Keaton Belcher has been to all 30 Main League Baseball stadiums after his current journey to Toronto. (Troy Steele Photograph).
Keaton Belcher was such a excessive scoring participant at Pendleton County Excessive College that he was named the 2005 Northern Kentucky Participant of the Yr. He additionally performed on three NCAA Match groups at Belmont College. He was additionally a profitable highschool basketball coach at Pendleton the place one among his gamers was Dontaie Allen, who was named Mr. Basketball.
However it was baseball, not basketball, that was at all times Belcher’s old flame and just lately he accomplished his baseball bucket checklist — he has attended a sport at each main league ballpark.
His last journey was to look at the Toronto Blue Jays and he occurred to be there the identical time UK beat Canada in Toronto within the GLBL Jam.
“My first journey was about eight years in the past to Cleveland,” stated Belcher. “I assumed then it will be cool to go to all 30 stadiums. I at all times beloved baseball. Once I went to my first or second Cincinnati Reds sport at Riverfront Stadium, I introduced my glove and was so infatuated with how fairly it was that I forgot and left my glove beneath my seat on the stadium. However I beloved being on the ballpark.”
He went to all six west coast stadiums in seven days in 2018. He says it’s at all times “tremendous straightforward” to get tickets to video games.
He had long-time good friend Troy Steele of Pendleton County with him on the current journey to Toronto.
“We obtained to see Kentucky play very well and beat Canada by 25 factors,” Belcher stated. “Troy and I joked we obtained to see Reed Sheppard’s first begin in a UK uniform and his first area aim at Kentucky.”
Belcher additionally visited the Nationwide Hockey League Corridor of Fame whereas he was in Toronto.
“I’ve stopped teaching and I obtained into hockey. I’ve at all times been curious concerning the NHL and have gone to video games in Columbus and Florida,” Belcher stated. “I just like the tempo of the sport. We even obtained our image taken with the Stanley Cup whereas we have been there.”
As soon as he obtained to the Toronto ballpark, his bucket checklist was full. Steele even known as the Toronto entrance workplace to inform them about Belcher’s feat and the Blue Jays despatched a letter and key chain to him.
Nevertheless, as soon as he returned residence to Dayton, Ky. — which is about three miles from Nice American Ballpark — he obtained a letter from Bob Castellini, chief govt officer of the Cincinnati Reds — congratulating him on visiting all 30 main league stadiums.
“I attempted to get a collector’s delicate drink cup or scorecard from each stadium,” Belcher stated. “Since I’m a instructor, I had summers off which made it quite a bit simpler to make these journeys. Final summer time I went to a sport in Minnesota on my own. It was a 12:30 businessman’s particular, so I flew again residence that night time. I used to be on a mission to get to that stadium and get again all in someday.”
He lists his high 5 stadiums, so as, as Boston, San Francisco, Chicago Cubs, Seattle and Cincinnati. His backside 5? He lists the Chicago White Sox, Oakland, Anaheim, Tampa and Detroit.
Belcher already has one other baseball bucket checklist in thoughts. He needs to go to all 30 ballparks in 30 days in 2030.
“I’m fairly good at setting targets and engaging in them,” he stated. “By 2030, Tampa Bay ought to have a brand new stadium and the A’s shall be in Vegas. One in every of my favourite elements of one thing like this is determining the logistics of getting from one metropolis to the subsequent. My greatest concern for doing 30 stadiums in 30 days is the climate and if a sport will get rained out. However I really suppose it’s attainable and actually need do to it.”
