Spring Training Games Begin Today!

Today baseball spring training games begin in both Florida and Arizona, which means the start of the regular season is a little more than 4 weeks away.  Opening Day at Denver's Coors Field will be Friday, April 5th, although for the second year in a row I will not be attending. Thanks to the practice of "dynamic pricing," the cheapest (and worst) seat in the house is $120.  For the same amount of money I can watch every single Chicago White Sox game on MLB.com, which I intend to do.  And speaking of the White Sox and spring training, I was reminded recently of attending a White Sox spring training game with my then wife Lisa and her grandmother back in March of 1985, when the White Sox still trained at Payne Park in Sarasota, Florida, where I took the photograph on the left.

Payne Park was one of the old time spring training facilities, like Dodgertown in Vero Beach, Florida, where the fans and the players entered and exited the same way and you could actually stop and talk to your favorite players.  I remember once bumping into Dodgers star Steve Garvey (literally), and excusing myself, but he just pushed forward without a word, the jerk, but once again I digress.  The whole point of these ballparks back then was to get ready for the season, not make money, and the informality was very refreshing.  These days it is all about both training and making money, and so all the old facilities like Payne Park have been replaced by smaller versions of major league stadiums, not nearly as fan friendly, and it is now much more expensive to see a game.

Lisa's grandmother was a very pleasant woman who lived in Venice, Florida, a little ways south of Sarasota. Her husband - Lisa's grandfather - had recently passed away.  He was a big supporter of the local little league down there, and the city decided to name a little league baseball field after him, which was the reason we went down there.  I took the photograph on the left of Lisa and her grandmother just after the ceremony.  As I recall, Lisa's grandmother was very proud that day, and really seemed to enjoy our visit, even the baseball game at Payne Park and a visit to downtown Sarasota afterwards.  Payne Park is still a park, but the baseball facility is long gone, and the White Sox now train in the Phoenix area.  Since I live in Denver, it is a much closer drive to catch a game than in Florida, but I wish they still trained at Payne Park.  It would be well worth the extra miles.