Best friends on road trip of a lifetime: 30 stadiums, 30 cities in 30 days

You and your best friend have a month to travel. Where do you go? To 30 baseball stadiums in 30 cities in 30 days, of course.

From Seattle to New York and points in between, former Libertyville residents Brian O'Connor and Tim Loef are on the ultimate road trip. They share a passion for baseball and are visiting every Major League stadium, after years of wistful talk.

Best friends since elementary school, they lived at home after attending different colleges but eventually moved to Chicago and plan on becoming roommates this summer. All the while, the big trip idea continued to simmer.

"As we approached our 30th birthdays, it seemed kind of poetic," O'Connor said.

Since both hit that age milestone 30 this spring, it seemed too good an opportunity to miss. O'Connor is a high school music teacher and Loef a corporate finance manager. Once they received clearance from their employers, an itinerary was assembled over several hours using a couple of laptops and Google maps.

"I imagine they're living a lot of people's dreams," said O'Connor's mom, Robin, a Libertyville Township trustee.

But there are drawbacks. Trying to sleep in the passenger seat, relying heavily on Wi-Fi to accomplish tasks and spending countless hours with the same person in a vehicle are among them, according to O'Connor. After Game 16 in Houston, the pair had logged 9,437 miles. Each sleeps five to six hours a day.

That aside, they say they are definitely enjoying themselves.

But this drive isn't for the roadside scenery, and the documentation is much more than hokey snapshots. This is a fact-finding mission about all things baseball to be shared with everyone.

"They're smart boys. Every stadium they go to, they follow a certain routine so they analyze it correctly," Robin O'Connor said.

The results appear on the website http://30in30for30.com/ which features amusing daily video updates, detailed stadium rankings, previews and recaps. They take about 120 photos at each park and have made hundreds of videos.

After a rain-soaked visit to St. Louis' Busch Stadium, for example, the pair bantered about the experience for more than nine minutes as they drove to the next destination. Stadium architecture got a thumbs-up, but the $12 admission to see the team's Hall of Fame was another matter.

"There were many stadiums that have had it for free and if I'm already in your stadium, you should be trying to build your brand to me so that you get me to come back to your games," Loef told followers. As part of the fan base, he reasoned, one would likely return and spend more in the long run.

O'Connor agreed and said it would be different if he were in charge.

"When I own a baseball team - sorry, when we own our baseball team, we're going to have some real revolutionary ideas," he said.

In most cases, they've been buying tickets at the stadiums as a casual fan would do, O'Connor said. In several parks, they've only been able to get standing room tickets; in a few other cases, such as an upcoming game at Boston's Fenway Park, they bought them in advance to avoid a sellout.

And there is one more requirement.

"We're staying for all nine innings. That's important to us; we feel we should see every single game," he added.

Along the way, observations like those have been generating fans. As of Friday afternoon, their Twitter account had 4,589 followers and was gaining fast.

"It kind of exploded. We had 18 followers when we launched our trip," Loef said from outside Progressive Field as the Cleveland Indians prepared to host the Cubs.

"The attention we've gotten has been awesome, but we didn't intend it this way," he said.

They have been featured on local television and have become the "30 by 30 guys from Chicago," who are routinely stopped on concourses in ballparks across the country.

The pair arrive at the stadium du jour two hours before game time for reconnaissance of details, such as interior and exterior architecture, sight lines and other features. Their observations and opinions about various parks and the amenities have become a popular diversion.

"Everybody we've talked to has told us to increase the documentation," Loef said.

With that, the pair decided to cover the bases, so to speak, on this one-of-a-kind trip. Who knows if a book or documentary will result.

While "we're definitely enjoying ourselves," according to Loef, the romantic notion of having a hot dog and beer while leisurely soaking up a ballgame every day isn't quite accurate.

Loef said he had to "beg, borrow and steal to get half the time off," and is working part time from the road. There also are the video, photo and other tasks to tend to. And, while supporters may offer beverages during the game, the reality of having to get back on the road tempers those enticements.

One memorable moment came at Globe Life Park in Arlington, Texas.

"We rode in a giant chili cheese dog," around the perimeter of the field, O'Connor said. "They put us on the big screen" and 'Sweet Home Chicago' played on the public address system," he added.

Their favorites: Loef likes Kauffman Stadium in Kansas City for its atmosphere, while O'Connor said the beauty of AT&T Park in San Francisco tops his list. Both are White Sox fans.

Today they'll be in Toronto, and game No. 24 brings them to Wrigley Field in Chicago on Monday. They'll be joined by friends and family, but then the road to Milwaukee beckons. The tour ends June 28 at Comerica Park in Detroit.

Ballpark: Friends will take in game at Wrigley on Monday