Self-guided baseball trip on Amtrak?

[Just-Thinking-51]

Baseball Hall of Fame in Cooperstown, NY.

No know public transportation available.

Tourist railroad to the south but ends in the woods.

Rubber tire trolley to outside parking lots.

No buses that interconnect with anything.

Welcome to New York

 

[tp49]

Obviously you can get to all the NYC area stadiums on the subway or commuter rail, though not directly from Penn Station. Others have listed the *multiple* options.

Citi Field is directly accessible from Penn Station via the LIRR (Port Washington branch.) Yankee Stadium used to be when the C train went to 161st Street sadly that ended awhile back.

---------------

Atlanta's new stadium opening next season will probably only be accessible by bus if at all.

 

[chakk]

There was a time when Amtrak California's Capitol Corridor could run between OAC and SAC, which bridged the Oakland A's and their long-time AAA affiliate. Once I took a bus to go to Sacramento, but planned on taking Amtrak home. Then I checked the schedule and found the AAA (the Sacramento River Cats) had a game that day. It's a bit of a walk from Old Sacramento where I took the excursion train, but it wasn't too bad. There might also be game day shuttles, but I didn't check that out. t bought a ticket behind home plate for $17. I also had the flexibility to take an earlier train when the game ended fairly quickly.

The team changed affiliation though.

The Sacramento River Cats are now the AAA affiliate of the 2016 World Series Champion San Francisco Giants -- this being an even year.

 

[BCL]

There was a time when Amtrak California's Capitol Corridor could run between OAC and SAC, which bridged the Oakland A's and their long-time AAA affiliate. Once I took a bus to go to Sacramento, but planned on taking Amtrak home. Then I checked the schedule and found the AAA (the Sacramento River Cats) had a game that day. It's a bit of a walk from Old Sacramento where I took the excursion train, but it wasn't too bad. There might also be game day shuttles, but I didn't check that out. t bought a ticket behind home plate for $17. I also had the flexibility to take an earlier train when the game ended fairly quickly.

The team changed affiliation though.

The Sacramento River Cats are now the AAA affiliate of the 2016 World Series Champion San Francisco Giants -- this being an even year.

What's the expression about chickens and hatching? Historically the best record at the All-Star Break hasn't been kind in the past 25 years.

Also, the River Cats only had one losing season in its history before they switched to the Giants. Now they're on their way to their second in two seasons.

 

[Bob Dylan]

BCL: The purpose of the Minor Leagues is to develop players and allow for rehab of injured players for the Big Team. Hence the ever changing Rosters on Minor League Teams. ( almost daily movements/ in the case of the team I work for, the Round Rock Express, an active roster of 25 has seen over 40 different players come and go in 4 months! "You can't tell the players without a Scorecard!")

Major League teams could care less about the Win/Loss Records of their Farm Teams, that's only the passion of the Local Fans.

 

[BCL]

BCL: The purpose of the Minor Leagues is to develop players and allow for rehab of injured players for the Big Team. Hence the ever changing Rosters on Minor League Teams. ( almost daily movements/ in the case of the team I work for, the Round Rock Express, an active roster of 25 has seen over 40 different players come and go in 4 months! "You can't tell the players without a Scorecard!")

Major League teams could care less about the Win/Loss Records of their Farm Teams, that's only the passion of the Local Fans.

I get that. And in many cases the active roster of MLB teams goes through changes due to injury, trades, performance, etc. However, I'm not sure if in the long run it will help the minor league team. They had a successful 15-year partnership for over a decade with the A's, but then it became "Sorry - we're not interested in extending it". I'd been to games, and from what I could tell, it was a lot of fans of many MLB teams that are willing to attend minor league games.

 

[tp49]

BCL: The purpose of the Minor Leagues is to develop players and allow for rehab of injured players for the Big Team. Hence the ever changing Rosters on Minor League Teams. ( almost daily movements/ in the case of the team I work for, the Round Rock Express, an active roster of 25 has seen over 40 different players come and go in 4 months! "You can't tell the players without a Scorecard!")

Major League teams could care less about the Win/Loss Records of their Farm Teams, that's only the passion of the Local Fans.

I get that. And in many cases the active roster of MLB teams goes through changes due to injury, trades, performance, etc. However, I'm not sure if in the long run it will help the minor league team. They had a successful 15-year partnership for over a decade with the A's, but then it became "Sorry - we're not interested in extending it". I'd been to games, and from what I could tell, it was a lot of fans of many MLB teams that are willing to attend minor league games.

I don't get your point either. The River Cats in their first season as the Giants AAA affiliate last season not only had their highest annual attendance since 2008 but also led all of AAA in attendance. The owners made a business decision to affiliate with the Giants because they're more popular in Sacramento and have been for the past number of years. Minor league affiliation agreements usually run for two years and then are renewable. Affiliations change at the end of nearly every period.

 

[BCL]

BCL: The purpose of the Minor Leagues is to develop players and allow for rehab of injured players for the Big Team. Hence the ever changing Rosters on Minor League Teams. ( almost daily movements/ in the case of the team I work for, the Round Rock Express, an active roster of 25 has seen over 40 different players come and go in 4 months! "You can't tell the players without a Scorecard!")

Major League teams could care less about the Win/Loss Records of their Farm Teams, that's only the passion of the Local Fans.

I get that. And in many cases the active roster of MLB teams goes through changes due to injury, trades, performance, etc. However, I'm not sure if in the long run it will help the minor league team. They had a successful 15-year partnership for over a decade with the A's, but then it became "Sorry - we're not interested in extending it". I'd been to games, and from what I could tell, it was a lot of fans of many MLB teams that are willing to attend minor league games.

I don't get your point either. The River Cats in their first season as the Giants AAA affiliate last season not only had their highest annual attendance since 2008 but also led all of AAA in attendance. The owners made a business decision to affiliate with the Giants because they're more popular in Sacramento and have been for the past number of years. Minor league affiliation agreements usually run for two years and then are renewable. Affiliations change at the end of nearly every period.

But the product isn't as good now. There was a one year spike from the newness of the players, but now it seems to be back to about where it was for the previous few years.

This was a long relationship that was successful for both parties. I suppose they're trying to take advantage of the glow of a more popular affiliate, but I don't see how it helps them in the long run.

 

[Bob Dylan]

The team I work for, the Round Rock Express, had a very successful 10 year association with the Houston Astros, both in the Double AA Texas League and then the AAA Pacific Coast League. (love those sea breezes! LOL)

The Astros received several really good players including current Giant star Hunter Pence,and the Express led the Minor Leagues in attendance for several years as well as having their field, Dell Diamond, consistently picked as among the best Minor League Stadiums in the Country.

When the Express Owner, Hall of Fame Nolan Ryan, became part of the Ownership Group of the Texas Rangers the Express signed a long term deal with the Rangers.

Ironically Nolan Ryan now works for the Houston Astros, and one of his sons is the GM there, so there is speculation that when the current agreement runs out with the Rangers, the Express will once again become the AAA Affiliate of the Astros!

Such is life in Minor League Baseball!

 

[jebr]

If you go to St. Paul and have a little extra time, the St. Paul Saints (I'm not sure how they're categorized, but they're minor league or below) play two blocks east of the Union Depot light rail station.

 

[BCL]

If you go to St. Paul and have a little extra time, the St. Paul Saints (I'm not sure how they're categorized, but they're minor league or below) play two blocks east of the Union Depot light rail station.

They're independent. Some players hold on hoping they might get noticed by an MLB team. I've heard of former MLB players who tried to come back and played with independent teams.

 

[trainman74]

I was just in South Bend, Indiana, for a minor league baseball game earlier this week -- the stadium is right across the street from South Bend Union Station, which unfortunately no longer has rail service. (Both Amtrak and the South Shore Line are elsewhere.)

 

[Philly Amtrak Fan]

Well if "self guided" isn't a requirement, I found this tour on America By Rail: http://www.americabyrail.com/AllTours/Take-Me-Out-to-the-Ballgame--2016-415.aspx

The trip visited the Baseball Hall of Fame in Cooperstown. They chartered a motorcoach from Utica to Cooperstown and then Cooperstown to New York. The trip began and ended in Chicago but included games of the Yankees, Phillies , Orioles, and Nationals. It was LSL going east and CL going west.

 

[Mystic River Dragon]

If you don't mind adding minor league ballparks to your trip, Harrisburg, Pennsylvania, has a lovely one on City Island in the Susquehanna River. It's reached by a pedestrian bridge, and both the train station and a couple of decent hotels are within walking distance of it. It looks over the river, and the island itself has miniature golf, a trail that goes all the way around the island, and a children's train and some other amusements. The train coming into Harrisburg in either direction has lovely scenery--the Horseshoe Curve coming from the west and farms coming from the east.

I think, since you mentioned the Altoona Curve, you must be from or familiar with the area and already knew this, but I'm posting it just in case anyone else is interested as well (I'm getting lots of ideas here for a similar trip--I, too, love baseball, but have never sat down and planned a trip like this).

(The Harrisburg Senators are the double-A team of the Washington Nationals.)

 

[John Bredin]

There are two minor-league ballparks in the suburbs of Chicago right across from train stations:

*Joliet. Because it has Metra as well as Amtrak service, you're not limited to the five daily Amtrak round-trips and you get to see a different route (Metra-Rock Island) between Chicago and Joliet.

*Schaumburg. Despite the famous part of Schaumburg (the area around Woodfield Mall) being near the Northwest Tollway, the Schaumburg Metra station is on the Milwaukee-West line.

 

[JoeBas]

There's this REALLY NICE little league baseball field we passed in Fraser on the Zephyr this past spring too. Of course, it was covered in snow...

 

[trainman74]

There's this REALLY NICE little league baseball field we passed in Fraser on the Zephyr this past spring too. Of course, it was covered in snow...

And so was the turnpike from Stockbridge to Boston.

I should have said earlier that I've done several baseball trips over the years, and unfortunately, due to the vagaries of Amtrak scheduling, if you do want to only travel via train, you're either limited to ballparks in certain corridors, or you're going to have to spend more than one day in each city. (Most of my baseball trips have been driving trips because of this, including the one I took earlier this month.)

 

[BCL]

I'd note there is a 25% discount on Capitol Corridor to the Oakland Coliseum/Airport station which is advertised as an Oakland A's special.

http://www.capitolcorridor.org/take-capitol-corridor-to-as-games-and-save-25/

https://www.amtrak.com/save-on-train-travel-to-oakland-athletics-home-games

The terms and conditions don't actually say that the travel has to be used for attending games. On top of that, the allowed dates cover almost the entire season - even when there aren't home games. I've actually used the discount just on commute travel, and there's nothing that says I can't.

 

[peconicstation]

Fenway Park in Boston (Red Sox) is walkable from Back Bay Station but you'd want to use a cab at night.

That is one heck of a walk, allow me to clarify.............................

Take Amtrak to Back Bay Station, walk 2 blocks north to the Copley Square and take any Green Line B, C, or D line trolley "outbound" to Kenmore Station, that will put you

with only a 5 minute walk to Fenway (just follow the crowds). To avoid a back up at the Green Line Stations buy your tickets at the Back Bay Station vending machines, in fact the best way to do this is to ask for a plastic "Charlie Card" from the T information desk, then you can load money on it, and draw down as you ride.

Ken

 

[Bob Dylan]

Ken: thanks for the info on using the T to reach Fenway Park from Back Bay Station.

I enjoy walking around Big Cities( I enjoyed my leisurely walk to Fenway) taking in the sights and neighborhoods, and have only ridden the T from Back Bay to North Station and South Station.

Next time I'm in Boston (????) I'll use the T more including your handy tips.

 

[Asher]

I'm not walking to Dodger Stadium, it's all uphill, but the shuttle is right there at Union Station.

 

[jimmrl]

I'm not walking to Dodger Stadium, it's all uphill, but the shuttle is right there at Union Station.

I was in the area Friday for the BIG NY Yankees game. There were a lot of people coming off the trains and headed to the shuttles.

 

[trainman74]

I was in the area Friday for the BIG NY Yankees game. There were a lot of people coming off the trains and headed to the shuttles.

They used to board the Dodger Stadium shuttle buses on the bus plaza, but they moved a couple years ago to the front of the station (right by the Harvey House, i.e., Imperial Western) -- there's more space there for queueing.