My friends Jim, Chuck, Jason and I went to Cleveland on our first baseball roadtrip in 2001. Two years later, Cuzz (Jim and Chuck’s cousin Chuck) joined us for the third trip, which was to St. Louis and Kansas City. JayHawk Evans joined us on the sixth trip, which was to Milwaukee and Minneapolis.

This year, for the tenth year, we had planned on going to Oakland and San Francisco. Schedules (baseball and personal) interfered, and we had to adjust our plans. We have decided to go back to Minneapolis to see their new stadium, Target Field.

Last time logistics prevented us from doing a whole lot in Minneapolis. This year, we will enjoy more of what the city has to offer.

We are all baseball fans, but baseball is merely the backdrop of the trips. I have many non-baseball memories from the various cities. We consider ourselves to be true Renaissance men.

Our trips have included historic sites, such as the Hockey Hall of Fame, the Baseball Hall of Fame, the White House and the Statue of Liberty. We have experienced incredible meals like the seafood pot in Cleveland, the Italian restaurant in New York and the southwestern place in downtown Kansas City. We have even squeezed in a little nature, like the seals in La Jolla, Calif. and the Central Park Zoo. We have also met a handful of celebrities, like singer Jackson Browne, boxer Mia St. John and actress Emmanuelle Chriqui.

Our trips are only three to five days each year, but we seem to cram in a lot of things and create great memories. However, I am always relaxed. I really couldn’t ask for more out of any trip.

— John Wroblewski, distribution specialist