Photo by Steven St. JohnTribune

Tribune

Howard Neal and his wife, Jean, from Calgary, Alberta, Canada, are die-hard baseball fans who have attended games in 53 ballparks, large and small. Howard Neal takes a picture of his wife as she talks with Buffalo Bisons manager Torey Lovullo during a Triple-A All-Stars workout at Albuquerque's Isotopes Park on Tuesday night. The All-Star Game is at 6 tonight.

Photo by Steven St. JohnTribune

Tribune

Members of the Pacific Coast League All-Stars make last-minute adjustments as they wait for the coaching staff so they can pose for their team picture. Longtime baseball fans Howard and Jean Neal traveled from Canada to watch tonight's Triple-A All-Star game at Isotopes Park.

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Before they let Howard and Jean Neal cross the Canadian border into the United States, customs agents have to know one thing.

Which baseball games are the Neals seeing?

Well ...

Tonight, the retired couple from Calgary, Alberta, will take in the Triple-A All-Star Game at Isotopes Park.

Then, it's off to Colorado Springs to see the Sky Sox.

Then to Salt Lake City.

Then to Montana.

"If we're going somewhere," said the 72-year-old Howard. "We're going to see baseball."

They've been touring America's pastime for nearly a decade. Armed with what Jean calls her Baseball Bible (a collection of stadium maps), a camera, autograph binders, scorebooks and photo albums, the Neals hop into their white Dodge truck with its baseball hitch mount and go.

Howard and Jean often spend about 180 days on the road -- as many as they are allowed by the government as visitors -- bouncing from obscure Single-A parks to the extravagant Major League Baseball palaces to the Arizona Fall League to spring training.

As unique as the Neals' retirement life has been, you could see it coming.

Jean, 72, is as devoted to the sport as any fan you'll find. Howard calls her a "baseball encyclopedia." Calgary Cannons players used to call her Mom.

"She would bake them birthday cakes, cookies," said John Traub, who worked in the Cannons front office before moving with the team to Albuquerque in 2003. "She was always there."

In the 17 years the franchise operated in Calgary, Jean missed eight games.

A baseball fan in his own right, Howard had no qualms about all these miles. He spent 46 years hauling freight from southern Canada to Alaska. When he retired in 1998, Howard didn't leave the road, he found a new travel partner and a fun way to spend his pension.

On Tuesday, Jean and Howard roamed the Isotopes Park concourses with hundreds of other fans, gathering autographs from the Triple-A All-Stars. Howard held most of the materials. Jean led the way to players sitting, in groups of two, at several tables.

Just as she's done for years, Jean smiled with the players and gave many of them hugs before securing her autographs. The Neals often take photos and make two prints: one for them, one for the player.

Jean's motherly rapport with players and team brass forged manifold friendships. It's gotten the couple free admission into games. Jean says she exchanges holiday cards with 75 former Calgary players, including Alex Rodriguez of the New York Yankees.

"We've gotten to meet so many people," Jean said.

One of those is Isotopes manager Dean Treanor, who led the franchise in its last season in Calgary.

"They're great fans," Treanor said of the Neals. "They're friends of the game and take a lot of pride in that. Every time I see them they ask how my mother is. They're just great people."

Two assistant coaches for tonight's game Í Von Joshua of the Iowa Cubs and Stan Cliburn of the Rochester Red Wings Í don't know the Neals personally, but recognized them from multiple games from around the country. Both coaches smiled when asked about the traveling couple and said, "They're always around."

The Neals might help create it, but this familial feel is what draws them to the Triple-A game. Most of the stadiums they've been to are home to Triple-A teams. Tonight's will be the ninth Triple-A All-Star game the Neals have attended in the past 10 years.

"They're more of a close-knit family," Jean said of Triple-A players.

Added Howard: "It's quality baseball and they're more intense (than major leaguers). They put their heart and soul into it."

And so the Neals will continue to drive thousand of miles simply to watch them.