Play Ball

By Jim Caple, ESPN

The Rockies will play the final Cactus League games at Hi Corbett Field this week and then move to Scottsdale next year. And when they do, spring training will become just a little more corporate.  (more…)

by Richard Ruelas
The Arizona Republic

Arizona had a lot to offer as a place for baseball teams to hold spring training: abundant sunshine, dry weather and hungry fans. But what cinched the deal, back in 1947, was the thought that the state would be more racially tolerant than Florida. (more…)

by Sheps, Cubscast

Our favorite part of the baseball season every year is our annual Spring Training trip to Mesa, Arizona. Nothing beats seeing the Cubs close up in beautiful warm weather in a fantastic destination, particularly in March when most of the country is just trying to thaw out. This year’s trip was extra enjoyable thanks to the fine folks at VisitMesa.com who allowed us a very special glimpse at the new Play Ball Exhibit at the Arizona Museum for youth.

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By Tyler Kepner
New York Times

Bob Apodaca, the pitching coach for the Colorado Rockies, moved through the autograph line outside the clubhouse door at Hi Corbett Field in Tucson earlier this month. He signed for everybody, posing for photographs and making small talk.

A fan asked Apodaca if he was looking forward to next spring, when the Rockies will move to a new facility in Scottsdale that they will share with the Arizona Diamondbacks. With a deft sense of place, Apodaca said he enjoyed Tucson and would miss some things about it.

But, he added, the Rockies had spent six hours on a bus the day before, just to play an exhibition game near Phoenix. That was wasted time, and it was tiring. The fan understood.

In truth, it rarely takes six hours to drive from Tucson to the Phoenix suburbs and back. Without traffic, a one-way trip can be completed in less than two hours. But it is still a nuisance, or what passes for one in Arizona, which is easily the best place to be for spring training.

Half the teams train there now, and when the Diamondbacks and the Rockies abandon Tucson, the entire Cactus League will be in greater Phoenix. No training site will be much more than an hour from any other. The highway system is convenient. Notwithstanding the Twitter rage of White Sox Manager Ozzie Guillen, who posted this message last Wednesday — “I hate the trafic I arizona aaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaa” — the traffic really isn’t bad.

In any case, Guillen should know it is all relative. As a player, he often trained in Florida, which has lost the Dodgers, the Reds, the Indians, the Royals and the Rangers in the last eight years.

Yes, there are some nice facilities in Florida. The Yankees’ home in Tampa — George M. Steinbrenner Field, located at One Steinbrenner Drive — is a suitable fortress for baseball’s royalty. The Pirates still play at quaint old McKechnie Field in Bradenton, which did not install lights until 2008.

The modernized Joker Marchant Stadium in Lakeland is a comfortable home for the Tigers, whose farmhands stay in an adjacent complex called Tiger Town. Tiffany lamps with the Tigers logo hang above the pool tables in the rec hall.

The problem with Florida is the spacing. Four lonely teams train on the east coast — the Nationals in Viera, the Mets in Port St. Lucie and the Cardinals and the Marlins in Jupiter. Sites in West Palm Beach, Cocoa Beach, Vero Beach and Fort Lauderdale have been abandoned.

The teams in the center of the state — the Astros in Kissimmee and the Braves at Disney World — are not especially convenient. Toll roads abound, Disney traffic is always threatening, and nobody in Florida seems to like driving on Interstate 4.

That is to say nothing of the two-and-a-half hour haul from Tampa to Fort Myers, where the Red Sox and the Twins train. The Sunshine Skyway Bridge is a marvel, but not enough to make the trip much fun. And some trips — Port St. Lucie to Fort Myers takes 2 hours 55 minutes, for example — just seem cruel.

A fan can have a fun vacation in either spot, of course. There is a charm in bouncing around the Grapefruit League, staying in cheap hotels, spotting the towering Waffle House signs and pulling in for breakfast before the game.

But Arizona is just so much easier. If you love baseball, book a week in the Cactus League next March. Pick a hotel in Tempe or Scottsdale or Phoenix and stay in one spot the whole time.

Roam the two-team complexes for morning workouts in Glendale, Goodyear, Peoria or Surprise, and then stay for a game. Or hop back in the car and see one someplace else.

Check out the Athletics at Phoenix Municipal Stadium, where you can hear monkeys from the zoo just beyond center field. See the Cubs in Mesa at HoHoKam Park, across the street from a graveyard. (The metaphor there is just too easy.)

Enjoy a Giants game in Scottsdale and then feast at Don & Charlie’s, home of the most impressive memorabilia collection west of Cooperstown, N.Y. There’s an actual Gold Glove award behind the bar, but you can’t tell who won it; the nameplate is covered by a photograph of an old catcher named Bob Uecker.

Of course, some things are universal in either locale. Cubs Manager Lou Piniella has his photograph on the wall at Donatello in Tampa, between the piano bar and the dining room. He also has an autographed magazine cover at the Don & Charlie’s hostess stand.

Born and raised in Tampa, Piniella said he had never seen snow until he trained with the Indians in Tucson, where distant snow-capped mountains form the skyline. He roamed Mount Lemmon, and also experienced a culinary first that is still an Arizona specialty.

“There were no tacos in Florida,” Piniella said. “They had Cuban food and Spanish food. But I didn’t know what a taco was.”

by Richard Ruelas, The Arizona Republic

Spring training in Arizona is most closely associated with the Cactus League, which got its name in 1954. But the first team to hold its spring camp in Phoenix was the Detroit Tigers, back in 1929. The team never returned, possibly because this desert city proved too relaxing, or too tempting, for the players. (more…)

by Richard Ruelas
The Arizona Republic

Spring training in Arizona is most closely associated with the Cactus League, which got its name in 1954. But the first team to hold its spring camp in Phoenix was the Detroit Tigers, back in 1929. The team never returned, possibly because this desert city proved too relaxing, or too tempting, for the players. (more…)

by Tim Sheridan, Boys of Spring

Last night I awoke to a loud crash of thunder at about 2:30am and with the appearance of a small pond in my front yard this morning I’m guessing it must have rained all night. Right now it’s around 45 degrees and still raining, so it’s a good day for the Cubs…to simulate April conditions at Wrigley. Starting tomorrow the 10 day forecast looks outstanding and we’re expecting partly sunny skies and a high of 70 for Thursday’s opening spring game at Hohokam. (more…)