Twittered Baseball Roadtrip #3: Yankee's Fan Minor League Baseball Roadtrip

Dates: July 17, 2009 through July 19, 2009
Primary Destination: Day trips to Trenton, NJ,
Staten Island, NY, and Moosic, PA

Twitter Address: http://twitter.com/Wtriebel

Games Attended:

Game 1: Portland Sea Dogs vs. Trenton Thunder, July 17th, 7:05PM, Waterfront Park, Trenton, NJ
Game 2: State College Spikes vs. Staten Island Yankees, July 18th, 7:05PM, Richmond Country Bank Park, Staten Island, NY
Game 3: Gwinnett Braves vs. Scranton/Wilkes-Barre Yankees, July 19th, 5:05PM, PNC Field, Moosic, PA

Summary:

A number of the Major League Baseball teams have single-A, double-A, and triple-A minor league affiliate teams in the Northeast or Mid-Atlantic States. Many of the New York-Penn, Eastern, and International League teams are conveniently located to the New York, Boston, and Philadelphia metropolitan areas. For this reason, it is possible for fans of some teams, such as the Yankees, Red Sox, and Phillies, to make day trips to see their minor league teams play at their home stadiums.

I have called this baseball excursion the “Yankee’s Fan Baseball Minor League Roadtrip.” This trip is planned to attend games at the following New York Yankee minor league affiliates:

• Staten Island Yankees, New York-Penn League, Short-season Single-A (A)
• Trenton Thunder, Eastern League, Double-A (AA)
• Scranton/Wilkes-Barre Yankees, International League, Triple-A (AAA)
  

Games of these three teams were attended on consecutive days from my home in Wayne, NJ as separate day trips. The drives to the stadiums ranged from approx. 1 hr to see a Staten Island Yankee game in Staten Island, NY to just over 2 hrs to Moosic, PA for the Scranton Wilkes-Barre Yankees game.

To add a summer vacation theme to the roadtrip, I tweeted some family entertainment opportunities and other attractions in NJ and PA that could be used to fill out a day trip. For instance, I have suggested the Adventure Aquarium, Camden, NJ and CamelBeach Water Park at Camelback Mountain Ski Area in PA. These destinations may serve as a good en-route daytime activity to include with an evening Trenton Thunder or Scranton/Wilkes-Barre Yankee game, respectively.

Similar to the earlier Twittered Baseball Roadtrips, I have tweeted pregame information, such as the record and standing of the home and visiting teams in their league; in-game activity like the inning-by-inning score and highlights, and post-game results: winning team, final score, and winning/losing pitchers.

Along with this Twittered Baseball Roadtrip, I have tweeted recommendations for a Yankee Fan Minor League Roadtip at later dates. In addition, I planned and suggested how Mets, Red Sox, and Phillies fans could do a similar roadtrip to see their affiliated minor league teams. All three of these MLB teams have a minor league affiliate in both the International and Eastern Leagues, but only the Mets and Red Sox also have a team in the New York-Penn League. For example, the Red Sox minor league teams are:

• Pawtucket Red Sox: International League (AAA)
• Portland Sea Dogs: Eastern League (AA)
• Lowell Spinners: New York-Penn League (A)
  

This Red Sox Fan Roadtrip could potentially be done as a series of day trips from the Boston area. However, due to distances between the Mets affiliated minor league teams from the metropolitan New York City area, the Mets Fan Roadtrip would require overnight stays.

As a single-A team for the Phillies Fan Roadtrip, I have chosen the Lakewood BlueClaws, in Lakewood, NJ. The BlueClaws are a member of the South Atlantic League. The three Phillies minor league teams are relatively close to Philadelphia; therefore, this trip could possibly be taken as a series of day trips.

Twitter Roadtrip Information:
Total Number of Tweets: 110
Time/Date of 1st Tweet: 2:43 PM Jul 14th
Time/Date of 110th Tweet: 9:21 AM Jul 20th

Roadtrip Planning Resources:

The web resources used for planning this Yankee’s Fan Baseball Minor League Roadtrip are as follows.

Official Website of the International League:
http://web.minorleaguebaseball.com/index.jsp?sid=l117

Official Website of the Eastern League:
http://eastern.league.milb.com/index.jsp?sid=l113

Official Website of the New York-Penn Baseball League: http://www.minorleaguebaseball.com/index.jsp?sid=l127

Current Standings of the Teams in the International League:
http://web.minorleaguebaseball.com/milb/stats/stats.jsp?t=l_sta&lid=117&sid=l117

Current Standings of the Teams in the Eastern League:
http://eastern.league.milb.com/milb/stats/stats.jsp?t=l_sta&lid=113&sid=l113

Current Standings of the Teams in the New York-Penn League:
http://www.minorleaguebaseball.com/milb/stats/stats.jsp?t=l_sta&lid=127&sid=l127

Official Websites of the Home Teams:

• Scranton/Wilkes-Barre Yankees: http://www.minorleaguebaseball.com/index.jsp?sid=t531
• Staten Island Yankees: http://www.siyanks.com/
• Trenton Thunder: http://www.trentonthunder.com/
  

Home Team Game Schedules:

• Scranton/Wilkes-Barre Yankees: http://www.minorleaguebaseball.com/schedule/index.jsp?sid=t531
• Staten Island Yankees: http://www.siyanks.com/schedule/schedule/
• Trenton Thunder: http://www.trentonthunder.com/schedule/zScheduleDisplayYearGameCalendar.asp?pYYYY=2009
  

Official Websites of the Visiting Teams:

• Gwinnett Braves: http://web.minorleaguebaseball.com/index.jsp?sid=t431
• Portland Sea Dogs: http://portland.seadogs.milb.com/index.jsp?sid=t546
• State College Spikes: http://web.minorleaguebaseball.com/index.jsp?sid=t1174