Sharing the love of the Sacred Grounds of baseball with author and pal Robby Incmikoski

After 16 seasons traveling the league as a reporter for the Twins, Pirates, and Rangers, our pal Robby Incmikoski brings readers where few get to go — from dugouts and clubhouses to media booths and bullpens — capturing thousands of behind-the-scenes images and 120-plus interviews with the people who make each park special in his new book, Sacred Grounds. Let him tell you about his journey that will bring him to the Babe Ruth Museum on Saturday, May 30th for a SABR hangout and chat before the Orioles take on the Blue Jays downtown.

Nestor Aparicio and Robby Incmikoski discussed Robby’s book “Sacred Grounds,” which explores the history and charm of all 30 Major League ballparks. Robby shared anecdotes about his time with the Twins and Pirates, including the Pirates’ recent improvement and the injury to Ryan O’Hara. They highlighted the unique features of Camden Yards and PNC Park, and Robby’s affection for Baltimore. Robby will present his book at the Babe Ruth Museum on May 30, featuring Adrian Roberson and Janet Marie Smith. Nestor emphasized the book’s value for baseball fans and its blend of history and personal stories.

• [ ] Present and sign copies of Sacred Grounds at the Babe Ruth Museum SABR event on May 30 (noon–2pm) including a short presentation and book signing
• [ ] Build and publish an Amazon storefront listing for Sacred Grounds (Amazon store is under construction)
• [ ] Publish all 30 ballpark photos and additional interview content on the Sacred Grounds website (planned eventual upload of remaining photos and content)

Outline

Sacred Grounds Stadium Book Introduction

• Nestor Aparicio welcomes listeners to WNST 1570 Towson Baltimore and mentions the Maryland Crab Cake Tour.
• Nestor discusses the current state of the baseball season and his plans for Memorial Day and Father’s Day.
• Nestor introduces his guest, Robby Incmikoski, who is joining from Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania.
• Nestor and Robby discuss Robby’s background in baseball, including his time with the Minnesota Twins and Pittsburgh Pirates.

Discussion on Pittsburgh Pirates and Baseball

• Nestor and Robby talk about the current state of the Pittsburgh Pirates, noting that the team is above 500 but in a tough division.
• Robby shares his experience with the Pirates, mentioning the team’s long wait for success and recent improvements.
• Nestor and Robby discuss the Pirates’ rotation, including the injury to Ryan O’Hara.
• Nestor mentions the Orioles’ treatment of Ryan O’Hara and the potential of young players like Koby Mayo and Heston Kerstadt.

Sacred Grounds Book Project

• Robby explains the concept of his book, “Sacred Grounds,” which features pictures and stories from all 30 Major League ballparks.
• Robby shares an anecdote about Joe Douglas, a Ravens executive, and his experience meeting Cal Ripken in a Ravens locker room.
• Nestor and Robby discuss the unique features of Camden Yards, including the warehouse and the new scoreboard.
• Robby talks about the evolution of ballparks over the years and the changes he observed during his project.

Personal Connections and Ballpark Experiences

• Nestor shares his own experiences visiting ballparks and the unique vibe of empty stadiums.
• Robby and Nestor discuss the romanticism of road trips and the excitement of visiting new ballparks.
• Nestor recounts a story about an Uber ride in Pittsburgh where the driver shared his love for the Pirates and the beauty of PNC Park.
• Robby and Nestor talk about the unique features of various ballparks, including the views from Camden Yards and PNC Park.

Upcoming Event and Book Promotion

• Robby announces an upcoming event at the Babe Ruth Museum on May 30th, where he will discuss his book with the SABR Chapter.
• Robby mentions that Adrian Roberson, the voice of Oriole Park at Camden Yards, will join him at the event.
• Nestor and Robby discuss the importance of capturing the essence of each ballpark and the human interest behind the game.
• Robby shares his love for Baltimore and his admiration for Camden Yards, noting its ability to stand the test of time.

Final Thoughts and Favorite Ballparks

• Nestor and Robby discuss their favorite ballparks, with Robby expressing his deep affection for Camden Yards.
• Nestor shares his experiences at Dodger Stadium and the unique features he encountered, including the bobblehead collection.
• Robby talks about his time working with the Baltimore Blast and the Bowie Bay Sox, sharing memories of players and games.
• Nestor and Robby conclude the conversation with a discussion about the importance of preserving the history and charm of baseball stadiums.

SUMMARY KEYWORDS

Sacred Grounds, baseball stadiums, Robby Incmikoski, Babe Ruth Museum, Baltimore Orioles, Pittsburgh Pirates, Camden Yards, ballpark experiences, Janet Marie Smith, Joe Douglas, Joe Mauer, Cal Ripken, Dodger Stadium, Bobbleheads, Major League Baseball.

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SPEAKERS

Nestor Aparicio, Robby Incmikoski

Nestor Aparicio  00:01

Welcome home. We are W N S T A M 1570 Towson Baltimore. We are Baltimore positive, positively getting the Maryland Crab Cake Tour out of North, where I don’t know, because it’s Memorial Day, and I was in Las Vegas, and I was kind of foolishly planning on having a real baseball season around here. Looks like it’s about to evaporate, so happy Memorial Day to everybody out there. Happy pre-Father’s Day, and I’ve got a Father’s Day idea for you, a gift idea, including our friends from the Maryland Lottery and the Maryland Treasures. I’ll be, I’ll be going to Ocean City for Mako in August, and I’ll be, let’s, I’ll be seeing the horses in Assateague with my wife, crossing Blackwater, and seeing one of the most beautiful areas in our state, as I cross the Bay Bridge to do that. Our friends at Farnham and Durham are the comfort guys, 410 36777 It was hot last weekend, it’s cold this weekend. At some point, you’ll need them, because they are the comfort guys for HVAC and plumbing, and most importantly, air conditioning, coming up soon here for the summer months, also our friends at GBMC, keeping me healthy, taking my blood. I had a fried crab cake at Costa’s the other night, even though I’m trying to fix my lifestyle about fried foods and some healthier eating. I’ve been slapped on the wrist because I’m getting older. My pal Robbie and Schmuckowski joins me from the fair city of Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, and not downtown. I saw the new airport you got there. Sacred Grounds is his book. He is a child of South Philadelphia, and a, you know, I would call you an illicit son of Richie Ashburn and Harry

Nestor Aparicio  01:37

Callous,

Nestor Aparicio  01:38

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but he, he did some baseball in his day in Minnesota. He circled Bert, and then he went to Pittsburgh, and he did the Pirates, and watched a lot of bad baseball. That’s amazing. I saw Springsteen Tuesday night in your fair city in the PPG paint can arena, where I once saw the Capitals, and Sidney Crosby, and a veteran do battle so many times, and I’m always blown away by how many Pirates hats and shirts that I would see, in addition to Steelers. There was a guy with an Aaron Rodgers Steelers jersey down, yelling at Bruce in the front, doing this by paid $1,000 for his ticket, but I do see a lot of Pirates gear in a town where I mean, even the other night Morello was sporting, and I texted Dwayne Reader sporting the 21 Roberto Clemente museum shirt underneath of his guitar when he was, you know, getting all like Tom Jody with, with, with Bruce Springsteen. So I enjoyed my night in Pittsburgh. I know you’d rather have a better baseball team. If you want one, I’ll give you ours. You can have ours.

Robby Incmikoski  02:46

Well, Nestor, first of all, I love coming on your show, and I love hanging out with you, because you’re never boring, and you’re always..

Nestor Aparicio  02:53

wake up, dude, get some coffee in Pittsburgh. I know, I know,

Robby Incmikoski  02:56

right? Mornings aren’t for everybody, and I’m one of those people who is. who is not everybody, but you know, Nestor. First of all, the Pirates are pretty good. I mean, their game above 500 right now, but they’re in a tough division, a competitive division. And this team has waited a long time. This team, excuse me, the city has waited for a long time for this team to be a winner. And you know, 2015 was the last time they made the playoffs, and you know, maybe some of the personnel moves between 2015 and 2016 didn’t work out in their favor, and they have been in the playoffs since

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Nestor Aparicio  03:28

you were the Twins, then weren’t you?

Robby Incmikoski  03:30

No, I was with the Pirates, I was the Twins 2009 to 2012 and then got here in 2013

Nestor Aparicio  03:36

13, so you were a part of that, okay?

Robby Incmikoski  03:38

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That was the first year they went back to the playoffs after 20 year absence, but

Nestor Aparicio  03:42

10 years in Pittsburgh,

Robby Incmikoski  03:44

11, yeah,

Nestor Aparicio  03:45

wow, 11,

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Nestor Aparicio  03:46

yeah.

Nestor Aparicio  03:46

How many days in your tenure there, in 11 years, were they at least one game over 500

Robby Incmikoski  03:54

Not as many as they were under 500 I’ll tell you, yeah, that’s

Nestor Aparicio  03:57

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probably, have

Robby Incmikoski  03:57

you know, I’d have to look, really, it was 1314, and 15, and then in 2018 they finished with a winning record, but they were, it was a little bit window dressing on that one. Yeah, it wasn’t a real competitive race in terms, they were never real, really playoff contenders that year, although they did win, I think 83 games, I think they won 8280 believe it was 83 games, but anyways, you know, there’s a vibe and a passion for baseball right now that we haven’t seen since those years. They get the best pitcher in the world, and Paul Skeens, they got a pretty good rotation, a good rotation behind him. Unfortunately, the guy that came over from the Orioles, Ryan O’Hara, he just suffered, I think it was a hamstring injury, so he’s going to be out for probably about a month,

Nestor Aparicio  04:41

you know. The Orioles didn’t bat him, they are very biased, lefty righty and all that. They didn’t play him as a full-time player, and the Pirates were..

Robby Incmikoski  04:50

it’s crazy. And then he’s just had a tremendous year, and unfortunately, he just got hurt. So, well,

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Nestor Aparicio  04:55

he was always a high ceiling guy, and he was a guy that needed a chance, and. You know the Orioles gave it to him, and I mean we’re waiting on Kobe Mayo, Heston Kerstadt, Jackson Holiday, Westberg article, mean it. It’s a disaster show here, which is why, like, you have a book that is, is it’s non-denominational for winners or losers or seasons or bad, right? It’s

Robby Incmikoski  05:18

all about it’s all about all 30 baseball stains, kind of craziness. You could do a project like this, just given the vast network of people that you have around, around sports, but for me that wasn’t baseball. So, what we wanted to do was, first of all, I travel with a digital camera, took pictures of all 30 ballparks, and then I just wanted to call people associated with big moments, or at least, what the everyday experience was like at each ballpark, so you know, you know, I called somebody you’re familiar with, this guy, Joe Douglas, who worked for the Ravens for a very long..

Nestor Aparicio  05:48

Joe D, the Turk,

Robby Incmikoski  05:50

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won a couple Super Bowl rings with the Ravens, Andy White, old good friend of mine, obviously, but I have Joe D in the book talking about baseball, you know, Joe Douglas grew up in Richmond, Virginia, but he was a die-hard Oils fan. His favorite player of all time, and his whole life growing up, was Cal. So he talks about in the book Sacred Grounds, he talks about it being in the locker room for the Ravens when they lost, I believe it was 2011 They had a crushing loss to the New England Patriots in the playoffs. It was in 2012 was the NFC champion

Nestor Aparicio  06:20

in that locker room too. That was a bad,

Robby Incmikoski  06:21

yes, in the FC Championship game, and

Nestor Aparicio  06:24

that was a Billy Cunningham miss, and that was the Lee Evans drop. Yep,

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Robby Incmikoski  06:27

yep. And Ray Lewis was, you know, talking about, you know, how the years are short, you know, the days are long, but the years are short. They give this whole, you know, you know, he talks about, you know, what this team, you know, tried to accomplish. They fell short, but they still have what’s in place, they kneel down, they do a prayer. Joe Douglas is in the Ravens locker room, and when you just, you just grab the hand, whoever’s next to you, nobody even really looks. And Joe D talked about how he was grabbing someone’s hand, and he looked up and ended up being Cal Ripken’s hand. First time he met his idol in his life was, you know, in a, in a devastated post-game Baltimore Ravens locker room after losing the AFC Championship, and that’s a, the this one circumstance where he ended up meeting his idols. So we captured a lot of anecdotes like that, that type of stuff, and you know, we just tried to capture the essence of each ballpark and what experiences are like,

Nestor Aparicio  07:21

which one you got here, whether the fence was in or out with Camden Yards, and this one you took all these pictures. Then

Robby Incmikoski  07:27

I did. Yeah, I did. So that was before that was taken in, I think, 2020 either 22 or 20. It’s

Nestor Aparicio  07:35

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before the

Nestor Aparicio  07:35

bar was built. There’s now a huge bar there, and there’s a big television that they’re very proud of that, the citizens paid for out in center field, so yeah, it is kind of striking looking at this picture to see how much different it looks now, and, and how quickly, I mean, the new scoreboard’s only six weeks old, really, you know what I mean, so, but all of these places take on their own thing, especially as they age, and I don’t know that Pittsburgh’s ever going to need the new build a new baseball ballpark, you know what I know,

Robby Incmikoski  08:02

and it gets modified. Everything gets modified, everything gets really updated over the years. I mean, you know, shoot, I wrote this. I started this book in August of 2024 and, like, you just point out, now some of the features that I have in the book are outdated. You know, I started taking pictures in 2017 and even in a span of nine total, you know, eight calendar years, plus, you know, eight and a half baseball seasons. Now we’re looking at it, is it’s crazy how much even the new ballparks evolved Nestor. So it’s cool project, and baseball stadiums are just so cool. So I really

Nestor Aparicio  08:36

enjoy five things you had to get in this book, like when you were like probably some nooks and crannies of like pictures you took behind the scoreboard of Fenway, but I mean, I’m sure you were like, it sounds to me like this was cooking for you for a number of years in taking pictures, and like one day I’m going to do a coffee table book called Sacred Grounds. Robbie Antoski is my guest, he’s been my friend for a long time, but but he has a coffee table book, it’s this is a substantial, and for all of you, didn’t want to read Purple Rain one or two, but I was heartened the other night. The guy asked me, he said he gave away his copy of Purple Rain and one and two to the Scottish Ravens fan club, and the fella died in Scotland, so he couldn’t get his book back. So I had to give him a book, and it’s got words in it. Yours is just a balance of words and pictures, but it really is a coffee table book about your love of stadiums, and yeah, baseball, and you growing up at the vet, that hell hole, and not having a real baseball ballpark as a kid, you didn’t, you know,

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Nestor Aparicio  09:29

even

Nestor Aparicio  09:30

you had a fanatic, I mean, it was an ashtray up there, but I mean, like, but you fell in love with ballparks, and now Philly has a ballpark, right,

Robby Incmikoski  09:38

yeah, yeah, it was just, you know, Nestor, I just love ballparks. I love the connection that, that, that ballparks bring to a city, to a team, to an organization. How they connect a team to its city, and it’s just always so cool. Just, just, I don’t know, walking through ballparks, I’ve been obsessed with them. I’ve taken photos of them everywhere I’ve gone my entire life, and. Yeah, I just think they’re so cool, and, and it was cool to do this project, you know. We talked to, I think I’m sure you’ll remember this, because you know a ton about, you know, Baltimore baseball. But, you know, I was looking at the box score from the night when Cal broke the streak record, and I was looking around to see who I knew, and I was like, you know, I wonder who played third base next to him that night. Turns out it was Jeff Houston, who’s just an all-around wonderful guy and utility guy, had a good career in the big leagues, you know. And now he’s been an announcer for the Colorado Rockies for a number of years, and he tells a great story about him and Jeff Manto, where utility, you know, they were in a platoon situation at third base, and they were looking at the California Angels rotation, and they were pretty right-handed, heavy rotation, and he and Jeff Manto, they were platooning, and Houston was facing the righties, Manto would face the lefties, and they were doing the math to see, you know, when Cal obviously you knew when Cal was going to break the break the streak record that year, and, and, and, and Houston got the lucky straw, and he gave some great anecdotes about what it was like playing, you know, 3040 feet from Cal the night he set the, you know, set the baseball world on fire, and and that was pretty cool. So we just tried to capture the humanity and the human interest behind what goes on, you know, in and around the game of baseball, because there’s just so much there, as you know, Nestor, you’ve been around game a while, been around sports a while. There’s so much that goes on around the game, the fans don’t get an opportunity to see. So we just tried to shine a light on that and give people a little tour through all 30 ballparks from the comfort of their own home.

Nestor Aparicio  11:31

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Well, with your camera running around, and this would speak to me being a longtime journalist who’s now blackballed, and you know I’m blackballed, but I walked around ballparks when I was young, in the 90s, let’s say in early 90s. I’m on the radio, I’m 2324 25

Robby Incmikoski  11:48

by the way,

Nestor Aparicio  11:49

Sony’s

Robby Incmikoski  11:51

a little Sony. This is the camera I used to take all my pictures of all 30 ballparks, crazy.

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Nestor Aparicio  11:56

My early stuff’s actually on film from the 90s, like real film, you know, yeah, but I went around to those ballparks, like going in early, going into Fenway Park in 1992 or 93 and being there at 230 when the peanut vendors aren’t even there yet, and the stadium’s empty, oh, like doing stuff out on the field to get the dirt ready, and like all that, and you walk into Clubhouse, and you know Jimmy Tyler’s in there, Ernie, and they’re putting up jerseys, and players are just getting coming in in their suits and getting off their cabs and looking like a million dollars, no matter how much they made back then, even 30 years ago. But something about the setup of an empty ballpark, I’d say the same thing for concerts, you know, like going in and seeing a sound check in a concert, being a part of that when it’s sort of silent and quiet, and that that free thing that happens before you want Cal Ripken hit that home run, or before the stadium is back, there is something about our industry and our privilege to be in those stadiums early, because a lot of these pictures you have are like BP empty stadium, there’s something about when it’s getting warmed up, and I felt that way going to Memorial Stadium as a boy, that like that’s when the exploration began, because you had time on your hands to sort of look around and explore the stadium a little bit.

Robby Incmikoski  13:11

That’s exactly what we tried to capture, just what the vibe is, you know. At a calm stadium, there’s something cool about walking around a calm stadium, and I love that vibe, exactly like you said, so we got a little bit of each in there. I mean, we have a little bit of, you know, stuff, you know, not so much during games, because I was always working, but, but, but before the stadium, you know, or like, you know, during BP, or you know, when there’s just not a lot of stuff happening at the ballpark. So, yeah, we’ve been really fortunate so far. Now, you know, I’m lucky enough, next Friday, the 30th, may 30, we’re going to be at the Babe Ruth Museum, doing a little presentation with the Saber Chapter Society for American Baseball Research, and that was really cool, with, you know, the folks down there who invited me to be a part of it. So, we’ll be at the Babe Ruth Museum from noon to two on Saturday, the 30th, to talk about the book, do a little presentation, the lovely Adrian Roberson, the voice of Oral Park at Camden Yards, is going to join us, and it’s going to be pretty cool. Works, you know. I don’t know, I love baseball, and I love Baltimore Nestor, and I’m just going to be real with you, dude. I think Camden Yards, outside of PNC Park, because just the esthetics of PNC Park are gorgeous. Camden Yards, my favorite stadium, and I’m going to tell you why. It just stood the test of time for a place being, you know, three and a half decades old. That place has stood the test of time, and it’s amazing. And I, it never gets old that place.

Nestor Aparicio  14:31

Well, people love your ballpark too. And I had, at some point, I’m going to tell this story a little longer, but I’m going to tell it to you, because, like, you’re here, and you happen to be listening to me. I got an Uber ride from my hotel in Pittsburgh on Tuesday night to downtown, and in the 40 minute ride, because it was afternoon drive, trying to get into Pittsburgh and through the tunnel and down Green Tree, like the whole deal, and I’ve been to Pittsburgh a million times, but this guy was riding me, he was. Venezuelan, and it’s a much longer story about how he got to America. He was going to be assassinated. He was running for mayor of a town in the mountains of Venezuela. He’s only been in Pittsburgh six years. He was a lawyer, an attorney, a teacher. He had a radio show, and he came here during the Biden administration because Maduro was going to kill him, so he’s driving me, and we’re translating through all of this, and he’s telling me his life story, because he knew I was Venezuelan, and we went to, but he didn’t know the Aparicio part, right, he didn’t know any of that, he was just telling me his story, and as we pulled into downtown, I moved to baseball, like 25 minutes after politics, Trump, Maduro, Venezuela, gas, my family, Maracaibo, we get to that, and then we like, we’re going down the hill, you know, where the, you were, you, you come out in the city, just opens up there, it just, Pittsburgh’s kind of magical in that way, don’t tell anybody I said that, not a Philly guy or a Baltimore guy talking good about Pittsburgh, but he lit up the minute I started talking baseball with me, Venezuelan, and he still didn’t know about Aparicio. I didn’t give him that part to, like, get out of the cab or the Uber, but he could not have been more effusive about the Pirates and about living in a, in a major league city and having a stadium as beautiful as your stadium. He says he only goes to a game or two a year, he said, but it’s always, he said, it’s so beautiful that I look forward to going, because the stadium’s so beautiful. Not everybody feels that way. People feel that way about Camden Yards, right? I don’t know if anybody feels that way about Citizens Bank in Philly, or they feel that way about Citi Field in New York. I don’t even know they feel that way about Yankee Stadium, that it’s like beautiful, or the view’s beautiful, Pittsburgh and Baltimore and San Francisco, in the way the stadia were built, much more so than, and by the way, I was in Vegas last weekend, you’re going to have a new one, so am I, the cranes are up in front of MGM, they’re building the A’s stadium there, and the weirdest thing is it looks like a Tonka toy, because Vegas, everything’s so huge that when they build a stadium, a baseball stadium next to MGM, it looks like the carnival tenant circus circus looks small, but you know, like the view, and what Pittsburgh and Baltimore have from a stadium standpoint, Luke hated going to Skydome. He hated watching baseball in a blimp. He’d never really done that much. So I’m like, well, if you hate that, don’t go to Houston or Arizona or Tampa, or you know, these places where everything’s a blimp. Even Arlington’s a blimp. We went down there for a playoff game, so like, not all of these stadia get to brag about the awesomeness that Pittsburgh and Baltimore, and I think San Francisco. I would throw that in now. I love Dodger Stadium, I love Royals Stadium, and I know they’re getting rid of that. So, I mean, I do like the urban thing in St. Louis and whatnot, but there’s something about opening up to water and to steel that has made a couple of these stadia, our stadia be thought of by universally as a place you want to go and watch a game, because of the vibe of the place.

Robby Incmikoski  18:08

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Amazing, it’s amazing, isn’t it? And you’re right, I think it’s a combination of everything. You know, the biggest difference is when you talk about San Francisco, is like at nighttime you can’t really see much, but in Baltimore, you can still see the warehouse. Pittsburgh, you still see down,

Nestor Aparicio  18:24

you see the water, you see the

Robby Incmikoski  18:26

bridges. Yeah, so San Francisco, the background kind of disappears a little bit at nighttime, but it’s still beautiful, beautiful stadium, no doubt about it. And

Nestor Aparicio  18:34

unique, because the balls, I mean, McCovey Cove, and the ball goes in the water, and so it is. It has its own Wrigley Field uniqueness, and I think, listen, and if Janet Marie, and I know she’s had some issues, and she was going to be a part of this, and I’d bring her on, I would love to. That would be fun. You, me, and Janet Marie talking about stadium,

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Nestor Aparicio  18:51

that would be

Robby Incmikoski  18:52

incredible.

Nestor Aparicio  18:53

Janet Mariner, so much I love all of this. She had me out in LA last year. I mean, so, but her vision for it, and talking stadia with people like her, and me growing up into that, and knowing her when I’m a kid, and knowing her all of my life as a coffee mate, and somebody who did Fenway Park, and she was a part of my life when that happened, she did Sarasota, you know, she’s like,

Robby Incmikoski  19:18

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she’s unbelievable,

Nestor Aparicio  19:19

the people that have a vision for it, they’re really special people, because 35 years later we’re still talking about both of these things.

Robby Incmikoski  19:26

It’s, it’s, it’s honestly, it is incredible, and it’s impressive to a level that I honestly, I don’t know, I can’t even comprehend just how beautiful a place Camden Yards is, you know, and Janet’s, you know, Janet’s vision of putting the warehouse out there in the brass plaques for all the baseball’s land out there, the home runs, I mean, obviously, if the memorable one, when you know Ken Griffey Jr. hit the warehouse and home run derby, but still, but there’s just so many, there are just, it just has stood the test of time. You look at the ushers at Camden Yards, you look at Boog’s barbecue, crab cakes, there’s just so many, the food options, it’s such a great baseball city. Again, Nestor, you forgot more about Orioles baseball than Oliver. No, I understand that, but what I’m telling you is how much I love the vibe at that ballpark. It is such a great baseball city. You’re

Nestor Aparicio  20:19

going to the game right Saturday when you’re coming in for this book thing, right?

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Robby Incmikoski  20:22

Yeah, I’m actually not.. I’m not going to make it to the game, but I’m going to be there Friday night. I’m going to get there the night before and go to my favorite restaurant, of course, Sabatinos.

Nestor Aparicio  20:32

I know you have a bookmaker, you’re going to, you know, what

Robby Incmikoski  20:35

the pasta and the garlic bread, man. I love that place. I love that place, Renato, my boy, that that runs that place. I just.. I love.. I don’t know, I have such an affinity for Baltimore, you know? I worked for the Baltimore Blast, doing their in-name emceeing, which was fun back in 2000 what, three, four, and five, I believe it was.

Nestor Aparicio  20:54

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You do the Bowie Bay Sox too?

Robby Incmikoski  20:56

I did the Bowie Bay Sox hosting, I did that two years oh two and oh three. The great Phil Rai, who used to work there, Byron, who is Byron, is the Washington Capital’s voice of the arena public address announcer.

Nestor Aparicio  21:13

Who are the players on the oh one and oh two Base Sox? I’m trying to think, did anybody?

Robby Incmikoski  21:16

Well, I was there, oh 203 so it was Matt Riley, Keith Reed, Tim Range Junior, Jeff Wilson, Aaron Rockers.

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Nestor Aparicio  21:25

Okay.

Robby Incmikoski  21:26

Oh man, I’d have to think it. Some of the, a couple guys reach the big leagues from from those teams. Eric Dubose had a little

Nestor Aparicio  21:34

Damian

Nestor Aparicio  21:34

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Buford, maybe.

Robby Incmikoski  21:36

No, he wasn’t there when I was

Nestor Aparicio  21:37

Dave,

Robby Incmikoski  21:37

our manager, Dave Stock, still, and then, oh my god, why am I drunk? Blake, he was Dave Tremblay. Yeah, Trembley was, was a manager at Double A,

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Nestor Aparicio  21:51

Gary Candle, not there yet.

Robby Incmikoski  21:53

No, Gary wasn’t there when I was there, but there was some cool, you know, I’d have to look at the rosters. There were some pretty interesting guys, and it was fun, you know, worked in Double A baseball. It was good time.

Nestor Aparicio  22:02

I was a Bay Sox game in a long time, but I went down there to like a celebrity thing. I got a single off at Tippie Martinez, and I’m still bragging about 30 years later. So only great baseball accomplishment of my life happened that Bowie Bay Sox. I also misplayed a ball in the outfield, but nobody’s got video of that. Robbie Instop Ski is here, he writes about ballparks. He is in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, after many, many years sitting on the field, being in the dugout, being the Tom Davis, if you will, of the Pittsburgh Pirates, and before that, the Minnesota Twins. Sacred Grounds is the book, along with Kyle Fager. It is a coffee table book, it’s thick, it’s.. it’s.. Dad would love this book. Mom, if Mom loves ballparks. My mom, when, when we, when I was a little boy, she always would watch the games from Kansas City and see the fountains out in the outfield,

Nestor Aparicio  22:49

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and she would

Nestor Aparicio  22:49

always say that I love those fountains, was your little beer and her glass. And then in 1983 when I was 15, my dad said to me, Where do you want to go this summer? And my dad never drove, we never had a car. We took busses everywhere. We took a Greyhound bus, and this involves your Phillies 83 Phillies. I love the 83 Phillies, Steve Carlton, and they played the Orioles. It was that kind of weird summer for me. I was 15 years old. We took a Greyhound bus to go to Busch Stadium, the old Busch Stadium, the Circle Stadium, and we saw the wrestling match, I saw Ric Flair and Harley Race wrestle at the Keel pretty good back in the day, but the whole idea, the way I sold it to my family, to my mom and dad, is, Mom, if we go to Kansas City, you can see the fountains, now I really wanted to see George Brett, that’s what I want to see,

Robby Incmikoski  23:40

of course,

Nestor Aparicio  23:41

so and Astroturf. I had a thing about Astroturf, because you had it in Philly, we didn’t have it here, you had the Fanatic, we didn’t play the round ballpark. I thought Memorial Stadium was a bummer. I love National League baseball, it was all sexy, and it was all Twib and Mel Allen. How about that? And I never got to see the Giants or the Padres, any of those teams play, so they were always on my baseball cards. So, going to a National League ballpark and seeing the Cardinals play the Phillies, going to Kansas City and seeing the Fountains, I still, I swear to you, right now, I could go find the pictures, and they’re not like that digital camera you kids have. I have, like, film from the pictures I took of the stadia of the trips of Pete Rose at first base, Steve Carlton, you know, like all of that, George Hendrick. I love stadiums as a kid. My mom loved Kansas, so people like when they see these pictures, or they get the book right, see these pictures, and they, they fantasize about going to these places, and I know you as a Twins reporter, and you as a Pirates reporter, every visiting ballpark you ever went to, especially the ones in California, Florida, or whatever, New York, you would have people come up to you in Twins gear with Circle Me Burt stuff, they knew you from television and. They would be like, man, I’ve never been to New York, I’ve never been to Yang. This is the greatest, you know. And there’s something about being on the road with your team as a guy who ran road trips forever and ever and ever. There’s just something really romantic about it. And anytime I see people experiencing that sort of thing for the first time, it’s always special, even if it’s just a ball game at Tropicana Field in Tampa. I even said to my wife, the Orioles were there this week. I’m like, why do people bag on that place? I’ve always had a good time there. I’ve always enjoyed parking. I’ve always enjoyed walking in. I don’t like that it’s dome, but it’s 112 outside. They have fish in the outfield. Why are people bag on that stadium? Because it’s not as beautiful as Pittsburgh or Baltimore. But I’m thinking to myself, all the ballparks are kind of unique and interesting and beautiful. If you’re someone like you looking for

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Robby Incmikoski  25:47

it, every, every last one is just.. I don’t know how to really describe the experience of walking into a ballpark, but there are people who like to go once a year, once every two years, because they like, you know, drinking a beer and eating the food and being around friends, and then there are people like me who go there, and I want to watch every inning of every game if I can, while I have a beer with my friends, or you know, it’s all kinds of people that it attracts, and I just tried to capture that essence, because baseball connects generations, you know, just like you said, there’s no bad ballpark in baseball, I know people can rip on the drop and rip on certain places. People ripped on Oakland all the time.

Nestor Aparicio  26:25

I enjoyed Oakland to the bitter end because of the last ballpark that was like Memorial Stadium. When I sat in there, the angles, the way the game looked, the way it felt, the way it smelled, the way the alcoves were, the way the bathroom smelled, it was Memorial Stadium. It literally, it like, so I loved it to the bitter end. I loved it, even with the rights,

Robby Incmikoski  26:44

same thing. So it was just right, exactly. And that’s that’s just that’s exactly right. So it was, it was a dump, but it was a lovable dump in all these places, so

Nestor Aparicio  26:54

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cathedrals, all of

Robby Incmikoski  26:56

them, right, every single one. And that’s, we tried to celebrate, so, so it’s pretty cool, Nestor. It really is. It’s really.. I don’t know, it’s just so cool to write something like this, and you know, and just get stories. It’s quick reading, story to story. You’re not going to be stuck in something for a very long time. Check out the pictures. People want to read more. We got QR codes in the book that people could read. My interview transcript on the site, and I had more pictures, more.. you know, more, you know, interviews, more photos, a little tour around half the ballparks on the site. We’re putting all 30 up eventually, so it’s been a cool project. All in, it’s been an amazing project, Nest. It really has.

Nestor Aparicio  27:32

Nice Father’s Day gift. Anybody’s got an idea out there? Want to do a good turn? My buddy Robbie Inch Pickowski, he has been featured on the Major League Baseball. Dude, I was in like a bar, man. Was in Coco’s, I was in Coco’s, and I look up and your mug’s on TV, and you’re being like famous in them, and it turned out to be like live, I think. I text you, I thought it was a taped piece or whatever. Oh, it was like an afternoon in the middle of winter, maybe we with Harry Reynolds or so. I don’t, you were with somebody, right?

Robby Incmikoski  28:02

Yeah, it’s pretty cool doing a do a couple of, I do a local soccer show here now, which is pretty cool. My post baseball life, I just do it once a month with the local team here, the Pittsburgh River Hounds, they’re in the US USL Championship, which is a level below the, it’s a level below MLS. I was drawing a blanket. Where they

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Nestor Aparicio  28:22

play,

Robby Incmikoski  28:24

they played a stadium called Highmark Stadium, right on the South Shore, right here, just off Carson Street, and in downtown, like really kind of South Side, I guess.

Nestor Aparicio  28:34

Steelers practice, right? And we’re pit..

Robby Incmikoski  28:35

8

no, no, that’s on the South Side,

Nestor Aparicio  28:37

South Side.

Nestor Aparicio  28:38

Okay,

Robby Incmikoski  28:38

a couple miles away. Yeah, they have a beautiful stadium that faces downtown Pittsburgh, right on the Monongahela River. It’s really beautiful. So, it’s, it’s, it’s another beautiful venue,

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Nestor Aparicio  28:47

another great reason to come back to Pittsburgh.

Robby Incmikoski  28:49

Yep. Only, yeah,

Nestor Aparicio  28:51

Pittsburgh

Nestor Aparicio  28:52

8

tourism nonsense lately. What am I doing here? I mean, I was up there, the ball sailed wide. Right, Dwayne Reader wants me to come up and hang out with the Clemente Museum and see the artifacts. I just snuck in and out, for I mean, I spent the night in Pittsburgh two days ago. I mean, that’s

Robby Incmikoski  29:06

you’re a sharp dude, and you know you’re, you know, your wonderful American cities nestor. Even if it could be a rival in football every now and then,

Nestor Aparicio  29:14

you and I need to go to a ball game together. Robbie, it’s McCaskey will be in this weekend. The Toronto Blue Jays are in all weekend, by the way. I’m going to your hometown, going to Philly on Thursday to see Triumph in April. One, I’m actually going to Camden, but I’ll go to Philly, where Walt Whitman, I’ll do something like that. Yeah, you know that’s your town. But Pittsburgh, Philadelphia, why am I spending so much time in Pennsylvania? I don’t know. You’re going to be at the Babe Ruth Museum, though. Correct. In the afternoon with the Saber folks, which, by the way, my favorite nerd, Luke Jones, is mr. Saber up, and mr. All that. I don’t understand algebra well enough for them to invite me. I think I mean, I don’t think I did well enough at that, but I do love the science of baseball and the Saber people, and they love folks like. And Janet Marie and I know they’ve had gatherings here, they’ve had their annual meeting here, and you’re going to be a part of signing the book and talking about Stadia, correct.

Robby Incmikoski  30:08

Yep, yep, that’s exactly right. Yep, we’re going to be talking about, we got Adrian Roberson, the voice of Oral Park at Camden Yards, is going to join us. We had January Smith lined up, but something came up for her, so unfortunately she’s not going to be able to make this appearance, but, but in the future, we’re going to plan something again, and you know, for those that don’t know who Jana Marie Smith is, I’m honored to have her write the forward in my book, number one, and number two, she is the person responsible for the design of Camden Yards, and she’s, she’s just impacted a lot of people’s ballpark experience, and I don’t think a lot of people realize it. So, honored to have her write the forward in my book, and you know, Adrian, you know, one of the few female public address voices in Major League Baseball. It’s cool to have her. We go back to our Bowie Bay Sox days as well, so it’s so.. it’s pretty cool. By the way, I forgot another big name from those that minor league team. Eric Bedard was a part of that team as well, was a part of those teams, and Eli Whiteside, who had, you know, pretty good career as a backup catcher in the big leagues, so it’s, uh, it’s pretty cool.

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Nestor Aparicio  31:11

All right, well,

Robby Incmikoski  31:12

to have this history, and I love being able to go back into, go back to a great town. I love Baltimore, I love, you know, I love Baltimore, man. I have an affinity, that’s it. That’s where Janet’s forward. It’s amazing. So I have a real affinity for, for ballparks, and it’s pretty cool.

Nestor Aparicio  31:29

Yeah, I did not know that Janet Marie did the forward for you, and I haven’t had her on in a while. And now, once I imitate her, because the art imitates, I don’t do a very good Janet Marie, because this is going to be more of like a Georgia accent or more like South Carolina accent than her Mississippi, but but she says here this beautiful book will capture your heart and your imagination as we look for the gem in each of major league baseball cities, from the location of the ballpark to its architecture to the displays and the memorabilia crafted from special moments in the history of the game. Sacred Grounds is a compendium of what makes Major League Ballpark special. It reminds me, baseball can’t be referred to as America’s pastime without a firm foothold on history, coupled with a steady gaze toward the future.

Nestor Aparicio  32:19

8

That’s hilarious,

Nestor Aparicio  32:20

man. That wasn’t

Robby Incmikoski  32:21

bad. That’s a great Janet Marie.

Nestor Aparicio  32:22

It wasn’t bad. I mean, that was pretty.. I’ve had a lot of coffee with Janet Marie, by the way. Janet Marie invited me last year to Dodger Stadium, and I almost didn’t say yes. We were out there for the Hollywood Bowl, and I wanted to go to the Whiskey A Go-Go, and I’ve still.. I’ve never been.. I’ve been to the Viper Room, but I’ve never been to the Whiskey, and I’ve never been to what’s the place, the Eagles, the Troubadour. I’ve never been to the Troubadour. So I was trying to go to those places, but Janet Marie Nasta, I’ve done some things at Dodger Stadium. You got to come see your favorite stadium, you’re in LA, I’m gonna leave you tickets. And my wife’s like, what’s wrong with you, Janet Marie inviting you to Chef Edward at your favorite stadium. You’re not going to go check it out. They’re playing the Giants. It was the night that Clayton Kershaw retired. I was there watching the press conference, but here’s the cool part. Janet Marie completely pimps me out. There’s like a speakeasy in right field, I get invited to it. My name’s on the door, and yeah, Tommy Lasorda’s eye looking at me to let me in, and I’m walking around seeing all this incredible stuff, and these huge bobble heads, and this whole area in the outfield that she built, and the thing that impressed me the most, I was in this third base club, and if anybody gets to go to Dodger Stadium, this includes Luke Jones, because I made a big deal about this with Luke, because Luke has bobble heads behind him on the set, and they’re like teenage mutant ninja turtles, they’re not like oriole bobble heads, but my dude Darrell Ryder from Cleveland, long time guy, writer has every bobble head, Bob Feller to Lebron James to Jim Brown to, you know, what, Brian Sipe, he’s got all these bobble heads, and it’s kind of cool. They’re kind of cool when they look like that, you know? Like, I have a couple little rush bobble heads, but I don’t pull them out. I have a George Brett, I have a Tony, I have a Marsha Brady, you know. I’ve had some bobble heads in my day, but this thing in third base at Dodger Stadium, Janet Marie invited me, and it’s like, what do you, what can I show you at Dodger Stadium, that you haven’t already seen, and I’ve, you know, I’ve seen everything there, from having a meal with Larry King to having a picture with Tommy Lasorda to hanging out with Kelsey Grammer. Like, I, my wife hung out with who’s the rapper she loves from the 80s, I Need Love, LL Cool J, so like I’ve had amazing Dodger Stadium experiences, right? But I went last year, and she gave me tickets to get some nachos and a free beer in this little club lounge, and it’s the largest collection of bobble heads I’ve ever seen in my life in Dodger Stadium. So it’s anybody can see it. I mean, you got to be in the lower deck, but it’s attached to this. This lounge, and it’s like 1000s of bobble heads. It’s like a bobblehead Hall of Fame, and like every bobble head that any team baseball has ever given away, it’s there. There’s an Eddie Murray, there’s an Elle Reave, there’s a Chuck Thompson, there’s a John

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Nestor Aparicio  35:15

that

Robby Incmikoski  35:15

was Mitch Poole, I believe is his name, who was the longtime Clubhouse guy, collected those for decades and decades and decades, and I think I put one or

Nestor Aparicio  35:24

two of all the stuff I’ve ever seen in a stadium in modern days, including the Louis Aparicio statue and centers. I mean, I dude, I’m a nerd. The Knee House statue in Seattle, like I’m a nerd about stadiums, which is why I bring you on for Sacred Grounds, because I might love stadiums more than you do, like if we were really just going to sit and talk about this with Jana Marie, but it’s weird stuff. Like, I went.. I’ve been to Dodger Stadium for 40 years. My dad and I watched Keith Moreland and Jody Davis at a home run on a Monday night baseball game with Rick Sutcliffe on the hill at 505 at Chavez Ravine in 1985 So, like, I, I love baseball, and I’ve been going there all of my life to Dodger Stadium, and I get invited back, and a year later I’m sitting here telling you, “Oh my god, Janet Marie brought in Bobble Heads, and if you go to the stadium, it’s just a value-added thing that they’re always trying to do at Camden Yards, they’re always trying to say, “We got a bigger hot dog with more crab meat on it, more of this and more of that and bigger, like they’re always trying to make them better, and I like to brag about the cool stuff I see, like Target, the stadium in Minnesota. I only went to one time, it was on like the 29th day of my 30 day tour, I was one.

Robby Incmikoski  36:37

8

Oh, I feel like I remember that. Yep,

Nestor Aparicio  36:38

I was worn out, and I went, and I had the greatest night. I mean, like, I had a great time. My wife wasn’t with me, I was alone, and I had these cookies that Wayne Kostrovsky made for me in Minnesota. But, like, that stadium, I went to see Bruce the first night of the tour in Minneapolis. It’s like march 30. It was.. I don’t need to tell you, you lived there. It was 28 degrees, the, you know, the Prince thing. The mural was up. I went to see Bruce at the at the basketball arena, and the baseball stadium’s the next stop on the trolley there. And I’m like, I gotta see a game here again. Like, I’ll be honest with you, if you gave me $1 right now, my wife would tell you Nestor doesn’t need to see any more baseball, Nestor’s done enough baseball, although I think I’m going to, I will be in San Diego in two weeks, and Freddie Yeoman and I are talking about going to the Padres game, and that’s special to me, because I will go out and talk to Tony Gwynn in the outfield, and I’ll, I look up at his statue in the outfield, center field, and I swear it talks to me, I hear his voice, it looks so much like him, it’ll make me cry, so I will do that, but I don’t go to a lot of baseball games, and when I do, like Janet Reed dragged me, I’m always looking for, like, I walk around all of them, it’s the reason I’m there more than watching the Dodgers play the Giants in September for me, but I love stadium so much, but the one that I would go back to, and the one that I keep saying to my wife, because she missed that one, was like the Minnesota ballpark to me, very underrated from all the ballparks I went to. I really liked

Nestor Aparicio  38:11

it.

Robby Incmikoski  38:11

It’s, I had the honor of working the first ever game there, and I’ll never forget the Boston Red Sox playing at Target Field, April 12, 2010 and you’re right, it’s and for people in Minnesota, they were waiting decades and decades for outdoor baseball again, so it was pretty special, and the way they designed it too, they put so much Minnesota history into that ballpark with the limestone and the foul pole coming from the old Met Stadium, that was,

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Nestor Aparicio  38:36

I got to do a tour of that ballpark, because, like, the old Met Stadium is literally in the middle of the Mall of America, and the Harmon Killebrew ball is there. I’ve done all of this stuff, man, like

Robby Incmikoski  38:47

Pete, where the ball, the ball landed that Harmon hit, is still up on the wall. The

Nestor Aparicio  38:52

batter’s box is still there on the on the field too. It is in the playground, it’s in the middle of the play park,

Robby Incmikoski  38:58

8

and their little what’s called like amusement park, they have in the middle of the Ball of America. Yep, that’s exactly right. That’s exactly right.

Nestor Aparicio  39:05

See, I bring, I bring you on, and you love ballparks enough to write a whole book about you’re

Robby Incmikoski  39:09

dropping history on me. I

Nestor Aparicio  39:10

love the guy that loves ballparks, dude, like more than anything. Every time I bring Kenny Main on, he talks to me about six stadium, that’s not sex, it’s not SX, it’s not even Sussex, it’s 6s I C K apostrophe S. That was where the pilots played in 69 and Jerry Park, right, Forbes Field, Shibe, like all of these old ballparks, man. It’s I was the guy in Cincinnati that took an Uber over to a freaking warehouse looking for Crosley Field, and couldn’t find it. I could not find it. It’s not marked well.

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Robby Incmikoski  39:49

It’s well, that it’s like in an alleyway. I’ve actually been there too. It’s like there’s like some alleyway. I don’t.. it’s unlike

Nestor Aparicio  39:57

somebody told me where to find to do it. Good,

Robby Incmikoski  40:00

it’s not marked like you get at other places. Yeah, Crosley Field’s not like that. You don’t

Nestor Aparicio  40:04

8

want to mark you for Father’s Day. You got to go, you got like family and stuff. Sacred Gowns is the book. Tell me where they can find it, Rob, because I know you’re selling it direct.

Robby Incmikoski  40:11

My website, yeah. So this one’s on my.. we’re building an Amazon storefront, just not up and ready yet, but we’re at Robbie, it’s R O B B Y I N c.com And the 30th going to be super fun at the Babe Ruth Museum. 12 noon on the 30th, we’re going to do a little baseball chatter and have some cool people there. So, I appreciate you, Nestor. Thank you.

Nestor Aparicio  40:29

What’s your favorite ballpark for real? Don’t lie to me,

Robby Incmikoski  40:31

Baltimore. No, PNC Park, but I don’t really count that, because I was fortunate to call it my home for 11 years, my home ballpark. So, Baltimore’s my favorite, besides everything else. I’m not just making up, I’m dead serious. I say it all the time. Stood the test of time. Beautiful. It’s

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Nestor Aparicio  40:45

Chuck D is in your book. I want you promoting that.

Robby Incmikoski  40:48

Yeah, well, I don’t know. We got, we got Chuck D in there. It’s pretty cool, man. His first love is baseball. Chuck D loves baseball, man. Read all about his love for baseball. You can find it all in the book. Nestor,

Nestor Aparicio  40:59

my last name’s Aparicio. I love baseball. He’s Robbie in Spockowski, I N C M I K O S K I. It took me 30 years to learn how to pronounce it. I even know how to spell it. I’m Nestor. We’re Baltimore Positive. Go check out his book.