Starting off January 1, I made four resolutions relating to visiting Minor League Baseball stadiums.
In 2015, I resolve to attend @KCCougars game while visiting @ChooseChicago for #AAG2015, and hopefully share a beer with @MWLtraveler.
— Steven Ericson (@geoSteven) January 1, 2015
I started the year off on a good note, as I did in fact attend a Kane County Cougars game, and I got to meet Craig Wieczorkiewicz. Craig operates The Midwest League Traveler, which covers appropriately enough, the Midwest League. The first day I was in Chicago I got a rental car and drove from downtown Chicago to the West Suburbs (specifically Geneva). It was a chilly evening, but I got to hang out with Craig, drink a Raging Cougar Ale, and talk about baseball. You can read about my visit here.
In 2015, I resolve to attend a @nashvillesounds game at @FirstTNPark and get another photo with @OzzieTheMascot. #PlayBall
— Steven Ericson (@geoSteven) January 1, 2015
In hindsight I'm not sure how you quantify the success/failure of this resolution. I made it to First Tennessee Park for a Nashville Sounds game at their new ballpark. That is obviously a success. However, I did not get another photo with Ozzie because he was replaced by Booster the Hot Chicken. Considering that I did get a photo with the mascot, I'm counting this as a win. You can read about my visit here.
— Steven Ericson (@geoSteven) January 1, 2015
Somewhere along the way we all fall short of fulfilling our resolutions, and I can report that I did not attend a Lexington Legends game with my friend Dr. Michael Bradley. I wasn't swamped with writing my dissertation, but due to car repairs I did not drive to Cincinnati, Ohio, for the AP Human Geography Reading and therefore failed to drive through Kentucky on my way back south. I'm optimistic that I will be able to attend a game in 2016.
In 2015, I resolve to visit all 4 Georgia @MiLB teams: @gnatsbaseball, @GreenJackets, @GwinnettBraves, and @TheRomeBraves. #PlayBall
— Steven Ericson (@geoSteven) January 1, 2015
Last year I hoped to visit all four of Georgia's Minor League Baseball teams, but only visited one of them. I visited the Gwinnett Braves with my Oklahoma State Grad School classmate Bill McBrayer for Back to the Future Night. I did not blog about my visit because I had visited the G-Braves in 2014 (read about that visit here). On the same road trip I did visit the Augusta GreenJackets and Savannah Sand Gnats, who were in their final season. You can read about my visit to Augusta here and my visit to Savannah here. I made a daytrip to watch the Rome Braves play about a week after my trip to Augusta and Savannah. You can read about my Rome visit here. So I can definitely mark my Georgia-related resolution as a success.Of my four resolutions, I completed three. From an individual component perspective I completed six of seven resolutions for a 0.857 average in baseball terms. From an overall vantage I went 3-for-4 for a 0.750 average. Either way you look at my baseball resolutions for 2015 I consider myself a winner. I'd like to go 4-for-4 with my resolutions one year, but I will definitely take a 3-for-4 day at the plate.
Now to consider my baseball travel resolutions for 2016...
