One baseball fan who has touched them all

When it comes to Bucket Lists for travel experiences, there are the usual suspects who want to tour great cathedrals, take in the history at famous battle fields or trek through national parks.

Then, there are others who long to visit shrines of a different persuasion. Sporting shrines. They are the ones who drive out of their way on family vacations to see legendary college football stadiums. Or visit soccer stadiums that hosted controversial World Cup matches.   

Ben Knipfer belongs to the latter club. Last week, he watched the Mariners defeat the Cubs 8-1 at Seattle's Safeco Field, ending a journey that started in 2005 and has taken the Iowa City resident to the home ballparks of all 30 Major League teams.

Knipfer, 34, can recall weekend trips to Busch Stadium in St. Louis with his family while growing up in eastern Iowa. While he enjoyed the sport, he appreciated the atmosphere even more. Switching allegiance to the Cubs a few years later and attending games at Wrigley Field made him a true student of the game experience.

Still, it was  love that sparked Knipfer's mission to touch all the bases. We're not talking “Field of Dreams” passion here. Turns out he had a couple of friends who were having weddings in the Northeast five summers ago, and it didn't take much to add side trips to Washington, D.C., to see the transplanted Expos, Baltimore for an Orioles game, Philadelphia to catch the Phillies and even head north for a Red Sox game at Fenway Park.

But the craziness really kicked in on July 4, 2005. On the way home from that trip to the Northeast, Knipfer's return flight somehow was re-routed through Atlanta and he quickly decided to have a layover … so he could catch a Cubs-Braves game on Independence Day.

If you're scoring at home, that's 5 games in less than two weeks, and the race was on to catch a game in every MLB ballpark.

“I have friends all over the country and I'd schedule visits around times when there were home games,” said Knipfer, who's a graphics department supervisor for RR Donnelley when he's not watching baseball.

“After that first trip, I thought ‘This is something that's manageable.' I figured I would do it over the next 20 to 30 years.”

That timetable got moved up with the explosion of new stadiums. In 2006, Knipfer took a five-day road trip to watch games in Detroit, Toronto, Pittsburgh, Cleveland and Cincinnati – and even fit in time for a side trip to Niagara Falls.

When you're this serious about something, you must have a routine. You buy tickets in advance through the teams' web sites (occasionally having to scalp one), you don't bother keeping a score sheet because it's more important to sit and enjoy the atmosphere, you take a photo of the first pitch and you always have a hot dog and a beer.

Of course, that hot dog is not the basic one they will be wolfing down at Nathan's on Coney Island today. Take Chase Field in Phoenix.

“Arizona has the most ridiculous concessions,” he said. “They have five gourmet, foot-long hot dogs. I had one that was all beef and had macaroni and cheese, real fried bacon and cut-up nachos and cheese on top. I had to eat it with a knife and fork.”

At least, he avoided the Mountain Oysters at Coors Field in Denver. “I wanted to try them, but they were all out. I said, ‘You gotta be kidding me.' ”

Having been to all those stadiums is no joking matter, and Knipfer has his opinions:

• Best ballparks: Wrigley, Fenway, Camden Yards. Yankee Stadium (the old one) did not make his Top 3 because “It's OK from a historical aspect, but there aren't a whole lot of features like Fenway with the Green Monster and Pesky's Pole.”
• Worst ballparks: Anything with a non-retractable dome over it. He also thought the stadiums in Pittsburgh, Cincinnati and Cleveland were too similar.
• Top concessions: Seattle and San Francisco, for variety.
• Worst atmosphere: Tropicana Field, home of the Tampa Bay Rays. Having been there many times, it's hard to argue.
• Highlights: He has seen three walk-off victories (at Chase Field, Dodger Stadium, Yankee Stadium); Mark McGwire's 500

  ^th

  home run; Tom Glavine's 300

  ^th

  victory; and Chone Figgins hitting for the cycle.

It must be pointed out that Knipfer has not attended a game at all of the current MLB parks. The Yankees' and Mets' new stadiums are still on his wish list as well as the Nationals' new stadium in D.C., and the Twins' new stadium. That last one gets an asterisk as Knipfer and his dad watched Minnesota's exhibition game at Target Field on April 3. And, let's not forget about the new stadium that will be built in Miami's Little Havana section and be home for the Marlins.

“I don't know what I'll do next,” he said. “Somebody told me now it's time to hit all the minor-league ballparks. I think I'll give it a little rest. I've had an obsession with it. Five games in five days  is a little compulsive.”

You might have guessed that Knipfer has been single through all this, but he's currently in a serious relationship and his travel habits could be going the way of the complete-game starter. His girlfriend, Shawna Hitchcock, is a baseball fan, but not on the level of boyfriend Ben.

Then again, who is?