A Journey Begins...

When I was about 13 or 14 years old, my dad returned home from Red Sox Fantasy Camp. He had pictures of him wearing the white Sox uniform with the red numbers and he was standing with his brother, who was also in uniform. He played with ex-players like Bill Lee, Bob Stanley and Rico Petrocelli. My dad and I talked about going, and if I could have, I would have packed my bags right then. But the catch was a big one - especially for a 13 year old.

I wouldn't be able to go until I was 30 years old.

17 years is a long time, and that wait seemed insurmountable. But the prospect of going to Red Sox Fantasy Camp someday and playing with some of the players that I watched every night during the summer was such an incredible thing to look forward to. And over the years, that was something that always lived in the back of my mind. The approach to 30 years old, which to many is a depressing road, fraught with worry and stress, was exciting and something to look forward to. And as the day has grown closer, the goal has shifted a bit. Not due to a lack of desire to attend Fantasy Camp (which I still hope to do someday), but because of a new idea my dad had one day about 18 months ago.

Instead of an expensive, one-week trip to Fantasy Camp, how about using that money for a trip around the country, visiting every baseball stadium in a six-week period.

The undertaking is massive: Travelling over 10,000 miles total; seeing 30 baseball games in about 45 days; eating an indetermined number of hot dogs.

And it's all for a good cause. My stepneice was diagnosed with a very rare disease - Sturge-Weber Syndrome. Sturge-Weber is referred to as an "orphan disease" because its rarity offers little to no incentive to pharmaceutical companies to research cures or medicines. It is a neurological disease that can cause seizures and, in about 50% of cases, glaucoma. We saw this as an opportunity to also raise awareness and money for this cause, while undertaking an adventure that will hopefully inspire other fathers and sons to travel a similar path.

No matter what happens along our journey it is bound to be interesting. Both myself (Jon) and my dad (Mitch) will be posting here to keep people updated about what's going on. Starting immediately, I will begin posting about putting together our schedule and itinerary (as that's been quite a journey so far in and of itself) and I hope to post an account of every day of the trip.

Hello. Welcome to the journey.