Taking the family out to the ball games

Summer in our family means long road trips, and it means baseball. We

spent nearly three weeks on the road this August, covering thousands

of miles. Baseball was everywhere.

Our first destination was Little Rock, Ark., to see the Angels’

Class AA farm team.

Seeing the Travelers play the Springfield, Mo., Cardinals was the

purest baseball experience of my life. From the tickets -- which

don’t have dates or assigned seats and cost just $8 -- to the 1932

ballpark, the atmosphere was nostalgic and family-oriented.

Part of the Texas League, the Travelers’ alumni include current

Angels Frankie Rodriguez and Adam Kennedy. We had a few players we

wanted to scout, including Angels’ first-round draft pick and pitcher

Jered Weaver and outfielder Tommy Murphy.

We arrived an hour early, and it took us a few minutes to realize

that parking was free. We walked into the park, up a steep ramp, and

the field was laid out in front of us, green and bright and almost

shimmering in the twilight.

The usher pointed vaguely toward the front-row seats, and we were

overwhelmed by the choices. Should we sit by the dugout? Behind home

plate?

We wound up just a few rows behind the Travelers’ dugout and sat

there, taking in the atmosphere. It was 100% baseball -- scorecards,

souvenirs and hot dogs. Players weren’t hidden away in fancy

clubhouses -- we had seen the Cardinals’ starting pitcher, in his

shower shoes and game socks, flirting with a pretty blond near the

entrance a few minutes earlier.

It was bliss. The stadium has a wooden roof and you could hear

foul balls when they landed with a thump. We were close enough to the

action to hear the ball hit the catcher’s glove, to hear a hitter

gasp when he was hit with a ball.

The crowd, about 3,000 strong, was very different than at big

league games. There were many older fans who didn’t heckle; they

encouraged.

There was organ music and baseball songs over the loudspeaker.

Late in the game, they announced half-price pizzas because they made

too many. The peanut vendor joked with the players in the dugout, and

they had corny promotions during each inning. Best of all, the

Travelers won, 15-0.

It would have been worth an entire vacation to drive to Little

Rock and then turn around and head home. But we had other plans on

our itinerary.

We drove on to St. Louis, making sure to see a Cardinals game at

Busch Stadium before it’s razed to make way for a new ballpark. The

game we watched was amazing -- former Angel David Eckstein hit a

walk-off grand slam.

Our trip continued, and so did the baseball. We drove west to

Kansas City, stopping to visit the Negro Leagues Baseball Museum.

After watching a Royals game, we drove north 320 miles to Cedar

Rapids, Iowa -- a river town that smells like cooking oatmeal from

the Quaker Oats plant downtown. We were going to meet friends at a

Kernels game that night, in order to watch the Angels’ Class A farm

team.

But first, we drove another 60 miles to Dyersville, where the

movie “Field of Dreams” was filmed. Fathers and sons threw pitches

and ran bases while younger kids played catch and ran in and out of

the tall cornfields in the outfield.

That night, back in Cedar Rapids, the Kernels played in their

four-year-old stadium. The players may not be as polished and the

ballpark may not be as much of a time capsule as in Little Rock, but

there were grassy areas for kids to play, and the players worked hard

to win the game in extra innings.

It was a great dose of baseball, and our children -- ages 7 and

nearly 3 -- loved it as much as the adults did.

It’s something all true baseball fans should attempt, a

ball-oriented road trip that takes you to new places, even back in

time.

* AMY SENK is a Corona del Mar resident.

* TRAVEL TALES runs on Thursdays. Have you gone on an interesting

vacation? Tell us about it in about 400 words, accompanied by a

couple of photos that do not have the Daily Pilot in them, and send

to Travel Tales, 1375 Sunflower Ave., Costa Mesa, CA 92626; e-mail

o7dailypilot@latimes.comf7; or fax (714) 966-4679.