Lured by dreams of fields, Brent De Riszner '96 and three Princeton juniors are touring across America to see all 28 baseball teams in 28 days.
Despite the hectic pace, the road trip did not encounter difficulties until this past Monday, when they reached New York City to see their 19th game of the summer.
That night the game scheduled at 7 p.m. at Yankee Stadium rained out. But even that obstacle could not stop the foursome. New York hosted a double header Tuesday, and after catching the first inning at about 4 p.m., the baseball-crazed Jack Kerouacs sped off to Boston to catch the rest of the Red Sox game.
"We will see baseball in 28 parks," De Riszner said Monday in a telephone interview from his hotel in New York.
De Riszner said the idea for the tour originated with Mark Johns, a junior at Princeton, and a native of Springfield, Va. Johns rounded up two fellow classmates, Chris Looney and Mike Casagranda, who are both from California. And Looney in turn called up De Riszner, an old friend from Little League.
What started out as "the last free summer" for the boys of summer has now turned into a major promotional cross-country tour.
About $7,500 of the estimated $10,000 cost of their trip has been paid for by sponsorships like 10K sports drink. The rest will be paid for by the Ivy League students.
But the young travelers are gaining more fame as they move from city to city. In Minnesota, the crew caught the interest of a local radio station that paid for accommodations for the night and a limousine for sight-seeing during the day.
Besides the vacation, the four students are also raising money for the Make-A-Wish Foundation, a non-profit charity organization that grants wishes to children in the U.S. with terminal illnesses or life-threatening medical conditions.
Already one major baseball club has agreed to help sponsor the students' charity drive. One of the San Francisco Giants' owners, who also happens to be an alumnus of Princeton, has offered to give the charity $2,800 -- $100 per game. The Giants are now challenging the other 27 baseball clubs to match that offer.
The summer baseball odyssey will end August 25 in San Francisco. "Most of our parents will be flying up to San Francisco for the last game," De Riszner said.
"Our parents were skeptical at first when they saw our itinerary, but now they are very supportive," De Riszner added. "My mother listens to a local radio station every morning that we call into every once in a while; the same one I used to listen to all through high school."
De Riszner, a 6-foot-3-inch rugby player who does not play baseball because of a self-diagnosed bad eye, said the trip has not been easy on his legs. Sleeping in the 1993 white Arrowsmith minivan, which the students rented, leaves little room for stretching.
"I'm getting tired but we're having lots of fun. Two of us have camcorders and we've been so publicized, there will be so much to look back on," he said. "But we'll probably be ready to do it again in six months."
