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Former Messenger sports journalist Kevin Yanik talks about his journey to the MLB stadium

VaselineJune 30, 2024

0 5 minutes read

Former Messenger sports journalist Kevin Yanik talks about his journey to the MLB stadium

Former News-Messenger sportswriter Kevin Yanik has watched a regular-season or postseason game at 34 MLB ballparks. There are only 30 active teams.

But wherever Yanik goes, somehow it all comes back to Cleveland.

“When I saw Kenny Lofton, Albert Belle, Jim Thome, Omar Vizquel, and Manny Ramirez,” Yanik said. “When I saw them in that park when I started my fandom, it came together at the perfect time and influenced who I am.

“Those years shaped and defined my love for the game and it set the bar for when I go to another park.”

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The 1990s were an exciting time for a young fan in Cleveland to fall in love with baseball. While much has changed, highlighted by the fact that Yanik has seen a game in 34 parks, some things remain the same.

“It’s 30 years old, one of the oldest parks,” he said of Progressive Field. “It’s still one of the most beautiful places in the country to watch a game. As a fan of baseball in Cleveland, I’ve seen more wins in that park than people saw in their lifetimes before 1994.

“It’s an iconic park with a team behind it. That’s what I’m looking for and in most cases it doesn’t go any further than that.”

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Yanik saw the first game he remembers in the late 1980s at Cleveland Municipal Stadium with his uncle Ross Christoph.

“I remember watching Robin Yount and Nolan Ryan pitch for the Rangers, it must have been the early ’90s,” Yanik said. “In 1992 or 1993, Randy Johnson signed a glove for me. He was huge. I didn’t realize how big a star he was.”

Yanik wasn’t there, but he remembers Johnson starting against Cleveland when Jacobs Field, now Progressive, opened on April 4, 1994.

“In April I saw the new stadium against Kansas City,” Yanik said. “The old stadium was dreary and boring. (Jacobs) increased my love for baseball. The team in the 1990s won six division titles in seven years and went to two World Series.”

Yanik appreciates Christoph’s role in his baseball journey. He also says that studying all those baseball cards while putting them in all those sleeves helped him learn and understand the game.

“When I saw his love for the game,” Yanik said of his uncle, “I loved hanging out with him and that’s what he loved to do. Then the ’90s catapulted my love for the game. That’s maybe arguably the greatest era in franchise history. Jacobs Field/Progressive Field is something most Cleveland fans are proud of.

“Back in the day, it was jokes about the team in the old stadium. The old stadium was damp, the team was poor, 41 years between pennants. Everything about the franchise and the old stadium seemed boring. At Jacobs, I’m a 10-year-old boy, it made me realize that baseball is a game that can be played in a beautiful place.

“There were new possibilities. It was the crown jewel.”

Of all of Yanik’s games, his favorite stands out: Game 7 of the 2016 World Series.

“I was fortunate enough to be able to go to all four home games. We won Game 1. We lost Games 2 and 6,” he said. “It came down to Game 7 with two of the most iconic franchises in history, the Cubs and the Indians. The idea of being in the ballpark with my best friend and my ex-wife, experiencing that with the team that I cheered for more than any other team, was the epitome of what it means to be a fan.

“When I see that with the people you love, I don’t know how it could get any better.”

Yes, it’s bittersweet.

“Dexter Fowler’s home run sucked the wind out of the park,” he said. “(Later the score was) 5-1, it didn’t look like we were going to get it done. The Cubs had the momentum.

Then Rajai Davis represented the tying run against Aroldis Chapman, perhaps the best left-handed reliever in history against a player who was probably lucky to be on the postseason roster. It was an epic at-bat. Eight pitches. He cleared the wall and I remember the chaos. From that moment on I remember the excitement and I knew we would win.

“The rain delay turned the tide; the rest is history. You can’t beat that. If that’s the best I can get, it’s better than 99% of the fans.”

How does Yanik rate them, now that she has visited so many parks?

“I want to experience the park,” he said. “Maybe the best experience is nine innings in an infield box seat. But I buy a ticket in the upper deck and move around to experience the park from all angles and see things you wouldn’t see from that one seat.”

He removed Globe Life Field in Texas from his list this month. Yanik always hopes to see as many stars as possible at every match, but he missed Max Scherzer’s return from the injured list by two days, even though he has seen Scherzer in real life many times.

He wants luxury everywhere in the game.

“I walk around and sneak to seats when I can,” he said. “Usually I only get to see one game, two if I’m lucky. I’m there for nine innings, I want to make it a varied experience. When I go in, I have an initial opinion. When I come out, I know in which third it is.

“Texas is the newest, I would put it in my bottom third. The experience, who you’re with, your connection to the city, what happened in that ballpark, all impacts where the park is on my list.”

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That’s why Yanik loves the Metrodome. Even if you remember, he still means it.

“You probably had people who were longing for outdoor baseball,” he said. “There were garbage bags hanging on the walls. The 1991 World Series, which was probably the best World Series ever, in that building. When I saw that stadium, I felt like a 7-year-old kid again.

“I love the old parks, it’s a shame there are so few left.”

Yanik checked one box off his list that few could.

“I saw a game at the Triple-A park in Buffalo,” he said. “It was COVID and the Blue Jays couldn’t go back to Canada.”

The first park Yanik saw outside of Cleveland, possibly before Jacobs, was Veterans Stadium in Philadelphia.

“I saw Ozzie Smith,” Yanik said. “The lawn. ‘This is the weirdest thing there is.’ It was so cool, you see those places on TV.”

The only remaining parks Yanik has yet to visit outside of his living room are San Francisco, Seattle, Arizona and New York (Mets). He’s actually seen everything but Seattle in person, but never inside.

“Unless I see a game, it doesn’t count,” he said. “There’s nothing in the works for this season, maybe the Mets. San Francisco looks great. I just haven’t been there when there was a game (at the time). When the list closes, there’ll probably be a new city.

“Every franchise in their home field is a check, but I like to see bonus parks.”

Of course, Yanik’s young children have seen their first game. Amelia saw the Twins and Noah the Marlins in Cleveland.

“I wish I had those details for myself,” he said of the uncertainty of his particular first match.

It will more than make up for it when Noah’s list starts to grow. Las Vegas, here they come.

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X: @MatthewHornNH

VaselineJune 30, 2024

0 5 minutes read

Vaseline

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