Batter's Box Interactive Magazine Batter's Box Interactive Magazine Batter's Box Interactive Magazine
The Blue Jays Minor League Cheer Club, unbeknownst to the entire Cheer Club administration, is looking into the possibility of a day trip on Sunday, August 1 to see the Syracuse SkyChiefs take on the Rochester Red Wings.



Please respond in the thread if you're at least tentatively interested in such a venture (I would have to clear my own participation with Mission Control, which may be difficult if I'm still busy with work, but would like to give it a shot).

Here's the lowdown... the game at Rochester's Frontier Field starts at 1:35pm that day, which is the middle day of the August long weekend. The Jays are on the road that day in Tampa Bay.

The Breeze is the ferry that runs from Toronto to Rochester; it leaves Toronto at 10:30am and arrives in Rochester at 12:45pm, which should leave us enough time to get to the ballpark. The return is at 7:30pm, leaving us a couple of hours after the game to grab dinner in Rochester before heading back to Toronto, with arrival scheduled at 9:45pm.

If we're walking, the Breeze costs $38 (CDN) each way (but just $14 for children under 18 and nothing for children under 5); if people want to take their cars the cost may be a bit lower (I can't tell from the website) since a car costs an extra $54, but you get a break on the fare for all the passengers. (We can always "cab it" in Rochester to and from the ballpark and dinner, so cars are not a must). Premium tickets at Frontier Field cost $9.50 (US).

Mike Moffatt knows Rochester as well as anyone, so I will let him comment on the city, the distance from the ferry terminal (i.e. the lake) to Frontier Field, whether spouses who wanted to make the trip for non-baseball (i.e. shopping in the U.S.) reasons will find Rochester amenable, and other things.

Who's up to sail the seven seas?
Minor League Cheer Club - Day Trip to Rochester | 10 comments | Create New Account
The following comments are owned by whomever posted them. This site is not responsible for what they say.
_JBR - Monday, June 14 2004 @ 03:29 PM EDT (#57924) #
That sounds like fun, and it looks like I'll be in town, so I'm in.
Thomas - Monday, June 14 2004 @ 03:31 PM EDT (#57925) #
So you're looking at roughly $1050-120 for the excursion?
Thomas - Monday, June 14 2004 @ 03:33 PM EDT (#57926) #
$105 to $120.
Craig B - Monday, June 14 2004 @ 03:41 PM EDT (#57927) #
Probably something like that once you include dinner.
_Moffatt - Monday, June 14 2004 @ 03:59 PM EDT (#57928) #
D'oh! You guys are going to Rochester without me! I'm moving into my new place around then.

I lived in Rochester for two years, so I have a decent (though not spectacular) knowledge of the city. The key thing to understand about the Rochester area isn't that it isn't one city, instead it's a handful including: Rochester, Irondequoit, Webster, Greece, Pittsford, Brighton, and Chili (pronounced Chai-Lai for some weird reason).

Like in most American cities, high tax and crime rates have caused most of the people and interesting places to migrate out of Rochester proper and into the various suburbs like Pittsford. Because of that, I'd recommend a car. I think the ferry drops you off in Irondequoit or Greece, but there's probably a shuttle that takes you downtown.

I really like Rochester, but if you're coming from TO you'll probably be pretty underwhelmed as it's not much bigger than Kitchener/Waterloo or London. It does have the Lux Lounge which is the greatest oddball bar I've seen outside of Amsterdam.
_Moffatt - Monday, June 14 2004 @ 04:00 PM EDT (#57929) #
I forgot to mention that the ballpark is downtown. Frontier Field is a great place to watch a game; I'm sure you'll enjoy it.
_Moffatt - Monday, June 14 2004 @ 04:14 PM EDT (#57930) #
Oh.. if you're looking for bars/restaurants, the closest ones will be in the High Falls area. Here's a few. Jillian's is likely the closest. If you like BBQ, Dinosaur BBQ is really good, but it's about a 1K walk from the ballpark.
_Grand Funk Rail - Monday, June 14 2004 @ 07:51 PM EDT (#57931) #
I might be interested in going.
Frontier Field looks gorgeous.

Is anyone else bringing the old ball and chain?
I think Mrs. Grand Funk might enjoy the outing, but I don't want to be the one that spoils a 'boys only' plan.
Gerry - Tuesday, June 15 2004 @ 04:56 PM EDT (#57932) #
If youth baseball schedules do not interfere I will be "in".
_Sky - Tuesday, June 15 2004 @ 08:44 PM EDT (#57933) #
http://skyking162.blogspot.com
I grew up in one of the Rochestarian suburbs (Penfield) before going off to college six years ago. I'm back for the summer in order to help my parents build a new house and would be psyched to watch a Wings game (yes, I'd be rooting for Rochester) with what seems like a bunch of cool Blue Jay fans.

I can attest that yes, Frontier field is a phenomenal place to watch a game, and although Rochester isn't a great city, the park is located in a pretty nice part. There are a bunch of bars and restaurants nearby, the Genesee river's right there, and there's a old dude who plays baseball songs on his accordian outside the stadium. I would definitely recommend the walk/drive to Dinosaur BBQ after the game. Great food and a fun atmosphere. Plus, the Twins farm system is pretty stacked.

It would be worth your effort.

As a side note, my dad organized a couple neighborhood trips to Blue Jays games when I was in middle school. One year we brought about 40 people to a Saturday game and the wives went to see Phantom of the Opera. Since my name is Sky (short for Schuyler) I thought it was really cool that the stadium was called SkyDome. We convinced a really nice concessions employee to mail me her neon yellow SkySnacks hat at the end of the season.

Another random family story - my dad, brother and I were all huge Yankees fans. My mom and sister got sick of us, and even though they don't really like baseball, decided to become Blue Jays fans. They even bought a Blue Jays ornament for the Christmas tree. To this day, they make lots of pro-Blue Jays comments the first two weeks of the season, and then decide they don't really care.
Minor League Cheer Club - Day Trip to Rochester | 10 comments | Create New Account
The following comments are owned by whomever posted them. This site is not responsible for what they say.