We couldn’t leave Baltimore without having tried their famous crab cakes and we were lucky to stumble upon Wild Bill’s Grill at the block party across the street from Camden Yards. Wild Bill’s sells italian sausages and pulled pork sandwiches, but their specialty is the Jumbo Maryland Crab Cake.

Here’s what Joey had to say about it…

In our travels, we encountered many different kinds of foods and beverages that we had never had before and so we decided to try them all out and film some food reviews.

#1 comes from Busch Stadium in St. Louis, where Joey tried this foot long corn dog on for size.  A half hour prior, Joey had a foot long bratwurst, and so this corn dog was a little slow going down…

We want to take a moment to thank Mitchell & Ness Nostalgia Co. for helping us out with 30 Ballparks in 30 Days. Our friends at M&N believed in our project and gave us great tickets to several of the ballgames along the way.  After our final game in San Diego, Emily brought us awesome Phillies tshirts courtesy of  M&N.  Special thanks to Joanne and Maggie!

For those of you who aren’t familiar with Mitchell & Ness, they’re a Philadelphia based clothing company that specializes in vintage inspired team jerseys, tshirts, caps, etc for all major sports. They have stores in Center City and at Citizen’s Bank Park, but you can also visit them online at www.mitchellandness.com.  Check them out now!

The distinction of America’s oldest ballpark belongs to Rickwood Field in Birmingham, Alabama.  We visited the ballpark over the weekend and when you walk through the old, wood doors that say ‘No Betting In Park’ in white paint, and step out onto the carefully manicured field, you can feel its history surround you like the warmth of a fire in the cold of winter and you can’t help but feel a chill run down your spine.

It opened on August 18, 1910, and was the home for both the Birmingham Barons and the Birmingham Black Barons.  On this field is where a 16 year old rookie named Willie Mays led the Black Barons to their 1948 Negro American League championship.  It is where Satchel Paige battled Josh Gibson, Cool Papa Bell, and other Negro League legends.  And because of Birmingham’s location, it was a major railroad hub, and Rickwood was a favorite site for barnstorming Major League teams.  Many greats thrilled crowds here, including Babe Ruth, Ted Williams, Joe DiMaggio, Jackie Robinson, Ty Cobb, Stan Musial, and Reggie Jackson.  When you’re taking in a game at Fenway or Wrigley, you can feel the spirits of baseball around you, but even those classic parks can’t compare to the feeling you get at Rickwood.  It is truly a national treasure and if you ever find yourself in the area, stop by and check it out.

Many thanks to David who went out of his way on Labor Day weekend to accommodate and open up the park for us.  Read all about Rickwood Field here.

I recently visited the small, New England town of Pittsfield, Massachusetts for a wedding.  The main street of the town evokes a turn of the century kind of a feel - Ma and Pa run diners, shoe repair shops, glowing marquees of single screen theatres, and not a Starbucks in sight.  It was a nice change and I was immediately in love with the town.

Pittsfield, however, has cemented its place in history for an ordinance that was passed there in 1791, where the towns lawmakers wrote, “no inhabitant of said town shall be permitted to play at any game called wicket, cricket, base ball, bat ball or any other game or games with balls within the distance of eighty yards of the Meeting House…”  This is the first reference to baseball in American history, dating back to when Washington was still in office, and it sorely debunks the myth of Abner Doubleday inventing the game.

I thought it was appropriate, and rather ironic, that I be invited to a wedding in a town I had never even heard of before but is significant in American history for its mention of baseball.  I think it’s a sign that this journey was meant to happen.

Tonight Jonathan Sanchez threw the 13th no hitter in Giants history.  Sanchez started the season for San Fran in the starting staff but due to struggles with his command he was demoted.  But when 300 game winner Randy Johnson went down with an injury Sanchez got the call again.  Sanchez was brilliant, “making the most of his start” would be an understatement.  Sanchez was perfect into the 8th until Juan Uribe made an error at third base.  But the defense still had his back when former Phillies star outfielder Aaron Rowand made a great leaping catch at the wall with one out in the 9th.  Sanchez then struck out his 11th batter of the night to seal his no-hit bid.  This is something we thought about all the time on the road, to see baseball magic. I remember cringing if a pitcher gave up a hit in the first, hoping for that chance to see baseball history.  However, whether your at the stadium or home on your couch watching its still one of the most special moments in sports. Congrats Jonathan Sanchez (I think its safe to say you’ll remain in the starting rotation).

Also some interesting stats.  Sanchez no hit the San Diego Padres who interestingly enough have been victims of 3 of the last 14 no hitters.  The two previous against former Cardinals and Phillies minor leaguer Bud Smith and A.J Burnett.  Burnett who no-hit the Padres just days after burning his hand on an iron.

The mountain of tapes on the left is the movie… 37 days and 22,000 miles all documented.  Each tape holds 1 hour of footage.

The meager stack of 2 on the right represents the maximum length of time the finished film can be.  No longer then 2 hours.

So now the trick is to somehow fit the mountain of tapes on the left into the stack of tapes on the right.

It’ll be a challenge, that’s for sure, but we’ll keep everyone in the loop with the progress of the edit with regular posts on the site.

Well when we set out on our trip a goal was to visit old Tigers Stadium in Detroit (or at least what was left of it).  This now has so much more meaning because the city of Detroit has decided to demolish the remains of Tigers Stadium, just a little over a month from our May 2nd visit.

Part of Tiger Stadium’s upper deck came crashing down Monday June 8th, nearly a decade after the final major league game there and hours after a judge refused to stop the historic ballpark’s demolition.

Crews used a backhoe to tear away chunks of the upper deck along the former third-base line, causing debris to rain down as dozens of people gathered nearby to witness the destruction of a stadium that opened in 1912 as Navin Field and hosted professional baseball for 87 years.

Enjoy what may be some of the last pictures taken of Tiger Stadium.  It was truly a nostalgic expierence.

Well, it’s been 3 weeks since our return to Philadelphia.  We arrived back home exhausted and a bit delirious from the whirlwind journey that had been our lives over the last 37 days.  We drove 22,000 miles through 39 states in 37 days and, to be honest, we just needed a break from the project.

We’ve been able to rest up and refresh ourselves these past few weeks and we are now ready to jump head-first back into the project with a fresh perspective.  Starting now, with this post, we will continue the blog and routinely write of the progress we are making in the edit room and of stories from the road.

Once again, thank you to everyone out there who supported us and helped us along the way.  It was an arduous trip made easy because of you.

After our lunch at Rosie’s, we jumped on the famous highway to take us the rest of the way to the Grand Canyon.

We took an exit for gas and ended up getting lost somewhere in the middle of Arizona.  We were driving down dirt roads through fields of joshua trees and dodging the wild steer that inhabit the land.  We didn’t find our way back to 66 until close to dark, so instead of driving the rest of the way to the Canyon, we stopped in the tiny town of William, AZ and stayed in a little hotel that’s been there since 1891.

The town really had the feel of the old wild west and it was neat staying the night on Route 66 and having a couple beers at the saloon.