Junior Tyler Heitmann, along with his family members, has traveled to a total of 14 ballparks, primarily the ones located in the Midwest and the East Coast. His first out-of-town stadium visit took place ten years ago at Minute Maid Park, home of the Houston Astros.
“We won tickets to SeaWorld and decided to go to San Anto- nio,” Tyler’s mother Diane Heitmann said. “My husband said he would like to go to a game in Houston while we were in Texas, so our trip was planned around that. We all love baseball, so it just kind of happened.”
Since then, Tyler has traveled across America every summer to different Major League Baseball (MLB) stadiums, collecting memorabilia along the way. He is just 16 stadiums away from completing his life-goal of visiting all 30 MLB parks. Even if the Cardinals aren’t contenders in the away games that they attend, the Heitmann family has found themselves in the bleachers, proudly displaying their Redbirds gear.
“It was great going to Texas the year after we beat them in the World Series, wearing my Cardinals jersey,” Tyler said. “Just being able to rub it in was fun.”
The family has attended games at stadiums such as the Colorado Rockies’ Coors Field, which is nestled in the mountains, all the way down south to Tropicana Field, an enclosed dome that the Tampa Bay Rays call their home.
“The best stadium I’ve visited so far is the Royals’ stadium because of the way it looks,” Tyler said.
The newly renovated 41-year-old Kauffman Stadium, home of the Royals, resides in Kansas City, Missouri. It is a Heitmann fam- ily favorite because of the refurbished structure and views of the city skyline. The retro-modern building holds a crowd of 37,903 people, the fifth smallest seating capacity in the entire league.
“I think it’s interesting to see what other stadiums have com- pared to ours,” Tyler’s younger sister Ann Heitmann said.
Instead of leaving the ballparks with nothing but memories, Tyler brings mementos back to St. Louis to build to his evergrowing collection. His assemblage includes an assortment of approximately 40 pennants, 19 miniature baseball bats, 20 bobble heads, and he has collectively gathered ten hats from the stadiums he has visited. In addition to memorabilia, Tyler also possesses more than 250 autographs and every baseball card that has been made since 1990.
“Every year for Christmas, he gets a box of baseball cards from the previous season,” Diane said. “The autographs come from various events that we have attended.”
Because of his St. Louis roots, Tyler’s extensive collection includes plenty of Cardinal Red to offset memorabilia from rival teams, such as the Chicago Cubs, in his bedroom, as well as in his basement. His most prized components to his collection include an autographed baseball from Albert Pujols as well as a rare Yadier Molina rookie card.
“I’ll never stop collecting,” Tyler said. “I want to keep growing my collection and pass it on in the future.”
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