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tended to preempt Kit’Äôs regular TV
fare. Consequently, Kit often wound
up watching the game, listening
to the play-by-play of Hall of Fame
broadcaster Harry Caray, and
gradually becoming engrossed’Äî
especially by the home run heroics of
Sammy Sosa.
Those were good years for the
Cubs. In 1998, Sosa had dueled with
Mark McGuire to break Roger Maris’Äôs
37-year home run record, win the
MVP, and lead the Cubs into the
playoffs. Sosa followed that up by
being the first major leaguer to hit
more than 60 home runs in three
seasons. In 2002, the Cubs again won
their division, and by then Kit was
hooked on the player and the team.
For special father-daughter events,
Kit and I traveled to a couple of
Cubs games, including one against
Pittsburgh to celebrate her birthday’Äî
but these trips were one-off larks.
In 2004, however, Josh Pahigian
and Kevin O’ÄôConnell published
The Ultimate Baseball Road Trip: A
Fan’Äôs Guide to Major League Baseball
Stadiums
(now in its second edition).
Discovering this book inspired Kit
with an idea: the two of us should try
to visit every baseball stadium in the
major leagues together. And that’Äôs
what we set out to do.
Thus far, we’Äôve made it to 23 out
of the current 30 parks, and from
each we have a ball that I keep lined
up in a collection that we eventually
hope to complete and that reflects
the chronological order of the games
attended. Kit, for her part, always
collects a pin, hat, and t-shirt. She has
also picked up several genuine team
jerseys, including one from Sosa and
a signed number 17 from former Vol
standout Todd Helton, who we were
fortunate enough to spend about 15
minutes with at a Colorado Rockies
game. The Rockies alsomoved us to
special ’Äúred’Äù seats that made sure we
would be in the televised broadcast.
Aside frombeing just something
the two of us can do together,
these pilgrimages to the nation’Äôs
baseball shrines have provided a
goal and structure to our father-
daughter outings through the years.
As summer approaches, the two
of us look at all 30 team schedules,
our own calendars, and plan which
parks we can’Äúhit’Äù during the
baseball season. The planning and
coordination together are part of
what makes it fun.
On occasion we’Äôve been able to
knock off as many as six stadiums in
one season, although as Kit’Äôs schedule
has become more complicated, it’Äôs
not as easy as it used to be. Even with
her in college and taking other trips
during the summer to places like
Europe, we have managed to keep
the tradition going.
Besides helping us to be disciplined
about spending quality time
together, this goal has also given us
a reason to visit most of the great
metropolitan areas of the United
States. My wife comes with us when
it’Äôs a place she has not been to before
or would like to see again. In some
cases, we return to a city because the
team’Äôs stadium has changed (we’Äôve
been to both the old and newYankee
stadiums in the Bronx). Sometimes
Kit invites one of her friends along:
once we made a class trip out of
it, and when we were going to
Washington, D.C., we brought a
girl whose ancestor had signed the
Declaration of Independence so she
could see both the signature and her
father’Äôs face in the famous portrait of
the signers.
Within the framework of our
baseball touring, we’Äôve also been
flexible and taken inmany other
sporting events, including hockey,
arena football, the NBA playoffs,
and this year’Äôs Indianapolis 500.
When our very own University of
Tennessee Lady Vols beat LSU by one
point in Tampa, Florida, tomake it to
their eighth national championship
and
Sports Illustrated
snapped the
clinching layup by Alexis Hornbuckle,
my daughter and I can be seen in the
background. Nor have we missed
simultaneous opportunities for
nonsporting entertainment in each
city, like a cruise or DisneyWorld. For
my daughter’Äôs 13th birthday in Florida,
we saw Kenny Chesney and visited his
private room.
Even so, our travel always revolves
around baseball and our dreamof
seeing every ballpark together. It’Äôs
been a fantastic bond between the
two of us throughout the years, and
I also hope it’Äôs helped instill inmy
daughter the importance of having
and sticking to a long-termplan in life,
withmeasurablemilestones.As Kit
approaches her college graduation and
moves on to her next journey, I know
these are experiences andmemories
neither of us will ever forget.
David Valone is a veteran
family law attorney who
has been practicing law in
Knoxville, Tennessee for the
past 28 years. He is a sole
practitioner who has tried
thousands of cases in most
counties in East Tennessee.
Mr. Valone is also certified as a Family Law
Mediator by the Tennessee Supreme Court. His
areas of concentration include cases dealing with
divorce, child custody, and child support issues.