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." – Buffalo Weekly
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; A Fan’s Guide To The Ultimate Ballpark
Tour: Fully Loaded! about MLB, Minor League and Independent League parks; A Fan's Guide To The Ultimate
College Ballpark Experience; A Fan's Guide To The Ultimate College Summer League Ballpark Experience and World
in a Ballpark: Baseball Goes Global, including the Caribbean Series and World Baseball Classic. 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opposed to outdated information found on book shelves).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. 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 WGN (Chicago); KNBR (San Francisco); and WEEI-WRKO (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 covered high school and college sports for the San Diego Union-Tribune
and also worked at the weekly San Diego Newspaper Group chain, covering the Padres and Chargers. 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: Guide to the Hidden Gems of spring training
NBCSports.com: Early look at 2011 Spring Training storylines
NBCSports.com: Bryce Harper in-depth feature
NBCSports.com 2010 Playoff Previews: Twins, Yanks, Braves and Phillies
NBCSports.com: Low-Payroll Padres Hold NL West Lead Into August
NBCSports.com: Padres Hot 2010 Start
NBCSports.com: Trevor Hoffman Returns Home
NBCSports.com:
Jake Peavy Dealt to White Sox
NBCSports.com: Baseball Summertime Traditions
NBCSports.com: 10 Baseball Destinations for Summer
NBCSports.com: 5 Tips For Your Ultimate Ballpark
Road Trip: http://nbcsports.msnbc.com/id/30443509/
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
Stories online from Joe's 2007 and 2008 Green Power Sports Tour
http://www.treehugger.com/files/2008/08/green-power-sports-tour.php?dcitc=next_post
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
Arizona Driver Magazine: http://www.azdrivermag.com/PDF_GenFeatures/PDF_Green/AZD5-3_MJ06_R3connorveggie.pdf
BaseballPilgrimages.com: http://www.baseballpilgrimages.com/veggietour.html
