Spring on the Way, and so is SPRING TRAINING!
Okay, so spring is on it’s way.
It won’t be long before the chill turns to warmth, the green grass and trees start to make their presence known. The heavy winter wear gives way to one layer of clothing.
I know, for many who read this, they already have had this pleasant scenario. Maybe they never experienced anything different. But I also know that for a great many, it’s been a raw, windy, wet winter.
In fact, that winter isn’t nearly at an end. Looking forward to the big shift coming in March is foolhardy. We all know some of the meanest conditions might still be hiding out, ready to unleash next month.
I’m not trying to ruin your day, it’s just that I have had the experience I just described most of my life, living in the northeast. It’s the same in the Midwest, even farther out West, and also parts of the South.
So what are the signs that the long winter is, indeed, on it’s last legs. It’s SPRING TRAINING, of course.
When you start reading the words and seeing the sights of baseball teams beginning camps in Florida and Arizona you know the best is yet to come.
For one thing, spring training has changed so much from the time I was a youngster and counted the days till camp got underway. Not to date myself (cough), but when I was growing up, my team was the New York Giants!!!! Yes, the New York Giants, not the Giants everybody knows from the NFL. I mean the New York Giants who played at a horseshoe shaped park called the Polo Grounds in Manhattan and trained in Phoenix, Arizona. This was a time there were three teams in New York. The Yankees, of course, the Brooklyn Dodgers, and my Giants. The Giants and Dodgers moved to San Francisco and Los Angeles respectively in 1958 and four years later the Mets became an expansion team in the National League. I know many readers are shaking their heads thinking ” tell me something I DON’T know”, but for those who are a bit younger and don’t remember, a offer this bit of background.
There was a time, strangely enough, when there were only 16 teams in the big leagues: eight in the National League, eight in the American. All but four teams trained in Florida. The clubs that didn’t established their camps in Arizona. So my Giants were based in Phoenix, the Cleveland Indians in Tucson, The Chicago Cubs in Mesa, and after they moved from St. Louis, the Baltimore Orioles camped out in Yuma.
Before television was king, you got information from newspapers. So when, February was bringing it’s wintry climes to the East, I would gaze longingly at photos of my favorite Giants posing in a batting
stance with cactus evident in the background. Or if a Dodger or Yankee were shown, there would be a palm tree shown over their shoulder. Talk about signs of spring, there was nothing better.
But the best of all was when the grapefruit or cactus league games got underway in early March. Since none of those games were televised. I would faithfully listen to every game the Yankees and Dodgers played sitting by my radio in excited anticipation waiting for the games to start. It was always on a Saturday, when the exhibition contests began, and I couldn’t wait for the sounds of spring.
There they were, background to the calls of the great Mel Allen of the Yankees, broadcasting from St.Petersburg as the Yankees and Cardinals played the first of some 30 games before opening day.
What a treat it was to hear Red Barber, and a young Vin Scully bring me the Dodgers-Braves game from Vero Beach.
For me, I would have to wait until 4:30 to hear Russ Hodges bring the plays to life for my Giants against the Indians. Since there were only four teams out west, the Giants and Indians would play more than half their spring schedule either in Phoenix or Tucson. But why were those games coming on the air so late in the day I asked my father? That’s when I learned about time zones. That’s when I understood. As the regular season grew near, the Giants and Indians would “barnstorm” back east, playing the final games, first in San Francisco, then in Denver, Dallas, Indianapolis and soon they were home and ready for opening day.
I offer this space of reminiscing, not to yearn for the ” good old days” which I never do, but merely accept and appreciate. But to point out, like everything else, how life in the preparation for a new baseball season has changed dramatically.
Today, 15 teams train in Florida, 15 in Arizona. Players prefer Arizona since all the teams are within a 50-mile radius of one another. The longest trip from one camp to another is 47 miles. In Florida, the longest excursion is 223 miles.
With television, you can see footage from the camps, with interviews of the players and managers daily on the various sports channels. The sights of spring are there to enjoy visually. What used to be only the sounds of the crack of the bat on radio are in full view with the sight of players swinging in the batting cage.
I guess the best way to explain it is something we all have come to realize over time. What used to be left to the imagination is now real and out there for everyone to see.
Probably like the difference between reading a book and watching a movie.
It has been a wonder seeing it all evolve. Spring training has begun. Exhibition games are around the corner. The first note of the happiness of good weather on it’s way has been sounded.
Whether it was through newspaper photographs when I was a kid, or by the daily reports live or on tape today, not to mention actually viewing one of those games in person, the time in which your heart beats a little faster, has finally arrived!
___________________________
Subscribe my podcast “Stockton!” where I share a different perspective on the world of sports along with stories that I have collected from my front-row seat over the decades. Subscribe via your i-tunes app on your mobile phone, or you can visit http://www.StocktonPodcast.com.
