Royalty Tours USA

Saturday, July 31, 2010

Saturday night at Citi Field brought out more special guests!

Arjun Lal and Manny Bonilla
After seeing our Friday night regulars, Saturday night brought out two young lads to Citi Field as you can see in the picture.

One of them was Manny Bonilla who is the one on the right in the picture I took of them.

When the King and I got to our seats, Manny got the King's attention.

Apparently the King had seen him before.

I asked who he was. The King didn't know but he recognized him by sight.

I told the King I never saw him before.

I heard him say he wanted tickets to see the Braves in September but he mentioned that those games were sold out.

I told him I have a ticket available for the Sunday game on September 19th. I said I only have one. Is that okay? He said yes.

Shortly thereafter, I noticed he had a friend with him. His name was Arjun Lal.

I started to talk with Arjun as well.

He was a Yankee fan. I told him we have season tickets over there too.

In matter of fact, he said he was going to Yankee Stadium on Tuesday.

I asked him where he was sitting, he said in the first row by the dugout.

I was speechless.

They seemed like really nice young kids.

Their company made for a memorable night.

Manny being a big Met fan was dressed up wearing a Jason Bay T-shirt.

He was pulling hard for Mets starting pitcher Hisanori Takahashi who he referred to as "Taki".

Come on Taki he yelled a number of times.

Taki pitched well striking out 10 Diamondbacks in 6 innings which had the King yelling and screaming all night.

Manny with his right arm extended was one of many around us who joined in and loved the act.

The King had the whole section joining in as well as others to our left and right.

It was one of those nights thanks to the great people we were fortunate to have sitting around us.

The King became the center of attention as the game wore on.

In the end, we were all jumping for joy when the Mets came back to win the damn game in the mortal words of the late great Bob Murphy may he rest in peace.

I want to thank Manny and Arjun for being part of the festivities.

They had a blast.

I look forward to seeing these youngsters at a future game at Citi Field.

They know where to find us and we'll make sure we find some seats for them so we can enjoy each other company again.

Keep checking back you never know who we'll meet next.

Thank you for reading and following along as the life of royalty unfolds.

Yours truly,

Gary Herman

Friday, July 30, 2010

Special guests make Friday nights at Citi Field more enjoyable!

In my previous post regarding the signature call, I said I was going to give an example.

Last night was Friday so right in front of the King & I, we saw our usual Friday fans in row 2.

These guys have been coming to all the Friday night home games throughout the season this year.

They happen to be brothers.

They're Steve & Jon Work.

These guys are big Met & baseball fans.

Steve in particular is a baseball trivia buff according to his brother Jon who is celebrating his birthday today.

Happy Birthday, Jon!

As always it was a pleasure to see you and Steve last night at Citi Field.

Thanks to the King's signature call these guys have taken a liking to sitting by us and needless to say they truly love his added entertainment.

Despite the Mets losing last night, we did enjoy each other's company.

These guys were talking about the possibility of going to Philadelphia next Saturday night to see the Mets.

I gave them both my business card so if they need any assistance they know Royalty is here to service their needs and wants in that regard.

I look forward to seeing them again in a few weeks when the Phillies come to Citi Field for a weekend set with the Mets.

In the meantime, if they want to know what the King and I are up to all they have to do is check out the blog.

I want to personally thank Steve & Jon for being part of the Royalty experience.

Yours truly,

Prince Charming

The King doing his signature strikeout call at Citi Field!

The King in Action
It was on May 1, 1980 when the Mets were playing the Philadelphia Phillies at Shea Stadium a signature call was created.

The King aka Michael Casiano, my good friend and travel partner, started a chant when an opposing batter struck out against a Met pitcher.

On this particular night, the Phillies lead off batter was Pete Rose.

The King has a reputation of being opinionated; people we know like to say.

Here's an example of that.

For whatever reason, he has always hated Pete Rose who was known as "Charlie Hustle" during his playing days in the '70's and into the '80's.

The King would always refer to his hustle as phony.

With that being said, Rose struck out to start the game against Mets starting pitcher Pete Falcone.
Rose wound up being the first of the first six batters who faced Falcone to strike out.

After those six strikeouts in a row, the King has continued to yell out in a long drawn out voice "he struccccccck him out".

In addition, he extends his right hand out when he does the call as you can see in the picture I took of him last night at Citi Field.

Please note there's another variation he does as well.

If and when a Met pitcher strikes out 3 consecutive batters in the same inning, he bellows he struck him, he struck out the side, he struck them alllllll out then he follows it with a classic long he struck him out.

When an opposing pitcher strikes out he doesn't give an extended version of the call out of respect because most pitchers can't hit that well. When someone asks why that was so short, he responds it's only the pitcher.

As a result, 30 plus years later now at Citi Field the call has carried over.

Mind you, not everybody who sits around him enjoys the yelling and screaming that he does for a minute or two.

Please be aware that it's just an act that many people have come to expect when they attend a game and they sit near or by him.

In fact, on many occasions people have taken his picture and/or have done a video of him in action.

I love when we are fortunate to have people with families at the game who bring their young kids for the first time.

The kids are always amused by his antics.

In addition, the adults usually love the show too.

Some nights he's been known to captivate a whole section into joining him in his call.

It's some much fun when the right crowd shows up around us.

Over the years, if he's missing briefly due to a softball game people always ask where he is.

I respond don't worry he'll be here soon.

I try to do an imitation sometimes but I have to admit it's an embarrassment.

There's nothing better than the original doing it.

Furthermore, we always like to sit behind home plate in the upper deck in whatever ballpark we're in.

The King does do road shows as well on the major and/or minor league levels.

When he does, he does the call for the home team which keeps the natives happy as long they don't mind the act.

People we know may be in the ballpark without us knowing it until an opposing batter strikes out then all of a sudden, they come over to visit.

It's amazing how many times that has happened over the years.

The funny thing about the call is the King is not an attention getter.

In his own subtle way, he has built up quite a fan club.

I'll be writing another post to give you an example of that.

In case you don't know the King & I reside in the promenade section 516 row 3 seats 7 & 8.

If and when you happen to be at Citi Field and he don't mind some additional in house entertainment please feel free to come by.

Hopefully if people around us don't show up we will arrange to give you an upgrade so you can see the game as well as his act from a great vantage point.

If you do mind that's fine I respect your wishes but you can still come by and say hello to us.

Thank you for reading and I hope you enjoyed the detailed description I gave of how this signature call got started.

Yours truly,

Gary Herman

NBA Schedule Release Update!

Please see the following link for more details regarding the release of the NBA 2010-2011 schedule:

http://www.nba.com/2010/news/07/30/nba.schedule.ap/index.html?ls=iref:nbahpt2

Please check back often as more news breaks and leaks out.

Stay tuned.

Thank you for your precious time.

Yours truly,

Prince Charming

2010-2011 NBA Schedule will be released on August 3rd!

Basketball fans mark your calendars and get ready for the 65th season of NBA basketball which is slated to start on  Tuesday, October 26th.

The 2010-2011 NBA schedule will be released on Tuesday, August 3rd.

When will the Miami Heat come to your town so you can see the new 3 headed monster of D-Wade, King James and CB4?

When will King James return to Cleveland the city he betrayed?

Who will open the new Amway Center in Orlando?

Who will the NJ Nets play on Opening Night in the Prudential Center in Newark?

Check back here for the answers to these questions when the schedule is released on Tuesday.

Thank you for checking in.

Yours truly,

Prince Charming

Thursday, July 29, 2010

Phillies add another toy named Roy!

With the major league baseball non-waiver trade deadline fast approaching on July 31st, the Philadelphia Phillies added another pitcher named Roy.

For Phillie fans, Christmas came early.

Today they acquired Houston Astros ace Roy Oswalt for pitcher J.A. Happ and a few minor leaguers to help them for the stretch run.

In the off season, the Phillies made the biggest splash when they traded for Cy Young Award winner Roy Halliday.

Despite winning the World Championship in 2008 and falling short of winning again last year, the Phillies decided to continue to give their fans what they deserve a competitive product for their loyalty since Citizens Bank Park opened back in 2004.

They have arguably the best modern ballpark in baseball.

They've had standing room crowds in excess of 45,000 day in and day out, night in and night out.

They have the best mascot in all of baseball and all of sports for that matter in the Phillie Phanatic.

I wrote about the ballpark and the Phanatic in a previous post dated May 6th so you can also reference it for further details.

Even though they've been hit by injuries this year the Phillies are treading water.

With the addition of Oswalt they should be in position to go deep into October again in hopes of bringing the City of Brotherly Love another World Championship.

On the business side of things, this move should guarantee the Phillies sell out all their games next year as well.

By putting themselves in position to win, they will be taking deposits for next year so that will enhance their bottom line now and later.

They have signed a number of their core players to long term deals which is a rarity in this day and age.

With that being said, it further proves the Phillies are committed for the long haul.

I tip my hat to the Phillies organization.

That's the way royalty prefers to operate.

They're first class in my book.

If you want to see Citizens Bank Park I do have plans to go there a few more times this season.

Let me know and I'll make it happen for you.

If you're a baseball fan this is definitely an opportunity for you.

Thank you for reading and following along.

Yours truly,

Prince Charming

Wednesday, July 28, 2010

2011 Major League Baseball Schedule starts to leak out!

I was tipped off  by my friend Michael Abrams aka the Yankee Emperor who has a streak of seeing the last 698 Yankee home games.

He wrote me an e-mail late last night telling that the 2011 baseball season starts on April 1st and ends on September 28th.

Those dates seemed odd when I thought about the 2011 calendar. Sure enough I was right.

According to an article in USA Today, please see link below it will explain the logic behind it.  

http://content.usatoday.com/communities/dailypitch/post/2010/07/mlb-opening-day-2011-to-fall-on-friday-april-1-season-to-end-on-a-wednesday/1

Please note a trip to Taiwan at the end of March is very possible as well between the Arizona Diamondbacks & the San Francisco Giants.

They're suppose to vote on that in August.

If it comes to pass, Royalty is ready to go. I just need to renew my passport.

Royalty opened the 1999 baseball season in Monterrey, Mexico. 2000 we were in Japan and Puerto Rico in 2001.

In addition, Michael told me dates when the Red Sox play the Yankees next year that he got off a Red Sox site. They are as follows:

4/8-4/10, 8/5-8/7 & 8/30-9/1 Yankees are supposed to be in Fenway Park

5/13-5/15, 6/7-6/9 & 9/23-9/25 Red Sox come to Yankee Stadium

In addition, he said the traditional Patriot's Day game is on Monday, April 18th against the Blue Jays.

Furthermore, he said they close the season in Baltimore.

Here's some more details regarding the Red Sox from ESPN Boston:

http://sports.espn.go.com/boston/mlb/news/story?id=5365218

I took some further steps in pursuing this.

I found out the Chicago Cubs will be in Fenway Park for the first time ever in the regular season per a first draft of the 2011 MLB schedule. It will be the club's first appearance there since the 1918 World Series on May 20-22.

In addition, the Milwaukee Brewers come to Boston on June 17-19 and the Padres are there 6/20-6/22.

Please see the link below for all the details:

http://www.bleedcubbieblue.com/tags/2011-mlb-schedule

Stay tuned to my blog because as more leaks out I plan to give you the heads up.

In order to get the most out of your life, you must stay a step ahead to avoid lagging behind.

Monday, July 26, 2010

Schedule for the w/o 7/26

Here's the game plan for the week ahead:

Tuesday Cardinals at Mets 7:10PM

Wednesday Cardinals at Mets 7:10PM

Friday Diamondbacks at Mets 7:10PM

Saturday Diamondbacks at Mets 7:10PM

Sunday Diamondbacks at Mets 1:10PM

Check back to see how it turned out.

In the meantime, stay tuned for the w/o 7/19 in review.

I hope you have a great week doing whatever makes you happy.

If you need some royal treatment in your life, you know where to go.

Thank you for reading and following along.

Your feedback is always welcomed and it's greatly appreciated.

Yours truly,

Prince Charming

Royalty w/o 7/19 in review




Upon returning to the Big Apple late Sunday night it was back to work Monday morning.

After work I went home to recharge the batteries for the week ahead.

Tuesday night I went to Yankee Stadium to watch the Angels play the Yankees.

Sean O'Sullivan started this game for the Angels.

He pitched well for 6 innings which earned him a quality start, which is considered a starting pitcher's dream these days. He wound up giving up just 2 hits and 2 runs in this outing. He left the game with a 6-2 lead. The Angels added to their lead and their bullpen kept the Yankees at bay as they went on to win the game, 10-2.

Wednesday I was able to get another night of rest since the Yankees played in the afternoon and I was working.

I still needed to catch up on lost sleep so it came in handy.

Thursday night I went back to the Bronx to see the KC Royals open a four game series with the Yankees.

With their ace, CC Sabathia pitching the Yankees were able to roll to victory despite the fact that CC didn't pitch a great game. He still was able to improve his record to 13-3.

There were some highlights of note in this one.

In the third inning, Derek Jeter led off by hitting a ball to the wall in right centerfield that appeared to have been caught by Royals centerfielder David DeJesus who was born in Brooklyn and he played college ball at Rutgers, but when he crashed into the wall the ball fell out of his glove and Jeter circled the bases for an inside the park home run.

You can see Jeter after he rounded the bases on the scoreboard in the picture above.

The last time Jeter hit an inside the park home run was ironically against the Royals but he did it in Kansas City on August 2, 1996.

In the seventh inning, A-Rod hit a solo home run which was the 599th of his career.

Friday night I went back to see game two of this four game set.

Just like when you see a game you never know what you're going to get.

The same can be said for the people you sit around especially these days because there's usually a different crowd at each game.

Fortunately for me I was blessed on this particular night.

I'm going to write a separate post regarding these special people.

As for the game, it wound up being a long night thanks to mother nature.

We had an hour and 25 minute rain delay during the game.

The Yankees were able to cruise to an easy victory again, 7-1.

Milestone of note, Jorge Posada picked up his 1,000th rbi of his career.

On the other hand, A-Rod was unable to hit his 600th home run.

Saturday I had to deal with the brutal heat not for one game but for two.

In the afternoon, I returned to the Bronx to see game three between the Royals and the Yankees.

This time the Royals built an early lead and they were able to hang on to beat the Yankees, 7-4.

Mark Teixeira hit 2 home runs but he grounded to shortstop on a very close play representing the tying run to end the game.

A-Rod was left waiting on deck.

He failed to homer so the wait continued for at least another day.

The King & I bolted out of the Stadium so we could take the 4 train downtown to get the Staten Island Ferry for our second game of the day.

The King found a bunch of rain checks from a game he got rained out of a few weeks ago so we were able to not only get a ticket for free but we also we're able to take advantage of their all you can eat ticket deal as well.

We saw the Staten Island Yankees hold on to beat the Brooklyn Cyclones, 3-2.

As for the all you can eat deal, they let you have hamburgers, hot dogs & chicken.

In addition, you can have a small bags of Herr's popcorn.

To wash it all down, you can choose from a variety of pepsi products.

I had a countless number of 12 ounce bottles of water to help offset the extreme weather.

It turned out to be an absolute blast.

I plan to do a profile on the Staten Island ballpark when I get a chance for a guy named Paul Swaney, who is a co-founder of the website, Stadium Journey.

Here's the link:

http://www.stadiumjourney.com/

His site is designed to give people tips on sports travel.

He values my expertise so I'm more than happy to help the cause.

His website is also on my blog roll.

I strongly suggest that you add it to your favorites.

Sunday I was back in the Bronx to see the Yankees play the Royals as well to see if A-Rod could hit number 600.

Well thanks to mother nature I unfortunately was forced to depart early before the game resumed in the sixth inning after a 2 and a half hour rain delay.

I had a family dinner to attend at my sister's house out on Long Island.

It turned out to be a wise move on my part.

The Yankees were up 5-3 when I left and they went on to win the game, 12-6.

Ironically Sean O'Sullivan who we saw pitch Tuesday night with Angels was traded on Thursday to the Royals.

With that being said, the King & I had the unique opportunity of seeing him pitch back to back starts with two different teams.

Unfortunately for him, the results were different.

This time the Yankees were able to hit him hard.

In my absence, A-Rod wound up batting twice.

He singled and he got hit by a pitch in his last at bat.

So his chase for 600 continues on the road.

Thank you for reading.

Stay tuned for that separate post I'm going to write.

You never know when it could be you.

Yours truly,

Prince Charming

Friday, July 23, 2010

Royalty meets special guests at Yankee Stadium on 7/23!

When I went to Yankee Stadium Friday night the King & I were sitting in our season seats in section 420B row 7 seats 3 & 4, we had some young people sitting right behind us in row 8.

I was scoring the game in my Bob Carpenter scorebook which holds 100 games.

A few weeks ago I started my second book for this season.

I heard this people talking so I decided to chime in.

I'm so happy I did.

As a result, I wound up meeting people who were originally from the Northwest.

Peter Campbell was from Bellingham, Washington which just south of the Canadian border around 100 miles north of Seattle on I-5. He now resides in Champaign, Ilinois.

He happens to be relatively new to the game of baseball. He started following it the last 3 or 4 years. He sounded pretty knowledgeable for not being a fan of the game for a long time. I was rather impressed.

He doesn't know how to keep score but he wants to learn. I'll be more than happy to teach him.

He told me he's a big Seattle Mariner fan. In particular, his favorite player is Ichiro Suzuki.

He likes to follow the Mariners around. He's seen them in a number of parks including U.S. Cellular Field in Chicago. He told me how much fun he had with the White Sox fans who didn't enjoy him rooting for his team.

Good for Peter he still found a way to enjoy himself in a visitor's ballpark.

He told me he hasn't been to Wrigley Field yet.

I told him that he needs to get there.

If & when he does I told him I met a guy named Andrew Van Cleve who lives up the block from Wrigley.

I plan to arrange to have him get in contact with Andrew so his visit will be as memorable as possible.

This time he came to NYC to visit his friend, J.J Howland who like Peter lived in the Northwest until 4 or 5 years ago when he moved to New York City.

J.J. was from the Seattle area. He was accompanied by his fiance, Jessica who has family from the Portland, Oregon area.

They meet up every summer and they go to a few new ballparks together.

Fortunately for me I was in the right place at the time.

The same can be said for them.

Since they want to continue to get to new places and ballparks they came in contact with the right person.

I plan to stay in touch with them so I can help them make it happen.

As for me, ironically earlier on Friday I was planning for my upcoming visit to the Northwest in September.

So once I found out these people were from the Northwest it made it easy to relate with them.

I told them about my past adventures out there.

In addition, I mentioned that I was going to Seattle, Portland and Eugene to see the Oregon Ducks play football.

Furthermore, I told them I booked a hotel that day in Wilsonville, Oregon.

Jessica told me that her father works in Wilsonville which is around 15 miles south of Portland.

Jessica's family has allegiance to Oregon State.

I told them they weren't home so I can't go and see them play that weekend.

On the other hand, I asked J.J. about going to Mount Rainier National Park since I'm planning to do so before I head to Portland.

He told me it's not far and the road isn't that bad to get to and from.

After the game, we said our goodbyes and I wished Jessica and J.J. the very best on their upcoming wedding.

We also exchanged contact contact information so we can stay in touch.

We were all thankful to be able to enjoy each other's company during the game and the rain delay.

Hopefully they'll follow my blog and utilize the benefits it has to offer them in the future.

 I look forward to seeing them again in the future.

Monday, July 19, 2010

Schedule for w/o 7/19

Here's the game plan for the week ahead:

Tuesday Angels at Yankees 7:05PM

Thursday Royals at Yankees 7:05PM

Friday Royals at Yankees 7:05PM

Saturday Royals at Yankees 1:05PM

              Brooklyn at Staten Island 7:10PM

Sunday Royals at Yankees 1:05PM

Please feel free to check back to see how it turned out.

I hope you have a good week as well.

If you happen to be at one of the games please feel free to contact me.

Remember royalty is often imitated but can never be duplicated.

Royalty continues to perfect the art of sports travel to everyday people.

If you have a dream that you want to realize then I strongly suggest that you consult me.

I live to better myself and others in the process.

Stay tuned for a sample of what I'm talking about.

The w/o 7/12 in review is going to be one for the ages.

Don't just read about it, see how you can become part of it in the future.

After all, the life of royalty has its privileges.

Yours truly,

Prince Charming

Royalty w/o 7/12 in review

This past week was extremely busy and eventful.

Monday I took the Staten Island Ferry from Lower Manhattan after work to go see the Staten Island Yankees play.

The game wound up going 15 innings.

I decided to stay until the bottom of the 12th inning with the game tied at 2.  I wanted to get home to get some much needed sleep. I hate to leave a game early but in this case it turned out to a smart & wise decision on my part.

The game didn't end for another hour and I needed to catch the boat back to Lower Manhattan. The Staten Island Yankees eventually lost to the Batavia Muckdogs, 6-5!

I didn't get home until 12:40AM. I can only imagine if I stayed for the whole game what time I would have gotten home.

Tuesday when I was at work I was  informed that George Steinbrenner passed away.

As a businessman myself, I greatly appreciated him. He was what our country is all about, that being capitalism. During his life he made a fortune by being a big time risk taker. He didn't win them all but he certainly wasn't afraid to fail.

Ironically George always wanted to be the center of attention. Even on the day he died he was in the spotlight. It was the day of the Major League Baseball All-Star Game in Anaheim and George wound up stealing the thunder and he was front and center on his very last day he was with us. How's that for timing.

Tuesday night I came home after work to rest up if you will and I watched the All-Star Game on TV. The National League won for the first time since 1996, 3-1!

With the victory, the team who that represents the National League will have the home field advantage in the upcoming World Series which starts at the end of October.

Wednesday after work I took a long subway ride to Coney Island to the Brooklyn Cyclones play. Thanks to my mother nature it was another long night for me.

The game was delayed in the third inning for an hour due to rain.

The Cyclones came up victorious with a 7-4 win over the Mahoning Valley Scappers.

After the game I took a long torturous train ride back to my car which was parked on the street near Citi Field. It turned out to be another rough night for me.

I couldn't wait until Thursday morning rolled around so I could turn my luck around.

Please check back for all the details from Thursday on.

It was quite an extended weekend to say the least.

The Royalty experience showed its true colors, purple and gold.

Thank you for checking in.

Yours truly,

Prince Charming
     

Midsummer Night's Dream was realized in the Midwest!

After months of preparation for this weekend getaway to the Midwest, here's how it played out.

I'll be doing many different posts to culminate this epic excursion.

The King & I and our friend Bryan Gilligan left New York LaGuardia Airport  Thursday morning via Delta Airlines enroute to the Twin Cities aka Minneapolis-St. Paul, Minnesota.

We arranged to meet our friend Lloyd Ramsland who lives in Oradell, NJ. He preferred to fly out of Newark which was more convenient for him. He arrived in the Twin Cities a few hours before us.

In addition, we had another friend of ours, Steve Fekete aka the Padre Punk who also joined us for most of the trip. He came from Los Angeles. We arrived early so we had to wait a short time for Steve to get in. His plane arrived a little late.

Now with everybody together the dream was ready to be realized.

We went from the Twin Cities through the corn fields of Iowa. We passed through Hannibal, Missouri, home of Mark Twain on our way to St. Louis, the Gateway to the West. We continued across the show me state to Kansas City, Missouri as well as Kansas City, Kansas. We continued back up to the Twin Cities via Des Moines, Iowa.

In typical royalty fashion we covered a huge chunk of the country in a short period of time.

Stay tuned for the details of this memorable weekend.

Yours truly,

Prince Charming

Sunday, July 18, 2010

Our Journey ends by hitting "Rockbottom"

After leaving Target Field we went back to the car.

We proceeded to get our gas and off to the airport we went.

We returned the car to Hertz and we went to check in for our flight on Delta Airlines back to New York LaGuardia airport.

We had plenty of time but due to weather somewhere in the country our flights were delayed 20 minutes.

It was no big deal. It just meant we had more time to have a nice happy ending dinner before we departed the Twin Cities.

 I picked up a directory so we had different options to choose from.

We gave our friend Bryan Gilligan the choice.

He decided we should hit Rockbottom.

In other words, the Rockbottom Brewery.

We went in and enjoyed our farewell dinner.

I ordered a Hickory Burger that was topped with bacon, cheese and barbeque sauce.

The King, Bryan and Lloyd opted for chicken wings.

We had some beers to wash it down and we were all set to make our way home.

Our friend Lloyd Ramsland parted ways with us since he was flying back to Newark.

We all arrived back safe and sound.

It turned out to be another successful adventure that we can talk about with others down the road.

 I hope you enjoyed following this story and as much as I have been writing it.

If you had any doubts of the royalty way of operating I hope these segments put them to rest.

In the future, if you want to be part of the fun just let me know so I can make it happen for you.

If you want to do something on your own with your friends and/or family, I'll be more than happy to set you up in royalty like fashion.

That's all up to you.

In the meantime, royalty will keep rolling on with or without you.

Thank you for following along and please share your thoughts good, bad or indifferent.

I welcome your feedback.

Anything I can do to make things even better I will do to accomodate you. You just have to let me know.

Yours truly,

Prince Charming

Roadtrippers reunite at Target Field!

Twins win!



We spent the night in Des Moines, Iowa at a Super 8 on our way back to the Twin Cities for the grand finale of this epic excursion.

If you've been following along you can tell we were having a blast.

With that being said, we decided to save our best for last.

We arrived back in Minneapolis around Noon.

We had to fight some ballpark traffic but by 12:15PM we were back where we started the trip that being a short walk from Target Field.

We parked for free again and we were in position to get gas at the Holiday gas station which was a stone's throw from the car before we headed back to the airport to catch our 7PM flight home.

We proceeded to walk over to Target Field to meet up with some more very special people.

Those people were none other than Andrew & Peter Farrell aka USRT.

In case, you don't know what that stands for, they are the Ultimate Sports Road Trip as they call themselves.

Here's the link to their website and blog:

http://www.thesportsroadtrip.com/

In addition, we also saw a few guys who were originally from Ottawa, Canada.

They were Sean MacDonald who now resides in Tokyo, Japan and has since 1996.

Sean is a great guy who gave me the the final push to get my blog started.

He has traveled all over North America as well as other parts of the World to see live sporting events.

Here's the link to his blog:

http://www.sportsroadtrips.blogspot.com/

Please feel free to check out his great blog.

He was joined by his friend Peter Sharp who he refers to as "Sharpy".

Peter is a good guy as well we met him for the first time last year when he joined Sean in his visit to New Yankee Stadium.

We went over to Target Field to meet these guys to get our tickets that we were able to purchase for face value thanks to the Twins Vice President of Marketing, Patrick Klinger.

I want to personally thank Patrick Klinger for accomodating us and allowing us all to sit together for this special occasion.

We all had a great time reliving our past adventures throughout the game.

As for the game, we saw an amazing finish to another fabulous journey.

The hometown Twins won the game in their last at bat.

They were down 6-3 and they stormed all the way back against White Sox closer Bobby Jenks who blew the save.

Alex Rios threw the ball away that allowed the winning run to score with the bases loaded and no out in the bottom of the ninth inning.

What a way to end the game and our getaway.

As you can see in the picture it was a very happy bunch of Twins.

After that we were on our way to the airport to catch our flight as was Andrew & Peter.

As for Sean & Peter, they were continuing their trip through the Midwest.

Please check their websites and blogs for in depth analysis of Target Field.

These guys did a tremendous job of breaking it down and they posted a number of pictures to give you a real feel for it. But nothing beats seeing it for your own eyes.

Stay tuned for one last segment on this trip.

Yours truly,

Gary Herman

Saturday, July 17, 2010

Heartland hospitality thanks to Dorothy Straney and company!

As I mentioned in the Gates BBQ post, we met up with some very special people.

Those people were Dorothy Straney, her Mom and her boyfriend Joel.

Back on August 13, 1993, the King & I were in Chicago wrapping up a monster baseball trip that started on the West Coast.

After seeing a number of games in California we stopped off in Chicago on the way home.

When we were in San Diego, we saw  the Padres play a double header on August 6, 1993 at old Jack Murphy Stadium as it was called back then.

While we were there we met a lady named Mary Alice.

We starting talking to her and we told her our game plan.

She said she had a friend who works for the Cubs.

She arranged to get us a pair of free tickets to the Cubs & Giants game that afternoon.

I went to the will call window to pick up the tickets she had left for the King & I.

We decided to walk up a few blocks towards the subway where they have souvenir stores. We went into one of them to look around.

I noticed a lady wearing a KC Royals shirt.

The Royals happened to be in town as well since they were playing the White Sox on the south side that night.

Being a pocket schedule collector, I asked this particular lady if she had a Royal pocket schedule.

She said no I don't but if you give me your name & address I'll mail you one.

Little did I know that our relationship over all these years would grow just from asking for a pocket schedule.

More proof that it never hurts to ask or try.

If I didn't say anything, we would have never met.

17 years later we got to see each other once again.

Mind you over the years we've taken turns meeting up with each other.

Dot as we call her, is a truly caring loving person.

She was blessed to have a great mother.

Her Mom, who usually accompanies her is an absolute doll.

The last some many years she met a nice guy named Joel who had the luxury of coming to New York City for the first time in May 2008 during fleet week.

Needless to say, royalty rolled out the red carpet to make his first visit as memorable as possible.

Dot went to a bunch of broadway shows that week to fulfill one of her many dreams.

We all went out for dinner together.

Afterwards, I had the privilege of taking her Mom and Joel to see old Yankee Stadium.

 I made sure that they were able to meet up with Dot after her Broadway show.

I escorted them on the train so everything worked out perfectly. Dot was so grateful that I was so willing to do so. That's just a sample of what royal treament is all about.

Now with the shoe on the other foot, Dot made sure that she made time to see us and she made sure that we didn't get lost by following us to the highway via a short cut after the Royal game.

I had mentioned to her that I wanted to possibly have a shake at Steak 'N' Shake on my way towards our hotel.

She said he have to go to Hi Boy which is a take out place which has burgers and great shakes andwas right near the ballpark.

We decided to take her advice and she came with us to made sure we found it from where we were parked in the parking lot before we headed to Des Moines, Iowa to sleep on our way back to the Twin Cities.

I want to thank Dot, her Mom and Joel for their great heartland hospitality.

Most importantly, it was an absolute pleasure to see them all again.

Thank you for making time for royalty.

She said she's planning to possibly come back to NYC at the end of December. If so, royalty will be welcoming them with open arms.

Salute to the Old KC Athletics!

Salute to the KC Athletics

While we were in Kansas City, we saw the Athletics play the Royals.

In honor of their past, they did a salute to the Athletics who played in KC back in the day.

It was a nice touch.

As for the game, the Royals fell short losing to the Athletics, 6-5!

KC Royals Super Fan Chris Coats

Super Fan Chris Coats


After eating at Gates BBQ, we went over to newly renovated Kauffman Stadium.

The last time we were there on April 2, 2007 we saw the Red Sox play the Royals on Opening Day. In addition, we met a young lad named Chris Coats.

He told me he wanted to travel around to see the different baseball parks.

Later that summer he came to the Northeast to see the Royals play the Red Sox in Fenway Park.

He contacted me and I arranged to guide him along so he could meet him by my office since he was coming to New York City for the first time to see the Royals play the Yankees.

I took out him out to lunch at Manganaro's Hero Boy. For more details, see my post which is also in my restaurant reviews section.

The last few years Chris has become a celebrity following the Royals around the country.

Chris has a Royal cape that he wears as he makes his rounds.

He is recognized as "Superfan".

He's on facebook and he posts his whereabouts there.

He was recently on TV during a segment on the local news in Kansas City.

Royalty had the privilege of seeing him again.

I look forward to seeing him down the road in the future.

Keep up the good work, Chris.

He refers to his travels as Midwest Field of Dreams Tours.

If you happen to be out in the heartland, please feel free to contact Chris.

The Gio Gonzalez watch continued in KC!


Gio Gonzalez






In a previous post, I wrote a piece on Oakland Athletics starting pitcher Gio Gonzalez.

When I was writing that post I somehow forgot that I was going to see the Athletics in Kansas City.

After I posted it I realized that it had slipped my mind.

Luckily I caught myself and I made sure upon entering Kauffman Stadium when the gates opened that I went down to see Gio.

Despite the sun beaming down, I still was able to get his attention.

We started talking and a few moments later a ball came his way.

He proceeded to toss it up to me. It was a pleasant surprise and a nice gesture by Gio.

He said after batting practice, he would come back and sign it.

True to his word, he did.

In addition, I had him sign my scorebook again as well. I wished him well.

Ironically we were in St. Louis the night before. I looked at the out of town scoreboard and I was beside myself. Gio was pitching.

He threw 7 innings giving up just one run and he picked up the victory.

Quite amazingly like in the past and most recently when we were in Cleveland just 2 weeks ago, Gio pitched the night before as well. He pitched great that night too. I can't get to see him pitch in the major leagues live.

In a way it was a blessing because he told me like most pitchers they don't sign autographs on the day they pitch. So in that regard it was a blessing in disguise.

I will continue to follow Gio's progress.

The other day he beat the Red Sox despite giving up four runs in 6 innings. He improved his record this season to 9-6 with a 3.75 earned run average.

Keep up the good work, Gio.

The way things are going he's in the major leagues to stay. He will turn 25 on September 19th so his future should be very bright.

I look forward to seeing him again somewhere down the road.

Kauffman Stadium after the renovation!

Renovated Outfield at Kauffnan Stadium



Back in 1988, I went to Royals Stadium as it was called back then.

In addition, they played on artificial turf.

In 1996, when I was there they had natural grass which made a great ballpark even better.

This time I was there for my 10th game, this time the ballpark was different once again.

In the previous visits, the outfield backdrop consisted of patches of real grass surrounded by water fountains which made for a gorgeous setting along with their big black & white scoreboard.

With this recent renovation, they enclosed the outfield area and created additional seating along with a party deck as you can see in the picture. They kept the water fountains out there as well to maintain the beauty of the backdrop. Furthermore, they modernized the huge scoreboard out in center field which is now very colorful.

With this latest addition, the Royals were awarded the 2012 Major League Baseball All-Star Game.

Baseball will still be in Kansas City for many years to come.

I strongly suggest that if you haven't been there that you make an effort to do so.

Needless to say, if you need any assistance yours truly is here to help make it happen.

Gates BBQ: Kansas City's Own

Gates BBQ




















After we went to the Negro Leagues Museum, we had to meet some people at 2PM at Gates.

Gates Bar-B-Q came highly recommended by Steve Fekete.

He comes to KC every year and he lives in this place it seems.

It was time for Royalty to give it a try to see if it meets the high standards that I set.

We wound up meeting some of Steve's friends which included a guy named Brian Acklin.

Brian has been to every KC Royal home game since August 1984.

The first time we met Brian was Opening Day on April 2, 2007 against the Red Sox. We were also joined by a lady named Dorothy Straney who we knew from Spring Hill, Kansas. She brought her Mom and her boyfriend Joel with her.

I will do a separate post in detail about these special people.

Once we got done saying hello to each other, we were ready to order our food.

My Meal
In typical heartland fashion, we were greeted by the Gates signature greeting,"Hi, may I help you?" in their heartland accent.

Since we skipped breakfast that morning I was hungry to say the least.

I proceeded to order a sandwich called turkey and a half per Steve's recomendation. It came stacked with turkey and barbeque sauce.
In addition, I had a side order of steak fries.

I noticed a pie that looked like pumpkin it was called yammer pie.

Dorothy told me since you like pumpkin you'll like it it's similar.

Needless to say, she didn't steer me wrong.

After finishing my meal, I can see why Steve loves going to this place.

If you happen to be in the Kansas City area and you like barbeque food, I suggest that you give Gates a try so you can see for yourself.

To wet your appettite, here's the link to their website:


I took a peek before we left and I couldn't wait to get there.

Stay tuned for the next segment of this epic getaway.

The Negro Leagues Baseball Museum in KC!


The Negro Leagues Baseball Museum 



















After we saw the Cardinal game we drove towards KC per our friend Steve Fekete's request.

Kansas City here we come via I-70.

It brought back fond memories of when the King & I raced back and forth from St. Louis and KC back on August 5 & 6, 1992.

We saw the Cardinals play that Wednesday afternoon then we drove to KC to to see the Royals that play that night. On Thursday we saw the Royals play in the afternoon then we drove back to St. Louis to see the Cardinals play again that night. It was a nice ride going across the Show Me State.

This time we stayed in Grain Valley, Missouri at a Travelodge which was only 24 miles from downtown KC.

Saturday morning we woke up and drove into Kansas City not once but twice.

If you don't know Kansas City is in 2 states, Missouri and Kansas. We took a ride into Kansas so we could get some gas to help the local economy and to make sure our friend Bryan Gilligan could step foot in a new state, Kansas.

On the way back we stopped off in Downtown KC on the Missouri side and we visited the Negro Leagues Baseball Museum.

Sad to say way back in the day, blacks weren't allowed to play in the Major Leagues. They had played in their own League known as the Negro Leagues. Many great black players like Josh Gibson, Buck O'Neill and Satchel Paige weren't given an opportunity to showcase their talent in the Major Leagues.

It was an educational experience to see how these players were discriminated against.

Unfortunately we weren't able to take pictures inside the museum.

If you happen to be in Kansas City and you're a big time baseball fan, I strongly suggest that you take in this experience. It will be very worthwhile for you.

In addition, if you like American Jazz there's a museum there too.

Stay tuned as the journey continues.

Friday, July 16, 2010

The Gateway to the West!

View of the Arch from Busch Stadium


















After leaving the Twin Cities, we headed towards St. Louis, Missouri.

I drove almost 600 miles to get there. It was  time consuming but it was relatively easy going through the cornfields of Iowa.

After driving 240 miles we stopped in Waterloo to get some sleep at Super 8.

Friday morning we got up and had some breakfast and continued onward to the Show Me State.

Along the way, we stopped off at the ballpark in Cedar Rapids to take a break and see the park fast.

We got back on the road and we passed through Hannibal, Missouri which was the home of Mark Twain.

After running into a few slight traffic delays near the St. Louis airport we parked the car by a meter in downtown St. Louis just before 6 o'clock.

We fed the meter 80 cents and we walked towards the ballpark.

I wound up going to TGIF Friday's to meet my friend Don Steiger & his son Donnie who are from the area.

They also arranged to buy the tickets for the game for us back in March on a presale.

As for dinner, I had myself a nice rack of baby back ribs with broccoli and cole slaw. I washed it down with a Budweiser.

Being in Anheuser Busch country, it was only appropriate to do so.

When I was done I didn't even have to pay. Much to my surprise, Don & Donnie treated me to dinner. I was thankful and grateful for this unexpected gesture.

That was very nice of them. Good people are hard to find but Royalty finds a way.

Last year I arranged to get them tickets to see their Cardinals play at Citi Field.

Next year I plan to accomodate them at Yankee Stadium.

As for the game we saw, the Cardinals beat the Dodgers 8-4!

Stay tuned for the next installment.

Steve Fekete aka The Padre Punk

Steve Fekete (Padre Punk)

Here's our a picture of our friend Steve Fekete who met us in Minneapolis.

He's originally from a Northwest surburb of Chicago.

We met him 5 years ago when he was living in Phoenix, Arizona.

Now he resides in Anaheim, California which is 90 miles from his favorite baseball team, the San Diego Padres. We refer to him as the "Padre Punk".

He's notorious for causing trouble especially when he goes to Dodger Stadium to see the hated Dodgers or "Dogs" as he calls them play his Padres.

Being so big and full of muscle he can get away with being trouble maker.

Ironically the Cardinals were playing the Dodgers when we were there so he brought his Padres towel that says "Beat LA" as you can see in the picture.

He stood out in rightfield and every time the Cardinals scored he started waving his towel. It didn't take long before his had a new found fan club.

He also enjoyed harrassing some Dog fans as well.

He had plenty of fun doing his thing. Royalty attracts fans of all kinds.

Thursday, July 15, 2010

Target Field - the new home of the Twins

Target Field
After spending the last 29 years indoors the Minnesota Twins have a ballpark that has green grass and blue skies.

After three tries, they finally hit the "bullseye."

Target Field is the brand new of home of the Twins.It's conveniently located right downtown in Minneapolis. It's right next door to the Target Center which is the home of the Minnesota Timberwolves. With the addition of a light rail, getting to and from the area is very easy for the locals.

Royalty didn't utilize that option. We were driving everywhere. As for parking, we found a close space on the street just a short walk away from the ballpark.

In addition, there was a Holiday gas station right there and a convenience store to accomodate our last minute needs.

Upon arrival we proceeded to walk to the ballpark.

We passed right by the light rail which is located out in left field.

We then walked around the outside of the park which was my 56th major league park.

The King & I once again can proudly say we've been to every current park.

As for the outside of the park, it was well decorated with plenty of Minnesota Twins history through the years.

We waited patiently for the gates to open so we can take a birdseye view of the inside.

This park has its uniqueness to it. It had a yellowish tan look to it. They said it's known as Minnesota Rock.

As a whole, this is a rather impressive place to see a game.

We had the privilege of seeing two of them.

The first one ironically for me was that they were playing the Chicago White Sox.

Back on August 24, 1989, I saw my first Twin game in the Metrodome.

They played the White Sox that day too. The Twins wound up winning 6-4 that afternoon.

On this night we saw a seesaw battle that the White Sox holding on to win, 8-7!

Stay tuned as the royalty experience continues.

Mall of America Field formerly the Metrodome

Mall of America Field
After seeing the actual Mall we headed to downtown Minneapolis.

We stopped off at the Twins second home which is still in use by the Minnesota Vikings who also used to play at Metropolitan Stadium as well.

The Hubert H. Humphrery Metrodome as it was once known is now called Mall of America Field.

I saw 5 baseball games and 1 football game there.

Mall of America in Bloomington

Home Plate at Mall of America
After we ate lunch we decided to take a ride back near the airport in Bloomington.

We went to the Mall of America which was the site of the Minnesota Twins first home in the Twin Cities.

We wanted to see if we could find home plate.

As you can tell by the picture we were successful in doing so.

We also found a red seat that was located high up on a wall near the log chute.

Yes, that's right the Mall has a Nickelodeon Universe amusement park in it.

The only other Mall I've seen something like that was back in March 1998 when the King & I went to the West Edmonton Mall. That Mall even had a casino in it. It was beyond belief.

Metropolitan Stadium was closed back in 1981. Unfortunately I didn't get to see a game there.

Back on January 12, 1989 I did get to go to the Met Center which was the former of the Minnesota North Stars. I saw Mario Lemieux and the Pittsburgh Penguins play that night.

It once was a nice sports complex, now it's a Mall with an amusement park.

Shamrock's in St. Paul, Minnesota

Shamrock's
We were checking out of Hertz to start our journey for the weekend.

Our friend  Steve asked the attendant do you know where can we get burgers.

The young man responded go to Shamrock's. It's located at 7th Street & Randolph.

So we left the Hertz parking lot and off to find Shamrock's.

We drove down highway 5 which took us right by Shamrock's.

The exact address is 995 West 7th Street.

We parked the car and we went in.

The luck of the Irish was on our side.

Since we were hungry it was great way to start the trip. It was around 1:30PM in the afternoon. The place had a good number of people in it. Our waiter came right over to us and he took great care of us.

The menu was rather extensive to say the least. They had a wide variety of choices to choose from. They had a number of salads to go along with steaks, fish, chicken, pizza and a slew of burgers.

Since it was lunch time we all ordered different kinds of burgers. It was quite amazing the variety of burgers that had to choose from.

I wound up ordering a St. Patrick's Day Rueben burger which had corned beef, swiss cheese & sauerkraut on it. I opted to pass on the 1,000 island dressing that it also came with. The burger included their homemade fries as well which were outrageous.

Needless to say, I was a very satisfied customer. For that matter, so was everybody else.

Upon departing, I saw a gentleman at the register and I told him how great the food was.

That gentleman happened to be Ted Casper who is one of the owners along with Mike Runyon.

They have another place called the Irish Nook.

I highly recommend if you happen to be in the Twin Cities, that you make sure you go to Shamrock's or the Irish Nook.

Here's the link to their website to further wet your appetitte.

http://www.crshamrocks.com/

If you happen to see Ted Casper tell him Royalty sent you from New York.

Royalty in lights at Hertz!

Nissan XTerra








Upon arrival in the Twin Cities, we made our way to Hertz to pick up our wheels for the weekend.


Since I'm a Club Gold Five Star member, I had my name in lights like O.J. Simpson did back in the day.

That's number 430 if you didn't know.

We wound up getting a SUV, Nissan XTerra 4X4 even though I reserved a full size car. It was a welcomed upgrade.

We did have 5 of us for most of the weekend. So we made it work for us.

It had only 115 miles when we started. It had 1,471 miles upon return. You can do the math. That's 1,356 miles that I drove.

Now you must be wondering how much this could have cost us.

Well you won't believe it was it was only $61.44 for the 4 days.

How could that be?

With yours truly behind the wheel and doing the planning, deals like these get done.

Stay tuned for the next installment of this memorable weekend out in the Midwest.








Sunday, July 11, 2010

Schedule for w/o 7/12

Here's the game plan for the week ahead:

Monday Batavia at Staten Island 7PM

Tuesday I'll be home watching the MLB All Star Game from Anaheim

Wednesday Mahoning Valley at Brooklyn 7PM

Thursday White Sox at Twins 7:05PM

Friday Dodgers at Cardinals 7:15PM

Saturday Athletics at Royals 6:10PM

Sunday White Sox at Twins 1:05PM

It should be an incredible week especially from Thursday on.

Please check back to see how it turned out.

Hope you have a great week as well.

Yours truly,

Prince Charming

Royalty w/o 7/5 in review

This past week I basically stayed home, my summer home that is.

I went to 6 games at Citi Field this past week.

They played 3 games Monday, Tuesday & Wednesday against the surprising Cincinnati Reds. The Mets wound up losing 2 out of 3.

Johan Santana pitched a complete game 3 hit shutout to get their lone victory.

Thursday night I decided it was better to say home and rest up instead of running to Brooklyn to see the Cyclones.

I'm sorry Sean for disappointing you.

Speaking of disappointment, I put the radio on so I could hear what LeBron James was going to do.

I stayed close to home this week.

I was hoping LeBron would do the same but apparently the statement "there's no place like home" doesn't make LeBron happy.

He told a national audience in a spectacle that he's running away to South Beach.

Rightfully so his jersey was seen burning by his fans in Cleveland.

In retrospect, LeBron betrayed his hometown and his faithful fans.

It's not about the money he said. It's about winning a championship. Well he should have stayed home and brought the championship home then.

After all, he's considered the greatest basketball player of modern time.

In my eyes, he's no Michael Jordan or Kobe Bryant.

Friday night I was back at Citi Field to see the division rival Atlanta Braves.

My Cousin Andy joined me to celebrate his birthday.

Despite the Mets losing again, he had a great time together.

We went to Donovan's Pub in Woodside after the game as well.

I told him how good their pork chops are.

They only serve them on Friday nights as a special.

Needless to say, we were satisfied customers.

Please free feel to see my previous post about Donovan's.

It will tell you all you need to know.

Saturday the Mets lost again to the Braves.

Afterwards it was back to Donovan's for a post game dinner.

 Today the Mets thanks to Johan Santana were able to salvage a game from the Braves. Santana threw 7 more shutout innings picking up the victory in the 3-0 win. Ike Davis supplied the power with a home run just to the left of the Apple in centerfield as you can see in the picture.

 Thanks for following along.

 Stay tuned for the schedule for the week ahead.

Yours truly,

Prince Charming

Bob Sheppard: Remembering a NY Legend

Bob Sheppard
Today 7/11/10 was a very sad day in New York sports.

We lost a legend who was the known as "the voice of Yankee Stadium" who spent 56 years from 1951-2007 behind the mike there.

He also did the public address for NY Giants football as well.

Yankee baseball and Giant football hasn't been the same the last few years since he retired due to health reasons.

Today Bob Sheppard passed away at the tender age of 99.

He will always be remembered. May he rest in peace.

Bob, thank you for all the memories you give us over the years.

His voice will continue to be heard everytime Derek Jeter bats at Yankee Stadium since he had a recording done of his signature introduction.

 Now batting number 2, Derek Jeter, number 2.

In his honor when they announce the defensive alignment the players do so in just like Bob would have.

He was notorious for blurting out random names.

It was great to listen to his distinct voice.

When he did Giant games I always loved when he would say and I quote "ball carried by Way" in reference to Giants running back Charles Way.

Another notable call was when a player ran and got tackled Bob would say "spilled by". He was unique and be solely missed.

The legendary voice of God is long gone.

Thursday, July 8, 2010

Next Stop: Target Field for Royalty 7/15

Next Stop: Target Field
One week from tonight Royalty will finally be on "Target".

Tonight LeBron makes his announcement so I figured I would make ours too.

We will be seeing the Twins play the Chicago White Sox.

As a result, we will once again be able to say that Royalty is back in the unique company of those fellow baseball fans who can say they've been to every current major league ballpark.

It will be Major League Park number 56 for me.

Ironically the first time I went to the Metrodome to see the Twins back in August 1989 they played the White Sox as well.

This trip will start and finish at Target Field on Sunday July 18th. We'll be in the Show Me State on Friday & Saturday watching the Cardinals & the Royals play.

It's going to be a blast.

So be ready to check back for all the details and surprises that we may come across along the way.

Like the lottery, hey you never know.