On the Road 2017: Going Back to Cali

Benjamin Hill
Ben’s Biz Blog
Published in
2 min readMar 22, 2017

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Throughout the week, I’ll be unveiling my 2017 ballpark road trip itineraries. This marks my eighth season embarking on Minor League stadium road trips; by the end of 2017 I’ll be perilously close to having been everywhere.

Today marks the second of what will be five road trip reveal posts. For the first time since 2011, I’m spending time in southern California:

May 11: Inland Empire 66ers

May 12–13: Lake Elsinore Storm

May 14–15: Lancaster JetHawks

May 16: Rancho Cucamonga Quakes

(Click the above links to read posts from my previous visits, where applicable)

The Rationale: I spent significant time in California in both 2013 and 2016, but the last time I went further south than Visalia was six years ago, in 2011. This May 2017 trip encompasses the entire southern half of the California League; I visited Inland Empire, Lake Elsinore and Lancaster in 2011, and have never been to Rancho Cucamonga. While there’s only four teams on this itinerary, multi-night stays in Lancaster and Lake Elsinore should (hopefully) result in plenty of material.

Lake Elsinore Storm men’s room, as it looked (at me) in 2011
Pre-game burning of cursed baseball equipment, Inland Empire, 2011.
Aerial view in Lancaster, 2011.

Designated Eater? For the fifth consecutive season, I’ll recruit fans at each location to consume the ballpark cuisine that my gluten-free diet prohibits. Stay tuned next week for a post about how to become a designated eater at one of my 2017 ballpark stops.

This could be you.

Get in touch: Have suggestions regarding what I should do on this trip, in the ballparks and away from them? As always, I appreciate hearing from you.

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benjamin.hill@mlb.com

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Exploring America through Minor League Baseball, writing about it for http://MiLB.com and Ben's Biz Blog. Ballpark celiac. Verified in real life.