Craig Johnson knocking retirement out of the park

Craig Johnson is not easing into retirement, he’s knocking it out of the park.

The newly retired Bureau Valley coach is back from a whirlwind tour out east of seven Major League ballparks in 14 days. It was a retirement gift compliments of his wife, Anne, and children, Alex, Ellen and Adam.

They also took in some sights in the different cities along the way.

It was their own version of planes, trains and automobiles.

“We crammed into 14 days as much as you could, I think,” Johnson said. “Seven ballparks in one trip has to be about as many as anyone does. Lot of baseball and a lot of history. It was nice. It was the perfect trip.”

Unbeknownst to Johnson, his family had this all in the works when they all met up for Mother’s Day in Des Moines near where Alex and Ellen live and work.

“We went out for Mother’s Day and kind of for my retirement, and that’s when they told me what we were doing. So they pretty much completely surprised me,” Johnson said.

The Johnsons flew to New York to get the party started with a Big Apple Battle between the Mets and Yankees at Yankee Stadium. Johnson said that new Yankee Stadium is pretty much similar to old Yankee Stadium, but he especially enjoyed taking in Monument Park with its salute to the all Yankee greats of yesteryear.

“I absolutely loved Monument Park. When you think of all the history there, that was pretty cool,” he said.

He said the game was a lot of fun because the Mets won and the “Mets fans were just giving it to the Yankees fans.”

They went from the Bronx to Queens for a game at Citi Field, the home of the Mets, who won in walk-off fashion over the Braves. He likened Citi Field a lot to Target Field, the home of his beloved Minnesota Twins. It opened the same year as the new Yankees Stadium in 2009.

While the boys took in the game, the girls enjoyed seeing some sights of the Big Apple.

Then they caught a 40-minute flight to Boston to catch the Yankees/Red Sox game at famed Fenway Park. It was probably Johnson’s favorite stop on the trip because of the history and the uniqueness of the ballpark and that fact it was a Yankees-Red Sox games at Fenway Park.

“And then it was an incredible game,” he said. “(Aaron) Judge just went off. We saw the Yankees three times and Judge reached base 12 times in three games and hit three home runs. The Yankees won it in the 10th. That atmosphere was incredible.”

The ballgame was only half of the excitement. The Johnsons hit a $425 parlay.

“All five of us threw in $5. We had to have (Juan) Soto get a hit and the Yankees win. Soto got a hit in the 10th and the Yankees won, so we got a $425 parlay.”

The next stop took them to Philadelphia via a Greyhound bus. Johnson called Citizen Bank Park in Philadelphia a “nice ballpark,” with the Phillies taking on the Yankees.

Their next mode of transportation was by train to Baltimore to catch the Orioles at Camden Yards. The Orioles prized rookie Jackson Holliday hit a grand slam, his first big league home run, “so that was kind of cool.” Johnson especially loved the backdrop of the warehouse in right field at Camden Yards.

While they saw the Brooks Robinson statue outside the park, Johnson regrets they neglected to see the Cal Ripken statue, one of his all-time favorite players.

They got back on Amtrak to Washington D.C. to see the Nationals play the Brewers, which he called a “so-so” game. He imagines the atmosphere would be better normally than the small crowd of about 15,000 on a Friday night they took in. He said it’s an easy park to get to.

The Johnsons had last been to D.C. on their honeymoon 28 years ago, so they also took in some sights of the city, including WW2 Museum, the FDR Memorial and a tour of the White House.

While Alex had to fly home to attend a wedding, the rest of the family rented a car to make their last stop on their baseball tour at PNC Park in Pittsburgh. It’s a picturesque stadium nestled along the confluence of the Alleghenay and Monongahela rivers.

“I can’t imagine building a better ballpark than that,” Johnson said. “That walk across the Clemente Bridge is so awesome and having it open so you see the ballpark as you’re walking to it.”

Now that he’s back home, Johnson joked that, “I need to sleep for about three days now.”

But he knows he’d do it all again in a heartbeat.

Kevin Hieronymus has been the BCR Sports Editor since 1986. Contact him at khieronymus@bcrnews.com