Statues on Parade? Nope. Not in San Diego!

What the heck San Diego? Really?! 

Well I for one am terribly disappointed in you and yet I don't know who exactly to be disappointed with...

As you well know I'm an avid baseball fan and I look so forward to going to the MLB All-Star games each year.

I get so excited when the next stadium is announced and I plan an entire trip - and sometimes an extravagant one all surrounding the All Star Game.

This year the 87th MLB All Star game being held at Petco Park in downtown San Diego, one of the most picturesque stadium locations in the nation, and one that is only a 2 hour drive for little ol' me. Consider me there!
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One super fun thing that the MLB started back in 2003 was something they refer to as Statues on Parade - and you have no idea how excited I am each year to be a part of this and to search up and down is a scavenger hunt sort of way taking pictures of each of the statues that I found.
It all started with bobbleheads in Chicago (2003), then cowboy boots in Houston ('04), yet I hadn't been to my first All-Star game until 2008 - and then I was HOOKED on all of it!

Finding the statues was great fun and since I'm also an avid photographer, it was something that I always allot extra time for and scheduled time especially for finding these statues during each of my attended All-Star Games.

It all started for my in NYC, and hunting down 42 miniature (8ft) versions of The Statue of Liberty for the 2008 game, however missing the Gateway Arch for the 2009 game in St. Louis, but then tracking down the 36 Mickey Mouse statues surrounding Anaheim for the 2010 All-Star Game;

 In July of 2011 we were sweating bullets as we had to find the 10 Cacti on Parade statues placed in the greater Phoenix area for the All-Star Game.

Then in 2012 as part of the celebration of All-Star Week in Kansas City, a total of five ​All-Star Crown statues weighing more than 1,000 pounds each was stationed at key locations around the Kansas City area, and yet due to our prior commitment with the IPC in Coeur d'Alene, Idaho we had missed these festivities.
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But back again in 2013 it was time for the All-Star game to head back to NYC and this time at Citifield, and so the statues on parade were themed Apples on Parade.

There were 35 unique six-foot tall apple statues placed throughout New York City and I was there to track (most of) them down.

​In 2014 the All-Star game was in Minnesota and I felt terrible that couldn't make it. The statues were themed after Peanuts this time around, and 10 Peanuts statues were positioned in that host area. With the likes of Charlie Brown, Snoopy, Linus, Lucy, Woodstock and the rest of their beloved gang.

Then in 2015 there were 850-pound mustache statues in Cincy for All-Star Game.

Again adding great fun and a reason to check out other sites in each of the host cities.

But what happened San Diego? Why no statues? Not even one! 

I'm sure I'm not the only fan who is rather bummed out by you not participating in this fairly new, fun tradition.
I even called Petco Park, spoke with Padres officials - they didn't know squat.
In fact, they had no clue as to what I was even talking about...Okaaaay then.

I continued to inquire and contacted the MLB; At least they knew what I was referring to, but again they had no idea about why there were no plans for statues on parade in San Diego.

So I for one am certainly not happy about the lack of Statues on Parade and this really sucks, there I said it.

​I just hope that Miami gets on the ball and on the statues for the 88th MLB All-Star game for 2017. I'll be there and I hope the statues will be there too...maybe Flamingos???