Once again Clarkson and I were off on a baseball trip, but with news of the Raiders leaving Oakland and the Athletics also looking for a new home, I thought it was best to head over to California a few days early. I'd meet Clarkson in Phoenix after the weekend.

Flying across the country to Vancouver, I had a 4-hour layover where I planned to leave the secure area, since all I'd ever seen of Vancouver was a Taco Bell in North Van.

Unfortunately I accidentally entered into the connections secure area, and with things already going to be tight timewise, it just wasn't worth it.

Vancouver will continue to wait. Oh well.

Landing in San Jose at 5 o'clock, I could have went to tonight's Oakland Athletics game if everything broke right, but since I was already going to tomorrow's and Sunday's Athletics game, that seemed like enough. Instead I stayed in San Jose.

Riding the light rail into downtown and the Sheraton room I treated myself to, about the only interesting thing this afternoon, was passing this amazing spot from the BSD BMX video of Alex Donnachie, Leezy Zingbergs and David Grant.

As for what to do tonight, I discovered that San Jose's local team plays in a ballpark from the 1940s, the San Jose Municipal Stadium. This would certainly work.

After dropping my backpack off and grabbing a much-welcomed shower, I was on to a city bus headed towards south San Jose. It wasn't very far on the map, but the south side looked like a rough area in Google StreetView, so I stuck to the bus.

Going into this I knew nothing of San Jose's danger factor, since I had only been here once before, and that was arriving in the middle of the night to grab a peripheral Super 8, before quickly leaving in the morning.

Breaking ground in 1941, San Jose's Municipal Stadium was finished in 1942 as a project under FDR's Works Progress Administration agency. Constructed at a cost of $80000, the park was one of the first to be built entirely of reinforced concrete.

The stadium opened with a seating capacity of 2900, and with new renovations including bleachers and extra box seats, the capacity is now up to 4200.

The San Jose Giants play A-level baseball in the Northern Division of the California League. Prior to their current farm team affiliation with the San Francisco Giants, you had a whole host of teams from the San Jose Owls to the San Jose Expos to the San Jose Bees. The Owls and Expos were affiliated with major league clubs, but the Bees were interesting because they were independent in a time when only two independent teams existed.

By the 1980s, Major League Baseball had an image problem involving cocaine use. This led to players being blacklisted by major league clubs and their affiliates, leaving the players only two choices to resurrect their career: playing in Mexico, or playing for one of two independent teams in either Florida or San Jose.

Going into the 1986 season, there were a handful of blacklisted men signed with these San Jose Bees, from Cy Young runner-up Mike Norris, to the third baseman of the 1983 World Champion Baltimore Orioles, Todd Cruz.

In addition to the down on their luck former pros, the San Jose Bees inexplicably also had a connection to the Seibu Lions of the Japanese League, allowing them to purchase five young players and a coach from across the Pacific.

The Japanese were the complete opposite of the fun-loving, loose Americans. The pitchers ran 5 miles before games and the hitters often asked for extra batting practice, while their Japanese coach would periodically slap them after mistakes. In contrast, three of the Americans lived at Municipal Stadium in a utility room, with Ken Reitz using a girls 12-speed mountain bike to travel around and get the necessary Budweisers to compliment the contents of their room: their sleeping bags, stadium chairs, hot-water heater, Zeppelin poster and another poster for the 1983 XXX film, Bubble Gum.

Reitz, Darryl Cias & Mike Bigusiak weren't the only people who slept in San Jose Municipal either. Fernando Arroyo pulled his gray van right into one of the tunnels here, spending most of his nights within the stadium's confines.

This eclectic collection of baseball players attracted global attention, from Rolling Stone to the Philadelphia Daily News, The Washington News & even warranted a CBS helicopter landing in the parking lot as training camp opened.

Eventually the excitement would fade and the Bees wouldn't even draw well on the road. They finished the season slightly better than previous years - mostly thanks to the Japanese and the young non-professionals - but still finished in last place with a record of 65-77. In the end, the national media had long moved on from the niche story, and by the next season there were only 3 returning players from the major leagues.

The Bees played one more year, finishing a pitiful 33-109, before becoming affiliated with the San Francisco Giants and returning to normalcy.

While I enjoyed the 82°F (28°C) weather, the A-level baseball team in front of me wasn't nearly as exciting as that 1986 team must've been, especially as the 2017 version was getting tea-bagged by the visiting Modesto Nuts.

Apparently, as of 2017, 318 San Jose Giants have played in the Major Leagues, although I'm not nearly enough of a baseball fan to know prospects from the time they're in A-ball. (A-ball being three leagues below the big leagues.) Stars such as George Brett, Madison Bumgarner and Tim Lincecum have played here, so who knows if there was some diamond in the rough amongst the play I saw from San Jose's Heath Quinn or Modesto's Braden Bishop.

The real highlight wasn't on the actual field, but rather what surrounded the field. An intimate interior with a concrete substructure just above me, I absolutely loved the dated concourse. Especially as the outside courtyard had a bunch of attractions, I was free to wander the halls without too many people, casually admiring the painted baseball quotes and old pennants from teams like the Syracuse Chiefs and the Miami Orioles.

(Apparently the Miami Orioles were an independent Florida State League team bought by the Baltimore Orioles as a farm club from 1971-1982.)

Speaking of those outside attractions, even in a stadium of this age and beauty, the food here has to compete for the most memorable thing about San Jose Municipal. In addition the celebrated Turkey Mike's BBQ that I kept reading about prior to coming, I discovered three craft beers stands, street tacos, garlic fries, a wine/pizza bar, grilled cheese stand, froyo and a noodle stand. This was all in addition to the "normal" concession stands with hot dogs and nachos and such.

I went with a pickle grilled cheese and ho my was that thing delicious, with its deep-fried pickle chips, set between ounces of gooey white and sharp cheddar cheese (known as a "Frickle Melt"). The bread itself was toasted with garlic butter, making for a whole gluttonous, inhaling experience that quickly left nothing but saturated, greasy hands.

As someone who doesn't like all of the gimmicks and distractions of the modern game, even I have to admit a couple of the between-inning shenanigans were fun.

First there was the beer batter, announced before the game as Joe DeCarlo. Every time Modesto's DeCarlo was up to bat, if he struck out it was time for 1/2-off beer for the next 15 minutes! Fans were obviously excited as DeCarlo struck out twice in his four plate appearances.

There was also a game involving an old delivery van being driven out on to the field, where a player and a fan got two throws each, to attempt breaking out one of the van's headlights. If either succeeded, the player and the fan shared a $50 prize.

San Jose Municipal Stadium was so awesome that it made this visit great, but the beer batter, smash for cash delivery van and all of the other hijinks added fun to the whole experience.

I could also go for about 5 more Frickle Melts.

Feeling good as I left the stadium, I decided to walk back to the hotel, since the bus didn't show me any part of south San Jose that looked problematic. There were some poorly-lit car detailing lots and grassy, vacant parcels; but the walk back ended up being totally fine.

As I crossed under I-280 and into downtown, suddenly there was an excess of attractive couples dressed to the nines. Feeling a bit out of place, I grabbed a pepperoni and steak sandwich near San Jose State University and called it a night.

That pepperoni and steak sandwich was mediocre, but I really stepped it up after skipping out on the hotel breakfast & rolling down to the nearby Social Circle.

Eggs Benny on Belgian waffles with ham, bacon and avocado hollandaise. This thing was a fantastic mix of savoury, then sweet when the Belgian waffle hit my tongue, then accented with saltiness from the bacon. It was the best eggs benedict I've ever had and another gold star for food in California.

Following breakfast, I had a little more time before checkout, so I went for a small walk around downtown and happened upon the Cathedral Basilica of St. Joseph - where I could only appreciate the gorgeous interior by peeking in the front window, as there was a service ongoing.

Overall I was impressed with San Jose and would happily return. I didn't have any expectations for San Jose at all, as it's a city I just don't think about that much even as they have an NHL team. That being said, it's never going to be my favourite place on Earth or in my top 10, but there's still enough great food, old buildings and funky signs to keep me happy.

Anyway, it was time to head north now.

Continue to Part 2...