Not long after he returned, Laprade was at work in the U.S. Post Office in Easthampton, where he lives, and he couldn’t help but notice that a customer was sending out a lot of mail with the Sports Tours return address of Hatfield. Intrigued, Laprade started up a conversation with the man and learned he was one of the travel firm’s tour hosts; Laprade was wishing he was a tour host too.

Within a week, Jay Smith, the founder of the 20-year-old sports travel firm, gave Laprade a call. “He said ‘I heard you thought this would be a cool job because you’re a sports nut,’” Laprade remembered.

Smith asked if Laprade would consider overseeing a trip to Worcester, where the University of Massachusetts, Amherst, basketball team—very hot at that time—would be playing. Laprade jumped at the chance, and after his debut as a tour host, Smith provided him with one trip after another, to New Jersey for a UMass classic game and to Philadelphia for the Atlantic 10 Tournament. With each trip, the responsibility increased.

“I slowly became a little more involved with the overnight trips, where you have to get people to and from their rooms to the arena, as opposed to simple head checks on the bus,” Laprade recalled.

Founded 20 years ago, Sports Travel and Tours has been the official travel company of the National Baseball Hall of Fame and Museum since 2007. Its mission is to offer hassle-free sports tour options to fans across the country.

Eventually, Laprade got involved with Sports Travel and Tours’ baseball trips. Since 2011, Laprade has been working alongside Smith to create all the Major Minor trips, which take tourists to a mix of major and minor league ballparks, and then he guides the tours himself.

“We had about 50 or 60 people who’d been to all the major league stadiums and needed a new challenge,” Laprade said. “It’s been great getting to know all the travelers over the years. I consider them family.”

This year’s Major Minor trip is the Major Minor Southern Swing from May 22 to May 28. The trip includes stops in Georgia, Alabama and Tennessee for four games at SunTrust Park, Coolray Field, AT&T Field and First Tennessee Park.

“It’s a cheap experience for minor league games,” Laprade said. “With the cost of major league games, you feel you have to watch every second of every game. Minor leagues are much more relaxed, but still offer good quality baseball.”

Laprade suspects a group of 20 to 25 Stadium Hall of Famers—who have visited all 30 Major League Baseball stadiums and been inducted into the Sports Travel and Tours Stadium Hall of Fame at the National Baseball Hall of Fame and Museum in Cooperstown, New York, will make up most of the travelers, but newcomers are always welcome. 

“On the first day, everyone introduces themselves,” Laprade said. “We almost always have some new travelers who tell us about themselves and their favorite teams. Then on the bus, I’ll lead trivia contests and try to get everyone to predict the winners and scores.”

Laprade loves the tour host world. “This is a great job, and a great way to see the country,” he said. “I’ve seen the Golden Gate Bridge, the St. Louis Gateway Arch, the Seattle Space Needle. I’ve seen all the cities where there are major league games.”

But Laprade’s favorite part about being a tour host? The friendly faces he’s met along the way. 

“It makes it interesting that everyone comes from all different walks of life, but they all have baseball as a common denominator that binds them together,” he said. “It’s a great mix of people and generations. We always have a great time.”

Learn more about the upcoming Major Minor Southern Swing trip.

Learn more about Sports Travel and Tours.

The post From Postal Worker to Sports Tour Host appeared first on Beetle Press.

The first, called Major/Minor T.O.C, will take place from May 28 to June 4 and will feature six games at six different ballparks across Texas, Oklahoma and Colorado. The other, called Major/Minor: Heartland, is scheduled for June 8 to 14 and will feature seven games at seven different ballparks across America’s heartland—Ohio, Kentucky, Indiana and Michigan.

Jay says he came up with the idea to organize trips that combine major and minor league games as an off-shoot of the Stadium Hall of Fame program that Sports Travel and Tours offers.

The Sports Travel and Tours Stadium Hall of Fame program began about 15 years ago, and through it, participants get inducted into a Sports Travel and Tours Baseball Stadium Hall of Fame after visiting 30 ball parks in North America on a Sports Travel and Tours program. Jay said over 100 people are now official Hall of Famers, and it is for these folks who have developed a bond over traveling and watching baseball that the major/minor trips were originally designed.

“These fans live all over the place and still traditionally like to continue to travel with one another,” Jay says. “There’s a fraternity, a group of people who enjoy one another’s company and want to continue to travel.”

The first major/minor trip kicked off about five years ago, and the concept took right off. Jay says there are roughly 240 minor league teams across the country, and he generally sticks with AAA games for his trips as the AAA players are the best in the minor leagues.

Jay also says the minor league games are fun for participants because the atmosphere is less intense than that at major league games, not to mention less expensive.

“It’s like a family night,” Jay says. “Instead of going to the movies, people say, ‘Let’s go to a game.’ In the minor leagues, the food is less costly, there’s entertainment, mascots, games going on between innings and sponsors throwing T-shirts into the crowd. Spectators are just there for the fun.”

Jay has also found that his clients enjoy minor league games because they like the ambience of small parks coupled with the “local flavor.”

Gary Laprade, who will be a tour guide on the Major/Minor: Heartland trip, is a Sports Travel and Tours Stadium Hall of Famer. He says if he wasn’t leading the Heartland tour, he would certainly be signed up to go on it.

“All the people who are Stadium Hall of Famers decided they wanted to see more stadiums,” Gary says. “We’ve all become friends and we’ve known each other for years and years, so we try to take these trips together so we can enjoy baseball together.”

Gary also appreciates that “minor league games are almost night and day with major league ones.” He says that because major league games are more expensive, there is more pressure to carefully watch every pitch, whereas minor league games are much more relaxed.

In his first year planning a major/minor trip, Jay says that about 18 travelers voyaged throughout Maryland and Virginia, while stopping to enjoy historical sites along the way. Every year since then, Sports Travel and Tours has offered one itinerary. This will be the first year that two major/minor trips will be offered.

Jay is proud of the fact that the trips offer stays in downtown hotels and also include city tours led by people who live and work in the regions Sports Travel and Tours visits.

In Fort Worth, Texas, for instance, Juanita Gonsalez is a popular city tour guide. “We had such a good time with her last year,” Jay says. “Our travelers like the extras and the flexible time to be able to see some of the things we can include are value-adds to the program.”

Learn more about Major/Minor: Heartland or about Major/Minor: T.O.C.

The post The Major/Minor Trip Tradition Continues appeared first on Beetle Press.

Laprade jokingly notes he loves all sports, and this passion has led others to call him an “indiscriminate sports idiot.” He keeps records of each and every sporting event he attends.

Laprade’s sports enthusiasm led him to become a tour guide for Sports Travel and Tours of Hatfield 20 years ago. This June, he will lead a Sports Travel and Tours baseball trip through America’s Heartland.

Called the Major/Minor: Heartland trip, the adventure will begin June 8 and end on June 14. It features seven major and minor league baseball games at seven different ballparks throughout Ohio, Kentucky, Indiana and Michigan. In addition, participants get to participate in a little something extra outside of the baseball theme; they’ll have the chance to tour three historical museums, including the Henry Ford Museum in Dearborn, Michigan, and the Phoenix Bat Company, in Columbus, Ohio.

Jay Smith, president of Sports Travel and Tours, said trip participants range in age from 8 to 80 years old, and a traditional welcome reception on the first day allows them all to socialize and connect through their shared interests.

“Everybody has one common bond, and it’s called a love of baseball,” Smith said. “That opening reception for all our trips is key. It gives people an opportunity to gather and meet one another.”

Smith came up with the idea to organize trips that combine major and minor league baseball games as an off-shoot of his firm’s Stadium Hall of Fame program, through which tour goers can earn induction into the S.T.A.T. Hall of Fame after visiting 30 stadiums with Sports Travel and Tours.

Smith found that once the Hall of Famers completed their tours visits of 30 parks, they wanted more; the major-minor trips fill the bill, he said.

“They live all over the place and still traditionally like to continue to travel with one another,” Smith said. “There’s a fraternity, a group of people who enjoy one another’s company and want to continue to travel.”

The first major/minor trip kicked off about five years ago, and the concept took right off. Smith said there are roughly 160 minor league teams across the country, and he generally sticks with AAA games for his trips as the AAA players are the best in the minor leagues.

Smith also said the minor league games are fun for participants because the atmosphere is less intense than that at major league games, not to mention less expensive.

Laprade is an official S.T.A.T. Stadium Hall of Famer, and he said if he weren’t leading the Heartland trip, he would be traveling as a participant.

“All the people who are Stadium Hall of Famers decided they wanted to see more stadiums,” Laprade said. “We’ve all become friends, and we’ve known each other for years and years, so we try to take these trips together so we can enjoy baseball together.”

Laprade said he enjoys getting to see a different group of people that he might not see anywhere else. He mentions that on a previous trip, he met a gentleman from England who he’ll be reunited with on the Heartland trip.

“For the most part, people really just bond on these trips,” Laprade said. “We’re all bonded together by baseball, even though we each have our own favorite teams. I’ve noticed over the years that everybody keeps an eye out for each other. We’ve become friends, and we even do things outside of Sports Travel and Tours trips.”

Laprade is also hopeful to see new faces on the trip.

A second major/minor trip will also be offered by Sports Travel and Tours this spring. Called Major/Minor T.O.C. it will take place from May 28 to June 4 and will feature six games at six different ballparks across Texas, Oklahoma and Colorado.

To learn more about the trips, call (800) 662-4424 or visit SportsTravelandTours.com

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