Baseball Stadiums: New England Preview

As Opening Day for Major League and Minor League teams is upon us this week, I get set for two constants of my life during the month of April: attending the AAG Annual Meeting and attending some baseball games during the opening week of the season.

The 2017 AAG Annual Meeting is in Boston, so that will serve as the base of my journeys over the next week.

Map of my upcoming trip to New England.

I arrive in Boston on Wednesday, April 5, so I will start my trip by seeing the Red Sox that night.  It'll be a harried day, as I am also making my presentation that afternoon.  My research presentation combines two of my great pleasures in life: craft beer and Minor League Baseball (read about it here).  I will have to virtually sprint from my session to Fenway Park if I hope to make it in the gates before the first pitch.  So I may also go back for the game on Thursday, which is a day game.

I hoped to make it to Portland, Maine, for Opening Day of the Minor League season, but my academic responsibilities prevent me getting there on Thursday evening.  So I will instead lead a small field trip of geographers from Boston to Portland to catch the Sea Dogs on Friday night.  At the game I'll get to meet up with Josh Pahigian, and chat baseball.

There are several Minor League teams in New England, and naturally I'd love to see them all.  However, I'm at the mercy of the schedule in deciding what teams I can see.  So the only other team I will be able to see on this trip is the New Hampshire Fisher Cats, who I will catch on Saturday, April 8.  I'm not leading a field trip to see them, but instead getting a rental car for one day and maybe taking a friend or two with me.

Although I've seen games at Fenway Park (in 1999 when I attended the NHL Draft), and Hadlock Field and Northeast Delta Dental Stadium (when visiting a friend who lives in Connecticut), all of those visits were before I considered blogging about my baseball adventures.  So I won't get to add any new states or stadiums to my tally, but I'll get to add three new parks to my blog.