No, Gail Riddle says, not exactly what you would call the bucket list.
Riddle says she and her husband, Glenn, have more to do in life, including an upcoming trip to Scotland.
“So, now we have to decide what to do,” she says, now that the couple has seen every Major League baseball stadium, park and field – all 30 of them, and the last on April 29-30 at Minute Maid Park in a split with the Philadelphia Phillies. And the 4-3 Astros victory was all the more exciting because former Fayetteville Woodpeckers standout Jake Meyers had an impressive defensive play and a home run.
“Everywhere we went, people knew we were fans of the Woodpeckers.”
Because the Woodpeckers minor league team is a Class A affiliate of the Astros franchise, it seemed only fitting that Houston would be the most appropriate venue for Glenn and Gail Riddle to complete their long quest of visiting every Major League home.
From Yankee Stadium in the Bronx to Truist Park in Atlanta to Wrigley Field in Chicago to PNC Park in Pittsburgh to Dodger Stadium in Los Angeles to Busch Stadium in St. Louis to Oracle Park in San Francisco to Oriole Park at Camden Yards to Fenway Park in Boston to Rogers Centre in Toronto — yes indeed, Glenn and Gail Riddle have been to all of ’em.
“My father loved baseball, and Glenn, of course, loves all sports,” says Gail Riddle, 76. “We both just love baseball. We have met such interesting people at the parks. We went to Yankee Stadium in 1972. We liked to travel anyway. When we got through half of them by 1996, I said, ‘When we are retired, we’ll make sure we get them all in.’ We probably saw half of the 30 by 1996.”
They began their baseball visitation sojourn in their late 20s to include spring training in Florida for the prelude to the season. Son Joey was a part of the trips early on, Gail Riddle says, and when he enrolled in graduate school at the New England Conservatory as an opera major, she says, his apartment overlooked Fenway Park in Boston.
“You still have that feeling in the ballparks of the excitement and people around you,” Gail Riddle says. “There’s a camaraderie in the baseball stadium that you don’t find in football and basketball. You just bump into people from all walks of life.”
People like John Brown, who the Riddles met at Globe Life Field in Arlington, Texas, on the second to last stop of their baseball journey. He grew up in Greensboro, Glenn Riddle says, and at one time followed the old Fayetteville Highlanders of the 1950s Carolina League and was asking Riddle if he had ever heard of iconic baseball names from Fayetteville to include Jim Pokel, Bob “Rabbit” Mayhew and Bob Spicer.
Or when the couple was eating at the Holiday Inn in Queens, New York, to see Citi Field, met the Italian owners of the restaurant and saw a photograph of the late New York Mets pitcher Calvin Koonce of the 1969 World Series champion “Amazing Mets.”
“We told them one of the ‘Amazing Mets” was from our hometown,” says Glenn Riddle, 75. “They remembered Calvin Koonce.”
Baseball venues and memories
It’s just been a joy for Glenn and Gail Riddle, and a joy filled with memories.
“All of the ballparks are unique and have their unique personality,” Glenn Riddle says, like “looking out over the bay” from Petco Park, home of the San Diego Padres. Or seeing the Roberto Clemente Bridge over the Allegheny River at PNC Park in Pittsburgh, home of the Pirates.
Gail Riddle was just taken aback by Petco Park.
“San Diego is absolutely gorgeous,” she says, “because you see the bay behind it.”
Baseball fans know the baseball hymn.
“Take me out to the ballgame” has been Glenn and Gail Riddle’s clarion cry to one another for just about all their married life together. “Take me out with the crowd. Buy me some peanuts and Cracker Jack, I don’t care if I never get back.”
Well, so much for the peanuts and Cracker Jack.
“I get a hot dog at every park we go to,” she says. “In Dallas, they have a yard-long hot dog. They make a special carrier for it. But my favorite hot dog is right here in Fayetteville.”
The Riddles have been season ticketholders at Segra Stadium since the Woodpeckers played their first home game on April 18, 2019, before more than 6,000 fans.
Epilogue
Being in Minute Maid Park on April 30 was somewhat emotional for the couple.
“Our last one was kind of bittersweet,” Gail Riddle says. “But we want to go back to some of them.”
And perhaps even take on a new baseball adventure.
“So, now we have to decide what to do,” Gail Riddle says about when the couple’s visit to Scotland is behind.
She ponders the thought.
“There are,” Gail Riddle says, “120 minor league stadiums.”
Bill Kirby Jr. can be reached at billkirby49@gmail.com or 910-624-1961.