July 31, 2015
First things first upon arrival into Cincinnati was a trip to Skyline Chili, which I had tried in Louisville last year and loved! It’s chili on top of spaghetti, so how could you not love that?
After the delicious chili we made our way to Great American Ballpark, home of the Cincinnati Reds. Some tickets were waiting for us in will-call thanks to the amazing Tim Parks, founder of the MLB Ballpark Passport, which everyone should check out here https://mlbballparkpassport.com/ Tim’s home team is the Reds, and we were excited to hopefully finally meet him here.
We actually were quite early, so we had to wait in line for the gates to open. Once we went in, we were excited to be so early for batting practice, but we were shocked to learn that because of the heat, both teams canceled batting practice. Boo! Now we had lots of time to spare, so we made our way toward the kids area behind first base where there was a mini baseball field to hit at and a fun slide to go down. Plus we got to see the “Rose” garden, where the Reds unofficially honor Pete Rose, who is banned by the MLB from baseball because of his sports betting. Very cool to see!
As game-time approached, we walked around to see the boat-like structure in center field and got a nice view of the Ohio River beyond the outfield with Kentucky within reach right across. I love that the stadium is right along the river, just like PNC Park in Pittsburgh. Once the game started we made our way to our seats on the first base side up top with beautiful views of the downtown skyline and the Ohio River.
A few innings in it was time to get my stamp and finally meet Tim Parks, who has been a huge part of our journey to 30 stadiums. His passport, which I received in 2013 on our Midwest road trip, has added yet another amazing element to our trips and motivated us to keep going on our journey. It was so great to talk in person after so many texts over the phone.
Late in the game the Reds made a push to win in a walk-off, but Starling Marte made a diving catch to save the game for the Pirates and escape with a win. Shortly after, it was fireworks time! An absolutely incredible fireworks display lit up the southern tip of Ohio and capped not only an amazing night but also an amazing trip, as this was the last of five stadiums on this East Coast road trip. Where to next?
