We lingered awhile in Saint Louis before heading to Kansas City (thus a couple of Saint Louis pictures here).  Busch Stadium is beautiful and is, of course, downtown.  Add to its own beauty the view of the Arch from inside the stadium and you’ve got a superb ballpark experience.

Kauffman Stadium in Kansas City, on the other hand, has been our only stadium not in the downtown area or otherwise densely populated spot such as the Bronx.  We significantly prefer the former.  At 40 years old this year, they have done an outstanding job of maintaining and remodeling the facility so it doesn’t feel much different than the newest ones.  I’m just not a fan of the zillion acres of parking lots and no hotels or restaurants within walking distance.  The dispersion of traffic alone among the many parking facilities in the city locations is a major attribute of those parks.

The Royals were held to three hits and took a 9 to 1 shellacking at the hands of the Chicago White Sox but it was the fastest game of our six being played in under two and a half hours, i.e., the way it is supposed to be done.

That’s it for 2013.  Six games in six cities in seven days.  4,000 miles, two great grandmothers and 9 major league baseballs.  22 major league games together at 17 different stadiums, 25 baseballs and five theme parks in four years.  Oh yes, and about 35 days alone with my grandsons.  They’ve signed up for next year so more to come…