Royalty Tours USA

Sunday, July 31, 2011

Royalty schedule w/o 8/1

Here's the game plan:

Monday August 1st Marlins at Mets 7:10PM

Tuesday August 2nd Marlins at Mets 7:10PM

Wednesday August 3rd Marlins at Mets 7:10PM

Friday August 5th Braves at Mets 7:10PM

Saturday August 6th Braves at Mets 7:10PM

Sunday August 7th Braves at Mets 1:10PM

Check back to see how it played out.

Hope all my readers and followers have a great week.

As always, if you need assistance don't hesitate to ask.

Stay tuned for the rest of the road trip recaps from my guest blogger Paul Derrick. Trust me it will definitely be worth the wait.

If you like to tweet you can follow me on Twitter too. @royaltytoursusa

Furthermore, we can hook up on Facebook and/or Four Square as well.

With all the ways to communicate these days, we should be always be in touch. Remember team work makes the dream work.

Yours truly,

Gary Herman

Saturday, July 30, 2011

The Journey goes on


After a nice little stay in Aberdeen we cruised over to Ripken Stadium to take a glance at where the Aberdeen Ironbirds play. After that Gary, Mike and I headed out toward Philadelphia for the first part of our doubleheader.

We made it easily into Philadelphia andwalked over towards Citizens Bank Park, the home of the Philadelphia Phillies. Once we got into the game I got to meet up with some of Royalty's fellow roadtrippers Frankie Centola, Frank Anichiarico, Phil Butleman and Bryan Gilligan. The game interestingly was Christmas in July day. Santa Claus and the Phillie Phanatic were in full Christmas attire. Unfortunately San Diego didn't have a win to give the Phillies as Cliff Lee and the Phillies fell short 5 to 4. After the game, Mike headed back with Bryan to New York to catch the Yankees and Gary and I headed towards Wilmington, Delaware to see the Wilmington Blue Rocks in action.
 
Before the game, Gary and I met up with Ballpark E-Guide author, Kurt Smith. We caught a meal across from the ballpark at Joe's Crab Shack it was a definite feast well worth the cost. We then headed over to the ballgame to see the Wilmington Blue Rocks host the Potomac Nationals. Unfortunately for us it wasn't meant to be as the game was called due to rain after 4 innings. It was a great visit though as we had some great company to enjoy it with. After the game, Gary and I headed towards Hancock, Maryland to spend the night as we had a long trip to Cincinnati the next day.

Thursday, July 28, 2011

The Journey Continues

The Journey Continues
 
The Journey continued as we headed from Somerset, PA to Baltimore for a another first visit for me, as we headed out for our first doubleheader on this journey. We would be visiting Camden Yards in Baltimore for the first part then visiting the Orioles AA affiliate, the Bowie Baysox in the evening.
 
We got a little bit of a late start heading to Baltimore so I was afraid I wouldn't get to enjoy the royal breakfast at the Eichenkranz Restaurant, but boy was I wrong. Royalty Tours has its perks. Breakfast at Eichenkranz usually ends at 11:30, we made them aware we were on the way and they extended their great breakfast another thirty minutes for us. If you are in Baltimore a meal at Eichenkranz is a must, it is great food at a very affordable price. When we stopped at Eichenkranz I got to meet up with some of Royaltys' fans, Peter and Carmen Agnew. Both Peter and Carmen are great people and made this breakfast even more worthwhile for me.
 
As for the game at Camden Yards it was unfortunately another blowout loss for the home team. The Orioles kept the game pretty close till the 8th inning when the Angels put 5 runs on the board. Three of those runs were attributed to MLB's number one prospect Mike Trout's first career major league homer. The final count was the Angels 9 and the Orioles 3. It was another interesting game in which Royalty met some new friends. During the first inning a gentleman two rows behind us asked if we kept our ticket stubs. At that time we got into conversation and introduced ourselves to the gentleman and went over some of the King and Prince's credentials. The man's name was Steve Porcelius and he was on a Winnebago baseball road trip with his two boys and his brother in law Mark and his son.
 
After that game we headed 30 miles south to Bowie for the second game of the doubleheader. After game one we stopped right by Bowie and had a light pre-game meal at McDonalds. Then we headed over to Prince George's Stadium to watch the Bowie Baysox play the Trenton Thunder. When we arrived Trenton's radio play by play announcer Hank Fuerst made sure to note to listeners that a special guest the Strikeout Man (Mike Casiano) was in the house. As for the game. it was close one that Trenton pulled off in the top of the 9th thanks to a wild pitch. The final in that one was Trenton 5 and Bowie 4. We then headed back into Baltimore and had some great burgers at Looney's Pub then headed into Aberdeen to get some sleep and refuel our bodies before heading out on another doubleheader Monday, the Philadelphia Phillies and the Wilmington Blue Rocks.

Sunday, July 24, 2011

Pittsburgh Update

Day 2 of Journey
Well yesterday morning we got all packed up and headed towards Pittsburgh. We made a smart stop about 25 miles outside Pittsburgh and had a delicious four course meal at a King's Family Restaurant, we ate like royalty at a great price.
 
As for the game, St. Louis came out hot scoring two runs in the first and never looked back. My boy Big Puma hit a three run homer in the fifth as the Cardinals chased Pittsburgh's Kevin Correia out after 4 2/3 innings after giving up seven earned runs. The Cardinals' Jaime Garcia had another quality start as he pitched 7 1/3 innings and only allowed eight hits and one earned run striking out five. The Cardinals easily won taking game two of the series, 9 to 1.

After the game we headed southeast toward Somerset which is about three or four miles from the 9/11 plane crash in Pennsylvania. We got into the Day's Inn in Somerset right around midnight and bedded down to recharge our batteries for our trip to Baltimore and our first doubleheader of the trip.

The Journey has begun

Well the trip has started and it definitely started with a bang. After making my way flawlessly to New York I dropped off my bags at the King's (Mike Casiano) place I headed toward Manhattan to meet up with the Prince (Gary Herman).
I met up with Gary around 2 and had a little time to burn till he got off work, so I burned some time cruising around Times Square. After Gary got off work we headed to Yankee Stadium and thats when the royal treatment began.Gary showed me how to beat the high ballpark stadium fares by grabbing a great sandwich at Court Deli Restaurant before the game and taking it inside the ballpark. We then took the "Royal" entrance into Yankee Stadium.
 
Oakland jumped out to an early lead but quickly fell flat on their face as the Yankees started blasting starting pitcher Trevor Cahill in the second. Cahill only ended up making it 2 innings and gave up a monstrous 10 runs, including a homer to Nick Swisher and a grand slam to Mark Teixiera. After it was all over it was an NFL score in the books as the Yankees won 17 to 7. Today Mike, Gary and I packed our bags and headed to Pittsburgh to see the Cardinals play the Pirates.

Thursday, July 21, 2011

Royalty w/o 7/18 in review

Mets win, 6-5 in 10 thanks to Angel Pagan
Monday night I went out to Citi Field after work to see the Mets play the Florida Marlins in a make up game.

The Mets fell behind in this one as Marlins' right fielder Mike Stanton hit a bomb to give the Fish a 2-0 lead. That proved to be the difference as the Marlins won the game, 4-1.

Tuesday night after work I went back to Citi Field to see the St. Louis Cardinals who were making their one & only visit this season.

The King and I were joined by our friend Mike Klein who was there with his nephew Joe Klein. It was great to see them again. We enjoyed each other's company throughout the game.

As for the game we saw, the Mets tagged Cardinals starter Kyle Lohse for four runs as Angel Pagan and Daniel Murphy both hit two run doubles. The Mets went on to deck the Cards, 4-2.

Wednesday night I went back to Citi Field to see the Mets play the Cardinals again. My boy Vincent Ascanio was in the house as well.

The Mets fell behind 4-0 early. They chipped away to slice the lead in half. They wound up tying the game at 4. The Cardinals regained the lead in the top of the eighth inning, 5-4. The Mets came back again to tie the game at 5.

The game went into extra innings. Angel Pagan of the Mets sent the natives home happy when he delivered a game winning home run to give the Mets a dramatic hard fought 6-5 victory.

Thursday night I went home after work to rest up and pack for my big road trip with Paul Derrick who was coming in from Houston, Texas.

Stay tuned for daily updates from the road as Paul will be my guest blogger during our journey.

Thank you for reading and following along.

Yours truly,

Gary Herman

Jason Grilli is returning to the Big Show with the Pittsburgh Pirates!

The other day I found out the great news I was waiting to hear for almost two months. That is Jason Grilli is coming back to the Major Leagues where he belongs.

Thanks to a special clause in his contract and his great work with the Lehigh Valley Iron Pigs, the AAA affiliate of the Philadelphia Phillies this season, he got the call he's been waiting for.

Jason has fought long and hard for this day to come. He overcame a knee injury which forced him out of action for the entire 2010 season. He was also slowed down by a minor injury back in May this year. Despite that minor setback, he's back.

He will be joining the Pittsburgh Pirates tomorrow when they open a series against their division rival, the St. Louis Cardinals.

The irony of the situation is that Jason will be reunited with his old manager Clint Hurdle who managed the Colorado Rockies back in 2008 when Jason pitched for them.

In addition, the big royal road trip starts in Pittsburgh on Saturday night. With that being said, the timing for Jason in my eyes couldn't have come at a better time. I hope to be able to see him again during batting practice. If I don't, I hope I get to see his Pirates' debut in relief.

Regardless if I see him in person during batting practice and/or on the mound, I want to wish him only the very best in the future.

The lesson to be learned here is that perseverance pays off in the long run. Don't give up on your dreams. Keep plugging away and you'll eventually make them happen.

Jason did and now he will continue to strike out the competition on and off the field.

I'll be tracking his appearances every game he pitches as the Pirates continue their Cinderella season in Pittsburgh. Let's Go Bucs!

For more takes on Jason's return to the "Big Show". Please see below:

http://blogs.mcall.com/ironpigs/2011/07/ironpigs-about-to-lose-grilli-.html

http://www.whygavs.com/pittsburgh-pirates/july-2011/pirates-acquire-jason-grilli-says-jason-grilli.html

As always, thank you for reading and following along.

Yours truly,

Gary Herman

Wednesday, July 20, 2011

Boston Red Sox will play New York Yankees on Fenway Park's 100th anniversary, according to a source

Please read the link below regarding the 2012 Boston Red Sox schedule.

As always, Royalty is on top of the news as it begins to leak out.

If you need my assistance in making things happen for you, just let me know and I'll do my very best.

http://espn.go.com/boston/mlb/story/_/id/6786935/boston-red-sox-play-new-york-yankees-fenway-park-100th-anniversary-according-source

Thank you for reading and following along.

Yours truly,

Gary Herman

Tuesday, July 19, 2011

Revised 2011-2012 NBA Schedule

To all my readers and followers,

The revised 2010-2011 NBA schedule has been released:

Please see the link below for all the details:

http://www.nba.com/gameline/20111225/

Click on the arrows to see the different dates as time goes on or select a specific date and/or team.

If you need any assistance don't hesitate to ask or consult me that's why this blog is here.

If I can make a difference in your life I will, all I ask for is a fair opportunity to do so.

Stay tuned for my upcoming basketball road trips as well as other creative ones that others may be interested in taking if indeed they find a way to play.

Thank you for your time and consideration.

Yours truly,

Gary Herman

Royalty reunites with ballpark chaser, Sharon McCard at Citi Field!

Sharon McCard with the King and I
Last August when the King and I went to Baltimore to see the Orioles play at Oriole Park at Camden Yards, we got to meet up with another ballpark chaser while we were there. Her name is Sharon McCard and she happens to be a big Met fan even though she lives in Lancaster, Pennsylvania of all places. Ironically my parents have a place there too.

On Saturday afternoon, Sharon showed up at Citi Field for the first time. It was the 25th different ballpark she has been to she said. Some of them she's been to are no longer around. She still has a number of places to get to. She knows when she needs any assistance, royalty is here to help speed up the process.

She wound up driving to Philadelphia where she caught a bus that was taking people to the game. She said she was one of three Met fans that were on the bus. Since the Phillies were playing the Mets, it was an opportunity for their fans to take a road trip to NYC.

As a result, Sharon decided to join them. Even though the Mets lost two of the three games, she picked the right one to attend as it turned out. It must have been a tough ride back for the majority of the people on the bus who saw their Phillies lose.

As for their seats in the ballpark, they were sitting by the home run apple out in centerfield. Wisely she decided to give herself an upgrade. Despite being afraid of heights, she came up to the "royal" box if you will in section 516 row 3 where the King and I sit.

Luckily we had one open seat available for Sharon. She wound up watching most of the game with us. We enjoyed each other's company.

I want to personally thank Sharon for joining us. It was an absolute pleasure to have her.

Hopefully we'll hook up at a ballpark again soon.

Thank you for reading and following along.

Yours truly,

Gary Herman

Monday, July 18, 2011

Royalty w/o 7/11 in review

A Royal view at Citi Field
Thanks to the Major League Baseball All-Star Break, I got some much needed nights off this week.
I went home after work Monday, Tuesday and Thursday night.

Wednesday night I went out to Staten Island after work to see the Staten Island Yankees play at Richmond County Ballpark at St. George.
Thanks to our good friend and big of royalty, Rich Wolber aka Staten Island, the King and I got treated royally on this night.

Rich lives on Staten Island and he has season tickets for the Baby Yankees.

With that being said, he was able to hook up the King and I with not only free tickets to the game but with all the food you can eat too. That also included soft drinks.

We got to enjoy burgers, hot dogs, grilled chicken sandwiches, popcorn and potato chips along with drinks that consisted of Pepsi products.

I want to thank Rich again for accomodating the King and I. As they say, what comes around goes around. Over the years, we've always helped each other out. It's always better to give than receive but this time it was nice to be on the receiving end for a change.

As for the game we saw, the Baby Yankees beat up the State College Spikes, 9-2 in a rather sloppy played game. The game went fast. It took only 2 hours and 8 minutes but we did have a 59 minute rain delay that held the game up in the second inning. With the victory, the Baby Yankees improved their NY-Penn league best record to 20-4.

Friday night I went to Citi Field to see the Mets take on the Phillies to begin the second half of the season.
The King and I were joined by our pal Vincent Ascanio who was in the house too.

The Mets went into the All-Star Break on a losing streak. That trend continued on Friday night as the first place Phillies whipped the Mets, 7-2 behind starting pitcher Vance Worley.

Saturday afternoon we went back for more. This time the Mets returned the favor and clobbered the Phillies, 11-2. They beat up Cole Hamels in the process.

More importantly, the King and I got a visit from a fellow roadtripper. Stay tuned for the special post that I'm going to do regarding that. In addition, we saw Marc Beck, a big fan of royalty who was in attendance as well.

Sunday afternoon we went back to Citi Field to see the rubber match of the three game set with the Phillies. Vincent Ascanio was back for more too. We also had our friend Frankie Centola and his son Frank Jr. were there with us. They came up from Philadelphia to see the game. We arranged to get them tickets. It was great to see them again.

In addition, we saw another season ticket holder who sits in our section, Eric Sternberg who was on hand for this one. Eric is a good guy and he always enjoys our company. In the past, we usually just said hello to each other. This time we actually carried on a lengthy conversation about what the King and I do. Needless to say, he was impressed and amazed. Before we spoke, he had no idea.

As for the game we saw, the Mets fell behind 8-1 in this one. They fought back but they came up short and lost, 8-5 as the Phillies took the series two games to one.

Thank you for reading and following along.

Yours truly,

Gary Herman

Sunday, July 17, 2011

Royalty schedule w/o 7/18

Here's the game plan:

Monday July 18th Marlins at Mets 7:10PM

Tuesday July 19th Cardinals at Mets 7:10PM

Wednesday July 20th Cardinals at Mets 7:10PM

Friday July 22nd Athletics at Yankees 7:05PM

Saturday July 23rd Cardinals at Pirates 7:05PM

Sunday July 24th Angels at Orioles 1:35PM

                          Trenton Thunder at Bowie Bay Sox 6:05PM

Check back to see how it played out.

Hope all my readers and followers have a great week.

As always, if you need assistance don't hesitate to ask.

Stay tuned for my w/o 7/11 in review.

In addition, I'm going to do a special post on another roadtripper who we met at Citi Field.

If you like to tweet you can follow me on Twitter too. @royaltytoursusa

Furthermore, we can hook up on Facebook and/or Four Square as well.

With all the ways to communicate these days, we should be always be in touch. Remember team work makes the dream work.

Yours truly,

Gary Herman

Tuesday, July 12, 2011

Royalty meets up with roadtripper and author of Ballpark E-Guides!

Kurt Smith
Saturday afternoon in the Bronx was historical and memorable for many reasons.

First and foremost, it was my Cousin Andy's birthday so I arranged to get him a ticket to the Yankee game against the Rays.

Secondly, Derek Jeter reached another milestone in his Hall of Fame career.

Last but definitely not least I got to see Kurt Smith, the author and owner of Ballpark E-Guides.

Kurt and I have been in touch for almost a year now. He lives in South Jersey near Cherry Hill which is very close to Philadelphia. We met once before when I went down to Philadelphia to see the Eagles play last December.

He decided a few years ago he wanted to make some extra money and help fellow Americans save money at the same time.

With that being said, he came up with an idea of doing extensive research on how an average joe could afford to attend a baseball game without going broke in the process.

Over the past few years, he has taken road trips with his wife to different ballparks to see a game and do some homework for his business venture.

For the time being, he has 6 different ballpark e-guides available for sale for only $5 each on his website, http://www.ballparkeguides.com/ which is also on my blog list in case you didn't know.

You can choose from Yankee Stadium, Fenway Park and Oriole Park at Camden Yards in the American League. As for the National League, there's Citizens Bank Park, Citi Field and Nationals Park.

He's in the process of adding more to the site including Wrigley Field which I consider the best ballpark on earth.

You must be wondering what a ballpark e-guide is. Well it's a written document that's been put together by Kurt. He goes into thorough detail on how to save money on buying tickets, directions, parking and where to buy food outside the ballpark that you're allowed to bring inside.

By doing what he says, you can actually afford to go to a ballgame and enjoy yourself. In addition, when you leave you still have some money in your pocket to put away for the next time.

All these tips to a ballpark for just $5. How can you go wrong? Just add them to the cart online and you can for them up using PayPal. You'll get the link to download them and you just print them out and you're good to go.

After you go to one game and save a bundle of money then you can go back on his site and tell him what a great idea he has. That way you can join his other satisfied customers.

With the state of the economy being what it is, we all need to save as much as we can to survive in life each and every day.

To prove that his system works, Kurt decided to take the Thrifty Challenge as he called it.

He decided to leave his wife for the day and he "bolted" to NYC on a Bolt bus to put his reputation on the line. Did he ever? He didn't tell me until the last minute that he was coming otherwise I would have secured him a ticket in advance. He decided that in order for his challenge to work, he wanted to do it the hard way.

Normally it wouldn't have been as difficulty but he had the misfortune of going to Yankee Stadium without a ticket for potentially one of the biggest regular season games in recent memory.

He decided he was going to utilize his Yankee Stadium ballpark e-guide tips and tricks to make this happen.

True to his word, he did indeed find a way to make it possible and he wound not spending a fortune either.
I met him inside the ballpark and he told me the story. I was impressed. He told me he had breakfast at the Court Deli Restaurant, which is royalty preferred I might add. That was music to my ears. In matter of fact, my Cousin got a Roast Beef sandwich from there to take into the ballpark too. Needless to say, he was a very satisfied customer.

As for Kurt, he had a blast taking full advantage of all the weapons in his Yankee Stadium ballpark e-guide. He also able to add additional methods to help others in the future save even more money. Furthermore, he got to witness history too. Now that's a tough act to follow.

I think he has a great concept in place. I hope he eventually expands it in due time to cover all the different ballparks.

Thank you for reading and following along.

Yours truly,

Gary Herman

Monday, July 11, 2011

Royalty saw plenty of baseball over the weekend!

First Energy Park - Home of the Lakewood Blueclaws
After seeing history made Saturday afternoon, the King drove my Cousin Andy and I to Lakewood, New Jersey for a minor league doubleheader at First Energy Park.

Since the game in Lakewood also got rained out Friday night, they were scheduled to play two 7 inning games starting at 6:05PM instead of one nine inning game at 7:05PM.

We wound up arriving in Lakewood in the top of the second inning. We should have made it on time but we ran into traffic which made it impossible to do that. The King did a nice job getting us there despite the unplanned delay.

We lucked out that the game went into extra innings and it ended after 9 innings as the Kannapolis Intimidators beat the Lakewood Blueclaws, 8-5.

In the second game, the Blueclaws beat the Intimidators by a score of 3-1.

Besides the two games we saw, we were also treated to a musical tribute to local native Bruce Springsteen and the late great Big Man Clarence Cleamons. They played their music throughout the evening. It made for a more entertaining night.

What a day it was for my Cousin Andy. He had a birthday to remember forever. I'm glad that the King and I were apart of it.

Sunday the King and I went back to the Bronx to see the finale of the rain shortened series between the Yankees and the Tampa Bay Rays. Both teams split the two games they played.. This was the rubber match.

It turned out to be a great pitcher's duel. It lived up to billing for a change. Like in the good old days, both starters James Shields of the Rays and CC Sabathia of the Yankees both pitched a complete game.

The game flew by as both teams matched zeros until the Rays decided to throw the ball away not once but twice in the bottom of the seventh inning. The Yankees took full advantage and capitalized by scoring the only run of the game. They went on to win the game 1-0 and it took only a mere 2 hours and 11 minutes.

In addition to seeing a well played game with enjoyed some great company too. We had our pals Vincent Ascanio and Rich Warnock in the "royal" box with us. It was nice that they were able to join us. Since they're so young, they may not see such a well pitched game again in their lives.

I don't remember the last time I saw both starters finish what they started. In this day and age, it's such a rarity.

Stay tuned as I'm going to write a special post about a roadtripper that does his research to figure out ways to make our national pastime affordable for fans of all ages.

Thank you for reading and following along.

Yours truly,

Gary Herman

Royalty witnesses history again in the Bronx thanks to Derek Jeter!

Welcome to the 3,000 hit club DJ3K
As far as I'm concerned, Derek Jeter is the greatest modern Yankee to don the pinstripes here in the 21st century.

On Saturday afternoon at Yankee Stadium, he once again put his name in the record books. This time he became the first Yankee to reach the 3,000 hit plateau and the 28th player to do so in Major League Baseball history.

He needed two hits to get there. In his first at bat of the game, he singled to left to lead off the game after he worked the count to 3 and 2 against Rays' starter David Price. In his second at bat with one out and nobody on base, he did it again but after fouling off a few pitches he delivered a historical blast that went 420 feet into the first row of the left centerfield bleachers. What a way to accomplish his latest milestone. He joined former Yankee teammate Wade Boggs as the only players to hit a home run for their 3,000th hit. Ironically, Boggs did it as a member of the then Tampa Bay Devil Rays.

For good measure, he added a double and two more singles including one in the bottom of the eighth inning to break a 4-4 tie and it proved to be the game winning hit as the Yankees beat the Tampa Bay Rays, 5-4.

He finished the game 5 for 5. By doing so, he joined former Houston Astro and Long Island native, Craig Biggio as the only players to get 5 hits in the same game that they got their 3,000th hit.

I'm known for writing up great scripts for traveling places but I couldn't have imagined a more perfect way to script this day.

To be perfectly honest, I was speechless. This was another incredible day to be a true baseball fan or observer if you will.

To top it off, it was my Cousin Andy's birthday. He told me a few months that he wanted to spend his special day with me. I told him I'm going to make that happen. I got him a ticket for the Yankee game and he saw history. He was so grateful and thankful that I made it possible for him to be there. That's what being treated like royalty is all about.

Speaking of royalty, one of my biggest fans and a Derek Jeter fan since he was only 4 years old, my pal Caleb Feist was there in spirit. He's always there for that matter. He lives out in Burns, Oregon with his family who I met last August at Yankee Stadium. That was their first visit to New York City.

I hope when Derek Jeter retires and they have his jersey retired I hope that Caleb is there in person right by my side. I plan to find a way to make that happen.

Stay tuned as I going more detail about the rest of this amazing weekend that I experienced.

Thank you for reading and following along.

Yours truly,

Gary Herman

Sunday, July 10, 2011

Royalty w/o 7/4 in review

"Royal" view at Fenway Park
Monday the King and I spent the Fourth of July in America's Most Beloved Ballpark in America, Fenway Park in Boston.

The Boston Red Sox played the Toronto Blue Jays in an afternoon game that started at 1:35PM. It was the King's 181st game he has attended there. As for me, it was my 93rd game in person in the that old ballyard.

That morning I went to Avis and I rented a car for the day. I went to pick up the King and we were on our way. We arrived within walking distance of Fenway Park around 12:45PM. We parked on the street for free. We did pass a parking lot that wasn't far from where we wound up parking for $40.

We proceeded to take the short walk over to Fenway. Before we went inside, we stopped off at our favorite street vendor whose located right outside the left field gate, the Sausage Connection.

Thankfully we had a beautiful weather wise. As a result, we got to see Mama who was there working with her son Harry. The King and I had a Sausage and a Coke. Needless to say, it was excellent as usual.

We said goodbye to them and we headed into the ballpark.

We got ourselves situated and we got a "royal" view from Section 23 just in front of the Grandstand. We saw a wild baseball game unfold in front of our very eyes. The Blue Jays took a 7-0 lead early on and they had to hold on for dear life as they beat the Red Sox, 9-7.

After the game, we had planned to go to Lowell, Massachusetts to see a minor league baseball game. Quite amazingly, mother nature decided to ruin that opportunity for us. It didn't rain for a long time but it did do enough damage that made the field unplayable when we arrived there. The grounds crew tried their best to fix up the field but they couldn't. So they decided to cancel the game.

So we wound up having head home earlier than expected.

Being that I had to get up early the next morning it turned out to be a blessing in disguise.

Tuesday & Wednesday night I went home after work to rest up since the Mets & Yankees were both away due to the quirky baseball schedule this season.

Thursday night I went back to the Bronx as the road to 3K continued for Yankee Captain Derek Jeter.

He was hurt for a few weeks but came back and he joined the Yankees in Cleveland and played in the three games there. He needed 6 hits going in. He got 3 more there.

With that being said, he came back to the Bronx needing three more hits to reach this amazing milestone.
He had four games to do it at home before the All-Star Break.

Thursday night he didn't waste time getting his first hit in his very first at bat of the game. That was hit number 2,998 in his career. He didn't get another hit the rest of the night though. The Yankees lost to their divsion rival, the Tampa Bay Rays, 5-1.

We were joined by our friend Phil Butleman who was hoping to see history in person. Apparently it wasn't meant to be on this night.

Friday after work I headed up to the Bronx. Mother nature was at it again. As I went to the subway it was raining. I didn't think it was suppose to rain all night though so I thought they would eventually play.

On my way up to the Bronx, my pal Vincent Ascanio wrote me a message saying the game was cancelled. That was shortly before 6PM.

I had to meet the King anyway because he rented a car for the week and he parked it by the Stadium early so he could get a free spot on the street.

We decided to go to Donovan's Pub earlier than planned.

That's the way it goes. We can't control the weather. Given the circumstances, it was odd that the Yankees called the game off so early especially since it was Friday night. When Jeter broke the Yankee record for most hits as a Yankee, it rained that Friday night too. They waited a few hours and they wound up playing the game.

Over the years, the Yankees have had a reputation of calling games off when it wasn't even raining. It makes you wonder what their motives really were this time around.

I knew some people who had tickets for the game also. Since they decided to make this game up when the Rays return in September, those people got the shaft.

I feel bad for them but as they say and I quote "it's always buyer beware." Sometimes you win and sometimes you lose.

I had tickets for the games over the weekend so if indeed it was going to happen in the Bronx, the King and I would be there for it.

Stay tuned for the special post that we'll tell you what happened over the weekend.

In addition, I will be doing a special post about a roadtripper who does his homework to save other people lots of money when they go to a baseball game. Check back to find out how he does it.

Thank you for reading and following along.

Yours truly,

Gary Herman

Royalty schedule w/o 7/11

Here's the game plan:

Wednesday July 13th State College Spikes at SI Yankees 7:05PM

Friday July 15th Phillies at Mets 7:10PM

Saturday July 16th Phillies at Mets 4:10PM

Sunday July 17th Phillies at Mets 1:10PM

Check back to see how it turned out.

Hope all my readers and followers have a great week.

As always, if you need assistance don't hesitate to ask.

Stay tuned for my w/o 7/4 in review. In addition, I'm going to do a few special posts.

If you like to tweet you can follow me on Twitter too. @royaltytoursusa

Furthermore, we can hook up on Facebook and/or Four Square as well.

With all the ways to communicate these days, we should be always be in touch. Remember team work makes the dream work.

Yours truly,

Gary Herman

Wednesday, July 6, 2011

Royalty w/o 6/27 in review

"Bay Day" at Citi Field
After going home Monday night after work, I was well rested to head up to the Bronx after work Tuesday night to see the Milwaukee Brewers visit the Yankees for the first time since 1997.

If you remember the Brewers used to be an American League team. In 1998, they switched over to the National League.

The Brewers were in first place when they arrived in the Bronx. With that being said, I expected to see a good game. It turned out I was wrong. The Yankees went on to destroy the Brewers, 12-2.

They looked more like a Little League team as my boy Vincent Ascanio who was in the house along with his pal and big fan of royalty, Michael Longo in the "royal box" said.

We go to games hoping to see well played ones. From the Brewer standpoint, this was a disgraceful performance.

At least the company was good and that's all that really matters to me in the end.

Wednesday night I back to the Bronx to see if the Brewers could resemble a major league team. They were slightly improved. This time they lost 5-2 to the Yankees.

The highlight of this night was once again not on the playing field.

I managed to meet up with a few of the Ballpark Boys who were visiting Yankee Stadium. The King and I met Jack Wilson and Kellan Larsen. When they saw the King's notebook of games attended this year and his lifetime totals, they were in stunned disbelief.

They're in the midst of a dream trip seeing a game in every major league ballpark this summer.

These four 18 year old boys are from Seattle, Washington. They just graduated high school and they're driving all over the country. They started on June 11th and they plan to finish the excursion on August 4th at Safeco Field.

They have a website, http://boysofsummer2011.com/ and you can follow them on Facebook and Twitter @BallparkBoys_11. Check out their schedule and hopefully you meet up with them if they come to a ballpark near you.

Thursday night I went home after work since the Yankees wrapped up their series with the Brewers that afternoon. In case you were wondering the Brewers got swept away.

I felt bad for my Brewer fan club out in Milwaukee. They were there in spirit though. Unlike others, royalty remembers.

Friday night after work I went to Citi Field for part two of this year's Subway Series as the Yankees came to Queens to visit the Mets.

As for the game, the Mets lost to the Yankees, 5-1 in front of a record crowd of 42,020 which included standing room. This was the first time I remember the Mets selling standing room for a game.

Royalty had company as Vincent Ascanio was present and accounted for. So was Martin Caamano. Last but definitely not least an old friend, Mark Kozminsky who I grew up with stopped by seat in section 516 row 3 to say hello before the game. It was great to see him again after all these years.

Saturday afternoon I went back to Citi Field for more. This time the Mets scored two runs and they lost again, 5-2 in front of a new record as 22 more people showed up at the ballyard. This time they announced a crowd of 42,042.

At least we had additional company there with us. Besides Vincent Ascanio and Martin Caamano who were back too, we had our good friend Manny Morales as well as Manny Bonilla and Arjun Lal too.

Sunday afternoon I went back to Citi Field hoping the Mets could find a way to salvage a game and avoid being swept.

It was a long day thanks to mother nature and stupid decision making by the Mets and/or the umpires. This game should have started earlier since it barely rained and it had stopped raining. They decided to wait longer because of the threat of more scattered showers in the area.

The game finally got started at 2:39PM. The Mets did everything they could to torture us some more.
Luckily they managed to breakthrough on Yankee closer Mariano Rivera in the bottom of the ninth inning. They got the tying run across the plate to tied the game at 2.

The game went into extra innings as the Mets finally found a way to win thanks to a game winning single by Jason Bay in the 10th inning at 6:04PM. Jason Bay finally decided to earn a micro fraction of his pay. It's about time.

As Mets radio announcer Howie Rose says after a Met win and I quote, "put it in the books."

Well another week in the life of royalty is also in the books.

If you want to take part in the "royal" experience in the future, please contact me so we can make it happen. It doesn't hurt to ask. I don't make promises I can't keep. If I say I'm going to do something consider it a done deal. I'm upfront and honest.

Thank you for reading and following along.

Yours truly,

Gary Herman

Tuesday, July 5, 2011

Royalty is hitting the road hard at the end of July with special guest and roadtripper, Paul Derrick!

Over the years, the King and I and numerous others have made some of the most memorable and unique sports road trips you can ever imagine.

Unfortunately we have the misfortune of holding down full time jobs which limits the time we get to go away.
With that being said, we always maximize the time off we have to the fullest. Like everybody else we play the cards we're dealt.

We've never seen all the parks and/or stadiums in the same year and we may never get to do it.

As an alternative, we do things differently than most people. We do it the royal way.

The King loves to maximize the number of games he sees each and every day of the year.

I prefer to see as much quality as possible. In other words, the more places we can see in a short period of time the better even if it means giving up a "number" if you will.

Well back in January, I got in contact with a young man named Paul Derrick who lives in Houston, Texas.
He saw my blog and he was totally amazed. He decided to pick my brain. I told him please feel free to do so. He told me and I quote "be careful what you wish for." He refers to me as his "sports travel idol."

On July 22nd, my wish and his dream will come true. He's flying in from Houston aka H-Town as people like to call it to the Big Apple aka New York City. For the record, he was here a few years ago in 2009 and he went to Citi Field and Yankee Stadium.

The initial seed will be planted upon his arrival. Time will tell how much it will grow.

Paul is an up and coming sports traveler. He did time in the Army and he has spent time in different parts of the world. Now he wants to pursue his love for sports to go along with his love for travel here in North America.

As far as I'm concerned, he couldn't have found a better pair of people in the King and I to show him the way on how it's done. With our experience and know how, Paul will be a pro in no time.

We're going to embark on a journey to parts of the country that he's never been to before. The King and I on the other hand are masters of this territory. He's going to be in for a real treat.

He's an overview of the game plan that I have set up for us:

We're going to see 13 baseball games in 9 days in 13 different ballparks. 8 major league games and 5 minor league games. We'll be driving and stopping off in 10 different states along the way.

Here's how it will go as long as mother nature cooperates:

Friday July 22nd Athletics at Yankees 7:05PM

Saturday July 23rd Cardinals at Pirates 7:05PM

Sunday July 24th Angels at Orioles 1:35PM

                           Trenton Thunder at Bowie Bay Sox 6:05PM

Monday July 25th Padres at Phillies 1:05PM 

                            Potomac Nationals at Wilmington Blue Rocks 7:05PM

Tuesday July 26th Mets at Reds 7:05PM

Wednesday July 27th Angels at Indians 12:05PM

                                 Aberdeen Ironbirds at Jamestown Jammers 7:05PM

Thursday July 28th SI Yankees at Batavia Muckdogs 11:05AM

                              Hudson Valley Renegades at Auburn Doubledays 7:05PM

Friday July 29th Angels at Tigers 7:05PM

Saturday July 30th Mets at Nationals 7:05PM

I'm renting a car for 9 days and I plan to drive around 3,400 miles give or take.

Stay tuned for the aftermath of this "royal experience on the road."

Since I can't text while I drive. Paul is going to be my guest blogger for this trip. He''s not just going for the ride, I'm putting him to work too. Since he loves to write like me it will be a thrill for him to document this special excursion.

As I like to say we give you royal treatment and an education too.

Wait and see what Paul has to say when this adventure is all said and done.

If you want to be a part of the story, let me know and I'll arrange to have you meet up with us along the way.

Paul and I have been in constant contact writing each other back and forth since January. Everything I told him will come true and then some. That's a promise. Wait and see. My talk is not cheap, it's priceless.

For more details about Paul, please feel free to check out his sports travel blog. It's on my blog list under his name and it's called Sporting Puma. He's still a rookie right now. When he returns home to H-Town, he's going to be like the King and I, a seasoned vet.

Thank you for reading and following along.

Yours truly,

Gary Herman

Sunday, July 3, 2011

Royalty schedule w/o 7/4

Here's the game plan:

Monday July 4th Blue Jays at Red Sox 1:35PM

                          Connecticut Tigers at Lowell Spinners 7:05PM

Thursday July 7th Rays at Yankees 7:05PM

The road to 3K continues for DJ3K in the Bronx.

Friday July 8th Rays at Yankees 7:05PM

Saturday July 9th Rays at Yankees 1:05PM

                           Kannapolis at Lakewood 7:05PM

Sunday July 10th Rays at Yankees 1:05PM

Check back to see how it played out.

Hope all my readers and followers have a great week.

As always, if you need assistance don't hesitate to ask.

Stay tuned for my w/o 6/27 in review.

If you like to tweet you can follow me on Twitter too. @royaltytoursusa

Furthermore, we can hook up on Facebook and/or Four Square as well.

With all the ways to communicate these days, we should be always be in touch. Remember team work makes the dream work.

Yours truly,

Gary Herman

Gio Gonzalez of the Oakland A's is an All-Star!

All-Star Pitcher Gio Gonzalez 
As many of my readers and followers know, I'm a big fan of Gio Gonzalez.

He is in the midst of another fine season pitching for the Oakland Athletics.

Today he pitched another gem. He went seven innings against the Arizona Diamondbacks in Oakland. He allowed one run, five hits, he walked three and struck seven and he got run support from teammates to improve to record to 8-5 this season. It was his 30th career major league win. In the process he lowered his earned run average to a mere 2.31 in 109 innings with 106 strikeouts.

I was so happy for him but then I heard even better news that he was selected to go the All-Star Game in Phoenix.

Now that's a well deserved honor and privilege. Gio has come a long way on the major league level the last few years. He's been an All-Star in the minor leagues in the past but now this is the first time he's been selected in the major leagues.

The future looks very bright for Gio. I hope he keeps up the great work.

Most players these days are hard to root for. Gio is the exception to the rule. I've had the honor and privilege of seeing him a number of times during batting practice over the past few years. The more success he has, the nicer he is. I wish there were more legitimate class acts in the game like him. That's my personal opinion. Try to get his attention and you'll see exactly what I mean.

Congratulations, Gio! Hope to see you again at Yankee Stadium soon.

Thank you for reading and following along.

Yours truly,

Gary Herman