Photos: Twittered Baseball Roadtrip #1: Canadian American (CanAm) League: Worcester Tornadoes, June 24, 2009 and Brockton Rox, June 25, 2009

Check out additional photos from the Worcester Tornadoes Game on June 24, 2009:

http://bit.ly/bNW1Z4

Check out additional photos from the Brockton Rox Game on June 25, 2009:

http://bit.ly/a8b5K3

What is a Traditional Baseball Roadtrip?

A traditional baseball roadtrip is simply a vacation trip for which the main focus is to see a planned series of baseball games. For this type of trip, our intent has been to try to see a game each day, but also fill in free time during the day or evening by visiting local attractions or seeing sights. Our traditional roadtrips have tended to be longer that the Twittered ones and have lasted from a minimum of 2 days to a maximum of 10 days.

The shorter duration trips were to see teams easily accessible from the metropolitan NYC area by car. The MLB teams located in the Northeast or Mid-Atlantic States are the New York Yankees, New York Mets, Boston Red Sox, Philadelphia Phillies, Baltimore Orioles, and Washington Nationals. Games for these teams may be attended by car, but some destinations require an overnight stay.

Longer trips, such as our 10-day Midwest roadtrip, were planned to visit a larger number of regionally located baseball teams. Typically they involve a flight to an origination city in the region, such as Cleveland or Minneapolis in the Midwest, or San Francisco on the West Coast, and return from that city or another location by plane. Travel between cities in the region typically has been by rental car, but in some cases by plane. In cities like Chicago and San Francisco, inner city travel and/or airport transfers were done using public transportation, such as a subway or train

On some of the longer trips, we added to our itinerary stops for sightseeing and to visit local tourist attractions. There has been more focus on filling out our days with other activities in areas, such as the mid-West, where we had not already traveled extensively. This has added a little vacation element to these baseball roadtrips. On the other hand, we have traveled quite extensively in the Northeast and mid-Atlantic States and also on the West Coast. For this reason, trips to these parts of the country have been more aligned with baseball activities.

Until now, there has been no Twitter of information about the roadtrip, games attended, or in-game activity.

The general format of our Blog posting for a Traditional Baseball Roadtrip is given below.

General Roadtrip Planning Tips:

1. To reduce the number of nights of lodging, fly into the city of the first game early the day of the game and attend an evening game. Be sure that there is sufficient time between your arrival at the airport and the start of the game to allow for a delay in the arrival of the flight and plan in enough additional time for transfer from the airport to the hotel and then on to the stadium.
2. To save another night of lodging, try to attend a day game on the date of departure. Again, assure that there is sufficient time to return to the hotel after the game, travel to the airport, and arrive at the airport on time for the departing flight.
3. Do not select the last flight of the day for you return transportation.
4. Always have tickets to the game in advance of departure even if it requires purchase of tickets through a third party, such as StubHub.
5. If a game is rained out and there is a high probability that you may not be able to return during the same season, before departing the stadium exchange the rain check for a weekend game vs. a popular team that has a large fan base or regional rivalry with the home team. Upon returning home attempt to sell the unused ticket(s) through a third party website, such as StubHub.
6. Don’t plan your trip during the weeks of inter-league play unless you specifically want to attend a game between a certain AL team and NL team. Games are often sold out in cities that don’t traditionally have sell outs making tickets hard to obtain and/or costly.
7. Attend two games in cities that you would like to explore, played by teams you are more interested in, or where it may not be easy to return. For example, attending a game in Chicago, Boston, San Francisco, and New York might warrant a multi-night/game stay. Also some smaller cities, such as St. Louis, Pittsburgh, and San Diego, are very interesting baseball destinations and may be worth staying to see a second game.
8. If possible, do not have a car while staying in cities with either downtown stadiums or public transportation (subways or trains) with connections directly to the stadium(s) and to/from the airport (if necessary). Some examples of cities that offer this are Boston, New York, Chicago, San Francisco, and even Minneapolis. There may be little use for a car in these cities and additional charges for parking at a downtown hotel.
9. In cities with downtown stadiums, our recommendation is to stay in the downtown area at a hotel that is located near the stadium or public transportation connections. For instance, in both St. Louis and Pittsburgh we walked to the games and in cities, such as Chicago, Boston, New York, and San Francisco, you can take a train or subway to the game.
10. When planning the sequence of cities to be visited during a roadtrip, check the team schedules for Monday and Thursday games. Monday is the most frequent day that teams do not have a game scheduled and the same for Thursday, but not as often. Therefore, games available on Monday or Thursday may dictate which city you need to be in on those days.
11. Check schedules for day/night game opportunities to see two games in the same day. This may reduce the duration of the roadtrip by a day or two. For instance, it may be possible to see a game in Chicago and Milwaukee on the same day.
12. If there is a long driving distance between the cities for two consecutive game, check for minor league teams that are located along the route between the cities and add a stop with overnight stay to see a game there. For example, the Indianapolis Indians are located approximately midway between Cincinnati and Chicago or the Toledo Mud Hens can be a stop either between Chicago and Detroit or Chicago and Cleveland.
    

Layout of a Typical Blog Posting for a Traditional Baseball Roadtrip:

Traditional Baseball Roadtrip (Number): (Name)
Date: (Departure date) (Return Date)
Primary Destinations: (List of MLB City & State)


Games Attended:

Game 1: (Visiting team) vs (Home team) (Date) (Time) (Stadium) (Location) (Web-link)
Game 2: (Visiting team) vs (Home team) (Date) (Time) (Stadium) (Location) (Web-link)
. . . . . . . . .
. . . . . . . . .
Game x: (Visiting team) vs (Home team) (Date) (Time) (Stadium) (Location) (Web-link)


Roadtrip Summary:
(xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx
xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx
xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx)

MLB Final Scores and Box Scores:

Game 1: Final Score: (Winning team Runs) (Losing team Runs) Box Score/News Article: (web-link)
Game 2: Final Score: (Winning team Runs) (Losing team Runs) Box Score/News Article: (web-link)
. . . . . . . . .
. . . . . . . . .
Game x: Final Score: (Winning team Runs) (Losing team Runs) Box Score/News Article: (web-link)

Travel Method, Route, and Distances:

(Date #1)

• (Type of Travel) (# Miles or Departure Airport) (Destination City/Airport)

(Date #2)

• (Type of Travel) (# Miles or Departure Airport) (Destination City/Airport)

(Date #3)

• (Type of Travel) (# Miles or Departure Airport) (Destination City/Airport)
  

. . .
....

(Date #x)

• (Type of Travel) (# Miles or Departure Airport) (Destination City/Airport)

Approx. Total Drive Miles: xxxx mi

En-route Attractions Visited:

Listing of attractions visited during the trip:

1. (Name of attraction #1) (City, State) (Link to website)
2. (Name of attraction #2) (City, State) (Link to website)
3. (Name of attraction #3) (City, State) (Link to website)
4. (Name of attraction #x) (City, State) (Link to website) .... ....
   

Suggestions for Additional Roadtrip Attractions:

Listing of additional attractions that may be visited along the route:

1. (Name of attraction #1) (City, State) (Link to website)
2. (Name of attraction #2) (City, State) (Link to website)
3. (Name of attraction #3) (City, State) (Link to website)
4. (Name of attraction #x) (City, State) (Link to website) .... ....
   

Roadtrip Planning Tips:

This section provides a listing of tips that may be helpful during the planning of an efficient baseball roadtrip. They are similar to those listed earlier under “General Roadtrip Planning Tips,” but with details relevant to the route/cities of the specific trip.

Recommendations about making traveling plans:

1. Choosing travel times.
2. Choosing the origination and return cities.
3. Available public transportation options.
4. Where not to have a car.
5. Recommendations about choosing games.
6. How to minimize days with no games.
7. Reduce travel distances by adding stops for minor league games.
8. Opportunities to attend two games in the same day.
9. Recommendations for cities/teams where stays might be extended for more than one game.
10. Selection of lodging options.
    

Some Changes since (Date of Road Trip):

A list of changes that have taken place since the date of the original roadtrip, for instance:

• Stadium or team has been renamed.
• Stadium visited has been replaced by a new stadium.
• Minor league city no longer has a team.
• Major league affiliation of the team has changed.
  

Some Suggested Alternatives:

A list of changes that could be made to enhance or make the original itinerary more versatile, for example:

1. Fly into an alternate roadtrip origination city.
2. Add another game/city to reduce daily travel mileage.
3. City/Team/Stadium that might warrant seeing more than one game.
   

Roadtrip Planning Resources:

A listing of the web resources to use for planning a similar baseball roadtrip:

Official Website of Major League Baseball: (Website-link)

• Listing of information needed.

Link to View Addresses of the Stadiums for each MLB Team: (Website-link)

Official Website of Other Leagues with Teams Visited: (Website-link)

• Listing of information needed.

Twittered Baseball Roadtrip #4: Atlantic League Two-City Doubleheader Roadtrip

Date: August 12, 2009
Primary Destination: Day trip to Bridgewater, NJ and Newark, NJ

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

Games Attended:

Game 1: Bridgeport Bluefish vs. Somerset Patriots, Aug 12th, 11:05AM, TD Bank Ballpark, Bridgewater, NJ

http://www.ballparkreviews.com/somerset/somerset.htm

http://www.minorleagueballparks.com/comm_nj.html

http://franksballparks.tripod.com/bears.html

Game 2: Lancaster Barnstormers vs. Newark Bears, Aug 12th, 7:05PM, Bears & Eagles Riverfront Stadium, Newark, NJ

http://www.ballparkreviews.com/newarknj/newarknj.htm

http://www.digitalballparks.com/Atlantic/Newark.html

http://franksballparks.tripod.com/pats.html

http://www.minorleagueballparks.com/bear_nj.html

Summary:

The Atlantic League is an independent baseball league with eight teams located in the Northeast and Mid-Atlantic States. All but the Maryland franchise are conveniently located to the metropolitan New York City area and three of the teams, the Somerset Patriots, Newark Bears, and Camden Riversharks, reside in New Jersey. Day trips are possible from the NYC area to attend games at the home stadium of all Atlantic League teams except the Southern Maryland Blue Crabs.

I have called this baseball trip the “Atlantic League Two-City Doubleheader Roadtrip.” The trip was done in a single day during which I attended two games at different Atlantic League team locations. The first, a day game, was at the Somerset Patriots stadium TD Bank Ballpark (previously known as Commerce Bank Park) in Bridgewater, NJ and the second game was in the evening at Bears & Eagles Riverfront Stadium in Newark, NJ, the home of the Newark Bears. The departure point for the trip was my home in Wayne, NJ.

Through these games, I saw the four Atlantic League teams identified above play and visited two of the eight stadiums used by the league’s teams. The other four teams in the league and the stadiums where they play are:

• Camden Riversharks, Campbell's Field, Camden, NJ
• Long Island Ducks, Citibank Park, Central Islip, NY
• York Revolution, Sovereign Bank Stadium, York, PA
• Southern Maryland Blue Crabs, Regency Furniture Stadium, Waldorf, MD
  

The stadium where the Bridgeport Bluefish and Lancaster Barnstormers play their home games are the Baseball Park at Harbor Yard, Bridgeport, CT and Clipper Magazine Stadium, Lancaster, PA, respectively.

As part of the trip I used twitter to post travel information, such as the stadium addresses, travel distances, and travel times. For each game attended, I sent pregame tweets with the record of the teams, their current standing in the league, and the starting pitchers. This was followed by in-game reports giving the inning-by-inning score and highlights about how the runs were scored. After the game, post-game tweets gave the winning team and final score.

Upon return from the roadtrip, I suggested games and dates for several similar Two-City Doubleheader Roadtrips with tweets to twitter. One trip is to attend games at the home stadiums of the CanAm League’s NJ teams: the Sussex Skyhawks and New Jersey Jackals. The other recommended trip is a mixed League Two-City Doubleheader to attend a day game of the Newark Bears (Atlantic League) and offers three options for the evening game. The evening game can be a home game of the Trenton Thunder (Eastern League), Staten Island Yankees (New York-Penn League), or Lakewood BlueClaws (South Atlantic League). Each of these three destinations is close enough to Newark to permit attendance of two games in the same day.

Twitter Roadtrip Information:
Total number of tweets: 94
Time/Date of 1st Tweet: 12:26 AM Aug 10th
Time/Date of 131st Tweet: 2:49 PM Aug 13th

Roadtrip Planning Resources:

The following are the web resources used for planning this "Atlantic League" baseball roadtrip.

Official Website of the Atlantic Baseball League: http://www.atlanticleague.com

Current Standings of the Teams in the Atlantic League:
http://www.atlanticleague.com/scores-standings.php

Composite Game Schedules for the Atlantic League: http://www.atlanticleague.com/info-schedule.php

Official Websites of the Home Teams:

• Somerset Patriots: http://www.somersetpatriots.com/
• Newark Bears: http://www.newarkbears.com/
  

Home Team Game Schedules:

• Somerset Patriots: http://www.somersetpatriots.com/schedule/09calendar/
• Newark Bears: http://www.newarkbears.com/schedule/games/
  

Official Websites of the Visiting Teams:

• Bridgeport Bluefish: http://www.bridgeportbluefish.com/
• Lancaster Barnstormers: http://lancasterbarnstormers.com/index.cfm

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

Twittered Baseball Roadtrip #2: New York-Penn League and Lake George Roadtrip

Dates: July 5, 2009 through July 8, 2009
Primary Destination: Lake George Village, NY

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

Games Attended:

Game 1: Lowell Spinners vs. Staten Island Yankees, July 5th, 4:00PM, Richmond County Bank Park, Staten Island, NY
Game 2: Brooklyn Cyclones vs. Tri-City Valley Cats, July 6th, 11:00AM, Joseph L. Bruno Stadium, Troy, NY
Game 3: Staten Island Yankees vs. Hudson Valley Renegades, July 8th, 7:00PM, Dutchess Stadium, Wappingers Falls, NY.

Summary:

The New York-Penn league is a short-season, single A baseball league affiliated with Major League Baseball. Most of its teams are located in the Northeast with 10 of its 14 teams residing in the states of New York or Pennsylvania. A few teams are in other states, including Maryland, Massachusetts, Ohio, and Vermont. Here are some of the teams in the league:
Staten Island Yankees: affiliated with the New York Yankees
Brooklyn Cyclones: affiliated with the New York Mets
Williamsport Crosscutters: affiliated with the Philadelphia Phillies
Lowell Spinners: affiliated with the Boston Red Sox
Aberdeen IronBirds: affiliated with the Baltimore Orioles

During this four day New York-Penn League and Lake George Roadtrip, we attended three baseball games; stayed in the vicinity of Lake George Village, NY for two nights; and had one extra day for vacationing in the Lake George area of the Adirondack Mountains. Lake George is approx. 60 miles from the metro Albany, NY area, which is home to the Houston Astos affiliate of the New York-Penn League: the Tri-City Valley Cats. During this roadtrip, we saw five New York-Penn League teams play: the Staten Island Yankees, Lowell Spinners, Tri-City Valley Cats, Brooklyn Cyclones, and Hudson Valley Renegades.

The first game, Lowell Spinners vs Staten Island Yankees at Staten Island, NY, was attended as a day trip from home in Wayne, NJ. On the other hand, the Valley Cats game was seen en-route to Lake George and the Renegades game as a stop on the return trip to NJ. As part of the twitter stream for the roadtrip, I provided a number of traveling tips, including stadium addresses, travel distances and times, and a potential en-route rest stop.

This roadtrip is an excellent combination vacation/baseball trip for people located in the metropolitan NYC area. The stadiums for the Tri-City Valley Cats and Hudson Valley Renegades are close to the New York Thruway. So the games can be attended without deviating significantly from the route between Northern NJ/NYC and Lake George. I have included tweets that suggest a wide range of lodging options in or around Lake George Village, places to dine out, and a variety of summer family entertainment attractions available in the Lake George Region of the Southern Adirondacks.

As for all Twittered Baseball Roadtrips, I have tweeted pregame information prior to the game, such as the record of the teams, their current standing in the league, and the starting pitchers. As part of the in-game activity, I tweeted the inning by inning score, highlights as runs are scored, and other in-game activity. After the game, post-game tweets give the winning team, final score, and sometime additional information.

For this Twittered Baseball Roadtrip, I outlined and tweeted information for a number of similar roadtips. They are designed for Yankee and Red Sox fans to see the Staten Island Yankees or Lowell Spinners, respectively, play away games against two other New York-Penn League teams on consecutive days. The dates and locations of the games were selected to enable them to be part of a vacation trip to the Lake George area of the Adirondacks. Lake George Village is centrally located to the stadiums where the Tri-City Valley Cats and Vermont Lake Monsters play.

Twitter Roadtrip Information:
Total Number of Tweets: 139
Time/Date of 1st Tweet: 12:02 PM Jul 3rd
Time/Date of 139st Tweet: 7:31 PM Jul 9th

Roadtrip Planning Resources:

The following are the web resources used for planning this NY-Penn League Baseball Roadtrip.

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

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:

• Staten Island Yankees: http://www.siyanks.com/
• Tri-City Valley Cats: http://web.minorleaguebaseball.com/index.jsp?sid=t577
• Hudson Valley Renegades: http://www.hvrenegades.com/
  

Home Team Game Schedules:

• Staten Island Yankees: http://www.siyanks.com/schedule/schedule/
• Tri-City Valley Cats: http://web.minorleaguebaseball.com/schedule/index.jsp?sid=t577&m=06&y=2009
• Hudson Valley Renegades: http://www.hvrenegades.com/schedule/
  

Official Websites of the Visiting Teams:

• Lowell Spinners: http://web.minorleaguebaseball.com/index.jsp?sid=t558
• Brooklyn Cyclones: http://www.brooklyncyclones.com/

Entertainment in Boston

While visiting the Boston area there are many fun things to do in the city. I would recommend checking out the area near Fenway Park during a Red Sox game. Some good bars in the area by Fenway Park include: Cask' n Flagon, Game On! , and Boston Beer Works. These bars usually get crowded on days when the Red Sox have a game so I would suggest arriving a few hours before the game starts. The Harpoon Brewery offers tours and is another fun place to visit. If you're interested in doing some shopping while in Boston, head over to Newbury Street. This street has a lot of wonderful boutiques, restaurants, and salons. Some of my favorite restaurants on Newbury Street include: Sonsie and 29 Newbury Restaurant & Bar. Another great place for shopping and dining is Faneuil Hall Marketplace. If you decide to check out this area, I would suggest visiting Cheers Boston. The Faneuil Hall Marketplace area is also walking distance to the North End which has a lot of interesting Italian restaurants. Most of these areas are accessible via Boston’s subway (T). A map of the T system is available at: mbta.com

Twittered Baseball Roadtrip #1: Canadian American (CanAm) League and Beantown Roadtrip

Dates: June 24, 2009 through June 26, 2009
Primary Destination: Boston, MA

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

Games Attended:

Game 1: Brockton Rox vs. Worcester Tornadoes, June 24th, 7:05PM, Fitton Field, Worcester MA

Game 2: American Defenders of New Hampshire vs. Brockton Rox, June 25th, 6:35PM, Campanelli Stadium, Brockton MA

Game 3: Worcester Tornadoes vs. New Jersey Jackals, June 26th, 7:05PM, Yogi Berra Stadium, Little Falls NJ

Summary:

The Canadian American Association of Profession Baseball is an independent league with six teams located in the United States and Canada. The league was formed in October 2004 with the first season on play in 2005. Five of the six teams are located in the US, with two teams in New Jersey, two in Massachusetts, and one in Maryland. The sixth franchise is in Canada and resides in Quebec City, Ontario. The leagues is also known as the CanAm Baseball League.

This CanAm Baseball League and Beantown Roadtrip is three days in duration with a two-night stay in the Boston, MA area. During the trip two games were attended in the metropolitan Boston area and a third game was attended upon return to my home in New Jersey. Three of the six CanAm league stadiums (Fitton Field, Worcester MA, Campanelli Stadium, Brockton MA, and Yogi Berra Stadium, Little Falls NJ) were visited and four of the six teams (Brockton Rox, Worcester Tornadoes, American Defenders of New Hampshire, and New Jersey Jackals) participated in the games. The other two CanAm league teams are the Sussex Skyhawks, who play their home games at Skylands Park, Augusta, NJ and the Quebec Les Capitales who's home field is Le Stade de Québec in Quebec City, Ontario, CA. Finally, the American Defenders of New Hampshire play there home games at Holman Stadium in Nashua, New Hampshire.

The departure point for the trip is Yogi Berra Stadium in Little Falls, NJ. As part of the twitter stream for the roadtrip, I have provided a number of traveling trips, including stadium addresses, alternate directions, travel distances and times, a potential in-route eating stop (Rein’s NY Deli), and a number of suggestions for arranging lodging.

Even though no time was set aside for an extended stay in Boston, this is a perfect baseball roadtrip to be incorporated into a family excursion to visit Boston. For this reason, I have tweeted information for an in-route stop at Old Sturbridge Village in MA and a wide variety of Family Entertainment and Attraction options available in the city of Boston, MA.

The twitter for each of the games attended includes pregame tweets with the record of the teams, their current standing in the league, and the starting pitchers. During the game, tweets announce the inning by inning score, highlights as runs are score, and other in-game activity such as pitching changes. At the end of the game, post-game tweets give the winning team, final score, and additional information like the winning and loosing pitchers.

Twitter Roadtrip Information:

Total Number of Tweets: 131
Time/Date of 1st Tweet: 9:49 AM June 21st
Time/Date of 131st Tweet: 7:04 AM June 28th

Roadtrip Planning Resources:

The following are the web resources used for planning this "CanAm League" baseball roadtrip.

Official Website of the CanAm Baseball League: http://www.canamleague.com/

Current Standings of the Teams in the CanAm League: http://www.canamleague.com/standings.php

Official Websites of the Home Teams:

• Worcester Tornadoes: http://www.worcestertornadoes.com/
• Brockton Rox: http://www.brocktonrox.com/
• New Jersey Jackals: http://www.jackals.com/home.asp

Home Team Game Schedules:

• Worcester Tornadoes: http://www.worcestertornadoes.com/tickets/schedule
• Brockton Rox: http://www.brocktonrox.com/schedule/schedule
  
• New Jersey Jackals:http://www.jackals.com/schedule.asp

Official Websites of the Visiting Teams:

• American Defenders of New Hampshire: http://www.americandefenders.us/