To contact Joe, e-mail him via baseballjoe12000@yahoo.com or joe@modernerabaseball.com.

"Those who think baseball moves along too slowly never have met Joe Connor. And if you haven't met Connor, chances are you will someday if you attend enough games. The man is constantly on the move." – Tampa Tribune

"Joe Connor is the kind of a guy who any sports fan would just like to sit down and have a beer with. For the past few years, Connor has traveled to baseball venues around the globe, racking up the kind of experiences that most of us just dream of...he is doing it in a unique way, driving a car powered by used vegetable oil. Yep, you got that right…pony up to your neighborhood tavern and see if they have any to spare." – Buffalo Weekly

“If you’re driving around town today and catch a whiff of what smells like your favorite fast-food joint, but don’t see any drive-thrus in sight, don’t panic. You’re not losing your mind. But you’re probably driving behind Joe Connor.” – Auburn-Opelika News, Alabama

When it comes to obtaining the latest information on planning a trip to Spring Training; a tour of MLB, Minor League, Independent League or collegiate ballparks; or even internationally, for years, fans have turned to Joe Connor.

Since 2001, the experienced contributing baseball writer has annually updated his easy-to-use electronic travel guides, A Fan’s Guide To The Ultimate Spring Training Experience and A Fan’s Guide To The Ultimate Ballpark Tour: Fully Loaded! about MLB, Minor League and Independent League parks. In November 2005, A Fan's Guide To The World Baseball Classic was added, and in February 2007, A Fan's Guide To The Ultimate College Ballpark Experience debuted. A Fan's Guide To The Ultimate College Summer League Ballpark Experience became available in late May 2007. All guides are annually-updated and available for purchase at the Buy Joe's Guides page.

Joe’s guides are delivered to buyers via e-mail as a simple PDF attachment, so they are armed with current details and insightful tips (as opposed to outdated information found on book shelves). Easy-to-use "Bookmarks" enable readers to click on any team in the guides, without having to scroll past endless pages. The resourceful planning information and Web links on each team allow fans to quickly and cost-effectively plan their ballpark trips right at their fingertips, including buying tickets, booking a flight and more. 

Joe has written for ESPN.com, FOXSports.com, NBCSports.com, MLB.com, LATimes.com, Major League Baseball’s official Web site, and been a live game day correspondent for the FOX Sports Radio network. During his career, the San Diego resident has attended multiple ballgames at every Spring Training facility and MLB ballpark, plus every Minor League and Independent League venue, as well as all the top Division I college ballparks. In recent years, he has also traveled extensively to Africa, Asia, Europe and Latin America, visiting more than 30 baseball countries or territories including Cuba, Colombia, Venezuela, Dominican Republic, Puerto Rico, Mexico, Nicaragua, Panama, Costa Rica, Japan, South Korea, Taiwan, Italy, Netherlands, Canada, Australia, South Africa, Uganda, Kenya, Russia, Czech Republic, Germany, Spain, Austria, Britain, France, Ireland and elsewhere. In fact, no journalist in the world has witnessed more baseball in more places than Joe Connor. In 2006, he embarked on the Bionic Gloves Veggie Power Ballpark Tour: Fuel of Dreams! where he visited every Minor League ballpark in North America, plus tons of Independent League and top collegiate ballparks, among many other baseball venues. All told, Joe has seen ballgames at more than 400 ballparks worldwide.

With his unique knowledge, perspective and engaging personality, Joe has appeared on ESPN, The Travel Channel and been a guest on more than 500 radio stations, including ESPN Radio, Sporting News Radio, Canada's radio network and the radio networks of several MLB teams including KFWB (Los Angeles); WGN (Chicago); KNBR (San Francisco); and WEEI (Boston), among many others. Print and online news services and outlets including the Associated Press, Scripps Howard News Service, ESPN.com, Los Angeles Times, Sporting News, USA TODAY Sport Weekly, Chicago Sun-Times, San Francisco Chronicle, Autograph Collector Magazine and several other print and broadcast news outlets, including those in Asia, Europe and Latin America have also cited Joe. He also provided research support about the Cuban National Team to NBC Television in preparation for their coverage of the 2004 Olympic baseball competition. Joe has also assisted students at multiple universities in thesis projects about international baseball.

Joe was first published while still in high school, writing on a weekly basis for his hometown West Hartford News in both 1990 and 1991. His began his career later at the daily Winter Haven News-Chief before relocating to San Diego where he worked at the weekly San Diego Newspaper Group chain, covering the Padres. Since 1997, Joe has been mainly a contributing scribe, writing mostly feature stories and in-depth special series'. On April 23, 2001, he launched www.modernerabaseball.com, in memory of his late father, Joe Sr., who was his guiding light to baseball. The dedication came on the two-year anniversary of his father's passing from cancer. Instead of reliving the anniversary in sorrow, Joe decided the site should serve as a celebration of his father's life yet also as a vehicle to help others by helping fans maximize their baseball trips. www.modernerabaseball.com has hosted an annual "Father’s Day Contest" every June since 2001 in which sons and daughters honor their Dads for a chance to win great prizes, including Joe's guides.

Stories (that remain accessible online) in which Joe is published:

NBCSports.com, 5 Tips For Your Ultimate Ballpark Road Trip: http://nbcsports.msnbc.com/id/30443509/

Big12Hardball.com, Best Ballparks of the Big 12: http://www.big12hardball.com/2009/5/8/869349/ranking-the-best-ballparks-in-the

ESPN.com 2009 World Baseball Classic capsules (click “capsule” next to each country): http://sports.espn.go.com/mlb/worldclassic2009

NBCSports.com Post-2009 World Baseball Classic Analysis: "4 countries to watch in the next 4 years": http://nbcsports.msnbc.com/id/29828501

NBCSports.com 3-Part Series on previewing the World Baseball Classic:

Part I: "Where the 30 MLB teams rank in International scouting": http://nbcsports.msnbc.com/id/29472280

Part II: "10 prospects to watch in the 2009 WBC": http://nbcsports.msnbc.com/id/29472307

Part III: "How to make the 2013 WBC better": http://nbcsports.msnbc.com/id/29472312  

NBCSports.com 3-Part Series on Major League Baseball Spring Training:

Part 1: "How Arizona Has Caught Up To Florida": http://nbcsports.msnbc.com/id/29227598

Part II: "How to score bargains at Spring Training": http://nbcsports.msnbc.com/id/29227604

Part III: "Rating the Spring Training ballparks": http://nbcsports.msnbc.com/id/29227621

LATimes.com: http://latimesblogs.latimes.com/bruin/road_trip/index.html

North County (San Diego) Times http://www.nctimes.com/articles/2005/02/27/special_reports/travel/20_17_202_26_05.txt

Arizona's East Valley Tribune: http://www.aztrib.com/index.php?sty=17947

Associated Press (you may need to sign-up on their site first; it's free): http://www.kgw.com/lifestyle/stories/kgw_082503_life_ballpark_tour.3ebf43e0.html

Stories online from Joe's 2007 and 2008 Green Power Sports Tour (http://www.greenpowersportstour.com)

http://www.treehugger.com/files/2008/08/green-power-sports-tour.php?dcitc=next_post

GREEN MACHINE, DUBBED 'ROAD TRIP OF THE YEAR' ON ESPN.COM, CHECK IT OUT HERE (BUT BE SURE TO SCROLL DOWN):

http://sports.espn.go.com/travel/columns/story?columnist=caple_jim&id=3037293

OH, CANADA! GREEN MACHINE IN THE GREAT WHITE NORTH! Click here:

http://www.canada.com/montrealgazette/news/story.html?id=7d64ef40-3412-4f19-8349-21bc00908484

GREEN MACHINE VISITED NOTRE DAME!, CHECK IT OUT HERE: http://www.stubhub.com/sites/corpsite/?gsec=news&gact=news&article_id=6676

GREEN MACHINE VISITED MICHIGAN STATE, CHECK IT OUT HERE:

http://www.statenews.com/index.php/article/2007/10/tailgaters_talk_a_different_green

Stories (that remain accessible online) from Joe's 2006, season-long Bionic Gloves Veggie Power Ballpark Tour: Fuel of Dreams! Watch a video of Joe explaining the Green Machine to fans:

http://video.google.com/videoplay?docid=-7870610691038718788

WBIR-TV/Knoxville: http://www.wbir.com/sports/story.aspx?storyid=33886

Arizona Driver Magazine: http://www.azdrivermag.com/PDF_GenFeatures/PDF_Green/AZD5-3_MJ06_R3connorveggie.pdf

BaseballPilgrimages.com: http://www.baseballpilgrimages.com/veggietour.html