Two for two in Toronto

A mid-July game between the Seattle Mariners and Toronto Blue Jays doesn't seem like the ultimate baseball experience.

In addition to not even taking place in this country, the Mariners were losers of eight straight and the Blue Jays haven't been relevant since winning back to back titles in the early 1990s.

It wasn't a game I had particularly looked forward to either, just another stadium to see on my goal to see a game at all 30 major league parks.

But Tuesday night's 14-inning affair by two clubs long out of the playoff race was the best experience I've had at a ballpark in a while.

When I arrived at the Rogers Centre in Toronto Tuesday night with my father, I noticed a small crowd, with some sections on the upper level being closed off for the night.

My dad and I probably could have found a seat on the first level, but we went up to the 500 section and were in for quite an experience.

A few members of the church group that sang the American and Canadian National Anthems that day were treating the game like they were the Cameron Crazies and Duke was playing North Carolina.

Every pitch, they had a reaction. Standing, many shirtless, and all yelling at the umpire crew after every call that went the Mariners way, the group was clearly the loudest in the park that day. And two rows behind us.

That was great.

A group like that would not have surprised me much at a Cardinals or Red Sox game, but the Blue Jays? Go figure.

The game itself was may have been the most exciting I've ever seen. After falling behind early, the Blue Jays tie it with three runs in the seventh. Nobody crosses home plate for the next six innings, until Rajai Davis steals a pair of bases in the bottom of the 14th and scored the winning run on a sacrifice fly.

I was able to watch it, even though I officially left the park after the 11th. We decided to check out the hotel attached to the stadium, and they have a clear glass sheet connected to the restaurant so people could have a perfect outfield view of the game.

We were only in the hotel restaurant at that time because it was the very site of my first baseball experience outside the city of Chicago.

It was 1996. I was an 11-year-old die hard White Sox fan that fell in love with the 1993 'Good Guys Wear Black' team that won the division and lost to the, oddly enough Blue Jays, in the American League Championship Series.

This time, on a family vacation on the way home from Niagara Falls, we decided to stay at the SkyDome (former name of Rogers Centre) hotel for a night.

Once we checked in and hit the button for the elevator, out walked Frank Thomas. The Big Hurt.

Also one of my favorite players. That night, the White Sox just happened to be in town the very day we were. And we met pretty much all of them, including broadcaster Hawk Harrelson, who dove in front of an elevator while it was closing when he saw me (an 11-year-old kid in Toronto wearing a White Sox hat) yell out, 'HAWK!'

I don't think anything could top that experience. As an 11-year-old baseball fan, what could be better than meeting all the players on your favorite team, and having a conversation with your favorite broadcaster?

Nothing yet, but that experience has led me on a goal to see a game in every ballpark. I have 21 of the 30 covered so far, with many of the nine to go on the west coast.

Toronto is not a baseball hotbed. It's an afterthought in between the 'hockey and no hockey' seasons. But as far as my experience as a baseball fan at the SkyDome, or Rogers Centre, it sure has been a charm.