Stuart delivered a message to Bev at

the Oakland, Calif., stadium, the last of

30 stadiums the Feldheims visited.

BEV -
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4Inity

Round-Trippers

Local couple visits all 30 Major League Baseball stadiums.

Bill Carroll
Contributing Writer

W

herever the Detroit Tigers
play throughout baseball's
post-season playoffs — and
possibly World Series — Bev and Stuart
Feldheim of West Bloomfield can say
they've been there. And they may return.
When the Feldheims traveled to the
Oakland (Calif.) Athletics' Coliseum this
summer, they concluded an eight-year
odyssey that took them to all 30 major
league ballparks; in some cases, they went
to both the old and new stadiums in a city.
Obviously avid baseball fans, the
Feldheims weren't necessarily following
the hometown Tigers on their trips around
the country, but they catch plenty of Tigers
home games during the season, and went
to see them in Cleveland and Chicago
a few times. And to spring training in
Lakeland, Fla.
Like a lot of Detroit area residents this
year — many of whom are "fair weather"
friends — the Feldheims have an extreme
case of pennant fever, thanks to the
Tigers' divisional championship. But the
Feldheims' baseball temperatures have
been above 98.6 degrees for a long time.

They Went And Did It
"One day in 2004, I just said to Stuart, `let's
go to all the major league cities — so we
did",' exclaimed Bev, who has been a dental
hygienist for 37 years for Dr. Mark Birnholtz
in Farmington Hills. She's a graduate of
University of Detroit's dental school.

26

October 6 • 2011

"Since we're both sports nuts, I said,
`that's a great idea; let's do it':' said Stuart,
who has a law firm, also in Farmington
Hills. A Cleveland native who moved to
the Detroit area in 1979 — and changed
his allegiance to the Tigers — he attended
University of Cincinnati's law school.
The Feldheims started in Cleveland and
Chicago (White Sox) in '04, then worked
their nationwide journeys around their
business schedules, using long weekends
and holiday periods; driving to the closer
cities and flying to the distant locations.
"Conveniently, I was able to combine
some trips with my law practice, taking
depositions from expert witnesses in per-
sonal injury cases': Stuart pointed out.
Bev couldn't find any teeth to clean on
the road, so she scouted out historic land-
marks and tours for the couple in every
city.
"We loved Elvis Presley's Graceland
Mansion in Memphis:' she enthused.

Visit Presidential Libraries
The Feldheims even took time for a
romantic" getaway in, where else,
Cooperstown, N.Y., to see the Baseball Hall
of Fame. Mixing sports, Bev once popped
$1,000 for a Cleveland trip and two tickets
to the opening of the Cleveland Browns
football team's new Municipal Stadium.
"We wanted to make sure our trav-
els also were educational so we visited
presidential libraries wherever we could':
explained Bev. "We hit Ronald Reagan
and Richard Nixon in California, Harry
Truman in Missouri, John F. Kennedy in

CC

Baseball fans Stuart and Bev Feldheim

of West Bloomfield

Massachusetts, Lyndon Johnson in Texas,
and Franklin D. Roosevelt in New York. For
good measure, we also did Gerald Ford in
Grand Rapids, and I think it was the best.
More Michigan people should take advan-
tage of it!'
The only mishap to occur during their
carefully planned visitation schedule was
when they arrived in Baltimore, only to
learn the team was on the road.
"We were lucky that was a side trip
to a family wedding in Philadelphia, so
we caught Baltimore another time': said
Stuart. "But I had a lot of (splainin' to do
to Bev."

The Feldheims made sure to walk com-
pletely around the inside and outside of
every stadium and buy the local team's
cap. Stuart keeps them in their bedroom,
actually arranged in the current team
standings.
"We always were amazed by the many
Tigers fans we saw at some of the games
around the country:' said Bev."There
must have been 5,000 at one inter-league
Pittsburgh Pirates game at PNC Park. And
the local fans couldn't get over it. They
asked if we all took a bus together."

Wrigley Field 'Smells Good'
The Feldheims agree that the Minnesota
Twins' new Target Field is the best stadi-
um they visited, and the Tampa Bay Rays'
Tropicana Field the worst. "The Rays were
in playoff contention most of the season,
but attendance always is sparse; they
even give free parking to get people in
there Stuart remarked. "Also, the seats
are real cramped in Boston's old Fenway
Park, plus other outdated conditions, but
the Red Sox will never abandon that his-
toric place
Added Bev, "Chicago's Wrigley Field just
plain smells like a good, old baseball park
—the smoke, the hot dogs, the peanuts;
the aroma is like the old Tigers Stadium."
Now, the most important question.
What stadium has the best hot dogs?
"The Milwaukee Brewers' Miller Park':
they reply in unison. "But Cleveland's
Progressive Field has the best mustard; the
Milwaukee stadium also has the cleanest
restrooms," Bev smiles.
The Feldheims had read stories about
a rat problem at the Los Angeles Angels'
Angel Stadium in Anaheim "and I refused
to go to the restrooms there Bev remem-
bers, painfully. "Then there was the time
we were at Rangers Ballpark in Arlington,
Texas, and the temperature was 106 — at
night."
Most of the ballparks serve food indig-
enous to the surroundings, the Feldheims
point out, such as shrimp, sushi and sour-
dough bread with clam chowder at the San
Francisco Giants' AT&T Park, and kosher
foods, even kosher sushi, at the New York
locations, Yankee Stadium and the Mets'
Citi Field.
"But at those New York stadiums, there's
a constant, annoying droning noise of
planes using LaGuardia and JFK Airports':
Stuart added.
He feels many of the major league sta-
diums have archaic scoreboards, including
Detroit's Comerica Park — "not enough
information': he explains. "They should
take cues from places like Houston's
Minute Maid Park where the scoreboard
has a running stock ticker."
How much did the baseball odyssey cost
the Feldheims. "It's hard to place a figure
on it:' Stuart bemoans. "Anyway, I really
don't want to know:' Li

