Last year, Glenn Dunlap started Big League Tours, a baseball-specific tour operator offering not only tickets, but also behind-the-scenes tours of stadiums and a chance to meet former major leaguers. – All the World’s a Road Game

For as much as I love baseball, and I do, I haven’t seen nearly enough stadiums. THTRB is my home base and I’ve seen many games there and more than a few at Shea as well. I’ve also seen games at Dolphin Stadium, which was then ProPlayer and been to Cooperstown. I’ve been to, but haven’t seen games at: Dodger Stadium, Tropicana Field, Candlestick Park and SkyDome. Not bad at all. Haven’t yet made it to Iowa though.

It’s not even so much the behind the scenes tours that draws me so much as the opportunity to meet former players. I must say, the idea of the guaranteed meeting takes some of the fun out of waiting at the players’ exit and seeing who will stop. I’ll never forget meeting Sterling Hitchcock that way outside of Yankee Stadium. Citing his memories of doing the same with his father, he would only sign for the children. When he moved to Seattle and the Yankees faced him in May 1996, I found it hard to root against him. I remember saying I hope they won, but not too badly. He was lucky, it was 2-0 and he was at the losing end of Doc Gooden’s no hitter. 96 was a season of wonderful memories.

For instance, in Boston, where the Red Sox signed the superstar Japanese pitcher Daisuke Matsuzaka, a package at the XV Beacon Hotel seeks to lure visitors from Japan with a Welcome Matsuzaka package, which offers traditional tea service and a Nikkei newspaper, but not tickets to the game.

Coming from a tourism and marketing perspective, that’s a wonderful way to draw international travellers who might not otherwise see a reason to come to Boston. The hotels that take it one step further and package tickets in further encourage the atypical visitor to come experience American baseball. I’d love to speak with a Japanese fan at a Yankees game to see if they find American baseball to be as bizarre as I found the atmosphere at Osaka Dome.

Is this Heaven? No, it’s Iowa