Next stop, Sutter Health Park: Man in failing health on mission to visit every MLB ballpark nationwide

By Ashley Sharp

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    WEST SACRAMENTO, California (KOVR) — From Opening Day to the open road, this baseball season, a Massachusetts man is on a mission to visit all 29 Major League Baseball parks in the United States.

After starting his journey in California, the next stadium to check off his bucket list is the newest MLB stadium in the league: Sutter Health Park, the new temporary home of the Athletics for the next three seasons.

His reason why will remind you to take nothing in life for granted.

“I kind of look at it as trying to find peace,” Michael Stearn said.

Stearn is hitting the road, planning to put each MLB park in the rearview as he crosses the country in a motorhome.

He’s making the trip while he still has time. With his health and liver failing, baseball stadiums and the open road are where he finds healing.

“When you go through two liver transplants and face the prospect of likely a third, you need to evaluate and sometimes you need some motivation. I’m hoping that seeing the country, discovering different things and people along the way will give me that perspective that I badly need and let’s face it, I don’t know if I’m going to have the ability in a year to do this trip,” Stearn said.

His social media pages titled “Dying on the Diamond” document each stop.

Stearn is traveling with his friend, who is an Army veteran and is also seeking healing on the road, and his rescue dog, Bayley. She went from anxiety-ridden shelter life to living the good life, traveling the country.

“Now she’s chasing rabbits, going in lakes, saw snow for the first time, went swimming in the Pacific Ocean yesterday. She loves it,” Stearn said of Bayley.

Since the MLB’s Opening Day, Stearn has seen the Diamondbacks play at Chase Field, the Padres at Petco Park and the Dodgers at Dodger Stadium.

The next stop is Sutter Health Park, the newest stadium to be added to the MLB bucket list.

“I’m looking forward to seeing what they’ve done to Sacramento, the renovations to the field and catching the A’s game. While I won’t be seeing them in Oakland, I’m excited to see all the great city of Sacramento has to offer,” Stearn said.

After Wednesday’s game in West Sacramento, he is on to Oracle Park to see the Giants on Friday.

What’s the big unknown is how far he will go. His liver could only last another three months, but he could get lucky and make it a couple more years before needing another transplant, if approved.

“Maybe this dream ends in Chicago, or it ends in Minnesota, or maybe it does end at the finish line in Massachusetts. I’m certainly hoping for that,” said Stearn.

For the rest of the baseball season, he’s finding hope in every home run — and on the road, the perspective that the only way to strike out is not living life to the fullest.

To donate to help keep Stearn’s cross-country journey going, visit his online fundraiser. You can track where he’s headed next as he documents each stop online.

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