MLB grand tour

Jerry Benge of Malta completed a course that few have ever even tried to do. He has visited all 30 Major League Baseball Ball Parks as of last May after visiting Dodger Stadium in Los Angeles.

Having gone to several different ballparks out west since experiencing his first Rangers game in July of 1985, Benge came up with the idea of seeing each active ballpark in 2012.

Growing up a couple of hours from Arlington, he caught his first Rangers game when he was ten. He became a life-long fan of the Rangers after being on a little league team that was sponsored by the team. He would also catch Houston Astros games during his time in Texas.

After those games, Benge had been to Seattle when he was in the Navy and Phoenix for a Diamondbacks game in 2007. He went to a Phillies’ game while visiting his sister in Philadelphia as well as a couple of Rockies games in Colorado.

“One day I was just sitting and thinking of all the ballparks that I had been to,” Benge said. “At that time I had been to seven already and seven is a lot more than people go to in a lifetime. And I was like, I’ve got seven, why not go for the rest of them?”

Upon finding out about his journey a family member gave him a map that marks where all of the Major League Ball Parks are.

“My sister sent me this map as a gift because she knew I was going for the goal of hitting all of the Major League Ball Parks,” Benge said.

So Benge planned a trip that would take him through the country’s Heartland where he caught games at seven Midwest ballparks. The trip started in May of 2012.

“I did over 4,000 miles driving on that trip to seven stadiums and every year I have tried to hit two, three, four, five more until I got them all,” Benge said.

From Montana, he went to Minneapolis, Milwaukee and both U.S. Cellular and Wrigley Field in Chicago, Cincinnati, St. Louis and Kansas City. Benge then drove back home.

His adventure continued in 2013 as he again went east, catching the Yankees at their new stadium that had been renovated since he saw old Yankee Stadium before. He had also been to Boston, Flushing, N.Y. for a Mets game and then Cooperstown to see Doubleday Field, a field that used to be home of the annual Hall of Fame Game.

“The next year (2014) I did Pittsburgh, Baltimore and the District of Columbia for a Nationals game,” Benge said.

In 2015, Benge went on two trips, taking him to opposite sides of the country.

“We hit Oakland and San Francisco,” he said. “We also did Atlanta, Tampa and Miami.”

In 2016, Benge went to Cleveland, Detroit and Toronto.

“It was basically the lap of Lake Erie,” Benge said.

Along the way, Benge realized that the trips he made were even greater than baseball.

“The great thing about doing these baseball trips is that you get to see other things along the way,” he said. “So in between Toronto and Cleveland we had stopped and stayed at Niagara Falls. So getting to see all of these landmarks along the way is a really cool side piece.”

This past spring Benge had hit up the last few stadiums on the map, starting with San Diego, Anaheim and lastly the Dodgers. During that trip, he caught his first foul ball.

“I caught a foul ball on May 6 in Anaheim,” Benge said. “It was the top of the ninth and Nori Aoki of the Houston Astros was up and we had tickets in the second row, halfway down the left field foul pole.”

His wife Amanda had taken their daughter Emily away because she was crying.

“I just knew off the bat that it was coming right to me,” Benge said noting that he barehanded the baseball which then fell to his feet.”

He hasn’t even been able to accurately measure the miles he had accumulated by car and plane.

“I tried to add it up one day and lost track at 30,000 miles,” Benge said.

His sons Gavin, Henry and J.D. have been to two stadiums which were in Coors Field in Colorado and Turner Field in Atlanta, while the youngest sibling Emily has been to more stadiums than her brothers.

“The last couple of trips we took (he and wife Amanda) she was so young that we took her with us,” he said. “The older boys were with the grandparents, so Emily has been to Atlanta, Cleveland, Detroit, Toronto, San Diego, Los Angeles and Anaheim.”

He and wife Amanda have gone to twelve parks together and overall Benge has been to games with over 50 people over time.

The ticket prices per game have varied over the years, but Benge scored the cheapest tickets he had purchased to a Rangers game in the 80’s for four dollars.

“The most expensive ticket I bought was at New Yankee Stadium,” Benge said. “I paid about $140 bucks and I was back at the top of the first row down by the right field pole. I don’t think there was an empty seat in the house.”

Being that his sons have never seen a Rangers game on their home field, Benge plans on taking his family to a Rangers game next season as well as eventually going to a Braves game at their new stadium that opened this past April.