2015 - Jensen Family Baseball Excursion Part Deux (Yes, French for a reason) Day 1 (#7 Cincinnati - Great American Ballpark)

Baseball Trip 2015 - Here we go again. After the success of last year's trip covering the Northeast, we decided to give it a go one more time to see if we could continue this quest to see all 30 Major League stadiums before our sons graduate from high school. This year we would be doing what some people have called the "Rust Belt" Tour which consists of the cities of Cincinnati, Detroit, Toronto, Cleveland, and Pittsburgh. Now, you may be wondering what that term "Rust Belt" really means but it refers to the industrialized areas and factory cities that have felt the hard times of a suffering economy impacted by recession and increased competition from overseas that has forced some factories to close down and no longer be used.

Once again my lovely wife Tammy and I researched the MLB schedule to try to find dates that would work when the aforementioned teams would be playing at home. We knew there would be side field trips that we would need to take along the way so we decided that the two weeks around the 4th of July would work out the best. So we headed out on June 29th headed north. 

We left out on the morning of the 29th headed for Cincinnati where we would watch the Reds take on the Minnesota Twins that night at The Great American Ballpark. Our first side trip would take place in Louisville where we drove maybe an hour out of the way to see the Louisville Slugger Bat Factory. Well worth the trip. We got to see the worlds largest bat as well as see all the famous signatures that have been on the Louisville Slugger bats. There were also batting cages where we got to try out some wooden bats. I chose the bat size used by Hank Aaron and I'll have to say I did quite well albeit the pitches were only about 65 mph and were at a consistent speed.

Trey and Tate outside the Louisville Slugger Bat Factory

From there it was on to Cincinnati.  Now this year, unlike last year, we decided to plan ahead.  Although it was fun and adventurous not to have any reservations or tickets last year, I don't think my nerves could take it this year (and neither could Tammy's I don't think).  And since it was going to take place around the 4th of July holiday, we decided to make reservations and book our tickets online ahead of time.  I'm glad we did.  It has made the trip much more enjoyable so far.  Here is where I need to get a plug in.  Our two sights that helped us out tremendously were hotels.com and tickpick.com.  There is also another site that Tammy discovered called ballparkchasers.com that has given us lots of advice on places to stay and things to do in the areas.  Apparently what we are doing is really a thing that people do.  Who knew?

I was really looking forward to our first stop.  The Great American Ballpark, home of this year's 2015 Major League Baseball All-Star Game.  The city was buzzing with anticipation and everything was in tip top shape as the game is only a couple of weeks away.  We stayed across the River in Belleview, Kentucky and took a local trolley across the bridge that crosses the Ohio River into Cincinnati.  The Ballpark is magnificent.  It reminds me of the throwback styles of stadiums where there is not a bad seat anywhere really.  I was able to find us seats in the upper deck in the front row for $11 each.  Not bad since they were below face value.  Tammy had created a budget for this trip.  Like I mentioned last year, she is a planner and had set a specific amount that I could spend when shopping for tickets.  Her budgeted amount for tickets was $20 per person which as any baseball fan knows is not much to get good seats so I sacrificed a little on this one so I could pay a little more for seats later on.  But as we sat down in our seats we could see everything very well.

Our view of the field.  Notice the Ohio River in the background.

The game was very entertaining and the Reds ended up winning 11-7.  The highlight was at the end when we got to see arguably the most exciting pitcher in the game, Aroldis Chapman, pitch the 9th inning.  It was pretty amazing to get to see someone who throws 103 mph.  So after the game we made our way back to our hotel.  We decided to walk across the bridge that spans the Ohio.  A local told us we could make it in "maybe 10 minutes".  As we were walking across the bridge, the History teacher in me could not help but think about what it must have been like over 165 years ago when this exact spot was the last stop for escaped slaves on the Underground Railroad as Cincinnati came to represent the land of freedom as the Ohio River also marked the boundary between the North and the South.  Nearly 30 minutes later we arrived at our hotel.  One ballpark down.  The next day we would head to Detroit.

Trey and Tate outside Great American Ballpark

Trey sporting his new Todd Frazier Shirt.