first real chance to sit down for a good meal. He told us to take our time, brought us some Greek meatballs for another appetizer and said we could order our main meal whenever we'd like.

When we finally got around to it, Jerry brought us some excellent barbecued pork. I went with a slab of ribs. Nick and Brian got a combinations of ribs and pork chops. All were pleased. You can see in the pictured that I first had to have a rib before I could take a picture of it. Brian enjoyed, this trip, making fun of Nick and me for taking so many pictures of our food. But Cincinnati has some food you just can't get many other places.

My mom should be proud of me finishing all the ribs in one setting. I'm fairly sure she never allowed my brother or I from ordering a full slab when we were kids. And rightly so. Even though Shelby, my brother, and I were convinced we could do it.

One of the fun things about the Montgomery Inn is all the sports memorabilia on the walls. I wonder if the original Montgomery Inn still has that statue of Pete Rose when you walk in.

The Boathouse does have this great picture of Pete and Hulk Hogan. The picture was in a dark corner and I had lighten it a lot. I always took Pete for more a Macho Man guy. But I'm sure he and the Hulk had a few things in common.

After the meal, we polished it all off with some coffee and Graeter's Black Raspberry Chip ice cream. That meal right there crossed a few things off the Queen City to-do list.

Below are a couple more shots of the Ohio River and banks of Kentucky. But we saved that state for the next night. Also is some Ken Griffey Jr. memorabilia.

We're rolling through some traffic just outside Pittsburgh. But we're at our exit. Hoping to be at PNC Park by 6ish.

If you can't get enough of this, I'll do some more updates on Twitter from the game. Keep up to date by clicking here.

Back home then Pittsburgh-bound

We passed the 1,000 mile mark some time after driving back around Columbus. We're on Interstate 70 East, a couple hours outside Pittsburgh. Apparently there is Jimmy Buffet concert in Pittsburgh tonight. There are only about five hotel rooms left in the city. But we changed our reservation for a hotel on the east side of the city to one west of the city.

Tonight will be the fifth night in row we've gone to a baseball game. It's becoming a bit surreal. In a good way.

Cincinnati was a great time. The ballpark was amazing to finally see. I only wish I'd moved around more during the game to check it all out. But I really didn't want to miss a pitch. We finished up the visit this morning with a trip to Symmes for a swing through the old neighborhood and lunch in Montgomery, near my old elementary school, which was razed years ago.

I'm back in the back seat — or Josh's Cubical as Nick called it. Hoping to catch up with some posts about Cincinnati, Great American Ball Park, Montgomery Road, the Rose Garden, Kentucky Gold Stars and the Moon Deck.

The old house. I remember when that tree was planted.

Welcome to Cincinnati, now home of a bunch of Yankees fans from Indiana

After traveling some 700 miles from home, where every other person (and sometimes me) wears Yankees hat, Cincinnati is full of Yankee fans. Most of them seem to be from Indiana and Kentucky. I wonder if they have an Indiana cheer.

Unlike the three previous days, there has been little down time. Thus less blogging. But I have been trying to make some updates at http://Twitter.com/Fishjer.

We saw the Reds beat the Blue Jays, 2-1, in a good pitching duel. Bronson Arroyo's flowing locks and leg kick was as mesmerizing as it was the last three times I saw the Reds. Tonight we see Johnny Cueto, who's been pitching like an ace, take on the team I see the most back home: The New York Yankees. It's going to be fun to see my "home team" play my favorite team in my old home.

Speaking of old homes, finally making it into Great American Ball Park felt like coming home. I grew up going to Riverfront Stadium and there were some fitting nods to that park that hosted some amazing games and champions. But Great American is great. We were in the 28th row just to left of home plate, still behind the screen. I didn't get a chance to check out much of the park, as we arrived in the top of first right after checking into the downtown hotel — a 10 minute walk to the park. But once I sat down, I didn't want to get up.

The Big Red Hot Dog was delicious. Best hot dog of the trip. It came right off the grill into a steamed bun and they threw on hot sauerkraut, which was cooking along peppers on the grill. There was some tasty brown mustard also. The dog was flavorful, hot and made me want two. It gets 5 stars. I held off on a second dog, knowing there was slab of Montgomery Inn ribs in my future.

The Reds do a great job of celebrating their history and their current players. From the statues and pictures around the park to the stadium p.a. and scoreboard, it makes the game fun. What I like least about the new Yankee Stadium is it is so loud with advertisements, bad crowd games and often awful music between innings. (That Cotton Eye Joe thing is so stupid, I get embarrassed for the greatest sports franchise in the world. They should be better than that. I could write a book about why the Yankees grounds crew doing the YMCA while raking the field is the cause of the 2008 stock market crash.) Maybe the Yankees can pick up some tips from the Reds tonight. Both teams have a great history and have played in a couple good World Series against each other.

We're yet to be in our seats by the first pitch. That ends tonight. Look for us on TV tonight. It's on ESPN nationally, YES back home and FSO out here.

More on everything else when I get a chance. From Reds to Montgomery Inn to Skyline to Graeter's to the Reds Hall of Fame to Maddona's Bar, the Queen City has kept us entertained.

Not getting murdered in Mansfield

After a great time in Cleveland Saturday night, it was not easy to leave. The traffic was fine, the road signs were reasonably marked. But we were having a lot of fun. Being with some good, old friends who I hadn't seen in years — and knew their way around the city (except where to get a beer before the game).

But we had a schedule to keep. We planned this trip out months ago. And part of the plan was to drive a little more than an hour southeast from Cleveland — a little more than halfway to Columbus — after the game. This would leave us within three hours of Cincinnati for the 1:10 start to today's game against the Blue Jays. So on we went along Interstate 71.

When we told the Ohio Nicks at the game that we're staying in the Econo Lodge in Mansfield that night, one of them asked if we like bedbugs. The other one said, "They're from New York. They're probably used to bedbugs."

We made the Econo Lodge reservation over a month ago because it was cheap. We planned, like we did before getting to Scranton, to scan the Internet for some last-minute deals. This led us to that lovely Best Western (Plus!). Well the Econo Lodge is on to this game. We didn't read the fine print. Those crafty titans of mediocrity said we had to cancel our reservation by two days ago. Every other hotel we booked allowed same-day cancellations.

I must say we were pleasantly surprised — surprised at how it took three men to drive over 600 miles from New York City to be scared for their lives.

The following review posted by Staysurgar of Long Beach, Calif., on TripAdvisor.com, which we found on our way down I-71, was the most accurate of them all:

I hardly know where to start complaining about the hotel. I have been using Expedia often for years and never expected to book a hotel like that Econo Lodge. It had none, none I repeat, of the amenities listed, not even a clock.

We can confirm this. There was no clock in our room either, Staysugar. There was, however, a rather round stain that appeared to capable of becoming a sun dial. Of course we arrived at about 1 a.m.

It was filthy, and as a woman traveling alone I really feared for my safety there.

As three men traveling together, we too feared for our safety. As we drove under the highway overpass and through some tall grass along a gravel road and a couple boarded up buildings, Brian said: "This could be the place where we all get murdered."


I ... was so furious about getting stuck there I called Choice Hotels at 8 pm soon after I arrived to tell them the place is shockingly bad. The restaurant is boarded up, dilapidated, the pool is filled with concrete with weeds growing out of it.

We inspected the pool (That's the daylight picture above) — or "wildflower garden" — which was across the side parking lot from our room. It seemed like an odd place to store a snowplow (it's the brown thing on the other side of the "garden"). So I guess the truck drives across the "garden" to attach it. Or is left over from the nearby, boarded up "spa's" yard sale?

No other businesses in sight of the desolate hotel - except for the boarded up, bright green Rainbo Spa next door and the Gentlemen's Club half a mile away! 
This was unbelievable.

Staysugar might be slightly relieved to hear there is now a fireworks store. It's across the desolate field from the gentleman's club. There was only one car in the club's parking lot. The neon sign was flashing "Open." We wondered if that car belonged to the dancer inside or some really disappointed customer.

If I hadn't driven a UHAUL by myself for 350 miles that day I would have kept going. 


After reading your review, Staysugar, and several other similar posts we started calling hotels from Mansfield Columbus to see if we could find something else worth it. It's amazing what these hotels wanted to charge us for finding a place to sleep for seven hours. We decided our lives weren't worth another $110 for a room at the Holiday Inn Express closer to Columbus.

The shower curtain was ripped, as were the lamp shades. The carpet in the hall was filthy and frayed, the room's 2 chairs had huge, disgusting stains on them.. 
I even took pictures - my favorite is of the back of the door of my 2nd room where the room rates/safety info should be - there was only a black sticker with a skull and crossbones on it. Yikes - beware is right! 


Our room was not as bad as this. But the skull-and-crossbones was assumed.

• • •

We survived the night. No one seems to be itching. And we stopped at a Bob Evans just outside Columbus. Nick and Brian tried one of my dad's favorite culinary creations: Bob Evans' sausage gravy. I love most things that Bob Evans cooks. I would be willing to attempt to live off their biscuits. But the sausage gravy is something I've never wanted to try. Nick said: "I couldn't go to a Bob Evans and not try the sausage gravy." I said: "I've been going to Bob Evans since I was a kid and have never tried the sausage gravy."

But my dad would be proud – of them. And it is Father's Day.

But the Big Breakfast was everything I remember. At the game last night, an Ohio Nick reminded me of one late night that turned into morning at Ohio University, a group of us tricked a kid with a car into thinking he had to drive someone to the hospital at 6 a.m. so we could go to Bob Evans. The walk back to the dorms was well worth it.

We're less than 60 miles outside Cincinnati. First time back since 2002. It's raining.

In Cleveland: Three Nicks are more than one

Jacobs Field, now known as Progressive Field, lived up to everything I thought it would since it opened when I was a Connecticut high school student just a few years removed from Ohio. Maybe it was seeing a couple college friends I hadn't seen in a decade. Maybe it was that Midwestern friendliness I grew up in. Maybe it was the Labatt Blue on tap. Maybe it's that it was that the Nicks, my two college friends, led us to a seat 30 rows behind home plate.

That Indians starter Carlos Carrasco took a no-hitter into the sixth inning didn't hurt. He was impressive on the mound. And the Indians fans were fun to talk baseball with.

The hot dog was disappointing, I must say. But it tasted of potential. It was less than luke warm but had some good taste to it. Better than the SWB dog yesterday. Excellent mustard selection helped. (Like Shelley Duncan, you ketchup people are bland.) Intended to try a sausage or hamburger. But it never happened. I blame Michael Stanley, the Cleveland favorite performing a concert after the game. You could spot his fans.

We were originally sitting in the Lodge section — level 300 in the second deck of fair right field, After taking the wrong escalator. We got to walk down the ramps, which seemed to take an inning. But we eventually found some elevators on the first level that took us within 100 feet of our section. We were in our seats before the Tribe came to bat.

It was cool to sit in home run territory. I have not it done that much. But we didn't stay long.

We arrived at my friend from Nick's house in Hudson, Ohio, a Cleveland suburb, a little after 4 on Saturday. After relaxing on his screened-in porch for a bit, he said he had a surprise. And in walked another Nick, another friend from Ohio University. The Two Nicks were always a lot of fun in school and I was quickly reminded why.

Once at the game, the three in our traveling party — Brian, NY Nick and myself — checked out the stadium while the Ohio Nicks waited for the Will Call line, which was almost wrapping around that beautiful baseball stadium.

Despite getting on the wrong elevator and getting a tour of the ramps that lead you out of the stadium, we finally found our seats in section 304. When the Ohio Nicks got in, they had prime seats in section 151, just to the right of home plate. And they told us there were three open seats next to them.

Minutes later, after acting like we sit in section 151 at Jacobs Field every Saturday night (the Indians hats we bought probably helped) we no longer 400 feet from the action. We now were a pitch away from the first base on-deck circle.

While the seats in the outfield were nice — and a great buy at $20 — sitting to the right of home plate, looking out across the field and at that Indians scoreboard, is the way to watch a game. Of course once we sat down there, Carrasco gave up his first hit. But no matter. The Tribe was back in control. The Pirates couldn't keep up.


We got to cheer for Choooooooo. Got to have Labatt's at a baseball game — my first time since a trip to Montreal to see Pedro Martinez pitch against the Braves in the late 1990s. Got to talk to a bunch of friendly midwesterners, And got to learn who Michael Stanley is. I got to catch up with two good friends from my Athens, Ohio, days.

Cleveland was a fun city. I wish we could have stayed for a couple days to really check it out. Every baseball fan should go to Progressive Field (a k a The Jake). Being from Cincinnati, I had always given Cleveland a hard time. I take back most of that.

And anything would have been better than the hotel we stayed at in the middle of Ohio last night. But more on that later.

We're just outside Columbus. Bob Evans is calling.

Trip stats:
Ballpark hot dogs: 2
Home team record: 1-1
Bed bugs encountered: 0
Miles traveled: 678

Oh hi oh

32 MILES FROM OHIO BORDER, Pa. — Next time you're in DuBois, Pa., check out Julio's Tavern on S. Jared St. They offer both Mr. Pibb on fountain and Labatt Blue on tap. Plus the food was good, inexpensive and inexpensive. They were setting up for a backyard barbecue later this afternoon. But by the time they are cooking, we'll be in the Cleveland suburbs.

We're meeting up with a friend of mine from my Ohio University day. Picking him up at his house and then heading to downtown Cleveland. I haven't been to Cleveland since around 1983. I was 5. I came home to Cincinnati with a new Atari. The bar is set high, Cleveland.

Here's the patriotic, nondescript building across from Julio's in DuBois.

The Reds just sent me an email thanking me for buying tickets to tomorrow's game against the Blue Jays. It included directions to the game, info about Great American Ball Park and pitching match-ups. Bronson Arroyo is pitching for the Reds. The last three times I've seen the Reds play — at Shea Stadium, Wrigley Field and Citi Field — I've seen Bronson pitch. Hoping for Goodroyo. He can be fun to watch. How could you not like seeing those flowing blonde locks and leg kick? I wonder if his mother was a Rockette.

Hello, former home state.

E. Scranton: Where Best Westerns put the Plus in shelter

With Scranton in the rear-view mirror, there is nothing but hills and trees in front of us as we barrel down I-80 toward the Ohio border. We left our oddly-shapped, yet tastefully decorated hotel after "enjoying" its free breakfast. Many of the same characters that were sucking down beer at the hotel bar, the Manhattan Drive Jazz Club, were back down at breakfast before 9 this morning.

Baseball-wise, it was a good start to the voyage. Minor League games are fun, move quickly without TV timeouts and feature lots of weird competitions between innings. We saw kids racing on stuffed horses, a crawling baby race (lost an exacta bet on that one), kids throwing water balloons at their dads' heads and two fat men dancing in tutus for the crowd's affection.

PNC Field, home of the Scranton/Wilkes-Barre Yankees, is family friendly and offered a rather impressive 10-minute fireworks display after the game. Columbus beat the home team, 6-5. Scranton squandered a big chance in the 7th, leaving runners on the corners with one out. You'd think that would make Clippers first baseman Shelley Duncan, a former SWB and New York Yankee happy. But he never smiled despite going 2-3 with 3 RBI. Maybe he was upset that Nick Johnson was batting behind him and got to play DH while Shelley was stuck playing with the dirt beneath his feat at first base.

The SWB Starter gave up 9 hits and 6 runs (5 earned) in 4.1 innings. The Yankee bullpen was impressive, going the rest of the way without allowing a base runner the remaining 4.2 innings. Too bad Shelley Duncan took advantage of starter Mitchell.

Duncan's two-run double in the second inning put Columbus up 4-0. The Yankees clawed their way back to make it a game. But Shelley never seemed worried or interested — just ignored by his teammates. At one point, before the bottom of the ninth, when he was trying to throw infield warmups. But none of the infielders were looking at him. The second baseman and shortstop had their backs to first base, the third baseman was checking out a woman in the stands.

Poor, Shelley Duncan. Remember when he brought a lot of youthful exuberance to the big league Yankees? Now he's trying to get his batting average to .200 and get his teammates to pay attention to him.

If you ever make it to PNC Field, I suggest you skip the hot dog and go for the burger. It was made to order, rather basic but delicious. The hot dog was decent. But they only offered yellow mustard, which as you likely know, cannot help a hot dog like brown mustard does. Shelley Duncan is likely a ketchup man. You can tell by how his cutoff-man positioning.

You might also want to stay at the East Scranton Best Western Plus. We theorize it got the "Plus" in its name after Best Western decided to create a building on top of what was obviously an open-air style motel with a pool in the middle of it. Best Western has been know for decades for its innovative hotelling. I think they invented the front desk bell. They also were the first to offer each guest his own towel. And the bar was open "5 'til Close" — a step up from "5 'til ?".

But here's the pool. That raling separates the walkway beside our room door and you falling into the pool three stories below. The only window in our room looked into the walkway. It was cool to be able to see people waking in the morning and opening the shades in their underwear as I went out for morning coffee.

Tonight, we go Major League though. Jacob's Field is next.

Trip stats:
Ballpark hot dogs: 1
Home team record: 0-1
Bed bugs encountered: 0
Miles traveled: 330

Hello, Scranton, or East Scranton or Dunmore, Pa.

We're in Scranton. Or East Scranton, as this oddly configured Best Western calls it. But the address says we're in Dunmore. Going the northern route from New York City proved to work well. Once you get to Rt. 17, which I learned will soon become Interstate 86, there was little traffic. And even though driving on I-84 through Pennsylvania can get boring, it is scenic. The cornfields of the Ohio Turnpike likely won't match up. That's the sign across from the hotel.

Game starts at 7:05. I think I saw the Columbus Clippers, who are in town to face the SWB Yankees, play the Syracuse Chiefs in Syracuse during college. During a rain delay that night, people from the stands helped roll the tarp out onto the field. I'm going to wear good shoes tonight in case the grounds crew needs help.

Caught the Yankees-Cubs game on the radio during the ride. As Nick pointed out, not only is it disappointing that Derek Jeter is on the disabled list and won't be playing in when we see the Yankees in Cincinnati, Jeter misses out on likely the only chance he'll get to play in Wrigley Field.

During the game, I didn't catch the play but Yankees play-by-play man John Sterling said a play was weird. He followed up by saying, "Now when I say weird I have seen a million weird plays and that was Weirdsville."

Haven't been to a minor league game since a Bridgeport Bluefish game Memorial Day weekend 2010. I think in the past five years, I've seen Bob Dylan in more minor league baseball games than baseball.

This is the back door to the hotel, where I found dumpster to get rid of our New York Turnpike tokens. This hotel has no windows that look outside, just windows that look toward the indoor pool that is appears to be part of the lobby. Maybe they'll be a water polo match we can watch from the window if the game is rained out.

Who scheduled this trip?

We should have left days ago. I know this now. And we are still waiting on Nick. (Are you reading this or are you finishing your work?)

We'll be in Cincinnati on Sunday morning. I haven't been there since 2002 — the last year the Reds played in Riverfront. I can't wait to finally check out Great American Ball Park, which I have only seen on the TV and the Internet. My youngest brother, Dylan, and I had a great time when we made the trip out there to say good-bye to that grand stadium of symmetry that I spent so many wonderful, muggy days and nights at during the 1980s.

Dylan was born in Cincinnati but we moved to Connecticut when he was 3. I really wanted him to see a game in that glorious, albeit ugly, stadium that used to be home to Rose, Perez, Bench, Davis, Larkin, Rijo, Browning and Schottzie, former owner Marge Schott's Saint Bernard. The Astro-turf was gone but the smell was the same. The Reds lost both games to the Astros that August. But Dylan came home a winner. When he arrived he declined to have a Skyline coney. Instead, he got a coney — hold the Cincinnati chili. All that is is a hot dog, cheese and bun. For a native of Cincy to decline a coney is just weird. Of course the out-of-towners tend to think Cincinnati chili is weird: You either put chili and cheese on a hotdog or chili and cheese on spaghetti. But, unless you are the Mets TV play-by-play man Gary Cohn, you will find it to be one of the most miraculous culinary creations in America.

Well, I know Dylan has regretted that decision ever since the next day when I took him to our family's former Skyline haunt in Montgomery. After he had his first real coney, we ate Skyline for every meal but one breakfast at Perkins the rest of the weekend.

I now have what must be a similar feeling to what Dylan felt after he realized what he turned down our first night back in town nearly 10 years ago: We missed the coney eating contest in Fountain Square.

We'll have to make up for that, Nick.

Setting sail for Scranton, Cleveland, Cincinnati, Pittsburgh...

It started a few years ago when, on a Friday night whim. Three of us decided to go check out Citizens Bank Park in Philadelphia. The Phillies were hosting the Reds that weekend. I have been a Reds fan since Eric Davis was in their farm system. But have lived on the East Coast — with many Yankee-fan friends — since the winter before Lou Piniella, Jose Rijo, Barry Larkin, Billy Hatcher and the Nasty Boys brought the World Series trophy back to the Queen City.

We left southwestern Connecticut early that summer Saturday morning, calling hotels on the way, until we found a good deal in downtown Philadelphia. We bought tickets off scalpers. Decent seats in the upper deck between home plate and third base. I found another former Cincinnatian in the stands. After pointing out my Reds hat to me, I was expecting a stereotypical Philly statement from him. Instead he told me of living in Cincinnati during the days of the Big Red Machine. He was wearing a Phillies hat. He said: "I'm cheering for the Phillies today but rooting for Reds."

Now, more than a few years later, Brian, Nick and myself are finally following through on our much talked-about baseball road trip. It is Friday, June 17, a little after noon as I write this in Brian's apartment in the Riverdale neighborhood of the Bronx, N.Y. Brian and I are awaiting Nick's arrival via Metro-North Railroad, before we head for the Tapanzee Bridge and Scranton/Wilkes-Barre, where we kick off the four-city, six-game tour with some AAA ball. The SWB Yankees are hosting the Indian's AAA squad, the Columbus Clippers, tonight.

On Saturday, we'll be heading to Cleveland for the Indians-Pirates game. Sunday we head to my former hometown, Cincinnati, where the Blue Jays will be (and I have not been since the last season the Reds played in Riverfront Stadium. We stay in Cincinnati for the Yankees' arrival on Monday — the game we planned this trip around. On Tuesday, we'll be headed to Pittsburgh for a couple games between the Pirates and Orioles.

Tickets are in hand, hotels are booked, maps are Google'd. Reservations for the Montgomery Inn Boathouse in Cincinnati are made. We just need Nick. I hope he's finishing his office work and not reading this.

I hope to keep this blog going through the trip to share the experiences and keep the memories.