With spring training underway, there is that itch to pack up the car, head south to the Sunshine State, and spend a fortnight visiting the big-league training camps on both coasts.
For years, the majority of teams trained in Florida. Since most of the original big league teams were located east of the Mississippi River, holding spring training where citrus strongholds made sense.
Only the Chicago Cubs chose to differ. Chicago trained in Santa Monica as early as 1905 and then chose Catalina Island for its training camp from 1922 to 1942 and 1950 to 1951.
In 1947, Bill Veeck, owner of the Indians, took his team to Tucson for spring training, and Horace Stoneham organized spring training for his New York Giants in Phoenix. Both owners owned property in the Phoenix and Tucson areas.
This was a forerunner of the Giants moving to the West Coast permanently, following the Dodgers, who moved to Los Angeles the same year but kept returning to Vero Beach, Fla., for spring training.
Now, each state has 15 major league teams, which seems to be how baseball’s hierarchy wants it. You hear about the short distances big league teams are required to negotiate in the Greater Phoenix area — but they don’t tell you that while the distances are shorter, you can spend a lot of time sitting in bumper-to-bumper traffic when you move about in Phoenix.
Still, it is better than your experience in Florida, where the distances are much more significant. The Braves were anxious to leave Disney's Wide World of Sports complex and move 140 miles south to Northport.
Five major league parks are within 40 miles of Northport, which is about as good as it gets—comparable to driving 26 miles across Phoenix in heavy traffic from Mesa to Glendale.
One of the worst traffic challenges is getting over the causeway from Tampa to Clearwater (Phillies), and Dunedin (Blue Jays). When you cross the state from Northport to Jupiter (Cardinals and Marlins), it is 161 miles, so you don’t see a lot of games between East Coast Florida teams and teams on the West side.
Many fans who don’t own a Gulfstream jet or a King Air prop find a budget motel and stay in Florida for four to six weeks. They play golf or fish in the morning and watch baseball in the afternoon.
Golf courses are abundant throughout Florida, and if you opt for fishing, you can have the time of your life reeling in a big snook or a tarpon, although March is not always the best time for tarpon.
The ballparks at spring training are packed in a cozy and relaxed setting that is refreshing and uplifting emotionally. It is as much fun to sing baseball’s anthem, “Take me out to the ball game,” as it is when you attend a regular season matchup when every game counts.
Tim Hyers, the Covington native, the new hitting coach for the Braves, likes the Atlanta lineup. “If we stay healthy, we can compete,” he says.
Already, most soothsayers consider the Dodgers a shoo-in to win the National League pennant and repeat as World Series champions.
The talk of baseball now is that the Dodgers look invincible with such talented depth. With all the deferred compensation contracts coming about, which has become controversial, the L.A. brass has recognized that with 24 million Asians living on the West Coast, the Japanese players are immensely popular.
They can take a low-ball salary, say a million or two, and make millions in endorsements. Then, late in their careers, when their skills begin to wane, the deferred money kicks in. It is a very clever arrangement, but will the commissioner allow this deferred practice to continue?