Baseball is close to being a year-round pastime. Not that I’m complaining.

Between a playoffs schedule that can stretch into November, winter leagues abroad and winter meetings at home, our boys of summer are preceded by a full off-season calendar.

Spring training, once the harbinger of baseball, now seems to be becoming more a stage in the 12-month cycle. As coverage of teams simultaneously grows, there also appears to be fewer and fewer clubhouse unknowns that a trip to spring training would help fans solve.

It begs the question of what is the experience of spring training in the 21st century and what draw fans, grizzled veterans and hopeful rookies, to camp.

Herein the top 10 reasons to go to spring training.

10. The weather report

Officially, spring training begins in winter, with pitchers and catchers reporting in mid February and games set for the end of the month. By this time, Phoenix and Tampa, hubs of the Cactus and Grapefruit leagues, are hitting average daily high temperatures that range from the low to mid 70s. Spring training helps us celebrate such unseasonable warmth with that day’s weather report, usually read over the P.A. system by an enthusiastic youngster who gives the chilly details of the two teams’ home cities. “Today’s high in Cleveland, Ohio, is 42 degrees. In Chicago, Illinois, the high is 40 degrees. Not baseball weather. But here in Mesa, Arizona, it is 73 degrees – definitely baseball weather!”

9. Rich foul ball territory

A game ball remains a classic, yet elusive, souvenir. The intimacy of spring training parks puts most seats in fertile foul ball territory, giving at least the appearance of better odds for bare handing or snow coning some cow hide. Grassy knolls of outfield seating likewise create a wide terrain for snaring home run balls. While there may be less pressure to toss back a home run by the opposing team during spring training, be prepared to surrender a catch under chants of “Give it to a kid.”

8. All Stars and prospects

There is an egalitarianism to spring training, which fields established big leaguers and All Stars alongside the game’s top prospects. Some squads are now sewing last names to the jerseys of their roster players, but there is something to be said for the old approach of using numbers only during camp. It adds to the sense of a clean slate that everyone carries into a fresh season.

7. Root, root, root for the home teams

Between the proximity of the ballparks, and the fact that all teams are playing at borrowed addresses, most games draw an even mix of home and visiting fans. This split in the stands over the sway a full, home-town crowd is part of what gives spring training its relaxed, congenial atmosphere.

6. Ballparks are like chapels

To borrow from the words of Bull Durham’s Crash Davis in describing Major League ballparks as cathedrals, the stadiums of spring training are like chapels. These smaller houses of worship are becoming sleeker and more modern, but they continue to offer a closer view of the field than most big-league parks allow.

5. Everyone’s a scout

Radar guns and stopwatches are dead giveaways of the real scouts, but one of the perks of spring training is feeling on the inside of player evaluations. It’s the place to take note and appreciate the fundamentals – solid footwork on a double play, a good break on an outfield fly, smart reads on the base paths – that separate ball players from raw athletes.

4. Chance for player autographs

Access to players and coaches has become tougher in recent years, but spring training remains one of the better opportunities to get an autograph. A bonus is seeing some of the memorabilia fans bring to get signed. There are the standby jerseys, caps and baseballs but also some rather unique fan creations.

3. High fan I.Q.

It takes a certain brand of fan to travel to spring training. Only baseball’s most loyal would make it a point to see games that, in the sense of official stats and results, do not count for anything. One outcome is getting to meet fans who know a lot about their teams and are happy to share intel.

2. Hope springs

Spring training brings the promise of Opening Day. It is hard to resist the anticipation of a new season and temptation that anything is possible over the course of 162 games.

1. Pure baseball

When it comes right down to it, spring training pays tribute to the beauty of the game. The sights and sounds of baseball are magnified on this smaller stage that is away from division races and other chases of the regular season. We are harkened back to basics as baseball’s simple joys come into focus.

 

Published with permission from the Piedmont Post.