A pilgrimage for all baseball fans

I have made my pilgrimage; I am ready to die now.

Just like Muslims travel to Mecca to see… I have made my pilgrimage; I am ready to die now.

Just like Muslims travel to Mecca to see the birthplace of their religion and Catholics flock to Rome to sightsee in Vatican City, I have seen the earliest cathedrals of a very different religion — our nation’s pastime.

In mid-June, with two of my best friends, I did what every baseball fan should do before he dies. I watched two games on back-to-back nights in the two greatest sporting venues in the world: Yankee Stadium and Fenway Park.

As ridiculous as this may sound, it did feel somewhat like a religious event. They are truly sites to which words and pictures do no justice.

My twenty years as a lover of baseball came full circle when I walked around these ballparks. Baseball has been a big part of my life for as long as I can remember. Growing up, I probably went to more than a hundred Pirates games at Three Rivers Stadium and PNC Park, I won a state championship as a Little Leaguer, I played first base in the state finals in high school and I even coached a youth team this summer. With all those memories, the one story I’m sure I’ll tell my grandchildren one day is the story of my trip to Yankee Stadium and Fenway Park.

As soon as the Pirates’ 2005 schedule was revealed, I knew that I had something to look forward to. I know it’s hard to believe, but it wasn’t Craig Wilson Bobblehead Day. When I saw that my beloved Buccos were returning to Yankee Stadium for the first time since the 1960 World Series for a three-game interleague series and then were going to make their first trip to Fenway in franchise history; I knew I had to be there.

Everything was set for this to be the best weekend of my life. One friend was willing to let us use his car for the trip, another found tickets on eBay for both games, so we were guaranteed seats. My parents gave me gas money, and we even had friends in each city that were willing to let us sleep on their floor for a night.

The Pirates had even won nine of 13 games before making the six-game road trip to New York and Boston. On Saturday, June 11, they beat the Devil Rays 18-2 and were at an even 30-30 for the season. When they left for the Big Apple, they were only one game under .500 and looking to stay hot against the 26-time world champions only days before taking on the newly crowned defending world champs.

Things seemed to be going too smoothly for this trip. We were all set to go see the Pirates battle two great teams in their amazing stadiums, and they were actually playing well. We had tickets, we’d found places to stay — this was going off too well for some college kids’ weekend road trip.

Of course something had to go wrong.

Two days before we were set to leave, I was playing in a pick-up basketball game with some friends from high school. I came down on someone’s foot and turned my ankle. After a six-hour emergency room visit that didn’t end until 4 a.m., I was told to stay off my fractured ankle and the chipped bones in my foot for a few weeks and not to go on my trip.

Needless to say, the doctors’ advice was appreciated, but not heeded.

Nothing could stop me from going on my trip to the “Holy Land” of baseball. The only condition my mom had that allowed me to go was that I had to take my crutches with me. Somehow, we managed to get them into the trunk of my friend’s Saturn, but they never left it until we returned to my driveway.

Not even a severe limp and some serious pain could put a damper on this trip. Although we saw two Pirate losses (they only won one of 6 against the Sox and Yankees), we saw some great baseball. Randy Johnson pitched a complete game, striking out eleven Pirates at Yankee Stadium a day before the Buccos battled the BoSox to a 6-5 loss on a bases-loaded single up the middle by Johnny Damon in the bottom of the ninth.

The losses didn’t matter. The broken ankle didn’t matter. I got to experience something truly remarkable. I don’t know if there is a sports journalist in the world who could find the right words to describe the history of those two ballparks. I know I certainly cannot. One thing I do know is that if you’re a baseball fan, you need to see Yankee Stadium and Fenway Park while you still can.

Amen.

Dave Thomas is a staff writer for The Pitt News and is pretty excited to start classes just so he can talk about his trip when his teachers ask him what he did for summer vacation. E-mail him your comments and whatever you did over break at dthomas7224@yahoo.com.