It’s good to have goals.
As someone who’s attempting to travel Around the World in 80 Sporting Events in three years, I should know.
Erik Mertens had a goal a well: Pay a visit to every MLB-affiliated ballpark (that’s currently 237 Minor League and 30 Major League stadiums).
In late July at the Ontario Tower Buzzers‘ ONT Field, it became a goal realized for Erik.
Erik is known as “The Peanut Guy” for his original role with the Tri-City (WA) Dust Devils (Class A affiliate of the Angels). Since those peanut vendor days 25 years ago, Erik has worked for the Dust Devils every year of their existence and, today, is a year-round employee and the Director of Fan Experiences and Community Relations.
To be clear, as we learn from Erik in this episode of Conversations, he didn’t set out to visit every park, but he realized about a decade ago that he was about 20% complete and realized that with what he calls “a big boy job,” he could save money and travel to visit more ballparks.
And that’s what he set off to do. Mind you, like most with sports venue visitation goals, he has his own criteria for what counts as a visit. It might disappoint some that he does not require himself to see a game, but it’s his quest, so his criteria.
As I spoke to Erik earlier this month, his tally on ballparks visited was as follows:
- 237 MiLB parks
- 39 MLB parks
- 14 College wood-bat summer league parks
- 9 Independent parks
- 5 Negro League parks
He has some favorites and shares those and he also shares a powerful takeaway from this journey he’s undertaken.
“There is no better way to see our country (and continent) than visiting Minor League ballparks,” he said. Adding that it was because of the hidden gems spotted along the way, as well as the people you meet.
If you’d like to follow Erik’s future journey’s he’s on Instagram @erikthepeanutguy.