Knowing that I’m walking out of a specific ballpark for the final time is not a feeling I particularly enjoy. Fortunately, this isn’t something that I’ve had to face on too many occasions over the years. The last time this feeling hit me, I was leaving Intimidators Stadium in Kannapolis, NC, on July 3, 2019. I was in town on the final day of a weeklong trip through North Carolina and Virginia — several months after the local franchise announced that it would leave Intimidators Stadium after 2019, rebrand as the Cannon Ballers and begin play in a new, downtown ballpark. While it’s disheartening ..read more

There were two things I knew when I climbed into my rental car and drove out of Durham after spending two games at Durham Bulls Athletic Park in May of 2019. One was that after eating pizza and a huge Italian ice at the ballpark the night before, plus treating myself to a hefty late-night burger at a pop-up restaurant that was diabolically/conveniently situated between the park and my hotel, I’d be able to skip breakfast. The other thing I knew was I was already eager to revisit this gem of a city and ballpark in the Piedmont region of North Carolina. I just didn’t think it’d take this long. A ..read more

Affiliated teams are always my focus when I plan my baseball trips. But every so often, I can’t resist checking out an independent ballpark. That was my mindset when I was planning my May trip to North Carolina, and I had one specific park in mind — Truist Point in High Point. Truist Point (not to be confused with Truist Field or Truist Stadium, both of which are just a short drive away) is home to the High Point Rockers of the Atlantic League of Professional Baseball. Up until May, I’d never seen an Atlantic League game on my travels, and I wanted that to change. Besides, the pictures I’d see ..read more

My plans for Saturday, May 13, centered around watching the Fayetteville Woodpeckers play at Segra Stadium, but this Carolina League ballpark was actually the fourth sports facility I visited during a busy day. After an off-day in Raleigh on May 12, I began my Saturday bright and early with a mission to see three different venues around North Carolina’s capital city: PNC Arena, home to the NHL’s Carolina Hurricanes, Carter-Finley Stadium, home to N.C. State Wolfpack football; and, finally, Doak Field at Dail Park, home to N.C. State Wolfpack baseball: There wasn’t anything going on at any of ..read more

My first full day in Charlotte began with a change in plans. When I’d drafted up the itinerary for this baseball trip over the off-season, I’d planned to start this day by driving from Charlotte to Gastonia in time for a matinee game. The Gastonia Honey Hunters, a member of the independent Atlantic League of Professional Baseball, play just 45 minutes from Charlotte. My initial plan was to catch at least two-thirds of the Honey Hunters game and then return to Charlotte to get ready to see the Knights in evening action. Upon waking up on May 11, though, I decided that a second straight day with ..read more

When I pulled my rental car out of my hotel parking lot after watching the Greensboro Grasshoppers in matinee action, fewer than 100 miles separated me from my first one-day, two-city doubleheader of the season. I made the easy drive down I-85 between Greensboro and Charlotte in about an hour and a half, ending up in the Queen City in the middle of the afternoon. Before long, I’d parked my car, checked into my hotel, the Holiday Inn Charlotte-Center City (more on it later), and was enjoying a bit of air conditioning before it was time to walk over to Truist Field. As I’d done the last time I v ..read more

Checking into a hotel during a baseball trip is equal parts relief and excitement. Relief because the days are often long, filled with walking thousands of steps while carrying a heavy backpack and pulling a suitcase. Excitement because I’m one step closer to visiting a ballpark. There are times that the hotel itself brings an unusually high level of excitement, and my hotel on day #1 of this baseball trip more than fit this description. After a travel day that began at 3:30 a.m., I arrived in Greensboro, NC, almost exactly 11 hours after my alarm beeped. To say I was eager to get checked in a ..read more

On July 28, 2022, the Toronto Blue Jays announced that they’d be embarking on a two-year, $300 million renovation to Rogers Centre. Also on July 28, 2022, I decided that I’d be visiting the Toronto ballpark early in 2023. April baseball road trips can be iffy because of weather-related postponements, but that’s nothing to worry about when you’re visiting a stadium that has a roof. After getting lucky with great weather for two days in Chicago, I made the short flight from O’Hare International Airport to Toronto Pearson Airport to begin a stay in Toronto that lasted just 24 hours. As I’d done w ..read more