Baseball and Camping

- by Contributing Writer -

Cool Tears has actually posted about football and camping before. The two activities can make for an interesting combination, whether it means camping with fellow fans during a major game or event, camping in close proximity to a bowl game you have tickets to, or something as simple as bringing a ball to toss around during an outdoor excursion. But following up on these discussions, what about camping and America’s pastime?

We’re talking about baseball, which may not be quite as popular as it once was, but remains a quintessentially American game, an iconic form of recreation in warm weather, and something plenty of people with an appetite for the outdoors undoubtedly appreciate.

As it happens, we came up with several reasons to link camping and baseball, and specifically to consider a summer camping tour roving from one American ballpark to the next!

First and foremost, it must be noted that the summer ballpark tour is already a tried-and-true tradition. It’s something people do for all kinds of occasions, from a summer road trip with college friends to a first vacation after retirement. You an find suggestions for strategic routes from city to city, lists of the best stadiums to visit if you can only make it to a few, and even recaps and accounts from people who have done the full, nationwide tour. Granted, most people aren’t doing it all via camping excursions, but the ballpark aspect of the experience is established, with plenty of blueprints out there for you to follow.

The real beauty of a trip like this isn’t just moving from city to city either, or the act of getting out on the road. One reason ballpark tours are popular is that each stadium is so different from the last. Arguably more than in any other sport, baseball’s stadiums are unique. This is in part due to the fact that the actual dimensions of the field are not fixed, meaning each team can have a slightly different design, and the stadium around it can be built accordingly. And when you factor in a heavy focus on concessions (now often including cities’ local favorites), occasional family attractions on the concourses, and the actual architecture of the stadiums, you really do get a different experience at each stop.

For those interested in the activity, betting can also be a perk of enjoying baseball from one city to the next. Betting on the MLB hasn’t always been as active as with some other sports, because there’s limited international interest and the U.S. has largely banned such practices. Now, though, there’s a spread of betting legislation allowing more and more states to support regulated, online betting sites and apps. So for anyone who likes the idea of placing a little bit of money on a game here or there (don’t get carried away, of course!), this is a whole new side of the ballpark tour concept. Some stadiums, or rather the states they reside in, will allow bets.

Finally, knowing that ballpark tours are common traditions, that each stop is different, and that some will allow you to place bets on the games, there’s one more thing to consider: the camping! If the idea is to take your camper from city to city enjoying America’s pastime, you’ll need places to set up and spend the night. And it just so happens that others with passion for life on the go have saved us the trouble of finding campgrounds near every MLB stadium. It’s a fantastic guide that gives you some beautiful places to stay, turning your ballpark tour into a one-of-a-kind camping experience as well.