This past week, I was looking through some baseball photos and reminiscing about all the amazing experiences I have had since last August. A one year stretch of visiting baseball fields, greeting mascots, touring ballparks that were used in major motion pictures, and experiencing a wide range of emotions that make baseball so special. In my last blog, I wrote about my trips out west, northwest, and southwest. Today, I will be traveling back in time through my baseball photos to visit the south, southeast, and Mid-Atlantic regions of the United States. Here is what I experienced along the way…

Arkansas is the home state for the company I work for, ABF Freight. Their home office is in Fort Smith, Arkansas. Over the past 5 years, I have traveled to Fort Smith for training purposes and seminars as part of my job requirements. When I have personal time after meetings and corporate functions, I have taken that time to visit baseball fields in and around Fort Smith, as well as neighboring cities and towns. I have made a trip or two up to see the Northwest Arkansas Naturals and Arvist Ballpark. And on my most recent trip, I visited the University of Arkansas – Fort Smith campus and Crowder Baseball field.

My southern tour of baseball experiences took me into Georgia last fall. I was in the Atlanta, Lawrenceville area for work. And visited a handful of incredible high school, college, and professional baseball parks. One that really stood out was Oglethorpe University in nearby Brookhaven, Georgia. Beautiful campus, incredible baseball field, looked like something out of the Roman empire. And a very cool stop over at Parkview High School, home of several current and former MLB players and a Georgia HS baseball powerhouse. I visited Hank Aaron Dr and the old Turner Field, where there is a statue of Henry Aaron still standing in the parking lot. Topping it off, myself and a work colleague got to see an Atlanta Braves workout for free at Truist Stadium. Georgia is filled with amazing baseball experiences.

Maryland is not a large state compared to Washington, Arizona, and Georgia. But Maryland makes up for its size with its massive place in baseball history – past and present. The Baltimore Orioles, University of Maryland, Bowie Bay Sox, Aberdeen Ironbirds, Delmarva Shorebirds, Ripken Experience were all stops and detours on my baseball journey this past year. Maryland is also the home of the Babe Ruth Museum, located just a few blocks from Camden Yards. I could fill up an entire blog with photos and experiences from my trips to and from Maryland. Just an incredible baseball experience from Aberdeen to Salisbury and every baseball stop in between.

Before I work in photos and experiences from my new home state of Virginia, I need to take several detours up north to New York, New Jersey, and south to North Carolina. Stay tuned for this coming in an upcoming blog. It was an amazing year of baseball experiences and I am so psyched to share these photos I took along the journey.