MIDWEST BASEBALL TOUR - LEG 2: Kansas City, Part 2

If you haven’t read Tim’s reports on preparing for this trip (this is his first time planning a trip), be sure to check out what it took to plan and prepare for this trip in a wheelchair.

In Part 1 of our time in Kansas City, we saw where President Truman lived, had a meal at the City Market, and got frustrated with the hotel and our fellow guests at the Residence Inn.  Now it's game time...

Watch the Video!

Before reading on, you have to know that the player I most despise in the major leagues is one Jose Guillen. A hothead and clubhouse cancer, his temper and subordination caused the Angels to fire him (and his admittedly strong bat) one week before entering the playoffs. It was that important to them that he be off the team that they’d rather take their chances of losing the playoffs (they did) than have Guillen around poisoning the team’s chemistry…

About 4 miles from downtown Kansas City, along Interstate 70, is the Truman Sports Complex consisting of Arrowhead and Kauffman Stadiums. Football’s Chiefs play at Arrowhead, baseball’s Royals of the American League play at Kauffman.

Our tickets, in the Dugout Boxes section, allow us to enter through the VIP entrance behind home plate. Along the way, a utility cart was driven by with two Royals players sitting on the back. Yes, there within spitting distance is the man I love to hate, Jose Guillen. While I’d love to let him have a few pieces of my mind, I let it go lest I be denied admission to the park.

It’s nice being treated like celebrities going in through the nice entrance but we find out that they don’t have any of the night’s giveaway…a Royals shirt for the women…here and we have to go back out of our way to the regular entrance at first base to get one for my wife.

Our seats are spectacular. About ten rows back, just a hair off of home plate on the third base side. Close enough to see the bags under the players’ eyes. I walk a few feet and get this shot of Chicago White Sox manager, Ozzie Guillen (no relation to Jose, I hope). Absolutely no overhang, wonderfully wheelchair accessible, and our section comes with two giant snack bars that server about 95% of the food offerings in the park along with giant plasma TVs so you don’t miss any action while standing in line.

The stadium, around 40 years old, had a refurbishment done before last season. It looks like a brand-new stadium with retro 70s touches. The signature features are the many fountains in the outfield and the crown shaped video board in center field. Food choices range from hot dogs, many gourmet sausages from Scimeca’s (Polish, brats, Italian, and Sheboygan), KC barbecue, pan fried chicken, and more. Two higher end restaurants are in the outfield, one in left and one in right. There is a wide selection of beers on tap and the best popcorn I’ve ever had at a baseball game is being popped at one of the several Topsy’s stands at only $4 for a good sized bag or $8 for a giant tub. It’s always fresh popped and they butter it to order. Food prices are very reasonable.

All this and the seats are only $43…the cheapest of the trip!

OK, food and drink in hand, it’s game time.

The Royals, the worst team in the league at this point, had fired their manager, Trey Hillman, the day before this game. Former Brewer manager, Ned Yost, is taking over. Yost was working in the Royals front office until this point.

The visitors are the Chicago White Sox. Taking the mound is Gil Meche for the Royals, Mark Buerhle will be the arm for Chicago. Meche has a no-hitter going into the 4th inning when right fielder Mark Kotsay breaks that up with a single. Meche then strikes out the next two batters to end the inning.

Hits start coming for the White Sox in the fifth and Omar Vizquel scores on a single by the Sox catcher, A. J. Pierzynski. In the bottom of the fifth, Buerle picks off a snoozing Jose Guillen at first base. The guy didn’t move an inch. Oh, what sweet justice, even though we are rooting for the home team.

The Royals tie it up on a solo homer by shortstop Yuniesky Betancourt in the bottom of the sixth. The Royals are first to use the bullpen when Dusty Hughes replaces Gil Meche in the top of the seventh. Other than a single by Vizquel, the side is retired.

It comes apart for Buerhle and the White Sox after the stretch when the first five batters single and drive in three runs. Tony Pena takes the mound after Buerhle is knocked out of the game. Two batters later, catcher Jason Kendall singles in third baseman Alberto Callaspo. Pena is out of the game to be replaced by Randy Williams.

A throwing error by Sox third baseman Mark Teahen (a much loved former Royal) scores another run. Two batters later, manager Ozzie Guillen makes a now familiar walk to the mound, replacing Williams with Scott Linebrink. Linebrink induces a ground out from first baseman Billy Butler to stop the carnage and end the inning. This will end the scoring and the final score is 6-1, Royals win.

An after-game fireworks show puts a nice cap on our last game of the trip. The only knock I have on the Royals ballpark is that it is not located downtown, necessitating a short drive to the suburbs. Traffic flows well and we’re out of the parking lot in five minutes. Kauffman gets the nod as our favorite stadium on the tour, just edging out Busch Stadium which is just a notch better than Great American Ballpark in Cincinnati.

It’s back to the hotel. The next day, there is a yellow slip of paper stapled to a note that was slipped under our door. It says that due to Rockfest, we will need to put the yellow slip of paper on our dashboard to keep our car from being towed away. We also notice that the hotel is filling up with people, many with spiked hair, leather jackets, studs, and drinking heavily. It’s time to visit the front desk.

“What is this Rockfest you’re telling us about?” I ask the friendly girl at the counter. It turns out that it is an outdoor, heavy metal concert starting in just a few minutes and going on through the evening in a park 200 yards from the hotel. We tell her about the noise last night and she tells us that if we thought that was bad, “just wait until tonight! I’m glad I’m off at 3pm.”

“Even if it’s after 12pm, can I check out with no penalty?” I ask. No problem. I tell her to just give me an hour and I’ll be out. While we’re packing, the concert begins and it’s blisteringly loud. We get everything in the car, I use the hotel’s wifi to find another hotel (Drury Inn just a few miles away!) return the keys, and leave. Most of the adjacent streets are closed. Cars are double-parked and thousands of fans are streaming into the concert…just dodged a bullet there!

Don’t get me wrong, I hope they had fun and have nothing against the metal heads and partiers. It’s just not what we were looking for and I wish the hotel would have let us know what was going on. To their credit, the staff at the Residence Inn was gracious in letting us leave without penalty. Still, that and the other problems we had there…the noise, the broken A/C, the torn carpet, and the roll-in shower that was an inch above the bathroom floor causing flooding…kill any good feelings I have. I cannot recommend this hotel.

We had plans to see the Federal Reserve money museum and the World War I museum but this killed that, plus both are located in the very park the concert was happening at so I doubt they were even open that day.

About a half-hour later, we pull into the Drury Inn & Suites Overland Park, Kansas…a suburb of Kansas City. The girl at the counter is very friendly and gives us the keycards to our spacious, two-room accessible suite on the third floor. Just like in St. Louis, we have a gorgeous, quiet room. Dinner, drinks, soda, popcorn and hot breakfast are free, among other things. I almost feel like I’m back home, in a familiar place. I think we have a new contender for hotel chain of the year.

Dinner tonight is a celebration of escape at the Overland Park branch of the Hereford House, one of Kansas City’s upscale steak houses where we are wined and dined with a succulent, prime, Kansas City strip.

There's more to come, stay tuned for the trip finale!

Darryl
Copyright 2010 - Darryl Musick
All Rights Reserved

MIDWEST BASEBALL TOUR - LEG 2: Kansas City, Part 1

If you haven’t read Tim’s reports on preparing for this trip (this is his first time planning a trip), be sure to check out what it took to plan and prepare for this trip in a wheelchair.

Finally, we're driving to the final destination of this tour.  It seems like we've been on the road for a month, but it's just been a week since we landed in Cincinnati.

It’s not nearly as long a drive as we took from Cincinnati to St. Louis. 247 miles as opposed to 384, so this day will be much shorter with only a planned bathroom, gas, and lunch break half way in Columbia, home of Ole Mizzou.

Watch the Video!

On the way in, we pass Kauffman Stadium, our goal for this leg of the trip, and then into downtown to find our hotel. It’s not hard to find as we climb up the hill by the Liberty Monument with it’s not-so-eternal Eternal Flame. Our home here will be the Residence Inn by Marriott on Union Hill.

We check in and find the hotel’s only wheelchair accessible room, a downstairs unit in a cave-like outdoor hallway. The room is spacious and roomy, with a king-size bed against the wall, a roll-in shower in the bathroom, a full kitchen next to a work desk, and a living room with a sofabed. The sofa is too close to the TV to unfold it for a bed so I scoot it back a bit, revealing many tears in the rug repaired with duct tape.

I look for and find the thermostat for the air conditioning, try to set it, and find out that it does not work. That will not be a problem on this chilly day but if the weather takes a turn to hot and muggy…as it did in St. Louis…it will be. We leave the room to walk to dinner and let the front desk know that the A/C needs fixing, which they promise to do.

A two block walk up Main Street leads us to Gates Barbecue, whose motto is “hi, can I help you?” I would think you’d get that motto at a lot of places, but if it helps, why not? We order at the cafeteria-style counter. I can see the smoker a few feet back, open, with many pieces of perfectly smoked meat. Our eyes grow big. I want to try a burnt ends sandwich. My wife wants a full rack of ribs. Tim will share with us along with beans, bread, and salad.

The meat is perfect, delectable, and juicy-tasty. There are three sauces to try, mild, regular, and hot. We get all three and stuff ourselves silly. We still have over half of our food left, which the waitress in the dining room helps us pack to take back to the hotel. That fridge in the full kitchen will come in handy.

In the morning, after the hotel’s perfectly adequate breakfast (I think I’ve been spoiled by the
Drury Plaza Hotel St. Louis at the Arch), we had a day to explore before tonight’s game. It’s a short drive over to Independence, home of one Harry S. Truman.

At the visitor’s center, we are informed that both the Truman home and farm are closed to visitors at this time because of ongoing refurbishment. We’re welcome to look from the outside and take pictures, but that’s it. The Truman Presidential Library is open, so we’ll stop by there in a little while.

At the end of the block is Clinton’s Soda Fountain. We go here to get some ice cream. We also go because this is where young Harry Truman got his first job, working after school. It’s not in the original location; a ranger tells us the original building burned down and it was moved here afterward.

The ice cream is good and the service Missouri friendly.

A few blocks away is the Truman home, which we walk around and snap a few pictures before moving on. A couple of blocks from here is a huge building with a spiraling steeple. We drive over to see what it is.

In 1831, Mormon pioneer Joseph Smith declared that the plot of land near the courthouse square was to be the new temple for New Jerusalem, the spot where Christ would come back to earth. The Mormons were eventually driven from the area but many returned and built the temple. The giant we now see is a newer version serving the Community of Christ branch of the Latter Day Saints.

Continuing on, we head over to the Truman Library. It’s eight dollars to get in ($12 in 2022 - Ed). A short movie about Truman’s life is shown, then you head out into the museum where you walk through different stages of his presidential career…taking over for the deceased FDR, the decision to drop the bomb on Japan, recognition of Israel, the Korean War, the firing of Douglas MacArthur, “Dewey Defeats Truman,” and the economic and civil rights laws he pushed for.

There is a peaceful courtyard, overseen by a life-sized statue of the man where an eternal flame burns near the graves of Harry Truman, his wife, daughter, and her husband. Behind that, you can see the office where Truman spent days after the presidency working here at the library which is next to the research room. It’s a very worthwhile stop when you’re in the area.

Back at the hotel, we turn in for the night. Soon, I here shouting outside and I take a look. There is a couple getting to know each other VERY well in the porch across the way and several of their friends are running in and out of the room along with others laughing and causing a general noisy mess in the parking lot. We have a full-blown hotel party going on next door.

I ask them several times to be quiet and am summarily ignored. It does quiet down. Next, around midnight, a group checks into the room above ours, being noisy. Then, just stomping across the floor all night. This is never stopped. We have a very bad night.

Frustrated with the noise, we skip breakfast, not wanting to see anybody else from the hotel. Instead, we head downtown to the City Market where each weekend they have a fresh farmer’s market along with the shops and stalls that are there every day.

Most of the farmers today just have vegetables. Very little fruit except for strawberries. I taste some, but they are very bland. There’s a table that has a lady with baked goods and we try her cinnamon rolls. Very delicious, so we take some to share and head to a trailer at the end that’s making coffee and breakfast. We get some joe and a breakfast sandwich to share and head to some nearby picnic tables to eat. It’s all very good but while we’re there it starts to rain. Not heavy, but steady.

After eating, we head over to the walkway around the perimeter of the market that is covered and browse the shops and stalls. Delicious looking meat is being grilled at an Italian deli. A friendly gentleman is giving away many samples at the Bloom Bakery. After trying some of his mouth-watering morsels, we head in for more and get some cupcakes, danishes, and some bread for later.

Tim and I share a sausage from the grill and it’s delicious.

We get some cheese for later (the Amazing Race finale will be on Sunday night so we plan some snacks and wine in our room) in the deli. Many everyday produce stands are here with fruit, so we get some to help with our deficient vacation nutritional needs. The market is busy, friendly, happening, and a fun place to spend a day.

Back at the Residence Inn, we note that the A/C is now working and we rest up for tonight’s game.

Stick around, part 2 and the game is coming very soon!

Darryl
Copyright 2010 - Darryl Musick
All Rights Reserved

Classic Post: Tim's Trip Planning 101 – The Final Chapter

Our Midwest baseball trip is coming together at a fast and furious pace.

(Note, current 2022 prices have been calculated and are updated below, where necessary - Ed)

We have now booked a rental car, which we will pick up in Cincinnati and use for the duration of the trip, which will finish in Kansas City. We’ve also booked hotel rooms at a Comfort Inn in Cincinnati, a Drury Inn in St. Louis and a Marriott Residence Inn in Kansas City. While the rental car and hotel reservations are an important part of a trip, they are not the only important element. The car, a full size, one-way rental, is costing $693.  I used a discount code that I found for Walmart shoppers that I found at Car Rental Savers that got me a bigger discount than my dad's AAA card.

As of last Friday, the baseball tickets have been purchased. For all three games, I tried getting accessible seating as close to home plate as possible for one wheelchair and two companion seats. The surprising thing was unlike Angel Stadium, it was very easy to get more than one companion seat without any hassle at all. I just called each stadium and they were more than ready to help me out. Being an Angel fan, I can’t help thinking my own team screws me every time I want to buy seats there.

In Cincinnati, we will be going to a day game against the Chicago Cubs. We will be sitting along the first base side behind the Reds dugout, very close to the field. There will be a Mothers’ Day scarf giveaway that day. In St. Louis, we will be going to a game against the Houston Astros. We will be sitting in the Infield Redbird Club, which includes access to the Redbird Club, which seems to be a private restaurant and bar for this area. It’s kind of like sitting in a large suite, as I can gather. There will be no giveaway for that game. In Kansas City, we will be going to a game against the Chicago White Sox. We will be sitting in a dugout box very close to home plate. There will also be a women’s T-shirt giveaway as well as a postgame fireworks show, so it should be fun.

The most expensive ticket was $57 for the Redbird Club in St. Louis. This compares to the $60 I spent on pretty lousy seats at Seattle a couple of years ago so the baseball games…all with great seats…seem to be a bargain.

In addition to the games, we are also planning on seeing the Louisville Slugger Museum in Kentucky and the Indianapolis Raceway where the Indy 500 takes place.

Now everything is in place. The only thing left to do is go. I hope you’ve enjoyed this series and that it helps you to see how to plan your own trip. Don’t let your disability get in the way of seeing the world, I don’t and I enjoy every minute I’m on the road.

So, how does it all stack up to our original plans and budget?

Airfare: original budget $975 flying from LAX to Lousiville, KY. Final price: $861 flying from Ontario, CA to Cincinnati, OH. $106 under budget.
(Airfare would be about double in 2022 - Ed)

Hotels: original budget $1,130. Final price: $1,328. $198 over budget but each hotel includes a full breakfast and evening cocktail hour so we’ll make up the difference there.

(Hotels would be about $2,300 in 2022 - Ed)

Train tickets: $78 (from St. Louis to Kansas City). Will not be using the train. $78 under budget.

Rental Car: $693. Not in original budget but would replace flying from Cincinnati to St. Louis and the train plus it gives us a means of transportation at each location.
(Rental car would be about the same in 2022 - Ed)

Baseball tickets: Original budget $180. Final price: $400. Was originally planning on buying cheap tickets but since I was able to get such premium seating at good prices, I decided to splurge a bit here.
(Baseball tickets would be about $450-500, prices are variable because of dynamic pricing used by Major League Baseball today - Ed)

The total cost, for three people over 11 days, is $3182 (not including food).  That works out to less than $100 per day for each person.

(In 2022, the total would now be about $5,300, about $160 per day per person - Ed)

Thanks for joining me. I’m now very excited…this trip can’t come fast enough! 

-Tim
Copyright 2010 – Timothy Musick

Classic Post: TRIP PLANNING 101 - Part 2

I'm planning our next big vacation.  Last time, we decided where we'll go, today I need to figure when we'll fly, what order we'll do the trip in, and start figuring the cost. 

The next step is to figure out what days we would fly and how much that would cost. I decided that we would do it starting in Cincinnati and ending up in Kansas City. The trip would tentatively start on May 7, flying from Ontario, CA to Louisvillle, KY, via Southwest. The return would be from Kansas City to Ontario. The game dates would be May 8 for the Reds, May 11 for the Cardinals, and May 14 for the Royals. We would fly home on May 16.

A quick check with Southwest airlines gives us an approximate airfare of $225 per person.

Next, I’ll need to check hotel availability in those cities for those times, and figure out how we will travel from city to city.

Stay tuned.
-Tim

MIDWEST BASEBALL TRIP 2010 HIGHLIGHTS AND LOWLIGHTS

Some of the best things we saw, along with the disappointments along the way...

BASEBALL - Since the theme of this trip was baseball, let's start with the stadiums.  All the stadiums were top notch, but here's how we rate them starting with the best.

KAUFMAN STADIUM, Kansas City, Missouri - Beautiful stadium with awesome fountains in the outfield for their signature feature.  Very little to no overhang from the upper decks means you can see everything.  Great employees and fans and some of the best pricing in baseball.  We got seats just a few rows back from home plate (in the Dugout Boxes) for only $52 including taxes.  The team is not doing well but did win the night we were there, the day after they fired their manager.  The only other knock I'd give it is that it's out in the suburbs and you need to drive there.  I wish it were downtown, but that's ok.  Great wheelchair accessible seating at all levels.  They just renovated the stadium last year and it seems brand new...I can't believe this stadium is around 40 years old!  To my home team, the Angels...this is how you renovate an old stadium and this is how you include wheelchairs in your seating plans, not the Mickey Mouse way you guys did (pun intended).

BUSCH STADIUM, St. Louis, Missouri - Another beautiful stadium.  Big, expansive.  Many different seating levels to choose from.  Many "private" clubs to sit in...we sat in the Infield Redbird Club along third base and had a food court with two full bars and gift shop that was only available to ticket holder of this section.  That meant short lines, a very comfortable indoor area to go to if the weather got bad, and great views of the field from the second club deck where we sat.  Again, accessible seating available at all levels.  Great views of the arch and an easy-to-walk-to downtown location two blocks from our hotel.  The most expensive of all of our tickets at $57 each...still a bargain.

GREAT AMERICAN BALLPARK, Cincinnati, Ohio - Situated downtown on the Ohio River, not quite as easy to walk to as St. Louis but still walkable.  Great pre-game party atmosphere across the river in Newport, Kentucky.  A small looking stadium with great seating at all levels.  Our seats were halfway to third first base from home at the top of the field level deck at $53 each.  Biggest knock was mediocre to substandard food and very little variety of it.


BALL PARK FOOD - Here, St. Louis shines with barbecue, about 10 different sausages to choose from (including bacon-wrapped hot dogs like you'd find here in LA), Asian stir-fry made as you watch, pulled pork, barbecue, dessert bar, and on and on.  Prices are the highest for food and drinks we saw on the trip and the only beer I saw on tap was Bud, Bud Light, Bud Select, which you might expect from a team owned by Anheiser Busch (or InBev now).  Craft brews were expensive and available in the bottle only.


Kaufman in Kansas City comes in second with a huge selection of different sausages and the best popcorn in the bigs from the Topsy's stands.  Their funnel cake however kinda sucks.  Other selections include barbecue (how can you not in KC?), pan-fried chicken, and cheesesteak sandwiches.  Many craft brews on tap at reasonable prices.


In Cincinnati you basically have hot dogs, hamburgers, and pizza.  Pre-made grocery store sushi is available but I wouldn't touch it.  Good beer selection at good prices (great happy hour, pre-game prices across the river) and for dessert, only ice cream and candy bars.  Not the best food.

HOTELS - Drury Plaza at the Arch in St. Louis is an outstanding hotel.  A real hotel, with big marble encrusted lobby and a Lewis and Clark Diorama fountain like you'd find in the theme park.  Large and very comfortable two-room accessible suite with a roll-in shower and recliner in the living room.  GREAT service and lot's of extras included such as hot breakfast, lite dinner and three cocktails a day per person, 60 minutes free long distance each night, 15 minutes free international long distance to Mexico or Canada each night, free wifi or ethernet high speed Internet access, and free soda, coffee, and popcorn from 10 am to 10 pm each day.  There's also two reasonably priced upscale restaurants in the hotel if you get tired of the free food, swimming pool, hot tubs (indoors with a view of the river), fitness room, and guest laundry.  Wow! What a hotel at only $150 per night.


At the other end of things, the Residence Inn in Kansas City was a big disappointment.  The roll-in shower was about an inch above the bathroom floor so each time we took a shower, the bathroom flooded.  There were tears in the carpet that housekeeping tried to hide by moving the sofa (we had to move it back to make room to fold out the bed).  Air conditioner that didn't work (but they fixed it).  Pool closed and the coup de grace was the huge, open air rock concert that took place 200 yards from the hotel...make that VERY LOUD, death metal concert which also filled the hotel with its drunk and chemically alterred fans.  We checked out and went to the Drury Plaza in nearby Overland Park which was not as spectacular as the one in St. Louis but still very good and enough to be the second best hotel of the trip.


We also stayed at a very average and just adequate Comfort Suites while in Cincinnati.

Honus Wagner's Jersey and Bat in Louisville

BIGGEST SURPRISES - The Louisville Slugger factory tour and museum.  Awesome, just awesome.  If you have any interest in baseball whatsoever, you need to come here.  It's like visiting the hall of fame...they even let you hold the real bats of legendary players such as 
Mickey Mantle and David Ortiz.

The Truman Library in Independence, Missouri and the Brown vs. Board of Education historic site in Topeka, Kansas are both moving and important places to visit.

BEST FOOD - Gates Barbecue in Kansas City and the Hanover Pancake House in Topeka, Kansas were both extremely delicious.  Five Guys had great hamburgers as well.

MOST INACCESSIBLE NATIONAL PARK (that should be easily accessible) - Jefferson Expansion Memorial Park (the Gateway Arch) in St. Louis.  Chairs cannot go up the elevator (or trolley) to the top.  Debatable as to whether one of the world's top architects should have envisioned that in the 60's, so that gets a bit of a pass BUT able bodied people can walk down a short staircase to the riverfront.  Wheelchairs must make at least a 1/2 mile, unmarked detour to get to the bottom of the stair when a ramp could EASILY be installed on the adjacent hillside.

WORST AIRPORT - Kansas City International (MCI).  I thought LAX was a bad airport...it is...but this one takes the cake.  Usually, you get to an airport and go through the hassle of checking in and dealing with the ridiculous TSA security checkpoints but then you get to relax (if you have time) and have a bite to eat, get something to read, and go to the bathroom before you leave.  Not here.  Once you're through security, you find 3 or 4 small snack stands, no news stand, and a total of 8 toilets (4 for each sex) for hundreds of travelers.  Not bathrooms...toilets.  All the other stuff is outside of security so once you're in, you'll either have to go back outside or just do without.  Most people do the latter.  Awful airport (the picture above is outside the secure zone).

Of the three cities, the most fun was Cincinnati...or more accurately Newport, Kentucky across the river...with it's many restaurants, bars, and attractions including a pretty good version of a German beer garden.  I'd also like to go back and explore Kentucky more which seems like a very interesting state.

Darryl
Copyright 2010 - Darry Musick

FIELDS OF DREAMS - Kauffman Stadium, Kansas City, Missouri

Moving into the top three of our accessible baseball stadium reviews.  Starting with this week's entry, the top three stadiums are so close to each other that there's just very minor reasons why one is rated above the other. They are also pretty well ahead of the rest of the stadiums on our list as far as comfort, food, and game experience.  We kick off our esteemed top three with...

Kauffman Stadium, on the eastern edge of Kansas City, is home to the American League's Royals.  Built in 1973, it is the sixth oldest stadium in Major League Baseball behind Boston, Chicago (Wrigley), Los Angeles, Anaheim, and Oakland.  The Royals are owned by David Glass, a former president and CEO of Wal Mart.  The stadium hosted the All Star game for 2012.

Sitting 10.5 games behind a red-hot Detroit for 2013 puts the Royals in third place. Once home to one of the best hitters to ever play the game, the roster now consists of decent but lower-priced journeymen and youngsters. One of the nuttier people to ever sit in a broadcast booth, Rex Hudler, now provides color to the bland Steve Physioc on the teams TV broadcasts.

The stadium was given a renovation in 2007 and is one of the minority of professional sports facilities not to have a corporate name...Ewing Kauffman was the former owner of the team.

It has a signature feature, large fountains in the outfield.  Kansas City is said to have more fountains than any city other that Rome, so this is the architect's tribute to the city (funny, in driving all over the city I only saw one fountain).  It also has the third largest video screen in baseball, a high def, portrait-oriented screen with a crown on top that shoots fireworks at various points in the game like team introductions and home runs.

Click on the link to see a video from the game we attended.

Here are the stats:

Opened: 1973
Surface: Grass , bluegrass and rye, 1995 - present
             Astroturf 1973 - 1994
Construction cost: $70 million ($250 million for 2007 renovation)
Capacity: 39,000 (present)
               40,625 (1973)
               38,177 (2009)
Field Dimensions: Left field - 330 ft.; left center - 387 ft.; Center field - 410 ft.; right center - 387 ft.; Right field - 330 ft.
Home Team: Kansas City Royals (American League - MLB) 1973 - present

What a beautiful stadium.  Wheelchair access from every gate with wonderfully plentiful dispersed seating throughout at every level.  What I like about the wheelchair seating here is that it's not concentrated at the top of the levels but is also located down in the middle of each level.   The renovation makes it seem like a brand-new stadium with a retro design.  I really like this park.

The one big knock I have is that the stadium is located outside of downtown and there is no public transit to the complex.  This means driving or taking a taxi.  The parking lot is vast with a lot of disabled spots.  Parking is $10.  There is also a taxi queue after the game at gate D.

Although Kauffman used to have the dreaded "one wheelchair, one companion" policy, they seemed to have dropped that.  We had no problems getting two companion seats.  Just call the ticket office at (800) 6-ROYALS.

There are tons of great seating options here.  You can sit in a deck by the fountains, outfield cheap seats, upper deck, club level, and several field level options.  We chose the dugout box seats, a section on the lower field level right by home plate.  We were only 15 rows back from the field.

Although not "exclusive" seats like in St. Louis, this section had a hidden food court that served about 90% of the food selections of the stadium without having to troop up the stairs (or elevator) to the top of the field level.  A thoughtful touch.  These were absolutely fantastic seats, very close to the action, and only cost $43.  Most stadiums would want three figures for the same seats.  Ticket prices are now dynamic and can range from $7 for outfield bleachers or upper level to $250 to sit in the first few rows right behind home plate.

A great selection of foods from the many hot dogs and sausages available, good KC barbecue, fried chicken in left field, the best popcorn I've ever had at a ball game (Topsy's), and more.  I do have to give a knock on the funnel cake...I couldn't find anyone that could make a decent one.  A great selection of beers including lot's of microbrews on tap.  Prices were reasonable and most of the food was very good.

For the stadium alone, it would have to be maybe the second best we've seen.  Dynamic ticket pricing and no public transit are big knocks so that puts it down a notch to third.  Still, one of the best stadiums in baseball...a classic!

-Darryl
Copyright 2010 - Darryl Musick
Updated for 2013