A 'lil HooHaa

Messing with the blogging world since 2005

stories from the game

A journey to ballparks helps create a web presence

There’s something to be said about a baseball journey, as compared to other major sports.

Though attending other sports live is a great thing, baseball stadiums seem to draw people more than, say football, basketball, or hockey. Those other sports have great venues, but do people make trips just to see the stadium or arena?

I’m not so sure.

Maybe for the atmosphere. Or for tailgating. Or in a few instances, the history. But none of them compare to baseball.

Malcolm MacMillan, founder of Ballpark Guide, at a recent game in Binghamton.

For many baseball fans, wanting to see as many stadiums — in the majors or minors — is a goal many will share.

One big goal is to his every Major League stadium. Others just like to go to different stadiums and see what is offered.

Stadiums are unique in most instances and often have different dimensions and looks. It’s part of what makes baseball so great.

Then there are people who chronicle these trips. Some will give reviews, or just talk about their trips, or share tips and such. It might be just using social media. It might be something bigger like a blog or a website dedicated to these journeys.

This allows readers and followers to get a sense of what you were seeing and experiencing on your baseball trip.

For Malcolm MacMillan, the journey includes visiting parks, and doing all of the above — social media, a website, and a blog — to share is love and fandom of visiting baseball parks around the United States and Canada.

To make it even more interesting, though, MacMillan is a Canadian who lives in Eastern Ontario, so it’s not the easiest to try and plan longer trips because of travel time.

“I was interested in seeing games in as many stadiums as possible,” MacMillan said during a recent trip to Binghamton to see the Double-A Rumble Ponies. “As a writer, I wanted to try and turn it into a website. It snowballed from there. … It’s a long-term project for sure.”

MacMillan, who has a background in newspapers, has developed a following for his social media and blogs. He takes photos, selfies, and shoots videos talking about his trips.

For some people, though, trips aren’t too hard. They can get to many stadiums at the minor or major level in just a couple of hours. But for MacMillan, it takes some more in-depth planning, considering where he travels from.

“I enjoy looking at a map and schedule and figuring out a route,” he said. “It’s a challenge to get six teams in a row, all in a reasonable drive.”

That’s also part of the fun as he gets so share his trip with those reading his website, blog, and social media site.s. It allows people to follow along what he is doing.

For something that isn’t a career, it’s done as love. He loves the game of baseball, as well as meeting and chatting with people along the way.

Take for instance one story where MacMillan retrieved a home run ball and had one heck of a whirlwind where the ball eventually ended up back to the player who hit the ball and the two developed a friendship. It’s much easier for you just to read his account of everything.

Stories are what trips like this are about, though. As are the people and the games. MacMillan has visited more than 60 stadiums, chronicling his travels along the way.

“You find stories about travels,” he said. “Baseball seems to be the sport you want to see as many stadiums as possible. You don’t have to be glued to your seat. I like to share that experience.

“One thing I love is you never know what to expect,” he said. “They all have their own experiences. It’s always an adventure at a ballgame.”

To see more about MacMillan and his travels, see his information below:

Feel free to leave a comment, or e-mail P.J. at hoohaablog@gmail.com. Also, please “Like” A ‘lil HooHaa on Facebook! You can also follow me on Twitter @softball29!

The Chiefs make you want to get on board

It’s time to get on board.

As a fan of minor league baseball, I love having several teams to choose from within a couple of hours. From the Binghamton Rumble Ponies, to the Syracuse Chiefs, to the Tri-City ValleyCats, to the Scranton/Wilkes-Barre RailRiders, there are plenty of options.

But one team sticks out as one that has turned a pretty good corner over the past several years – the Chiefs.

One of the major reasons for the changes is general manager Jason Smorol and his staff, which is among the smallest in Triple-A baseball, according to Smorol.

My first interaction with Smorol came during his first year. I had gone to the team store in search of the Baseball Passport stamp. The people couldn’t find it, but said they’d track it down and took down where I was sitting. A couple of innings into the game, the stamp was found.

Who delivered it?

Smorol.

Smorol with Syracuse’s NBT Bank Stadium in the background.

Since then, when I go to games in Syracuse, I still see Smorol doing his thing. He gets out and talks with people. He remembers fans. He makes connections. For being a step away from the majors (Syracuse is the Triple-A affiliate of the Washington Nationals), he still seems to carry the type of feel you’d get from a general manager at a much lower level of play. He still pops by our seats, too, remembering who we are and where we sit.

“Talking to people is super important to me,” Smorol said on a sunny early spring day, as his team played a double-header for its second and third games of the year. “We need to connect with fans.”

Not everybody thinks this way.

On a road trip last year, a couple of us visited a park of a team in a very low-level Single-A league. The stamp, again, couldn’t be found. But the GM wouldn’t be bothered, so the store manager tried to help us. It wasn’t found.

In my years in newspapers and covering minor league baseball for six years, not all GMs in the Single-A league I covered were this way (though, to be fair, I only dealt with a handful of them).

Baseball is a business, though. The year before Smorol took over the Chiefs, the team was $1.2M in the hole. Last year the team turned a profit of $67,000. That might not seem like a ton, but obviously Smorol and his staff are doing something right to have that kind of turnaround in fewer than four full seasons.

“We’re still here,” he said. “Each year has gotten better. It’s selling fence signs, getting more groups, and having more promotions.”

Attendance has also been on an increase in his three seasons, and the numbers seem more legit than in the past. Of the games I’ve been to, the announced attendance seems to be – give or take – about right, when you factor in all variables.

In 2016, the Chiefs drew an announced 274,427, which is about 28,000 more than in 2013.

It seems people are getting on board, which is the slogan for the team.

“We’re the choo-choo Chiefs,” Smorol said. “We needed a call to action. Get On Board. This train will not stop. It gives you something to ask the fans.”

Syracuse’s franchise has a long history with Syracuse. Smorol, who is a Syracause-area native and who has served as the neighboring Auburn Doubledays general manager several years ago, knows and appreciates the history and what the team means to the area.

“We want to be here,” he said of the community owned team. “This is good for the community.”

Despite the more than two-hour trip to get to Syracuse, I have over the past few years attended a bunch of games. There’s a good energy. There are really good promotions and concessions. And there’s truly not a bad seat at NBT Bank Stadium. This season, I opted to buy a 10-ticket flex pack, so I’ll be getting to a bunch of games this year.

Smorol said he is happy with the progress the team has made and knows there is still a lot of work to be done. In a dream world, Smorol says this is would be his final stop for his career.

“I knew it would take 3-to-5 years, but I thought it could be quicker,” he said. “I’m proud of our staff. What we are able to do with our budget and staff – I couldn’t be prouder. I don’t know if anybody thought we’d still be here. There are a lot of people pulling for the Chiefs.”

I’ve gotten On Board with the Chiefs – the question is, are you?

Feel free to leave a comment, or e-mail P.J. at hoohaablog@gmail.com. Also, please “Like” A ‘lil HooHaa on Facebook! You can also follow me on Twitter @softball29!

Passport a way to go ballpark chasing, save memories

A couple of years ago, I discovered the Baseball Passport program.

At first, I didn’t jump right into it. I couldn’t find a list of stadiums where the stamp was and I didn’t want to get something I wouldn’t be able to use right away. After discovering the list, I grabbed one, thinking it would be fun to have something to jot down a few things at games.

I reviewed the passport at that time and said it was a nice thing to carry along to a game with me.

Now, it’s become a permanent part of my baseball travels.

Since I last reviewed the passport, I’ve had the chance to get into other aspects — the MLB one, the Atlantic League one and so much more. I’ve been to the Stampede event. I’ve met the creator. I’ve utilized the passport to be something very special to me.

But before I get into some other thoughts, last summer I had the chance to sit down with the creator and learn more about the program and why it’s so important to him.

The idea

Tim Parks isn’t hard to find if you are looking for him. He’s tall enough to be able to pick him out of the crowd and his easy-going nature makes him highly approachable. You can sense baseball parks are his relaxing domain.

It’s of no shock, then, that he looks to this program as something a little more than a small book to collect stamps.

Tim Parks, the founder of the Baseball Passport.

“The passport brings the intimacy back,” Parks said during the Stampede event as he overlooked Great American Ball Park in Cincinnati. “It makes you feel like you are part of the game.”

In the beginning of each passport, there’s the story behind it. Originally, he had a quest to visit all 50 states with his daughters before they graduated high school. He then made a new quest — to visit all 30 Major League Baseball parks. During these travels, he would pick up some sort of memento to show he was there.

The idea for the passport popped into his head as he traveled to Alaska, using his United States passport to travel through Canada.

The program itself started in August 2010 with research and development of the prototype. With connections to the Reds front office, he pitched the idea to the COO of the team, and showed how it would work.

From there, Parks took the show to the Winter Meetings and showed it off to MLB. Major League Baseball loved the idea and offered the license to do it. The first year was small — a passport just for Reds games.

The MLB Passport was born in July 2012.

In 2013, the Minor League Baseball Passport was born.

In 2015, Parks added the independent Atlantic League.

There’s even a spring training passport. Stamps can be obtained at all minor and major league parks (pending teams don’t lose the stamps). Those stamps aren’t a cost to the team, either, as Parks absorbs all costs of creating the stamp as well as sending them to the team.

The Passport

Depending on which passport you have — they have a bit of a different look.

The main MLB Passport is leather-bound and larger. Each stadium has several pages for the stamp and information from the game. There are also stadium stickers. In the back are extra pages for other stamps, such as All-Star games, the National Baseball Hall of Fame and more.

This is good for your travels if you are trying to hit each stadium. It’s very nice to have and is collectible.

The gameday passport. The right side can be used for many things, and I sometimes will nab autographs.

Then there are the Gameday books for MLB, MiLB, the Atlantic League, and Spring Training. These books are more compact and have a space for your stamp, game-day info, and a page for notes and thoughts.

What’s nice about the notes page is everybody does it different. Some fill the page with thoughts and notes. Others (such as myself) do less.

Personally, what I put there depends on the game and the teams. I’ve gotten autographs on the pages. I’ve filled them with thoughts. I’ve left them blank and filled them in later. It’s all highly personal and can be done many different ways.

Creating memories

With the personal side of everything, obviously there will be a lot of memories, based on what the person owning the passport decided to do with it.

Parks said the idea was for these memories to be passed on.

“My thinking isn’t 5-10 years, it’s 35-40 years,” he said. “Handing it down so you can think back and you are there.

“If I go back to my grandfather, I’d give anything to have a game in his writing,” he continued. What he did. What we did. That’s what I want to see. Generation after generation of leaving memories. Once you read (what was written), you remember, It takes you back to the time you were there. It’s also old-school in that you have to physically do it. It’s not on a phone.”

The passport community is diverse, too.

From families to singles to couples to friends — there is a wide range of people taking part in this hobby.

The Stampede event in Cincinnati last July (blog post link) drew a lot of people and there was a large range of ages represented.

“This is for baseball fans,” Parks said. “These are very knowledgeable fans. Everybody has embraced it.”

Following online

Besides the passports in the park, there’s also a highly active Facebook group where people show off their stamps, talk some baseball, and show their travels.

“They are the heart of baseball,” Parks said. “It’s about families creating memories and sharing experiences. It’s your validation. Others people appreciate it and see it. It’s not for everybody. But these people understand the game. It’s enjoying the ballpark — the tastes, the smells, the friendships.”

The fans in the group show their love and dedication to the game and program by having mini-meetups at parks all over the country and throughout the summer. It’s highly interactive in the group and very welcoming.

The future

As of last summer, the passport wasn’t sold in every major league park (about 20) and not every Minor League park.

Parks said his goal is to see it sold in every park so fans have easier access to the passport and can start creating memories when they first see it.

As more and more books are out there, more people get interested. Just by word of mouth and seeing people stamp books, others ask questions.

“People ask ‘what’s that?” Parks said. “It’s surreal having this many people enjoy the book and the game. It makes me feel great to see them enjoy this.”

The verdict

If you are a baseball fan and enjoy going to games and documenting things, this is definitely for you.

The Passport is part of my every-game setup, along with my scorebook.

The passport keeps improving and more and more gets added. Additional stamps (for the big MLB book) have been added for places such as the Negro League Hall of Fame, and Louisville Slugger Museum. The books are aplenty and Parks said last year he was hoping to keep expanding. With other opportunities out there, it will be fun to see where else he might go with expanding the program (and selfishly, because I am debating an Arizona Fall League trip in November, I’d love to see one for that league).

Even more, it’s affordable. With room for 25-30 games in the Gameday passports, it’s a steal at just under $20 (or, if you happen to see them on sale at the end of a Minor League season, you can buy a bunch at a discounted rate!). The larger MLB book is about $70, but it’s worth it because of it’s beauty. Then the Gameday ones are smaller and easily carried to get every game you attend.

Further, there are stamps at all MiLB and MLB stadiums, so you can get stamped on all your baseball travels (as long as the teams don’t lose or misplace the stamp… which has and likely will happen again).

Links are below to give you an idea with the program. I definitely encourage it.

Feel free to leave a comment, or e-mail P.J. at hoohaablog@gmail.com. Also, please “Like” A ‘lil HooHaa on Facebook! You can also follow me on Twitter @softball29!

Passport Stampede event a way to connect baseball fans

It seems every hobby has its own way of getting people together.

If you play a game or something along those lines, or collect something — there are groups and, often time, meetups.

A few years back, I stumbled across a National Parks Passport program. Basically, you go to a national park and get your passport stamped. It was a really cool idea and one I knew I wanted to be part of, despite not visiting as many national parks as I would like. I did get one though, and over the course of the past few years, I’ve been able to get stamps as I go along.

There’s also a growing group online for it and they have an annual event. I haven’t made it to that event (and who knows if I ever will, but it’s there and it’s a pretty cool deal), but it gives people with this common interest the ability to meet and hang out.

All the mascots from hanging around during the game, which was the ultimate end to a great Stampede event.

Passport programs as a whole are really cool. It challenges you to get out and fill that passport, which, in turn, makes you go do something.

Enter the Ballpark Passport.

Creator Tim Parks came up with the idea and started the program in 2010. I’ll have a more in-depth post about the program and the history of it upcoming within the next week, but for now this is about his event he held in Cincinnati this past July.

The quick rundown though — the Passport Program is in Major League Baseball and in the minors, as well as in the independent Atlantic League. Expansion has taken time, but the program has continued to grow and grow.

The official Facebook group is an extremely active one with hundreds of people in it. They post photos and chat with one another. They set up meetups, affectionately called “Stampedes.”

The ultimate Stampede event was held in July.

This wasn’t just any event, though.

Tim actually gave every person a free ticket to the event — the game and everything surrounding it. We had the chance to tour the Cincinnati Reds Hall of Fame, as well as get into the park early to watch batting practice. The event also included an incredible question-and-answer session with broadcasters Marty Brennaman and Jeff Brantley.

Seeing the Reds’ Hall of Fame was really cool.

The only kicker to all of this is you had to be a Passport user. Outside of that, it was a day of baseball and activities.

There were a lot of people at this event. And, honestly, this is something I should have posted about months and months ago. Alas, I didn’t.

For the most part, I kind of just wandered. I spoke with a few people here and there and I kind of people watched. Batting practice was a lot of fun. It’s not often you get so close to this before gates opened, so it was enjoyable.

Once the game started, the group was in a section together. Alas, I continued to wander. I watched the game from above the section on a little leaning rail. For the final few innings, I headed up to a high level of the stadium to take it in and put my feet up.

The event was a blast and it’s one I see myself attending in future years. I already have plans to do so this year and it’s going to be at the end of a big Midwest baseball trip this upcoming summer.

For those who attended the inaugural event, you already know how great it is. For those who haven’t been — if you are a baseball passport user, it’s well worth planning the trip!

Feel free to leave a comment, or e-mail P.J. at hoohaablog@gmail.com. Also, please “Like” A ‘lil HooHaa on Facebook! You can also follow me on Twitter @softball29!

Thank you, Vin

On Sunday, the longtime voice of the Los Angeles (and before that, Brooklyn) Dodgers, Vin Scully, called it a career after 67 glorious seasons.

His voice is one that is synonymous with baseball, especially those in Los Angeles.

His way of talking baseball was soothing, his stories timeless, and his knowledge unmatchable.

As a Phillies fan, I grew up on the voice of Harry Kalas, one of the “old guard” of announcers. But Vince was always the Godfather of the group.

He began in 1950 — think about that for a moment — and continued through the 2016 season.

His final game was a 7-1 loss to the rival San Francisco Giants. But the interesting part with that is Vin’s love of baseball started when the New York Giants were trounced in a World Series game. He became a diehard Giants fan, well, until he became the voice of the Dodgers.

I’ve always enjoyed being able to watch West Coast games at night to be able to catch a few innings of Vin. Even in his late 80s, he’s still an amazing voice to listen to.

In my recent trip to LA, it was nice to be able to be in attendance for one of Vin’s final home games. Even cooler was a person near our seats had a radio, so we had the chance to watch the game and hear Vin’s call. Well, at least for a few innings.

Here’s looking back on an amazing career and wishing Vin the best in his retirement. Baseball will miss him, that’s for sure.

Below is something shown at the end of Vin’s final broadcast. It’s well worth watching:

Feel free to leave a comment, or e-mail P.J. at hoohaablog@gmail.com. Also, please “Like” A ‘lil HooHaa on Facebook! You can also follow me on Twitter @softball29!