Royalty is going to Pittsburgh & Cleveland to see baseball over Memorial Day weekend!

Here's the game plan:

I'm renting a car on Friday May 22nd from Payless Car Rental for Memorial Day weekend.

The King  & I will be driving out to Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania early Saturday morning then to Cleveland, Ohio before we return home late Sunday night/early Monday morning.

Saturday May 23rd Mets at Pirates 4:05PM

Sunday May 24th Reds at Indians 1:10PM

If you're interested in going on this exclusive getaway royalty style just let me know so I can arrange to have you join us.

It's going to be a blast so why not come for a "royal" ride.

Thank you for reading and following along.

Yours truly,

Gary Herman

Royalty meets up with Rick Morris of the FDH Lounge in Cleveland, Ohio in the middle of May!‏

On Saturday, May 17th I woke up early so I could go to Avis to pick up a car rental for the weekend. I wound up getting a Ford Focus since that's all they had left. I drove it back home so I could pick up the King as we drove all day to go to Cleveland, Ohio. We stopped off at the rest area in Pennsylvania just past the Delaware Water Gap just before 1PM. Luckily we got there at the right time. When we came out of the rest room, the line was a mile long. A few buses pulled in for a pit stop on their way to Yankee Stadium. The Yankees were playing the Pirates that day at 4:05PM. There was a mixture of Yankee & Pirate fans. As I say, timing is everything. I was beside myself but I was all smiles when I got there. 

Reason to smile

We got back in the car ‎& I drove to Brookville, PA where we got gas & made to order food at Sheetz around 3:45PM. I wound up eating my chicken fingers & mozzarella sticks in the car as we continued on to Cleveland. We arrived there shortly after 6PM. I arranged to meet up with our pal Rick Morris of the FDH Lounge outside Progressive Field, home of the Indians by the Bob Feller statue. I called him when I was 20 miles from downtown. He told me he was there already. He said he was going to stop off at a local bar so he could watch the Preakness. I told him I'll see him by the statue when he got done. We wound up meeting up around 6:30PM. We had bought some cheap tickets in advance so we were able to head right inside once we met up. We wound up meeting the King who was inside already in section 554 upstairs behind home plate. 

Me by Bob Feller statue

View from section 554

As for the game we saw, the Indians were hosting the Oakland Athletics on this night. Former Met & Indian Scott Kazmir was starting for the A's. Thanks to home plate umpire Jerry Layne he wasn't long for the night. He wound up getting ejected for complaining about the strikeout zone or the lack thereof. He lasted just one ‎& a third innings. He gave up a run on a wild pitch while walking three & striking out one. However he got off the hook for the loss thanks to his teammate, third baseman Josh Donaldson who tied the game at one with a run scoring single in the top of the third inning which was followed by a two run homer by first baseman Brandon Moss which gave the A's a 3-1 lead. The Tribe got a run back in the bottom of the sixth inning thanks to a sacrifice fly by shortstop Asdrubal Cabrera to make it a 3-2 game. The Athletics wound up putting the game away with three more runs in the top of the seventh inning when Josh Donaldson & Brandon Moss struck again. This time Donaldson delivered a two run triple & Moss added a run scoring double to give the A's a 6-2 victory. Relief pitcher Dan Otero threw three & two thirds of shutout relief to earn the win. Josh Tomlin who started for the Indians suffered the loss despite getting a quality start as he went six innings allowing three earned runs. The bullpen let it slip away once he came out. 

Regardless of the outcome, it was great to spend some quality time with our pal Rick Morris who's a big fan of the King & I. I want to thank him for always making time to join us when we come to visit. 

After we said our goodbyes to him, we walked back to the car ‎& we drove 200 miles to Somerset, PA where we spent the night at Days Inn.

Stay tuned for another special post that will recap how we spent that Sunday.

Thank you for reading & following along.

Yours truly,

Gary Herman

Royalty meets up with Rick Morris of the FDH Lounge at Progressive Field in Cleveland!

Friday July 12th I took off from work so I could getaway earlier for the weekend. I went out to Long Island via public transportation & I rented a 2014 Chevy Cruze from Avis which had only 604 miles on it and it was equipped with XM radio.

I went back home & I picked up my bags & I headed towards Cleveland, Ohio. I got off to a later start than I hoped to. I left Astoria at 10:36AM.

Thankfully I was able to get out the NYC area in a timely fashion. As a result, I crossed the Delaware Water Gap shortly after midday. By doing so, I was able to position myself for a gas & late lunch break at Sheetz in Brookville, PA just before 3:30PM. I bought myself a made to order meal of chicken strips and mozzarella sticks which I ate as I was driving once I got back in the car.

I finally pulled into downtown Cleveland around 6:10PM which gave me enough time for the 7:05PM start. I was able to park the car on the street for free by Cleveland State University which is a short walk to Progressive Field formerly known as Jacobs Field which is the home of the Cleveland Indians. I contacted my pal Rick Morris of the FDH Lounge who was meeting me for the game as I was approaching the Cleveland area. He told me he'll be arriving around the same time. We decided to meet up at the Bob Feller statue in right field. We did so around 6:30PM. It worked out well. We proceeded to get our tickets and we went inside the ballpark.

Upon entry, I went to the souvenir stand located just inside the right field gate so I could get my new baseball passport book stamped which proves I was really at the game. These days anybody can buy a ticket online and say they were there without even leaving their home.

Official Stamp

After I did that, Rick & I went upstairs to section 553 which is right behind home plate. We sat down, relaxed and enjoyed the game together as the Indians were hosting the Kansas City Royals in the first game of the three game series over the weekend.

Prince at Progressive Field

As for the game we saw, it was scoreless until the bottom of the seventh inning when the Tribe finally broke through against the Royals' bullpen after starter Bruce Chen threw six shutout innings against them. The Indians got five straight hits to start the inning which netted them three runs. As it turned out, that was all they needed as they went on to beat the Royals, 3-0. The Indians got a great start from pitcher Corey Kluber who allowed just three hits over seven & two thirds of shutout ball. He did survive a scare from the Royals in the fifth inning as he allowed a lead off triple to David Lough. He then walked the bases loaded with one out but he was able to pitch himself out of the jam.

After the game, we were treated to a ten minute fireworks show that had a disco theme to it. It was nice to hear some music from back in the day. With that being said, I'm glad we stayed.

When it was all said and done, Rick & I walked back towards our cars. Once he got by the parking garage where he parked his car, we said our goodbyes. I want to personally thank Rick for making the time to join me for the game. His company as always was a pleasure. I hope to catch up with him again down the road.
Stay tuned for a special post that will go into detail about my post game meal with another special guest.

Thank you for reading and following along.

Yours truly,

Gary Herman

Royalty meets up with Roadtrippers New and Old in Cleveland at Progressive Field!

Ada Kurinsky

Last year on July 27th when the King and I went to Cleveland to see the Indians play we got to show up and coming roadtripper Paul Derrick the way. It was his first visit to Progressive Field. It turned out to be a very memorable one too. He got a surprise treat and so did we. We all saw Ervin Santana of the Angels pitch a no hitter against the Indians. It was extra special because it was the first one Paul had ever seen.

The King and I unexpectedly returned to Cleveland on August 27th thanks to Hurricane Irene who was bearing down on NYC. The King told me to get him a car rental so we can see some baseball elsewhere. He drove us to Cleveland and we saw the Tribe play again. This time our buddy Rick Morris of the FDH Lounge had the privilege and honor of taking in a ballgame with us for the first time. We met him for the first time briefly at a Cleveland Browns game back on November 14, 2010. Needless to say, Rick had a blast. We saw one of his favorite players, Jim Thome hit a home run as he had returned for a second tour of duty with the Indians. It was a very special moment for him as it brought back fond memories.

This time we made our annual visit to see the Marlins play the Indians on Sunday afternoon. Ironically we saw the Indians play the Marlins back on June 8, 2004 in Cleveland too.

I did tell Rick Morris back on November 20, 2011 when he interviewed me that May 20th we planned to return to the Rock N Roll City. As the day got closer, I got in contact with a gentleman named Keir Kurinsky who started following me on Twitter. He said he was taking his one year old daughter Ada to all eighty one games with him this season. I thought that was rather cool and unique. He said his wife is 100% behind him doing so. I must say he's a very lucky man. His daughter was adorable. As the game got closer, we arranged to meet up. He told me he had two extra tickets available for us. He was kind enough to hook us up and he met us right outside the gate too. We all introduced each other and we proceeded inside the ballpark. It was great to see the royal treatment he received as he saw different employees who recognized him since he's going to all the home games this year.

We started talking and Keir told us that he has traveled around to a number of different ballparks as well. He said he went to Monterrey, Mexico in 1999, Tokyo, Japan in 2000 & San Juan, Puerto Rico in 2001. It was amazing to hear him say that because the King and I told him we were there too.

We proceeded to talk about another guy who we know from Cleveland who went to those places as well. The only difference was this guy went to see the Mets when they played in Monterrey, Mexico in 1996. In addition, this guy saw Major League Baseball in Hawaii in 1997. I'm referring to Mike Trabert aka Mr. Ballpark as he calls himself. The King and I met him when we saw the Mets play in Japan. We've tried to hook up every year since. This time we were hoping to see him at some point at the game. I told him where we were sitting in case he was there. He does share season tickets with a bunch of people. As he's notorious for doing, he came by and he caught us off guard. It was a pleasant surprise to see him again. We got to catch up on our recent travels. He asked us if we've been to the New Marlins Park yet. We said no. We're planning to go there in the middle of July. He didn't know when he was going there yet. I hope we can cross paths when we go there.

Back on September 23, 2000, our pal Andrew Van Cleve met Mr. Ballpark when he was at a doubleheader at Old Milwaukee County Stadium. He ran into this guy who told him about a few guys he met in Japan that see all kinds of games. I asked Mr. Ballpark if he remembered meeting Andrew but he couldn't remember. He said he probably did. It was funny because it took Andrew 10 years to finally track us down. Now we've become really good friends.

The power of sports travel has really improved our lives greatly. The fraternity continues to grow. Now when we go to Cleveland we have more people to see.

As for the game we saw, the Indians fell to the Marlins by a score of 5-3. Ex-Met Jose Reyes did have two hits for his new team.

The Indians threatened in the ninth inning prompting Mr. Ballpark to say and I quote "Mr. Ballpark wants extra innings." That's what I said back in Japan when the Mets played the Cubs as Benny Agbayani delivered the game winning grand slam home run in extra innings to send us home happy. That was such a thrill. This time Mr. Ballpark didn't get his wish.

I want to personally thank Keir Kurinsky for his generosity and company. In addition, I want to thank Mr. Ballpark for taking the time to see us again.

Hope we all can reunite again sooner than later at a ballpark somewhere.

Thank you for reading and following along.

Yours truly,

Gary Herman

Royalty witnesses history in Cleveland!

Ervin Santana throws a No-Hitter

After Paul Derrick and I got barely enough sleep it was time to get ready for another day on our epic excursion.

We decided to pass up a recommendation to go to a local place to eat breakfast due to time constraints. Instead we went to the Waffle House which was conveniently located right next to the Super 8 where we spent the night.

After we had our All-Star breakfast we were ready to make our way to Cleveland for the next leg of the journey.

We got back on the highway and I drove 130 miles to Cleveland. It was an interesting ride to say the least.
I was going at a pretty nice speed and then I let a car pass me. Thankfully I did. The lady in this car stayed ahead of for quite some time. She was driving very erratically mainly in the left and occasionally the middle lane of the three lane road. It was only 10:15AM in the morning. She appeared to be either drunk or falling asleep. I laid back still doing a comfortable speed. I couldn't believe what I was seeing. She was drifting from lane to lane and at times she was riding on the shoulder. It was scary, I couldn't believe what I was seeing in broad daylight.

Thankfully about 50 miles down the road a state trooper pulled her over. I hope she lost her license and/or went to jail. Fortunately she didn't kill anybody or herself for that matter.

After that adventure, we continued on our way to Cleveland. Our friend Bryan Gilligan and the King who went back to New York after the Phillie game Monday afternoon reunited with us in Cleveland.

They called to tell us that they parked their car in a $5.00 lot within a short walk from Progressive Field, home of the Cleveland Indians in downtown Cleveland.

I wound up parking in the same lot.

We met up with them outside the ballpark. We went to the box office and bought ourselves $8.00 tickets for the game.

We got our money's worth and then some.

In fact, we all witnessed history. Thanks to starting pitcher Ervin Santana of the Angels who walked one batter, struck out ten and he gave up a run due to an error on the first batter of the game but thankfully he didn't allow any hits in his nine innings of work.

As a result, he got credited with a no-hitter, the ninth in Angels history. It was the first one ever thrown at Progressive Field formerly known as Jacobs Field which opened its doors for the first time in 1994.

It was a day for us to remember forever. The Angels beat the hometown Indians, 3-1.

It was the first no-hitter that I've seen on the road. In the past, I've only seen a no-hitter and/or a perfect game at old Yankee Stadium. This was my fifth one overall.

As for Paul and Bryan, it was their first no-hitters they've ever seen in person. What a great way to enhance an already amazing journey.

As for the King, it was his ninth no-hitter he's seen over the years. The majority of which were at old Yankee Stadium but he did see Bob Forsch throw one back in 1983 and Doc Halladay last October in the Division Series.

After we came to our senses and we realized we just saw more history, we went back to the car and we headed to our next destination. All of us went to Jamestown, NY except Bryan he was there last year so he decided to go to Akron, Ohio for a minor league game instead.

Stay tuned for the recap of the nightcap after our historic afternoon.

Thank you for reading and following along.

Yours truly,

Gary Herman