Okay, so I got this idea stuck in my head a while back – I wanted to see all the MLB stadiums laid out on a map. You know, kinda visualize where they all are, maybe plan some future trips. I’m a big baseball guy, always dreamed of visiting all the parks.
Getting Started – The List
First thing I did was hunt down a list of all the current MLB stadiums. Wasn’t too hard, found a decent list online, I think it was Wikipedia or maybe the official MLB site, can’t remember exactly. Had the stadium name, the team, and the city/state. Seemed simple enough.
I copied that info over into a simple spreadsheet. Just basic stuff: Team Name, Stadium Name, City, State. Figured having it organized would make the next steps easier. Had to clean it up a bit, make sure formatting was consistent, you know how that goes.
Making the Map Itself
Then I had to figure out how to actually make the map. I thought about printing a big map and using pins, old school style. But nah, wanted something digital I could easily look at on my phone or computer.
I decided to use Google My Maps. It’s free, pretty easy to use, seemed like the right tool for this job. Didn’t need anything super fancy.
Getting the stadiums onto the map was the main task. Google My Maps lets you import data from a spreadsheet, which was perfect since I already made one. I saved my spreadsheet file as a CSV. Then, in My Maps, I created a new map and used the ‘Import’ feature.
- I told it which columns had the address info (City, State).
- I told it which column had the title for the pin (Stadium Name).
It took a minute, but boom! Suddenly I had pins scattered all across the US (and Toronto, gotta remember the Blue Jays!). It automatically tried to find the exact location for each stadium based on the city and name. I had to double-check a few, sometimes it puts the pin in the middle of the city instead of right on the stadium, so I manually dragged a couple pins to their exact spots. Took a bit of time, clicking around, zooming in, but accuracy felt important.
Adding Some Personal Touches
Just having pins was cool, but I wanted to make it more my map. So, I started customizing.
First, I went through and changed the pin colors. Maybe blue for American League teams and red for National League? Or, what I actually did was color-code them based on whether I’d visited the stadium yet.
- Green pins: Stadiums I’ve been to.
- Yellow pins: Stadiums I have concrete plans to visit soon.
- Red pins: The rest, the ones still on the bucket list.
Then, I clicked on each pin and added some notes in the description box. Things like:
- The date I visited (if applicable).
- Who played and who won.
- Maybe a quick note about the park experience, like ‘great hot dogs’ or ‘amazing view’.
For the ones I haven’t visited, I might add a note like ‘Target for 2025 trip’.
Thinking About Travel
Since I called it a “travel map”, I also started playing around with the directions feature within My Maps. You can draw lines between points. So, I started sketching out potential road trips. Like, how could I hit all the California stadiums in one go? Or the cluster in the Northeast? It helps visualize the travel routes and distances involved. It’s neat to see which parks group together naturally for a trip.
The Final Look
So now, I’ve got this really cool, personalized map. It shows all the MLB stadiums, color-coded by my visits, with my own notes and memories attached. Plus, I’ve got some rough ideas for future baseball road trips sketched out.
It’s super satisfying to look at. Every time I check a new stadium off the list, I get to go update the map, change a pin from red to green. It’s a living document of my baseball travels. Pretty simple to do, honestly, just took a bit of time gathering the info and clicking around on the map tool. Definitely worth it if you’re a fan thinking about hitting the road for some games.
