Royalty goes to see the Wilmington Blue Rocks play on the way back to NYC!

Wilmington Blue Rocks baseball

After we finished breakfast in Baltimore, Dave Block, Mike Carroll, the King and I continued up North towards NYC.

Along the way, we stopped off in Wilmington, Delaware which about 70 miles from Baltimore and 30 miles from Philadelphia to see the Wilmington Blue Rocks, the Single A affiliate of the Kansas City Royals in the Carolina League. They were hosting the Lynchburg Hillcats which is now the Atlanta Braves' farm team.

It should be noted that this was Dave Block's first ever minor league baseball game that he's seen in person. I'm so happy I was able to make it happen for him. As for Mike Carroll, it was the first time he's seen a Blue Rock game. As for the King and I, we've seen a number of their games over the years. It's hard to believe their celebrating their 20th anniversary this season. It's amazing how time really flies.

Here's a few tidbits of information about these teams from years past. The Blue Rocks have produced major league ballplayers who have passed through Wilmington to reach the big show. They had Johnny Damon and Carlos Beltran who have had very successful major league careers. As for Lynchburg, they were the Mets' affiliate in the 1980's. With that being said, Dwight Gooden spent some time there before he got called up to the major leagues.

Nowadays the Blue Rocks are managed by former Met and Tiger catcher Vance Wilson. Vance played for the Mets from 1999-2005 and the Tigers in 2006 & 2007. I was a big fan of Vance when he played for the Mets. He backed up Mike Piazza during his tenure with the team. More importantly, I got to meet him when the Mets played in San Juan, Puerto Rico in 2003 outside the stadium at a fan fest. He was such a great guy. I followed him from time to time through the rest of his Met career.

Since he's managing the Blue Rocks now, he was coaching third base. So during the game I walked over to where he was standing and I got his attention between innings so I could say hello. He remembered me. It was great to see him again. Obviously he loves the game and he continues to be a part of it. I'm happy for him. I was wondering what happened to him after he retired. Now I know.

As for the game we saw, the Hillcats wound up beating the Blue Rocks, 3-2. It was a good competitive battle. Thankfully it went fast enough so we could get back to Yankee Stadium in time for the ESPN Sunday night game in the Bronx.

Stay tuned for the wrap up of the ride back and the game experience.

Thank you for reading and following along.

Yours truly,

Gary Herman

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.