The Ultimate Baseball Road-Trip: A Fan's Guide to Major League Stadiums [Bargain Price] [Paperback]

Joshua Pahigian (Author), Kevin O'Connell (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: March 1, 2004

The Ultimate Baseball Road-Trip is a comprehensive guide to all the diverse and fascinating ballparks throughout the country by two entertaining young writers whose love for the game of baseball and the game of life overflows from each page. Josh Pahigian and Kevin O'Connell's approach to skillfully planning and fully appreciating a road-trip or a visit to a single park is funny and irreverent and loaded with information designed to make the most of the experience.

Part travel manual, part ballpark atlas, part baseball history book, part restaurant and city guide, and, not least, part epic narrative, The Ultimate Baseball Road-Trip encompasses all the essential elements of a full-blown baseball road-trip. Included are ticket and travel information, a detailed guide to the best and worst seats in each park, folklore and statistics on each park, tips on each park's trademark foods, and profiles of nearby sports bars and baseball attractions, all within a lively narrative that reminds us that baseball is often the ultimate metaphor for the important things in life.

Editorial Reviews

Review

"...a fresh approach to a familiar idea..."--Rocky Mountain News

"Most people only get a chance to see baseball in a handful of parks during a lifetime. The authors saw all of them and it shows."-- Olympian

From the Back Cover

The Ultimate Baseball Road-Trip is a comprehensive guide to all the diverse and fascinating major league baseball ballparks throughout the country by two entertaining young writers whose love for the game of baseball and the game of life overflows from every page. Josh Pahigian and Kevin O'Connell's approach to skillfully planning and fully appreciating a road-trip, or just a visit to a single park, is funny and irreverent and loaded with information designed to make the most of the experience.
Part travel manual, part ballpark atlas, part baseball history book, part restaurant and city guide, and, not least, part epic narrative, The Ultimate Baseball Road-Trip encompasses all the essential elements of a full-blown baseball road-trip. Included are ticket and travel information, a detailed guide to the best and worst seats in each park, folklore and statistics on each park, a hilarious rating of each park's trademark foods, and profiles of nearby sports bars and baseball attractions, all within a lively narrative that reminds us that baseball is the ultimate metaphor for all the important things in life.

See all Editorial Reviews

Product Details

• Paperback: 544 pages
• Publisher: The Lyons Press; 1st edition (March 1, 2004)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 1592281591
• ASIN: B002NPCUX0
• Product Dimensions: 8.9 x 7.4 x 1.2 inches
• Shipping Weight: 1.8 pounds
• Average Customer Review: 4.6 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (18 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #1,279,197 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

More About the Author

Josh is the author of several baseball books, including "101 Baseball Places to See Before You Strike Out" and "The Ultimate Baseball Road Trip." He and co-author Kevin O'Connell recently finished revising and updating the latter title, which will be re-released by the Lyons Press in March of 2012.


Josh also recently signed up his first novel. A thriller set in Old Orchard Beach, Maine, it's scheduled for publication in the Fall of 2012 by Islandport Press.


In addition to writing, Josh serves as an adjunct faculty member in the English Department at the University of New England in Biddeford, Maine.

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

27 of 27 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars "The Ultimate Baseball Road-Trip: A Five-Tool Player", April 16, 2004

By A Customer

This review is from: The Ultimate Baseball Road-Trip: A Fan's Guide to Major League Stadiums (Paperback)

As an avid reader of baseball books, I am often skeptical of new baseball publications. Baseball books can be tediously academic (it is a game after all, Mr. Will) or, in the case of guide books, short on substance. Other works just seem to repeat the stories and cliches I hear every year during rain delays. When I saw "The Ultimate Baseball Road-Trip," I thought it might be another coffee-table book. But it has been a fun, informative read. The book appeals to the historian in me, especially in its efforts to tell about the Negro League and minor league entries in each respective MLB city and in its attempts to document old stadiums. Yet, O'Connell and Pahigian write in a style that is witty and engaging, and wise to the role of trivia in the seamhead's life . I have found myself continually sneaking a quick read at my desk or on the train. (The book is addictive and perfect for summer reading.) Finally, I can recommend this book as a travel guide nearly on par with the "Let's Go" or "Rough Guide" series. I used it on a trip to the Midwest and found it especially useful in less celebrated cities like Milwaukee and St. Louis. It is rare that a book of this type can succeed on so many levels.

12 of 12 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars A must for anyone planning to visit major league ballparks!, September 1, 2004

By 

Seattle 73 - See all my reviews

This review is from: The Ultimate Baseball Road-Trip: A Fan's Guide to Major League Stadiums (Paperback)

This book covers it all. From team and ballpark history to where to sit and what to eat. The authors do a great job in detailing the ins-and-outs of every ballpark. This is not your dry, boring reference book. It's an easy read with a lot of humor that any baseball fan will enjoy.

21 of 24 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars great guide to stadiums, September 23, 2004

By 

lordhoot "lordhoot" (Anchorage, Alaska USA) - See all my reviews

This review is from: The Ultimate Baseball Road-Trip: A Fan's Guide to Major League Stadiums (Paperback)

Having just return from a baseball road trip myself, visiting the new San Diego Petco Stadium, Oakland, Anahiem and BOB in Phoenix, I discovered that this book got a lot of merit in what it have to say. In almost all cases, I discovered that the authors have done their homework and their accessments of what is a good seat or bad turned out to be true. Although their reviews on food remains subjective, I discovered that what they say about it also got a lot of truth behind it. Oakland do have one of the best hot dogs and many dogs wrapped in up in these tin foils really do not tasted all that good. (Is that why we often overdose these hot dogs with massive amount flavoring?)

I have been to many other stadiums of the Major League and after reading the book, I discovered that what the authors' have to say would be a great guide to anyone else who may be looking to do such a vacation. Although the season is dying out this year, there is always next year and years on end.

When I go on such road trips, I usually do buy my tickets ahead of time and usually try to get the best seats money can buy. The authors' book seem to be written for people who do this on the fly or on the budget. There is nothing wrong with that but they should know that not everyone do it like they do.

The book come highly recommended by someone like me who likes to take a baseball road trips and have done so in the past. Its useful in planning such a trip, buying the tickets and eating out at these stadium. Great book which have been long over due.