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The baseball
travels of
Neil Bernier
By Ron P. Coderre
By his own admission, Neil Bernier of Putnam may recently have fulfilled one of his life’s bucket list items. At age 34 Bernier certainly isn’t thinking of checking out or even feeling that he’s at the stage in life for a bucket list.
On Friday, August 9, accompanied by his lifelong Putnam friends Matt Parziale, Ryan Wade and Jeff Rawson and two college buddies, Michael Frey of Omaha and Matt Kataoka, the group took in a Colorado Rockies baseball game at Coors Field. Although this occurrence is something that boyhood friends and college buds might do on a whim, this day carried much more significance for Bernier.
In 1986 Bernier along with his dad, Michael Bernier attended his first Major League baseball game at Fenway Park in Boston. Later that same year they saw the New York Mets play at Shea Stadium. These two games were the beginning of a 27-year sojourn that culminated at Coors Field this year. In between, Bernier with various individuals accompanying him visited every Major League baseball park that’s now in existence and a few that have gone by the wayside during that period.
Following his 1986 introduction, which unknowingly and unplanned turned into a quest that would become a hands on lesson in American geography and history, Bernier visited Jacobs Field (now Progressive Field) in 1994, the year it was unveiled. He went once again with his dad, who presented him with the trip as a gift.
“The first time my father took me to Fenway we saw the Cleveland Indians play. From that day on I’ve been an Indians fan. One of the few in the Putnam area,” said Bernier.
That same year Bernier, who is a 1996 graduate of Putnam where he played basketball and golf but never baseball, also took in games in Toronto at the Rogers Centre and in Kansas City at Kaufman Stadium.
The journey went on hiatus after 1994, when Bernier matriculated to the University of Nebraska where in 2000 he earned a bachelor’s degree in English and education. His education led him to Thompson Middle School where he currently teaches 8th grade social studies and serves as an assistant basketball coach at the high school with his former coach Tony Falzarano.
“It’s interesting in the classroom because I can often relate my baseball journey in a practical way to some of the applications the students are working on. Stories are often an effective way of getting a point across,” said Bernier.
In 2001 the road trip resumed in earnest with a trip to see the Pittsburgh Pirates, a venue that Bernier rates as his favorite of all the parks he’s visited. That year he also took in the Baltimore Orioles at their new retro ball field, Camden Yards.
“I fell in love with PNC Park the second I stepped through the gate. It’s situated in a perfect location surrounded by the rivers and some great vistas. There isn’t a bad seat in the house and the topper is you can see a game for $30,” said Bernier.
In 2002 he took in games at Milwaukee’s Miller Park and Chicago’s Wrigley Field. Cincinnati’s Great American Ballpark was next in 2003, followed by New York’s Yankee Stadium and Philadelphia’s Citizens Bank Park in 2004. Those trips were all done by automobile with stays sometimes at the homes of friends or relatives as well as motels.
Prior to embarking on a different journey in 2006, where he visited Norway, Sweden and Denmark and other European destinations, Bernier put on a 10-gallon hat and took in the Texas Rangers at the Ballpark in Arlington and the Houston Astros at Minute Maid Park in 2005. The year 2007 was reserved for a return visit to Cleveland, where Bernier met left handed pitcher Cliff Lee and walked away with his autograph.
In 2008, accompanied by Wade and Rawson, he sojourned to the Nation’s Capital for a game at Nationals Park. It was there that the trio met and had a nice chat with United States Senator Robert “Bob” Dole. In 2009 it was back to the Windy City for a visit to see the White Sox at US Cellular Field and on to the “Golden Arch” of St Louis for a Cardinals game at Busch Stadium. He closed out the decade in 2010 in Minnesota at Target Field and Detroit’s Comamerica Park.
The road trip took a different spin in 2011, hitting the airways for the first time with a flight to Seattle’s Safeco Park and down the California coast to Oakland and San Francisco. Back in the car in 2012 Bernier made his way south with stops in Tampa for a Rays game, Miami to see the Marlins and finally to Atlanta’s Turner Field for a Braves contest.
He fulfilled his bucket list this year when he jetted across country to Los Angeles for games at Dodger Stadium and Angels Stadium. From L.A. it was further south to San Diego for a Padres game at Petco Park and then into Arizona’s Valley of the Sun to see the Diamondbacks at Chase Field.
Bernier capped his 27-year road trip at Coors Field where he was joined by his friends as they took in a Rockies games.
“Meeting my friends in Colorado was the best memory I have of all the trips. I can’t believe I’ve completed this journey. Every summer it’s monopolized my life,” said Bernier.
If Coors Field was his best memory, the locale he said was the least enjoyable was Oakland. The ballpark didn’t have any distinguishing characteristics and the fans were very standoffish, leaving Bernier with a bad taste for the Bay City. The other least enjoyable sites were Tropicana Field and Toronto’s Rogers Centre. He ranks AT&T Park in San Francisco and Target Field in Minnesota as his two favorite parks after Pittsburgh.
“I have a difficult time rating Fenway Park and Wrigley Field because they are really baseball museums. Because of their age they really provide a different prospective to a baseball game,” noted Bernier.
When asked to venture a guess as to how much the road trips may have cost over the years, all Bernier could say was despite the flights, rental cars, gasoline, food, lodging, souvenirs, tickets, tours and parking costs, “it was all worth it.”
His memories are all neatly chronicled with photos, tickets and other memorabilia in a four inch scrapbook. The visits are listed in chronological order with the years and dates clearly delineated. It’s a souvenir of a road trip that will serve as “hot stove” chatter for many years into the future.
Does Bernier have any future plans for another quest or bucket list filler? He smiles as the wheels of his mind turn quizzically. He notes, however, that in 2010 he and his father traveled throughout Connecticut, photographing the signs of the 169 towns in the Nutmeg state. That was minor compared to the trip that started in 1986 and concluded in 2013.
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