Inning #1 Play Ball !!!!!

The Full Ramjet Diamond Quest is officially underway Rog and myself were up before the birds and decided to give’r around 6:00m. After a quick stop at Tim’s, R2 drove to where we took some pics of the field I had dreamed of playing on as a kid. We then made a run for the border. The border guard was a bit confused with R2’s excuse for wanting to cross the border but after learning that R2 was a Blue jay fan, he welcomed us with open arms knowing that we were really in search of a real baseball team such as his beloved Boston Red Sox.

Our “quick” stop at the Flying J gas station proved to take a little longer than expected. Because of this “Road Rage” Rog got a little testy with the fact that the 15 minutes that we had gained according to Gertrude aka GPS, was now lost and we were now behind schedule by 36 seconds. (We decided to name our GPS Gertrude since no trip is complete without having a Shotgun Sally providing directions but on the most part miss-direction. The volume is adjustable on this model.





We then blew that pop shop and sailed away towards Cooperstown. We tripped out on route 90 going 90 out –maneuvering about 90 State Troopers who were stationed along the highway with radar guns drawn… or pistol we were not certain because of the speed we were travelling. The view along highway 28 heading into Cooperstown is full of million dollar views.









Five hours later we arrived at Mecca. First stop was Doubleday Field which was getting prepped for the Hall of Fame induction. We then floated up main Street USA towards the National Baseball Hall of Fame. The sun finally broke out as we poked our heads into the various shops taking note that Pete Rose was going to be signing autographs at noon.

Roger here now...

The Hall is a great place to tour with many artifacts from the years gone by. The building was a buzz with the induction of Jerry Rice, Joe Gordon and Ricky Henderson. We timed our visit perfectly to the great baseball town. The many stores and shops selling the passion for the game were great to visit. Many fans were excited to sign our shirts. Dunc and I managed to have many baseball fans sign our shirts to become part of the adventure. We met up with this lady who has done two such tours of nine games in 10 days in the last two years. She is pictured signing Dunc's shirt.

We continued on down route 90 to Boston for dinner and rest. We are staying at the Hilton Doubletree which is hosting the National Under 15 Soccer Championships. Tomorrow we are heading to JFK Presidential Library, Quincy Market and then Fenway Park for game number one. We continue to be forced to stay in such squalor conditions. Tonight’s menu was roast beef and all the fixings. Burp! See you tomorrow at the Marriot. Life is rough on the road.

Good night for now… The Full & R2



P.S. news on the wire (Full Dunc’s Wire) is that our fearless leader is in NY for a special occasion. Stay tuned. Keep an eye on the ticker.

The Official FullRamjet 2009 Diamond Quest Jersey

Overnight in Stoney Creek

Here we are in Stoney Creek ; It has been a long time coming but I finally made it to Stoney Creek. If you recall an earlier post, when I was a kid my Little league baseball team almost made it to the Little League National Championships in Stoney Creek. Oh well. such is life. I have been enjoying the excellent Ramsay hospitality. This is a 10 star establishment. not looking forward to leaving and downgrading to the slums of the Hyatt, Hilton, etc. As you can tell by the time of this post, I am

up and at it as is R2( for you neubies out there R2 is Roger Ramsay). We are discussing finances for the trip and we are seriously considering sliding one of Sue's spinning wheels into the truck and pawning it off at the nearest yard sale to gather funds. I am sure she won't miss one of her 10 vintage antiques. We considered one of the old sewing machines but they are too heavy.

Pre-Game Meal Complete

Tonight we had a special dinner with the families before our departure. The Boat House in Belleville was the location to kick off the big quest. Off to Stoney Creek for the night.

Attention Followers and Email Guests

A reminder to post comments on the Blog directly so we can quickly respond. Thanks from the Two Crazy Canadians. If you would like to respond to the direct emails you receive go ahead and hit reply for those that have dial-up.

Getting ready

The t-shirts are ready..the bags are almost packed...baseball glove is ready for that homerun ball to be caught in Yankee stadium...

Two Days and Counting

Here is a look at Dunc's day getting ready for the big quest.

Prepping for the full Ramjet..haircut...clothes...new sneakers still need to be purchased walking but mainly because the ones I have are officially grass cutters..new book to read..just checked with the printer and the t-shirts should be ready today...checking weather reports..looks like we are in for a cooker this week...oh yes..sunscreen..shades and water..the glove is well oiled..awaiting the fly-ball destined to come our way...Cathy is as excited as i am...probably can't wait to enjoy the peace and quiet.

We are set to roll on Wednesday evening from Belleville after a pre-game meal at the Boat House with our wives and families. We will be making an appearance in Hamilton to meet with some adoring fans. Ha! Then heading for the border early Thursday morning. First stop Cooperstown N.Y.

See you along the trail.

Roger & Dunc

Sanchez makes most of opportunity, throws no-hitter in front of father

Sanchez throws the first no-hitter of the season. Video Highlights.

Adam Lind Needs Your Votes

Take a minute and cast a vote for Adam Lind to be one of the remaining five to make it to the All-Star game in St. Louis. MLB Voting

Blue Jay Rumours

Reports out today suggest the Doc may be leaving Toronto. My Dad, son, and long time friend Mr. T witnessed a 10 strikeout game for Halladay against the Chicago White Sox this season. He is a gem that can help many of the rookies. Ricarrdi should consider unloading Rios and Wells along with their high salaries and keep a winner in T.O. Review the Yankees progress over the last ten years. They have spent some coin to keep the veterans around like Jeter etc. to build some great seasons. Roger's Media needs to put forth the dollars to keep the good guys around.

Countdown Is On!

18 more days until the Diamond Quest begins.

Washington Nationals Park

What a beautiful new park. The Expos would be jealous. Sorry to bring up the past but it was hard not to think of the loss of Canada's National League Team. Took the time to tour the Capitol Building and stroll up Pennsylvania Ave.
Visit:http://www.flickr.com/photos/39412843@N03/?saved=1

Let's Go Blue Jays!

The Jays sweep the White Sox in a four game series.

GO! CARDS GO!

The temperature was over a 105 Fahrenheit/40 degrees Celsius on this particular evening. It was great to see this stadium for the first time. This is the site for the 2009 Allstar Game.

Phillies vs. Cardinals 2008

St. Louis Cardinals 2008

Fenway Park Visit 2008

Angels pitcher Adenhart killed in car accident

Our thoughts and prayers are with the Angels and Adenhart's family.

Highlights of last nights game (VIDEO)

Visit MLB for full story.

Opening Day is Here!

Take a look at the new Yankee Stadium...

In my teenage years I had the opportunity to travel to Louisville Kentucky to watch the famous bats being manufactured. Last summer our family noticed a sign while driving through Pennsylvania. "BWP Bats Factory exit now".

Of course we detoured from Interstate 80 and took the free tour of the factory. Our visit was the morning after the Home Run Derby as part of the Allstar festivities. BWP Bats were quite excited with the fact that their bat had won the derby along with Justin Morneau a Canadian from Westminster B.C. who plays for the Minnesota Twins.

Here is a Blog that tracks the bats and sluggers success in the Home Run Derby
http://baseball-bats.net/blog/news/2008-home-run-derby-the-baseball-bats.php



Visit BWP site and turn up the volume.

Cooperstown National Baseball Hall of Fame and Museum(Another possible stop during the Diamond Quest)

R2's better half suggested a stop at the National Baseball Hall of Fame and Museum during our trip.

http://web.baseballhalloffame.org/index.jsp

The 2009 HALL OF FAME INDUCTION CEREMONY falls on Sunday, July 26 at 1:30 pm so this is a very good idea to work our plans around going to Cooperstown.

Open to the public and free of charge, the 2009 Induction Ceremony honors Rickey Henderson( http://web.baseballhalloffame.org/media/player/mp_tpl.jsp?w=http%3A//mfile.akamai.com/10869/wmv/mlb.download.akamai.com/10869/2009/open/mlbam/2009/01/13/mlbtv_1437124_400K.wmv&type=v_free&_mp=1 my hero next to Ty Cobb http://web.baseballhalloffame.org/media/player/mp_tpl.jsp?w=http%3A//mfile.akamai.com/31386/wmv/mlb.download.akamai.com/31386/open/members/cobb_t/cobb_ty_bio_400.wmv&type=v_free&_mp=1), Jim Rice, and Joe Gordon. The ceremony also recognizes J.G. Taylor Spink Award winner Nick Peters and Ford C. Frick Award winner Tony Kubek. Weather permitting, the ceremony takes place on the grounds of the Clark Sports Center, located on lower Susquehanna Avenue, just one mile south of the Hall of Fame; the walk provides a picturesque view of Cooperstown

Louisville Factory Story in the Toronto Star(Possible stop for The Full Dunc and R2?)

LOUISVILLE, Ky.–It looks like something the Friendly Giant left behind.
Standing eight storeys tall, it towers high above downtown Louisville's Museum Row.
It's not real wood, mind you, but with a 2.7-metre diameter and weighing 30,844 kilograms, the giant baseball bat isn't going anywhere. Neither are the dozens of tourists, for that matter, who've lined up outside to take their picture with it.
The name Louisville Slugger is to baseball what Hockey Night in Canada is to Canadians. It's an institution. Without it, the game would be missing something. As legend has it, the company produced its first baseball bat in 1884, when a local woodworking apprentice went to a game and saw Pete Browning, then a star player for the long-defunct Lousville Eclipse, break his bat. The 17-year-old apprentice offered to make him a new one. Browning, nicknamed "the Louisville Slugger," went three-for-three in his next game. The rest is history.
The family-owned business has been making baseball bats ever since, putting much of its storied history – and its own bat-making factory – on display at the Louisville Slugger Museum and Factory. The building opened in 1996 and gets about two million visitors every year.
"This really is a special place," says Anne Jewell, the museum's executive director, whose office overlooks the giant bat outside.
"People come here to connect with their childhood," she says. "When you're having a bad day, you can just come down here and listen. You'll hear wonderful stories."
Before she can finish her thought, a young boy walks past us, his smile lighting up the room. He's carrying a tiny souvenir bat, only about a foot long, but his eyes are fixated on it.
"Look," he brags to a friend. "They put my name on it."
Around the corner, a grown man grunts as he swings through a fastball in the batting cage. Nearby, a group of children laugh as they crawl through a giant bench shaped like a catcher's mitt.
If ever there were a baseball version of Willy Wonka's Chocolate Factory, this would be it. Just replace the lollipops with timber and the chocolate with the smell of fresh sawdust.
Jacob Bower, my guide, walks me through the factory. Many of its stations have flat-screen TVs with push-button video presentations available on demand. Bower describes the amount of work that goes into each bat, from how the wood is brought in from Pennsylvania and New York to how they cut it down to match specific regulation sizes.
Halfway through the tour, my shoes are coated in sawdust.
"Don't mind that," Bower laughs. "The factory produces 44,000 pounds of it every week."
We walk past the assembly line. Intricate machines buzz and hum as wood is transformed from cylinder to carved bat. Moments later, Bower takes me around the corner, stopping in front of a grizzly looking man whose biceps would put Popeye to shame.
This is Danny Luckett's station. He's been making bats here for 39 years. And trust me, he ain't no Oompa Loompa. Standing at least 6-foot-3, the chiselled Kentuckian learned the craft the old-fashioned way, starting out by making bats by hand on small lathe. It's a dying craft.
"I'm the last one left," he sighs. "The other guy who used to do it retired, so now I'm the last one."
The factory is automated now, and Luckett inspects anywhere from 250 to 400 bats a day for defects. Each one takes roughly 45 seconds to make, he explains, and is custom-made based on weight, length, finish, type of wood (maple or northern ash), and model. The factory produces nearly two million bats per year.
Some are for players in college or the major leagues, but most will wind up in stores across North America.
"You should see this," Bower says, walking over to a pink bat hanging on a rack. Two years ago, the factory produced 400 pink baseball bats for major leaguers to use exclusively on Mother's Day. The bats were then autographed and put up for auction, with the proceeds going toward breast cancer research.
"We've also engraved bats for lots of famous people," Bower explains. "Carrie Underwood, Brett Favre, a few American presidents, you name it, we've done bats for just about anyone."
Along one of the far walls is what looks like a row of tiny cubicles. Inside each is a tiny metal plate featuring the signature of a major league player.
Hundreds of major leaguers custom-order their bats from the factory. When their order is complete, the bats are personalized by having their signatures burned directly into the wood.
Having snapped several dozen photos, I'm ready to call it a day, but not before Bower walks me into the museum to show off its prized possession: The bat Babe Ruth used to hit 60 home runs in 1927.
"If you look closely," Bower points out, "you'll see a bunch of notches carved into it. Ruth carved one for every home run he hit that year."
Standing there, surrounded by so much baseball history, I couldn't help but remember when baseball was a simpler game. No steroid controversies or juiced-up record breakers. Just a bunch of guys, a few baseballs, and a bat.
Chances are, the bat was a Louisville Slugger.

Thought I would add some pics of my days as a baseball player in Nova Scotia. We were Little League Provincial Champions and almost had a chance to play at the National Championships in Stoney Creek. Because we were a military team it was deemed that we did not represent a locale in the province. We were ticked. Our dream of playing at Willamsport was crsuhed. I played pitcher, catcher, and second base. Was lead-off hitter because of my bunting and base stealing ability. We built our own diamond with the help of our dads. The field had dugouts, fence, bleechers, grass infield,,,the works. I visited it in 2009 and remnants of it can still be found. Quite the memories. A member of that team tracked me down on Facebook this past year and we traded some stories about our times as "Major Leaguers". The above pictures show some of my teammates and the field we played on. The news article is about my brother's Pee Wee team that wasn't quite as good as our LL team. I am shown receiving the Championship trophy from the Base Commander. each player got to keep it at their house for a few weeks. I treated it as if it where the Stanley Cup.

Game 1 Baltimore Orioles at Boston Red Sox

Our first stop will be at Fenway Park. Hoping not to see any ghosts of Manny. Looking forward to visiting the park for the first time. I managed to get a glimpse from the outside in 2008 while staying in Plymouth MA.
http://redsox.mlb.com/

In preparation for the Duncan and Roger Diamond Quest, my good friend Roger is busy stubhubbing baseball tickets and pricelining hotel rates for the trip. For those of you who don't know what the Diamond Quest is all about, simply put, it is a 10 day tour of baseball games(Boston,New York, Baltimore, Cincinatti, Chicago, Cleveland). Roger came up with the idea and asked me if I would be game to join him. We leave on July 23 and get back on August 1. We plan to provide our tribe of followers with many colourful stories and pictures, Glad to see dave lanovaz and my sister, Diane are the first to join in our adventure. More to come.