United States of Sports

I was trying to plan my Easter vacation trip and often my Easter vacation trip revolves around some Major League Baseball.  This year, I didn’t have any Major League Baseball games I wanted to go to since I’ve been to all 30 current stadiums (after my Easter vacation trip to Texas last year).  So I decided to combine my trip to Notre Dame with a trip to see minor league baseball in a state where I had never been to a sporting event before.  Of course, I’ve already seen a sporting event in most of the 50 states, but I still had 11 to go.  It seemed easiest to combine a Notre Dame trip with a sporting event in another Midwestern state.  The only Midwestern states where I hadn’t seen a sporting event yet were Iowa and South Dakota.  The schedule worked out for me to go to Des Moines to see the Iowa Cubs.  I last spent time in Iowa nine years ago when I visited the Field of Dreams.  I was also very briefly in Iowa when I went to Omaha six years ago (to get from the airport to the city, you have to drive through a sliver of Iowa).

The game was the Iowa Cubs against the Toledo Mud Hens (the Tigers’ triple-A affiliate).  Triple-A is fun because there will be players that you’re familiar with.  Pete Crow-Armstrong played 13 games in the Majors for the Cubs last year.  Somehow I remember him even though he didn’t play against the Dodgers.  He led off the game with a home run for the Cubs in the bottom of the first.  He scored from second base on a passed ball in the seventh when the pitcher didn’t cover home quickly enough.  And then he had an RBI double in the eighth inning (he got credit for one RBI there and a second run scored on an error).  The Cubs won 5-1 and they played that ridiculous Go Cubs Go song.  The box score listed the attendance as 3,025.  I don’t know how many people paid for tickets, but the actual number of fans at the game was much closer to 325 than 3,025.  It was a Thursday night in April with a game time temperature of 56° and it felt much colder than that as the game went on.

This was my view at the start of the game.

I zoomed in for a better view of the Iowa State Capitol beyond the center field wall.  It was my second favorite golden dome during my Easter vacation trip.

The Cubs play at Principal Park.  I had mixed feelings about the stadium.  The beer selection was excellent.  There was a concession stand with a wide variety of craft beer from Iowa.  There were three that I was interested in.  One was a stout that I think was the beer I had from Iowa when I was in Omaha.  Another one seemed much too summery for the early April weather.  So I ended up having a CTRL ALT Bier, an amber ale from the Singlespeed Brewing Company.  It was excellent.  Since it was my first baseball game of the year, I had to go with a hot dog.  I got a grilled dog that was very good.  But it was the Midwest, so sadly they only had yellow.  I put yellow on the dog because that’s better than ketchup, but the Midwest needs to learn about real mustard.  Later in the game, they did a thing where they were shooting hot dogs into the stands in between innings and I got one.  It wasn’t grilled so it wasn’t as good as my first dog.  I wasn’t too hungry so I just took a couple of bites.  I almost ended up with a foul ball.  It landed two rows in front of me and there was nobody else around, but some kids ran over so I let them get it.  I still haven’t ever gotten a foul ball at a game.  I thought the scoreboard display was very good.  The negatives of the stadium were that the concourse didn’t go all the way around the stadium and it was underneath the stands.  I always like being able to see the field from the concourse.

My first baseball/outdoor beer of 2024 was a good one.

I watched a little bit of the game from way down the right field line because it was warmer there while the sun was still out.

I assume this was for kids to play in when it’s hot.  I felt bad for the employee who had to sit there and keep an eye on it.

It was good to be back at a baseball game.  Hopefully it will be much warmer at all the other games I go to this season.

The only thing I wanted to do in Iowa other than the game was to get food from a place that was featured on Man v. Food.  Both the Adam Richman and Casey Webb versions of Man v. Food had a Des Moines episode.  Both episodes had a place that was within walking distance of my hotel.  Adam went to the High Life Lounge for broasted chicken.  Casey went to Fong’s Pizza, which is like an Asian pizza fusion place.  As somebody who lives in the Pizza Belt, I’m hesitant to get pizza outside of the pizza belt.  I would have done it if I didn’t have another easy option.  But the High Life Lounge was right there.  So I got some broasted chicken with sweet potato tots and beans.  Broasting combines pressure cooking and deep frying.  It just seemed like some regular fried chicken to me, but all the food was very good.

This was delicious.

So that was Iowa.  I tried to come up with a list of all the different kinds of sporting events I’ve seen in 40 states plus Washington DC (in the order that I've been to each place, not necessarily the order I’ve been to each state for a sporting event).  It’s entirely possible that I’m forgetting something, but here’s the list:

1. New York- Mets, Yankees, Knicks, Nets, Rangers, Islanders, college football, college basketball, college hockey, minor league baseball, independent league baseball, college baseball, collegiate summer league baseball, NBA G-League

2. New Jersey- college football, Jets, independent league baseball

3. Connecticut- minor league baseball

4. Pennsylvania- college football, Phillies, Pirates, college basketball, curling

5. Ohio- Indians, Reds

6. Florida- Marlins, Rays, college football

7. Massachusetts- Red Sox, Celtics, college football, college hockey

8. Delaware- minor league baseball

9. Maryland- college football, Orioles

10. Washington DC- Nationals, college basketball

11. Virginia- minor league baseball

12. Indiana- Notre Dame football, basketball, hockey, baseball, fencing, minor league baseball

13. Illinois- White Sox, Cubs

14. Kentucky- minor league baseball

15. Tennessee- minor league baseball

16. Georgia- college football, Braves

17. Michigan- Tigers

18. California- Dodgers, Padres, Giants, Angels, A’s

19. North Carolina- college football

20. Nevada- minor league baseball

21. Arizona- Diamondbacks

22. Colorado- Rockies

23. Wisconsin- Brewers

24. Texas- Astros, college football, Rangers

25. Washington- Mariners

26. Missouri- Cardinals, Royals

27. Arkansas- minor league baseball

28. Oklahoma- minor league baseball

29. Kansas- minor league baseball

30. Utah- Jazz

31. New Mexico- minor league baseball

32. Alabama- minor league baseball

33. Minnesota- Twins

34. Iowa- minor league baseball

35. Nebraska- college baseball

36. North Dakota- independent league baseball

37. Montana- minor league baseball

38. Idaho- minor league baseball

39. Louisiana- Pelicans

40. South Carolina- minor league baseball

41.  Alaska- collegiate summer league baseball

I’ll list the states where I haven’t seen a sporting event with the sporting event that I would most want to see in each state.

1. Rhode Island- Providence basketball

2. New Hampshire- minor league baseball

3. Wyoming- Wyoming football

4. West Virginia- West Virginia football

5. South Dakota- independent league baseball

6. Oregon- Oregon football

7. Maine- minor league baseball

8. Vermont- wiffle ball at Little Fenway, Little Wrigley, and Little Field of Dreams

9. Mississippi- Ole Miss or Mississippi State football

10. Hawaii- Hawaii football

What I would most like to see in each state is not necessarily what I would be most likely to see.  Going to a college football game in a state that’s far away to see anybody other than Notre Dame is not very likely for me.  Minor league baseball is probably the most likely option in any state that has minor league baseball.  The two hardest states to do are going to be Wyoming and Hawaii because of distance and lack of options.  It’s doubtful that I would ever be in either of those states for a college football game unless I waited until I retired.  I guess Hawaii does play some Week 0 football games so maybe that’s not out of the question someday (I mean, I did see Hawaii play a Week 0 game in Australia).  A Hawaii baseball game during my Easter vacation might be more likely.  Wyoming doesn’t have minor league or college baseball.  They do have a collegiate summer league team in Casper, which seems like it would be very difficult to get to.  Hopefully I can knock out those New England states over the next few years.  A baseball game in South Dakota could be combined with a trip to Minnesota at some point (Sioux Falls has a team).  Oregon is very doable when combined with a trip to California at some point.  West Virginia isn’t that far away, but it’s not the easiest place to get to.  Minor league baseball in Mississippi could be combined with a future trip to the South.  We’ll see how many I eventually get to.  I’m hoping to do at least one more this year.