work trippin'

i've had the good fortune to travel for work a bit. nothing too demanding or exhausting, but enough to get to see some places that i otherwise wouldn't while still maintaining relationships and a sense of sanity.  many times, i've parlayed work trips in to other things - visits with friends and/or family and trips to see baseball games. i've mentioned a few before, like my trips to seattle, dc, cleveland, and cincy. this post will hit on a couple of others.

back in 2004, i was asked to go to dallas for some corporate training. after the training, we checked out dealey plaza, as one does when they visit dallas for the first time, and then headed out to the ballpark.  as a result, i was able to cross arlington stadium off of my list - the eleventh stadium i had seen a game in. i ultimately added this 2009 upper deck o-pee-chee rangers checklist (black parallel)

to my stadium mini-collection.

here's my ticket stub from the game:

and here are a couple of photos that i took:

we sat in right-center, but i walked around the stadium and took this photo from just left of center field. i believe this is carlos beltran grounding out to first in the top of the fifth, but i don't know for sure. one of the things that struck me about this stadium was that it was just a big open box. another thing was the facade up top that looked like maybe they were trying to mimic yankee stadium?

that's a bad photo of the nolan ryan statue that was on site.

i woke up in dallas the morning of may 19, 2004 knowing i was going to the game. i also learned early that morning that randy johnson had thrown a perfect game the night before in atlanta. as always, i was hoping to see something exciting at the game i was going to, but there was really nothing out of the ordinary on display between the royals and the rangers. i got to see old friend chan ho park pitch again (he started for texas) and juan gone hit a home run (although he was playing for kansas city) which was nice. the royals beat the rangers 5-3.

a couple of years later, i was asked to go to chicago for more corporate training. this time, the reigning world series champion white sox were in town, and a co-worker and i arrived a day early so we could head out to see them. i've added this 2009 upper deck o-pee-chee white sox checklist card

to my collection. 

here's my ticket stub from the game we saw:

us cellular field was the 14th stadium i saw a game in, and our vantage point was not too different from the view on the card:

just a lot higher up!  that's jim thome at the plate, with a pitch from felix hernandez on the way. thome had already homered and doubled in the game, so we were on cycle watch. he walked in this at bat and then later struck out. the white sox won the game, however, thanks to his first inning bomb.

one of my favorite elements of the stadium was the white sox' retired number murals out there in left field, but they have jackie robinson's retired number mural out in right next to the bullpen

i really miss the murals at dodger stadium!

travelling for work can be a great perk, and i like to think i've been able to make the most of it during these trips.