Seeing a game in every big-league ballpark is one of baseball's favorite long projects. A few fans do it in one wild summer. Most spread it across years or decades, picking up a park on a work trip, another on a family vacation, two more on a weekend with friends. However you go about it, a little planning makes the project more fun and a lot easier to finish.
Decide your rules before you start
Every ballpark chaser eventually hits the same questions, so settle them early. Does a park count if you only took the tour, or do you need to see a game? Do you have to stay all nine innings? If a team moves into a new park, do you need to go back? What about a team playing in a temporary home? Does a park you saw as a kid still count after it's torn down?
There are no official answers. The point is to agree with whoever you are traveling with, write the rules down, and stick to them. Many people count only full games they attended, and keep a separate list for parks that are gone.
Start with the parks you have already seen
Before planning anything, list every big-league park you have been to and roughly when. Dig through old ticket stubs, photos, email confirmations and scorecards. A parent or old friend can often fill in a park you forgot. Note the month and year, and if you can, the opponent and who you went with. That information will matter later.
Many people find they are further along than they thought, and seeing the list makes the rest feel doable.
Group the remaining parks into trips
The easiest way to cover a lot of parks is to cluster them by region. A few examples: New York, Philadelphia, Baltimore and Washington sit along one corridor that is easy to cover by train or car. Chicago and Milwaukee are close enough to pair in a weekend. Cleveland, Detroit, Pittsburgh and Cincinnati can make a loop. California has several parks within a day's drive of one another. The parks that sit by themselves, far from any other, are the ones to fly to or save for a vacation.
Road trip tips that save time and money
- Wait for the schedule. As soon as the next season's schedule comes out, look for stretches where two nearby teams are both at home on back-to-back days.
- Use getaway days. Teams often play a day game on the last day of a series. A day game in one city can leave time to drive to a night game in the next.
- Build in a spare day. Rainouts happen, and a postponed game can wreck a tight plan. One open day in the middle of a trip gives you room to recover.
- Look at weeknights. Tickets are often easier to get on a Tuesday than a Saturday, and the crowds are smaller if you want to walk the whole concourse.
- Arrive early. Gates usually open well before first pitch. Walking the park during batting practice is the best way to actually see it.
- Keep the ticket. Paper or a screenshot, keep proof of every game. You'll want the date and score later.
Keep a record of every visit
Memories blur after the fifteenth ballpark, so write things down at the game. The Stadium Passport is a softcover journal made for exactly that: their name and the league's map on the cover, a checklist inside the cover, printed visit pages for the date, the score, who they went with and a ticket stub, then lined pages for everything else. It fits in a back pocket. From $24.
Show your progress on the wall
The Stadium Bucket List puts every big-league ballpark on one map. Tick off the ones you have been to and add the month and year, and they print filled in with the date. The rest stay open for the next trip. It also comes in versions for pro football stadiums, basketball arenas and hockey arenas, for fans chasing more than one list. From $45.
The same map comes on a soft sherpa blanket (from $89), a wall tapestry (from $45), a puzzle in a tin (from $59) and a desk mat (from $49). The desk mat is a nice way to look at the next trip every workday.
Remember the trips themselves
After a big multi-park trip, the Road Trip Recap draws the route on a map with every stop in order, the date and the real final score of the game you saw at each one. Bring the dates and parks you visited and we look up the scores from the game records. From $45.
For a favorite park, The Ballpark covers one stadium in detail: the year it opened, seats, surface, roof and outfield distances, the championship games played there and, if you add the date, the real scoreboard from your first game there. From $45. And for a first game at a park together, Our First Game Ornament carries the ballpark, city, date and your names on a two-sided ceramic ornament. From $24.
For the fan who has been at it for decades
Longtime fans often saw parks that no longer exist. The Lost Ballparks I Saw maps forty-two big-league parks that are gone, from Ebbets Field and the Polo Grounds to Tiger Stadium and the Astrodome, with the years the majors played there. Check off the ones they saw and add the year. It's a good companion to a current-park map. From $45.
Shop this guide
Stadium Bucket ListFrom $45
Stadium PassportFrom $24
Road Trip RecapFrom $45
The BallparkFrom $45
The Lost Ballparks I SawFrom $45
Our First Game OrnamentFrom $24
Stadium Bucket List BlanketFrom $89
Ordering
Personalize any of these on its product page by marking the parks you have visited and the dates. Every order is checked by hand before it prints, shipping is free in the US, and you should allow about two weeks for delivery. If it's a Christmas gift, order by early December. Browse every stadium map and ballpark print in the stadiums collection.