By: Dan Meade
Provided by WorldNow
As a native New Yorker and a Mets fan, I had seen the Mets themed "All-Star Statue on Parade," but I thought that it was something that the Mets had come up with themselves. Then, after a train delay, I had to take an alternate route to work and walking to my office, I passed the Oakland A's Statue. It took me a minute or two, but then I realized - there are probably thirty of these Statues around the city as part of the promotion for the All-Star game!
I pitched the idea of trying to take a photo of each and every Statue - there are forty-two 8.5 foot Statues in all - to our editor-in-chief, but she said there was no way I could get to all of them, photograph them, and write a story about it in time. So we looked at the map that I found on MLB.com and came up with an idea: I would hit as many Statues as I could in one hour.
Each of the thirty Major League Baseball teams have a Statue, and the other twelve represent the All-Star game and New York's baseball history. Eighteen of the Statues are located near my office in Midtown Manhattan - three of the All-Star game Statues, and fifteen of the team Statues. At 2:16 PM, camera and notebook in hand, I left the office in search of these eighteen Statues on Parade:
2:21 - Five minutes into my quest, and I realize that I'd already read the map wrong. I had walked two blocks north of the Milwaukee Brewers Statue and now had to double-back.
2:25 - I found the Brewers Statue. Apparently it was two blocks from my job and it still took me ten minutes to find it. Fortunately, things got easier here on out.
2:34 - I had gotten my first four statues - the Brewers, All-Star Game #1, the Yankees #1, and All-Star Game #5 - and was now making good time. I was on my way into Times Square, where I knew the crowds and the traffic would slow me down and make my quest tricky.
2:40 - The Arizona Diamondback Statue in the ESPN Zone - check.
2:45 - I was unable to find the Tampa Bay Rays Statue in Champs Sports. I walked around the store, went in, looked up and down, and could not find it. On my second walk-through, I asked an employee if the Statue was still there and he just pointed - it was right in the front window. Because I couldn't find it at first, I would now have to skip the Washington Nationals Statue down the block.
2:51 - I made it out of Times Square, seeing three of the four Statues there. Having already skipped one Statue, I began to realize that my goal of eighteen in one hour might have been a bit too ambitious.
2:55 - With twenty minutes remaining, I'd only gotten eight Statues so far. I started planning how to maximize my route back to office to get as many Statues as I could.
3:00 - Outside of the News Corp. Building I ran into trouble. They were getting ready to film something and the All-Star Statue #2 was behind the cordoned off area. Fortunately a security guard showed me a good angle to take a photo of the Statue.
3:04 - The Seattle Mariners Statue was inside the Nintendo Store in Rockefeller Plaza. As I pressed up against the glass to take a photo of it, an employee let out an excited laugh and ducked out of the frame. I then went inside the store and was able to get a better photo without making any more employees run for cover.
3:15 - My time ran out just as I found the St. Louis Cardinals Statue. I took a few shots of it, and resigned myself to head back to office. My final tally: 12/18 Statues I had aimed for.
3:26 - I walked back into my office, looking hot and sweaty from having run around Midtown Manhattan for the past hour. My editor-in-chief looked at the photos, liked them, and I sat down at my cubicle, took a deep breath, and began typing this story.
