Closed Border Blues
Some of my fondest memories of baseball have nothing to do with the game being played on the field. Every summer like clockwork, my best friend and I set out on a new baseball adventure. We wait eagerly for the arrival of the next season’s schedule and make our travel plans accordingly. One year it was driving north through Florida to visit the stadiums in Miami, St. Petersburg, and Atlanta. Another year, we melted our way through the heat of July in the Midwest, seeing Kansas City, St. Louis, Cincinnati, and Chicago.
The first time I ever took a solo road trip I did it to see baseball, visiting six stadiums and numerous baseball-themed attractions along the way. I survived traffic in Pittsburgh and scientifically determined the best cupcake shops in Washington D.C. (Red Velvet Cupcakery, though if you are a fan of sweeter, richer cupcakes, Baked and Wired is for you).
In Baltimore, a stranger gave me tips on the best place to try crab. In St. Petersburg, a friendly season ticket holder named Sherry overheard me telling the guest services attendant it was my first Rays game. She insisted on bringing me and my friend into the season ticket holders area and showing us around, as if being a Rays ambassador was her job (it should be). In Kansas City, I befriended a local so lovely that she invited me to come back and stay with her the following year to enjoy more games and more BBQ, and we went on a tour of Kauffman stadium.
Every wonderful memory I have of live baseball is tied to the ballpark friends I made along the way, the rich experience of finding familiar ground in an unfamiliar city. Whether I’m at Wrigley in Chicago or Great American Ballpark in Cincinnati, I understand the rules, how things work within the friendly confines. The people who are sitting beside me might be strangers, but we are all there with a common passion: a love for baseball. It creates an instant intimacy and can make even an introvert like me willing to chat with someone I don’t know.
There have been a lot of sacrifices and disappointments for people around the world over the last 18 months, but for me, one of the hardest things to do in those early pandemic days was cancel my flights and hotel bookings for my first east coast road trip. Aside from getting to visit new stadiums on my quest to get to all 30 parks, there was the heartbreak of canceling plans with friends I only knew through baseball. Arrangements to meet up at ballparks, or get dinner in Cooperstown, were all set aside with a “hopefully in 2021.”
Now, in 2021, the plans have continued to be pushed back. Earlier this month, Prime Minister Justin Trudeau announced that Canadian/US border closures would continue until at least July 21. While there may be some easing of these restrictions for those who are vaccinated, right now it is exceptionally difficult for Canadian baseball fans to make plans to see their favorite teams play south of the border.
I asked a few of those fans how the ongoing border closures, and a lack of in-person baseball, has been impacting how they enjoy the sport.
Many of the fans I spoke to were like me, people who thought ahead to the trips they could take for baseball games. I wondered how frequently people made all their travel arrangements based solely on getting to a stadium. Gail Johnson, a Canadian Dodgers fan and blogger lamented her lost 2020 vacation. “I live on the East Coast (Moncton, New Brunswick) – about 3,500 miles from LA – so since it’s not an inexpensive trip, it requires me saving money and planning the trip well ahead of time, which means that the only time I’ve traveled out of the Atlantic provinces for the last five years has been to go out to see my Dodgers. I had a plane ticket and hotel rooms booked for Opening Weekend 2020 as well, which, needless to say, got canceled at the last minute.”
Expense is definitely a factor for traveling Canadian fans, even in regular times. Right now a flight from New Brunswick, where Johnson lives, to Los Angeles is about $1,250 CAD round-trip, and that doesn’t factor in the cost of a hotel, transportation, and tickets. (A round-trip domestic flight on Delta from the US East Coast to Los Angeles is about $550.) A lot of this has to do with the limitations of cross-border flights, and when travel opens up more broadly and mandatory quarantines for travelers are eased, things will hopefully start to become less expensive and flight options easier to come by. But it has always been expensive for Canadians to fly south.
For fans who have been accustomed to making those trips South for baseball, there has certainly been a gap in their plans over the past two years. Andy McKinnon, who lives in Toronto, and his parents, who live in Windsor across the river from Detroit, have all felt the absence of baseball. “In a normal year we are crossing the border four to five times specifically to see a ballgame,” he told me. “We often go to Detroit just for the afternoon for a game. My folks will often drive to see my sister in Winnipeg and make special stops to see games in Chicago, Minnesota, or Milwaukee.”
Traveling with the specific purpose of seeing games seems to be a standard family bonding experience for a lot of the people I spoke to. Dave Funnell, a Blue Jays fan, fondly recalled a game he and his dad went to together. “One of the best trips I’ve ever taken was to Detroit with my dad, simply to see the Tigers play. We walked around Comerica Park and took in a ball game years ago. I’ve also wanted to take my own kids to see a game in Pittsburgh and in Cleveland, as they’re both just over four hours away, but haven’t yet been able to do that.”
While they to a person acknowledged that the border closures were necessary and respected them, there was certainly a sense of frustration as well. Johnson said, “I always said that if the Dodgers win the World Series I would be there to see it in person no matter what, but that got taken away from me last year as I didn’t think it would be very responsible to travel to Texas to watch the Series.” Jays fan Jordan Cicchelli knows it will all be worth it in the end. “I’ve definitely even gotten emotional about it but just know that when I finally step foot in a baseball stadium again I’ll appreciate it a TON more.”
Funnell expressed well how difficult the border closures can feel for Canadians. “I fully support the closures and the measures that are being done to ensure that things are safe in both countries, but it’s still hard to see our friends from the south lose more and more restrictions, while we here in Ontario just finished with an at-home lockdown… I really wanted to take my dad to Cooperstown this year, since he’s never been, but I guess that will have to wait.”
I asked them if being unable to attend games in person was dampening their enjoyment of baseball overall. Were they watching fewer games on TV? Johnson was undeterred, never missing a Dodgers broadcast. She also said, “I actually think MLB handled the pandemic as well as it could have, it’s just the realities of the pandemic that have taken away some very special ‘in-person’ moments for me as a fan.” Cicchelli was the opposite, confessing it took her longer than usual to get back into watching games. “I’m so used to going to 10 games at least a year at the Rogers Centre. Lately, I’ve luckily been able to get right back into it but it definitely has impacted my decline in watching.”
McKinnon said if anything, it’s making him a more avid viewer. “[I] have been watching more baseball than ever possibly given the lack of other things to do here in Ontario.” Funnell shared a similar sentiment. “My dad still watches every Blue Jays game, I watch as many games nightly as I can, and I will continue to watch all summer.”
While the border closure currently extends until July 21, fully vaccinated Canadians now have more freedom if they do travel. As of July 5, they will no longer be required to submit to the mandatory 14-day quarantine period when they return home, something that gives travelers a bit more flexibility, knowing they don’t have to factor an extra two weeks off into their work and life plans.
As a light begins to appear at the end of the tunnel, some fans are beginning to book trips for later in the summer and towards September. Cicchelli was sad to cancel plans but that didn’t keep her from being optimistic for later this year. “I’ve been to Cleveland and Boston to see the Jays play on the road, I even booked a trip today to see the Jays play at Yankee Stadium this fall.”
For me, unless it’s a quick road trip down to Minneapolis, it will be another year before I’m able to sit in a real ballpark again. What I miss more than the games is that sense of community and camaraderie created by being in a crowd of thousands of people who are just as in love with the game as you are. Live games are more than the crack of the bat, or watching a ball soar overhead. It’s the sound of beer vendors hawking cans of Bud Lite. It’s hunting for the best spot in Great American to find a breeze when the temperature touches triple digits, and climbing all the way to the top deck of Busch Stadium to get a perfect photo at sunset with the Arch in the background.
What will make me happiest when I return to a ballpark will have everything and nothing to do with the game being played, but rather with the magic created tangentially to baseball.
The borders will open again, and someday soon I’ll be able to sit down in a stadium, remind my friends to put on their sunscreen, and drink the best bad beer I’ve ever had. Until then, I’ll just keep an eye out for next year’s schedule.
Ashley has spent the last several years writing for various SB Nation sites, including Bless You Boys, DRaysBay, and Bleed Cubbie Blue. Her bylines have appeared here at Fangraphs; Hardball Times; BPro Short Relief and more. She hosts a baseball YouTube channel called 90 Feet From Home, and co-hosts the baseball podcast Who's On Worst.
I’m Canadian and quite anxious to continue my visiting of MLB Stadiums as well. You mentioned Pittsburgh and Cleveland. Pittsburgh is the most beautiful stadium and in Cleveland I always finf the view in “The Jake” excellent no matter where you sit. I have seen about 18 Stadiums and since I’m over 60 it is important to not lose another year.
For focused baseball watching, I prefer the TV broadcasts. It’s gotten to the point where the camera angles, zooms, replays, and sound quality are so good that it really is a better experience for someone wanting to hang on the strategy of every pitch.
But a couple of weeks ago I went to my first in-person game since the pandemic, which also happened to be my first time at Camden Yards. By chance, I was lucky enough to sit by an old-timer, a lifelong Baltimorean, and was privileged to have him recount to me the beauty of a Brooks Robinson pick at third, the breathtaking power of a Frank Robinson long ball, the metronomic steadiness of Eddie Murray, and the energy of an entire city willing Cal on to 2131…
Safe to say I remembered what it was I was missing about in-person baseball.
For baseball viewing, broadcast is 100% the option. For baseball beauty, you need the stadium <3
I like the radio too.
Televised baseball has gotten real better but there’s nothing like being at the park. I strongly prefer it.
I can’t remember who said it (my mind says Humphrey Bogart, but this is how apocryphal references get started, the last time I saw a name attached to it was Bill Veeck) but one of the biggest differences between baseball and other sports is the down time and the rhythm. In between pitches, in between innings, there’s lots of down time (unlike basketball, hockey, soccer) and it’s all very patterned (unlike football). It’s a time to be social, so all the best memories of baseball at the park are also bound up with the people you go with.
You need to watch in the park to see the runners and infielders adjustments as the pitch is delivered, the TV always concentrates on the pitcher and batter, and while that’s important, it’s nice to sometimes see what everyone else is doing, and in person is best for that.
Right Now, we have the collection of 4 greatest players under 25 at one point in mlb history. Rank who will have the best career in order. Guerrero,Soto,Tatis, Acuna
1955 would disagree with Mays, Mantle, Banks, and Aaron.
1955 was the year that I was looking at as well though I would swap out Kaline (92.8 WAR) or Eddie Mathews (96.1 WAR) for Banks (67.7 WAR). And that’s just considering guys under 25 who had had at least one big season. Clemente and Koufax also debuted that year but didn’t do much.
They weren’t close to being as good as the 4 now in 1955.
Yup. They all have a chance to be first ballot Hall of Famers. There have been other quartets such as the one mentioned from 1955 but the 4 you mentioned are right up there. My order for best career…Vladdy Guerrero , Juan Soto, and a tie between Acuna and Tatis. Injuries worry me with those last 2. But just incredible young hitters, you are correct.
Thanks for this reminder of how great it can be to road trip and visit new ballparks. As a Toronto resident, these days I’m not making It too far from home. But if I could cross the border, I’d like to see the Jays play at Sahlen Field in Buffalo. I’ve never been a huge fan of Rogers Centre, and I think it would be a really fun trip. Of course, by the time the border opens up, the Jays will likely be back here in Toronto.
Fun trivia question to stump your friends:
What is the largest city lying on the northern side of the US/Canada border?
Answer: Detroit (which lies north of Windsor, Ontario).
I’m pretty sure Boston is further north than Detroit …
barely, but yes. however, so is seattle, and it’s also bigger than both.
granted, i’m also just kind of confused as to the parameters of the question
The border wraps around there so one has to travel south to enter the US. Seattle and Boston may be geographicaly more northern however the border remains to the north. The answer to the question is actually Toronto, much bigger than any american city not named LA or NY.
Chicago metro area is 60% larger than the Toronto metro area.
Nit-picking, but Chicago is somewhere in the same ballpark, depending on how you define “Chicago” and “Toronto”. It’s even larger if you include the metro area.
Either way, feels like that trivia question was maybe relevant about 20 years ago
Such a great article. Thanks!
At this point, it’s more about a message than any sort of scientific or analytical reasoning. Knowing that they’re keeping it closed now, despite the pandemic basically being statistically over, I almost wouldn’t be surprised if they even kept the borders closed next season too. Cases will never go to zero, and absolutist logic has no limiting principle.
No. It’s about a county in Canada where most people respect science and reject conspiracy theories keeping its border closed to a country where the opposite is true to an extent where a dangerous percentage of people are not vaccinated as the Delta variant begins to spread. In most Red states, only between 35% and 50% of adults ages 18-64 have had one dose of vaccine. Meanwhile, in countries with much higher vaccination rates, Delta has caused a fourth wave, thought those vaccines are thankfully greatly reducing deaths and hospitalizations. That protection is absent in Trump or Trump-leaning states, and it is their collective ignorance that is keeping borders closed.
My comment wasn’t political. And I won’t engage with your points, which are more about partisanship than data. I am disappointed in the prevalence of anti-vaccination sentiment on one side of the aisle, but if you want to hang on to your one-sided black and white view of “blue and red” states to promote the opposing side, I suggest you DON’T look at which states lead the nation in cases and deaths per capita.
But my point here is not to promote “one side” or another. It’s about trying to reduce the damage from the virus as well as the damage from the reaction to the virus; promoting the most good for the most people based on facts and science and data, not just the type of good that serves one particular political narrative. The Fangraphs community here is more interested in analytics and data than it is in dogma.
When you mimic a partisan talking point, your comment was political: More densely-populated states had higher case and death counts pre-vaccine for a virus that needs proximity to spread, not because they are blue states.
When you claim you care about data but present none, it seems you are more concerned about partisanship than data.
And when a Twitter account with a handle that matches your name here is used to rant against George Floyd and to retweet Ben Shapiro, it shows the partisan cards wielded by that account holder.
A majority of Canadians want the border to remain closed this summer because American vaccination rates are abysmal in states that are red or purple, and that sentiment is even stronger in border cities. About 40% of Republicans say they will not get vaccinated, compared to about 5% of Democrats, most polling has found. That is not conjecture; it is data.
20% of Canadians are also refusing to get vaccinated, and the news is blowing up about all sorts of unmarked graves popping up all over Canada near government-run schools. How very progressive. I’m sure it was just the “red state” Canadians, though, so don’t worry.
The poll that you twist and distort by Ipsos for Global News found 82 per cent of the 1,000 Canadian adults surveyed have either already been vaccinated or are awaiting their appointment.
That goal is close to realization, as according to the COVID-19 Vaccine Tracker, 75 per cent of eligible Canadians have received at least one dose.
18% said they were hesitant but the percentage who said they would not was lower, 6% among men and 11% among women. Conservatives, moderated and progressives alike support vaccination in massive numbers.
Negative, I was only negating a partisan point by saying there are “arguments” in both directions. Had you read my comment, you would have noticed I even added one against each side.
My goal is reducing the most amount of harm, not reducing the harm which makes my political side look better.
There’s no reason to make this a partisan issue. Why point out the fact that red states are less vaccinated but you ignore the fact that blue states have had more cases/deaths? Either way it doesn’t matter anyway, people should be free to assess their own risk tolerance. You’re so blinded by Trump hatred that you eagerly defend the authority of government to prevent people from voluntarily attending baseball games and visiting friends and loved ones. Stay home, with your double-mask on until there’s zero cases worldwide but leave the rest of us alone.
@Jonathan Sher, I get what you are saying but respectfully disagree with you on this one. I have a close friend (Brandon) who lives close to the border on the U.S. side. His girlfriend is Canadian and also lives close to the border, but on the Canadian side. They maintained their relationship virtually over the past year via zoom & face-time interactions. Brandon got fully vaccinated at his first opportunity to do so in April. I don’t know exactly what the rules are now, but at end of May, he had to apply to travel to Canada, to finally get to see her after more than a year apart, while living only 10 miles away, separated by just the border.
Despite being fully vaccinated he still had to quarantine for the full 14 days once in Canada (in a friend’s backyard), and was administered several covid tests before, during, and after that period, and had to report the results of those tests to authorities to prove he was covid-free.
Brandon was made to do all of that, which honestly makes zero sense when one is already vaccinated (and for the record, I am a scientist in the pharmaceutical industry, I am vaccinated, and urge [beg!] everyone to use science and health authorities to appropriately inform their decisions). Because of the difficulty in managing a 14-day quarantine within his vacation time off of work schedule, when it was all said and done he got to spend 2 days with his girlfriend after he completed the 14-day quarantine, and he said it was worth it. That’s love right there.
I don’t view criticism of the approach taken in Canada as a political thing– the Canadian government seems a little behind on their acceptance of the scientific understanding of vaccinations, respectfully, just imo. Dr. Fauci and a bevy of other experts internationally have reported that the vaccines are highly effective. A 14-day quarantine for folks with documented proof of vaccination provides no added value or benefit to anyone. Doing so is impacting baseball a myriad of situations beyond baseball.
I’m an American citizen living in Canada (where I am a permanent resident) who lives close to the border and who is also a journalist who has investigated and written about the pandemic. There are a lot of folks like Brandon, I know many of them, and it’s been hard — the border is closed to non-essential travellers with the exception of returning citizens and permanent residents. I’m not sure how Brandon could have crossed — there are no exceptions base on relationship status.
Because I have legal status in both countries, I can and did cross the border to get quicker access to vaccines: each country allows citizens and permanent residents to enter, with the US only asking a few COVID screening questions, while Canada also requires a test in the US w/in three days of re-entering, a test by Canadian officials at the border, a promise to quarantine for 14 days and a test 8 days after entry.
I agree that the testing and quarantining is over-the-top for those two weeks past their 2nd vaccine dose, and so too does the Canadian government: Starting July 5, while returning citizens still need a test before re-entering and a second at the border, there will no longer be a quarantine requirement for those fully vaccinated so long as their border test is negative. I hope to go to some games in Comerica but that is because I am fully vaccinated and able to go back and forth across the border.
The reason Canada pushed back re-opening the border to everyone is not because it distrusts the efficacy of the vaccine; the opposite is true – Canadians believe vaccines work, and while the country was slow to acquire vaccines because there is no domestic production, it is already achieving vaccination rates way beyond what is possible in the U.S.. But Canadians don’t want hordes of Americans coming who have not been vaccinated.
If you are truly looking at science, Jonathan, you would also need to determine how many of those “red staters” (that you apparently look down upon) actually travel to Canada (or interact with Canadians in any way).
Of course, they are all ignorant and you aren’t, so……
Also, Trump is out of office, but the fact that you are still talking about him says a lot.
34 American states export more to Canada than to any other country, including 16 states that voted for Trump, but I’m not surprised you don’t know that.
Sorry but you are off base here. Jonathan is right.
@Jonathan Sher, this was true a month ago but today I do not believe that analysis is correct right now. It is EXTREMELY political, but it is political in the context of Canada and not in terms of American-Canadian divides. Ontario’s premier has been campaigning like crazy to keep the border closed because it is a distraction from his own missteps (which are still maybe a quarter of what you got in many parts of the US but it’s still a problem). The Prime Minister is going to call an election this fall and is absolutely not interested in giving anyone a hammer to hit him with. The border policy is a bit nonsensical at this point and could be relieved as long as you have people check vaccine cards but that means you have to have a system in place to screen them out and they don’t trust that they can do it. So now everyone is stuck.
That said, by some point in August almost anyone who will have had the chance to get the vaccine will have gotten it in Canada and the stakes for letting people through the border will decline considerably.
I should qualify this comment: Anyone 18 and up will have gotten a chance to have two doses by some point in August, and almost everyone 12 and up will have had that chance. Won’t be the case for younger kids for a while, so things won’t go back to “normal” immediately (and frankly I think we should just keep masks in public indoor places for a while, it’s good to not get sick) but I think relaxing border controls will definitely be on the agenda.
I appreciate the specifics, and some of your points are right on the mark, but as someone who covers health care in Ontario and who regularly communicates with members of the premier’s cabinet, opposition leaders and Ontario’s Science Table, let me clarify a few things:
Ontario in late-May prioritized vaccinating kids 12 to 17 so that they only need to wait as little as 4 weeks before getting a second shot; their doses will be done by the end of July. The people at the back of the line are those who are 18 to 40 who did not get early access (40+ got earlier access to AstraZeneca) and who initially were assigned second shots after 16 week intervals — many had 2nd slots assigned in September. With a surge in dose acquisition that began a few weeks ago, everyone who received a 1st dose by May 31 could apply to move up their 2nd dose, as well as everyone in certain designated hotspots, but its more likely than not some in those groups won’t get second shots well into August.
Premiers and the PM are motivated by politics and Ontario Premier has gone to the well often to blamed the Federal government for cross border traffic; a Federal fall election is certainly a possibility if the vaccine campaign finishes in August. The wildcard is whether Delta or an even newer variant causes issues in September when elementary schools re-open to kids not yet 12 as vaccines for that age group may not be approved until August or the Fall and there will be time needed to get them, vaccinated.
Also slowing the process is the absence of earlier planning for vaccine passports and the split responsibility over health care and borders; the federal government has sole jurisdiction for international borders but all vaccine data (and health care generally) is administered by the provinces and territories, so passports will require coordination, and since it involves health data and privacy, that will take time.
On balance, Canada will be in a much better position to re-open borders Aug 21.
That said, I do expect a significant fourth wave in many American states in August and the Fall, fuelled by low vaccination rates and the Delta variant, especially in the American south, where summer heat drives people indoors.
Ultimately, those who are vaccinated will resume normal border travel and those who chose not to won’t be able to do the same.
Well said and very accurate. Lots of real info in your post. Thanks.
they want to get more vaxxes into people and see how the delta variant responds. if they don’t see spikes in the next month or so, they will open back up
Honestly this worries me even more that they’ll be closed indefinitely if they’re now deciding to close things pre-emptively based on what “could possibly” happen. There will constantly be variants and other potentially dangerous viruses out there in the world. At some point, “being overly careful” actually becomes dangerous and reckless (like when the U.S. shut down one of the main vaccines for tens of millions of people over a statistically non-existent danger).
Public health planning is premised on planning for what could happen so that adverse events can be reduced or minimized. It was such planning that enabled a global response to the pandemic that lowered death and hospitalization rates despited more transmissible and dangerous variants.
What is recklessly dangerous are those who use scientific buzzwords to hide their opposition to all things science. Countries that acted preemptively to stop and slow spread not only reduced the health toll of the virus but the economic toll as well. Those that waited were hit the hardest.
But it should be based on analysis, not politics or conjecture.
And I agree about misusing “science” to push politics. You’ll notice that “science as an institution and not a process” has shut down the most efficient scientific explanations for the origin of the virus, and has also fueled a mask-obsessed religion where people go outside jogging in the heat, alone, fully vaccinated; risking their health for anti-science reasons.
Science is a process. It does not rely on single-factor analysis (infections only and not considering deaths of despair…). It is not an organization, it is not a set of claims made through groupthink, and it is not a person.
The political calculus in Canada is just way different than it is in the United States. In the United States you get hammered for keeping restrictions in place for too long; in Canada it’s the opposite. It’s much healthier that way (normally) but it does mean that things like this linger past its usefulness.
Healthier if you only measure infections and not deaths of despair or economic damage or loss of homes or retirements or incomes or mental wellness. Single factor analysis isn’t just horrible science, it’s actively anti-science.
I occasionally see people say this but the analyses never hold up. Part of this is that there’s an assumption that “economic damage” and “mental health problems” are only caused by restrictions and not a raging pandemic. But it’s also because it’s really hard to make something as unhealthy as getting COVID. It is really bad for you!
The one place where it does seem to hold up is in K-12 schools, and that’s because there’s so much control over K-12 schools that you can enforce the public health measures you need to prevent spread. Kids are way easier to herd than adults that way.
They won’t keep it closed much longer but I actually do get your point. There will always be Covid so we can’t wait until it is gone.
Selfishly, I’m extremely happy to see the influx of Canadian baseball writers on Fangraphs. 😀
Thank you for the great piece. It’s easy to be romantic about baseball and I think you captured why. The in-person experience is rich, and crucial to our enjoyment of the game.
For all the faults of SkyDome, it’ll be a special moment when we’re able to take a seat there and hear the roar of the crowd again. Something to not take for granted.
Nice article. I would like to mention regarding the cost of plane tickets, there is a lot of international loopholes. For example I fly from Oregon to Colombia a couple times a year. If I use any search engine that I’m aware of its usually 500-800ish one way (since I’m not a big planner and they no longer check exit tickets) . Whereas usually I can fly to Florida for $89 and from Florida to Colombia for $219. The savings isn’t necessarily always that big, but if you are trying to save money it can basically always be done cheaper than simply entering in your closest airport and destination.
As a Seattle area resident, if the border is still closed in August, it will be very strange going to a Mariner—Blue James game without the stadium three-quarters filled with Blue Jays fans.