DUNEDIN — If Charles O’Reilly isn’t in the Guiness Book of World Records, he should be.
After all, the Dunedin resident has been to 54 ballparks where major league baseball has been played. Add in nearly 400 minor and independent league stadiums he has been to, and O’Reilly has viewed games in an astonishing 441 ballparks. And that doesn’t include college games. Do that and add plus or minus another 100. This has to be a record worthy of that publication.
That is just the number of stadiums. He has attended thousands of games in nearly 60 years, major and minor, and everything in between, throughout Florida and elsewhere. In a typical year he will attend dozens of games. And he has a record of each and every game he attends. If you don’t believe this, check out his website, charliesballparks.com.
Simply put, attending games — and keeping score — is O’Reilly’s “thing.”
“I’ve always been interested in going to games and keeping score,” he said. “I found a scorecard from Shea Stadium where I did my best to keep up with the game in 1968, when I was only 7. Eventually, I realized that I could track everyone I’ve ever seen play in pro ball. My website now has a list of every player I’ve seen in a game from 1967 through the end of last season, so I can take note of, say, a player I see rehabbing in a complex league game and say, ‘Oh, I saw him play for the Chesapeake Baysox last year.’ And I can look at the box score to see how he did.”
Former players, some of whom had limited pro experience, have reached out to O’Reilly.
“Another factor,” he added, “is that, especially for older games - like the minor leagues through 2004 - many of the independent league games, and many or most of the amateur league games - my website entry might be the only place you can readily find a box score of a lot of games. I’ve had folks reach out to me saying they found their name in a search and were grateful to have a record of a game they played in.”
When not attending a game as a fan, O’Reilly can be found at a Clearwater Threshers game working as the PA announcer. He started with the Phillies farm team on opening day in 2022 and is currently in his fifth year with the club.
For someone who loves attending games and keeping score this is a dream job.
He may work for the Threshers, but when they are on the road you might see O’Reilly attending a Dunedin Blues Jays contest. Makes sense. He lives within walking distance of TD Ballpark.
“I can walk there in 16 minutes,” said O’Reilly. One time, he related, there was a “massively rain-delayed game in 2021 that ended at 1:07 in the morning, and I was back in the house at 1:25 counting the time to get downstairs and past the gate.”
In a typical week during the summer, O’Reilly noted that he might attend “anywhere from six to 14 games, depending on whether I’m home or traveling and whether there are complex league games to attend.” During one recent week he was at six Threshers games, three Rays games, and another complex league game.
O’Reilly is originally from New Jersey, growing up not far from New York City. He moved to Dunedin in January of 2019.
His interest in ballparks began, naturally, with the New York Mets and New York Yankees.
“By the end of 1989, I had seen exactly six pro parks,” he said. “I had been to Shea Stadium several times and Yankee Stadium twice. I landed in Little Falls, New York, one night after visiting Cooperstown in 1986, and the Little Falls Mets were home so I attended. I did Boston and Pawtucket in 1988 when I was up that way on business. And I went to Pittsfield, Massachusetts, in 1989 to try to catch up to a friend who was in the Mets organization, although I missed him as they had just moved him up to Columbia, S.C. But in 1990, I got this wild idea to take a week’s baseball vacation, and I enjoyed it so much that it became a regular thing. I should have finished the majors in 1994, but the players’ union had other ideas. By 1996, though, my total park count reached three figures; I completed the majors in 1997 and have kept current since (with new ballparks).”
O’Reilly has been to so many ballparks that it was inevitable that some would close.
“I’ve just been at this for a long time, and a lot of parks have closed and been replaced,” he said. “For instance, I’m on my third Atlanta Braves home park. Some folks I know have made a point of getting to places like Tokyo, London, Mexico City and so forth. I haven’t done that, not even domestically. However, I’ve been to Rickwood Field in Birmingham, but for minor league games. I’m going to Field of Dreams in Dyersville, Iowa, in August, but, again, for the minor league game.”
He did go to San Juan for a major league game in 2003 when the Montreal Expos played 43 games over two seasons (2003-04). Other interesting games include Dunedin, for seven of 21 Toronto Blue Jays home games in 2021 (during COVID); and Tampa, for 14 of 81 Tampa Bay Rays home games last year.
“I am planning a trip to West Sacramento in August,” he said. “I’ve seen two minor league games there already but it will become my 55th MLB venue because the Athletics are home. But that’s one game out of over 230 the A’s are playing there over three seasons. I didn’t bother with the Las Vegas Ballpark series earlier in June; even if I had wanted to, the Threshers were home!”
Does he have favorites?
“I put Fenway Park and Wrigley Field into their own category, as historic relics even though both have received substantial upgrades,” O’Reilly said, adding “I used to say I liked Fenway better, but Wrigley has really grown on me in recent seasons. As for the more modern constructions, it’s a toss-up between San Francisco and Pittsburgh, mainly because of the water views from the upper deck. Baltimore is a close third, as it started the ‘retro’ trend of making ballparks fit into their neighborhoods. At the bottom of the list is St. Petersburg, but I love going there because I can enjoy the game in air-conditioned comfort, and I do give the Rays credit for sprucing it up - especially after the hurricane - and making it into ‘home sweet dome.’”
On the “minor side” of things, O’Reilly, who is a longtime member of the Society of American Baseball Research (SABR), pointed out that he hasn’t yet been to the new ballpark in Chattanooga, which he noted has been getting rave reviews. “I will say that the four parks where the Philadelphia Phillies affiliates play are all outstanding. Reading (AA) is over 75 years old but has been maintained lovingly and it’s a great experience. They also have Allentown (AAA) and Lakewood, New Jersey (High-A) that are wonderful, and Clearwater (Low-A) plays in the best spring training park in Florida, something I said even before the Phillies hired me. There are some recently built Triple-A parks that are fantastic; Charlotte and Worcester come to mind right away, while Durham and Indianapolis have both held up nicely after 30 years.”
If you visit O’Reilly’s website, you can find all sorts of information, many color-coded, about his ballpark exploits such as triple plays he’s seen, every home run (including inside the park homers), and numerous no-hitters, of which one was in a major league game (by one-armed Jim Abbott of the Yankees, 4-0 over the Cleveland Indians on Sept. 4, 1993).
If you are at a game and notice someone in the stands meticulously keeping notes, recording every pitch and highlighting each at-bat that could very well be Charles O’Reilly.