It’s safe to say that John Nagel is a diehard baseball fan. Although he spends a lot of his time coaching the highly successful track and field team at St. Dominic Academy, where he also serves as the athletic director, the 41-year-old Nagel follows the national pastime with a passion and a fervor. When Nagel was a junior at Hudson Catholic High School in 1976, the newly refurbished Yankee Stadium re-opened to rave reviews. It was an architectural wonder, sprucing up “The House That Ruth Built” into a marvelous baseball cathedral. Nagel wanted to be among the first to see the picturesque setting in the Bronx that day, but stayed home, fearful that he would never be able to secure a ticket to the game. It was something he regrets to this very day. “I was told that it was too expensive and that there were no tickets, so I stayed away,” Nagel said. “But I should have been there. I was angry that I didn’t go.” Major League Baseball’s obsession with constructing new ballparks had not begun at the time, so the new Yankee Stadium represented the only new facility for quite some time. Until the summer of 1989, when the city of Toronto pulled the wrappings off its space-age structure known as The Skydome. Nagel had to see it. “Why not?” Nagel said. “It was a new stadium and I was interested to see it. So I went with (wife) Maureen and had fun. I probably started to conceive the idea that it was something I wanted to do all the time.” And since that day in June, Nagel has done exactly that – attended every brand new baseball ballpark in the facility’s infant stages. Predominantly, Nagel has been in attendance for the grand opening, but there are some instances where logistics become totally impossible. “If not the first game, then I’m there for the second one,” Nagel said. “It’s just the way that things work out.” Nagel kept his streak alive earlier this month, when he attended the first game ever at the new Enron Park in Houston, the first game at Pac Bell Park in San Francisco, then the second game ever played at Comerica Park in Detroit. He was there at all three parks _ all within the span of a week. “Some people might think it’s nutty and it definitely took some doing with a two-year-old (daughter Ashley), but I have fun doing it,” Nagel said. “There is a lot of running around involved.” Just how much? Try this itinerary on for size. Wacky itinerary It began with taking his SDA track team to Williamsburg, Virginia three weeks ago for the Colonial Relays, then scooting back home to catch a flight to a Board of Education convention in Orlando (Nagel serves on the Jersey City Board of Ed). From there, it was back to Jersey City with the family, then off to Houston for the Astros’ home opener, just to keep the streak alive. Saturday morning, Nagel flew on the red-eye from Houston back to Newark in order to be home in time for the Hudson County Interscholastic Athletic Association Relays at Lincoln Park. On the following Monday morning at 5 a.m., Nagel flew from Philadelphia to San Francisco for the Giants’ home opener, and a day later was on the flight to Detroit for the second game at Comerica. On Thursday morning, Nagel flew back home from Detroit in time to be at his desk at 9 a.m. “It may sound like a lot, but it wasn’t overbearing,” Nagel said. “As long as the people who matter don’t think I’m nuts, that’s all that matters. It’s not frivolous spending. There are worse things to get into.” It completed a run of trips including: •1991, the White Sox’ home opener at the new Comiskey Park in Chicago. &3149;1992, the Orioles’ home opener at Camden Yards in Baltimore. •1993, trips to both Miami and Denver to welcome in the new expansion teams, the Florida Marlins and the Colorado Rockies. &3149;1994, trips to both Cleveland (Jacobs Field) and Arlington, Texas (The Ballpark at Arlington). At Arlington, Nagel had his picture taken with the Rangers’ team owner at the time, current Republican Presidential candidate George W. Bush. •1995, trip to Colorado and the new Coors Field. After no new ballparks opened in 1996, Nagel was back to work a year later. •1997, trip to Atlanta and the opening of Turner Field •1998, the opening of the two new expansion teams in Tampa and Arizona. •1999, Seattle, but that home opener was in July. •2000, the three-headed trip to Houston, San Francisco and Detroit. Nagel doesn’t want to think that his transcontinental traveling is any kind of obsession. “I just love to travel and see the new ballparks,” Nagel said. “I think I said that if I did it once, that I’d do it again. Well, I just keep doing it.” Nagel’s wife has also accompanied him on many of the trips. “She’s not a big baseball fan, but she’s been to more baseball stadiums than a lot of fans,” Nagel said. “We have fun going.” There’s also another part to the story. Nagel has never once purchased a ticket for any of the games at these ballparks in advance. He has some managed to secure a ticket with a variety of tricks of the trade. “I never buy a ticket ahead of time,” Nagel said. “That’s part of the adventure, like climbing the Himalayas. Everywhere you go, there’s bound to be someone who got stood up and has an extra ticket. I’m able to find them. It’s very strange how it all turns out.” Like Nagel getting tickets from the Muncie, Indiana marching band at Comiskey Park or the Florida A & T band in Miami. “I just get a huge kick out of it,” Nagel said. Although he’s a big Mets fan – and faithful devotee to radio announcer Bob Murphy – Nagel said that his favorite trip was the recent excursion to Pac Bell Park in San Francisco. “People were saying in San Francisco that it was the toughest ticket in town,” Nagel said. “It was a real hot spot and a ticket was a tough find. But I got one. And it was a very nice park. People have been waiting for that ballpark for a long time. It was fun to watch the game there, with the water right there. It was very impressive.” Nagel said he was also impressed the first time he went to Wrigley Field in Chicago. Part of his travels have also included the last games ever played at Memorial Stadium in Baltimore and Tiger Stadium in Detroit. He plans on heading to Milwaukee and Pittsburgh for the final games at those respective parks this September. And what’s next? “Milwaukee and Pittsburgh next April,” Nagel said. “Hopefully, they won’t schedule their openers on the same day. A lot of people make a big thing out of it, but to me, it’s really not that big of a deal.” Until the travel bills arrive.
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