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Grand Rapids couple has visited every Major League ballpark

Posted at 10:09 PM, Jul 15, 2014
and last updated 2014-07-15 22:23:38-04

GRAND RAPIDS, Mich. -- Jerry and Janine Uzas have been to all 30 Major League ballparks, a journey they accidentally started over three decades ago in Milwaukee.

"You can't go to all the football stadiums. It's just the atmosphere is different. Even basketball stadiums are the same cutout -- they're basically the same. But baseball is all different atmospheres," Jerry Uzas said.

Whenever the Grand Rapids couple would vacation somewhere they would try to catch a game.

"Our son, Nathan, went to California for Spring Training and we thought, gosh, we can get a couple games in here," Janine Uzas said.  "And I'm thinking, we're almost halfway to seeing them all.  We can do it!"

It's a journey that has involved a little bit of backtracking.

"We went to Cleveland and Memorial Stadium, and they built a new one.  We had gone to St. Louis... well, they built a new one.  So they were all building new stadiums, and it was kind of hard to keep up with them."

But after 30 years, the Uzas completed the journey last July with a trip to Seattle and Safeco Field.   Along the way they've collected ticket stubs, souvenir cups and mini-bats.