Pete was interviewed by Chris Elsberry of the Connecticut Post during his visit to Bridgeport, Connecticut.

Englishman gets taste of Bluefish

BRIDGEPORT - Englishman Pete Taylor had a crazy firework of an idea that kept exploding in his head - go to America and watch baseball. But not just some baseball. The idea was to see a game in each of the 50 states. Oh, and on top of that, check out a couple dozen or so of the most famous places in rock 'n' roll history. Told you it was a crazy idea.

Only it wasn't so crazy.

For the past six months, that's exactly what Taylor, 57, who hails from London, has been doing. Driving around the United States, watching baseball. This past week, he stopped at the Ballpark at Harbor Yard to see the Bluefish play the Somerset Patriots. It was Day No. 157 on a trip that, when it's over (whenever that might be), will have taken Taylor to 48 of the 50 states and 25 of the 30 major league ballparks, plus countless other places.

"I've been interested in baseball for about 10 years and I've wanted to write about sports, but never had the chance," Taylor said, sitting in one of the Bluefish offices after he threw out the first pitch before the game. "And I thought about a trip to do the 30 major league grounds. But it occurred to me that if I was going to put the time and effort into that, there would be a lot of states and things that I wouldn't see, so I decided to try and see a game in every state."

Taylor talked about making the trip. But he also thought up excuses why he shouldn't go. Finally, his wife, Sally, did some talking. "She said, 'Stop talking and get on with it.' So I did," Taylor said.

He worked out a seven-month rental with a car company - and got seven months unpaid leave from his government job with the Office of National Statistics. Taylor started the journey on April 5, watching the Salem (Va.) Avalanche play the Frederick Keys. Today, when Taylor pulls into the PNC Park in Pittsburgh to see the Pirates and the Cubs, it will push his mileage over the 28,000 mark. After that, it's back across Pennsylvania to see the Phillies, then a stop in Somerset, N.J. to see the Patriots, then onto Washington for the Nationals and Baltimore for the Orioles. And then it's back up I-95 to Boston and Fenway Park.

After that, who knows?

"I've been dealing with Channel 5 in England. They broadcast baseball games twice a week and they've been phoning me on Sundays to talk about the trip," Taylor said. "They've mentioned possible postseason tickets, but I'm not sure."

Every step of the way, he's been taking pictures and writing a diary for his Web site - www.heavenoriowa.com - looking to turn all this into something of an Englishman's guide to American baseball.

"That's what I see it as," Taylor says. "A lot of it is an English person's perception of the states. Not just baseball, but food, hospitality, driving, my daily experiences. It centers around baseball and rock 'n' roll. At the end of the day, I sit down and write whatever's happened. I write every day. So I'm hoping that with a little bit of fine-tuning and some postscripts, that will become a book. That's the plan."

One of the special rock 'n' roll moments came on a stop in Clovis, N.M., where the Nor Va Jak Studios are located. Nor Va Jak was where Buddy Holly did a lot of recording under the production of Norman Petty. "(Petty) cut all the early Buddy Holly stuff and the studio is still kept the same way it was then," Taylor said. "I walked in for a tour and there was another gentleman there and they introduced me to David (Bingham), who as it turns out was a member of the Roses, which was Buddy Holly's backup vocal band. The hairs on the back of my neck stood up thinking that David sang on 'That'll be the Day.' That just blew me away."

On the Buddy Holly Web site, one can learn that Bingham and the Roses sang on several songs between February and August of 1958, including "Think it Over," "It's so Easy" and "Oh, You Beautiful Doll." But sadly, "That'll be the Day" wasn't one of them.

Still, watching the Rockies change colors as the sun set during a game in Ogden, Utah, sitting in the bleachers at Wrigley Field, seeing Cincinnati's Ken Griffey Jr. hit two home runs in his return to Seattle and seeing the Midnight Sun game in Alaska on June 21 (when the sun doesn't set) are just some of the memorable moments that Taylor will treasure.

"There are bad days," he said. "When you travel this long, there are days when things go wrong and you think, 'Why am I doing this?' And the next day, something comes to cheer you up and off you go. Those are the days that make it all worthwhile."

(c) 2007 The Connecticut Post. All rights reserved. Reproduced with the permission of Media NewsGroup, Inc. by NewsBank, Inc.