A pilgrimage by several local men to see games at all 30 Major League Baseball parks continues, now in memory of one of the group’s members who has passed away.
Six men in their late 30s to mid-40s took a five-day swing around the Midwest during the first week of August, watching games in Chicago and Minnesota. For Henry County resident David Slicker, this makes 22 of the 30 ballparks crossed off his list.
“A couple of the guys have different numbers but we’re all around 20,” he said.
These trips have gone on for 11 or 12 years now, beginning with a bachelor party that includes a Chicago Cubs game at Wrigley Field. Because of the historic nature of that stadium, the guys decided to plan a trip soon afterward to Fenway Park in Boston. From there it became an annual tradition.
This year’s group included Slicker, Bryan Owens, James Farkas, Kevin Hauck, Davey Clark and Justin Powers. The members have changed a bit from year to year because of personal schedules, but the core group members are all in their 40s and some have known each other since high school.
“We try to do multiple parks every year,” said Slicker. “Several years we’ve hit two, and a couple of times we’ve hit three on the same trip.”
In 2018 the group traveled to Cooperstown, N.Y., home of the Baseball Hall of Fame. It was an important time because of the impending induction of former Atlanta Braves great Chipper Jones.
One member of the group, perhaps Jones’ biggest fan according to Slicker, didn’t make the trip and would not travel with them again. Mark Mashburn had his tickets and was ready to go before he became ill, and he died in June of 2018 at age 46, shortly before the HOF induction ceremonies.
Naturally, there was some thought among the others about whether anyone should go at all. But the other men pressed on.
“We briefly discussed it but we all agreed unanimously that he wouldn’t want us to miss it, We did what we could to honor him during the ceremony,” said Slicker of Mashburn, who was a Henry County resident until a few years ago and worked at McDonough Ace Hardware until just before his death. “There were several moments during the trip where we did something in his memory.”
That trip ended with a stop at Yankee Stadium in New York. After striking two more ballparks off the list in 2019, the guys have no intention of stopping.
As long as we’re wanting to do it,” said Slicker when asked how long the annual tradition will continue. “When we get to 30 we might switch to the NFL or minor league baseball. We’ll figure it out. I don’t think any of us have a desire to quit now. We are so close.”
As for Mashburn?
“He wouldn’t want it any other way. He was the most fun-loving, biggest teddy bear you could ever meet.”
