Today was our final day in Florida for Spring Training baseball.  We were in Lakeland once more to see the Nationals massacre the Tigers.  It was pretty bad…9-1 was the final, and the Tigers’ 1 run came on a home run in the 9th with 2 outs - too little, too late.

We started the morning with breakfast at Sonic.  We decided against a big breakfast because we didn’t know how we’d handle being in the sun after a greasy meal.  We were there when the gates opened and were able to see most of the Nationals’ batting practice.

During batting practice, we saw ESPN’s Peter Gammons and Orel Hershiser down on the field.  We watched where some of the other ESPN folks were going when they left the field, and we made our way around to where we thought Hershiser would be.  He came up into the stands, and walked through a crowd of folks (who, sadly, didn’t recognize him).  We asked if he’d sign for us, and he kind enough to give us some of his time.  He signed about 10 or so before anyone really realized who he was.

After the game, we headed back to South Carolina.  A brief stop at the Texas Roadhouse in Gainesville proved satisfying, and the rest of the trip was mostly uneventful.  We arrived shortly after 2:00 a.m.  I get up in just a few hours to drive home, so I’m not going to put photos online tonight.  They’ll be there tomorrow sometime.

What an amazing day we had at Dodgertown today. Today’s game was the last home game that the Dodgers will ever play at Dodgertown.

Why is the final home game significant? The Dodgers have been in Vero Beach for 60 years, but even more than that, Dodgertown is the last remaining part of the Brooklyn Dodgers. (They trained in Florida before the move to Los Angeles, and they never moved their spring training complex.)

Tommy Lasorda gave a speech before the game to thank Vero Beach all they’ve done for the organization over the past 60 years. I switched my camera into video mode and captured most of his speech on video. If you’re a baseball fan, go check out the video. It’s pretty neat (even though the audio and video isn’t so great).

We bought tickets off of eBay for this game. Some guy was selling seats from his season ticket package. We were just behind first base, 3 rows up. They were excellent seats, although the Holman Stadium seating wasn’t designed with large people in mind.

Before the game, Maury Wills was kind enough to sign a ball for me. A few other Dodgers signed…nobody really worth mentioning. After the game, we waited around for almost another 2 hours and were finally able to be in the right place at the right time to get Tommy Lasorda to sign a ball. That was certainly a highlight of the trip.

Tonight we drove back to Lakeland and are settled into the hotel for the evening. Tomorrow we see one more game (Nationals vs. Tigers) here in Lakeland before heading back to South Carolina.

I’ve got the pictures from today and yesterday up on flickr.  Sorry for the delay on yesterday’s photos.  I’m going to sleep now.  We’ve got a long drive after the game tomorrow, so some good sleep tonight is critical.

We got up early this morning, at a quick continental breakfast at the hotel, and headed down to watch the Yankees practice.  They ended up not practicing on the practice field this morning, which meant that the morning involved a lot of standing around and very little action.  We saw Phil Hughes working in the bullpen from a distance, but that was about all we saw.   So for the Yankees/Indians this afternoon, we didn’t have the greatest luck on the autograph front.  That’s the way it goes though.

After we left Tampa, we headed over to Clearwater where the Major League Baseball Players Alumni Association does a charity game that is hosted by Wade Boggs.

Two things here are important to note:

• Wade Boggs is a punk.
• Wade Boggs’ wife is just as bad (if not worse).

We had a great time, despite the evening’s host.  We got to see a lot of old players that played when we were kids.  I got lots of pictures from that, but I’m too whooped to do the uploading and stuff tonight.  I’ll get them online tomorrow night from Lakeland.

Kevin Maris (Roger’s son) drove in the winning run in the bottom of the last inning.  There’s nothing like a little excitement in a “nobody cares what happens here” charity game.

We ate at Capogna’s Dugout (again) after the charity game.  Yum.  Best stromboli ever.  Yes, ever.

After that we drove the 3+ hours to Fort Pierce.  We’d stay in Vero Beach, but hotels there are crazy expensive.  So we have about a half hour drive in the morning…no big deal.  We’re going to see the Dodgers play their final home game at Dodgertown.  They’ve done their spring training in Vero Beach for more than 60 years, and they’ll be moving to Arizona after this year.

Vero Beach is one of the first stadiums we went to when we started coming to spring training.  It’s also where I met Brett Butler (who eventually my son was named for).  So there are a lot of fond memories here.  We’ve heard that the Orioles are moving to Vero Beach, but I’ve got no official word on that.  Everything would look weird painted orange though.

Ok.  Off to bed now.  I’ll post tomorrow from Lakeland with all of today’s (and tomorrow’s) pictures.

Ah, Lakeland. Today was a “best of” day for our trip:

• Tigertown - best Spring Training facility.
• Tigertown Nachos - totally worth the $5. I’d probably pay $7. Don’t tell them that.
• Yankees - best team to see play. (I admit this one is partially opinion.)
• Yankees at Tigers - best game to see.  (Again, partially opinion.)
• Capogna’s Dugout - best wings and pizza.

We started with a Sonic breakfast this morning because IHOP, Denny’s, and Bob Evans were all packed. Then we headed over to Tigertown to wait in line. (When the Yankees are in town, you need to be at the stadium about an hour before gates open to get a good spot for autographs.)

The game was great. We got to see Joba Chamberlain pitch. That was a thrill. And the Yankees really beat up on the Tigers’ Verlander. That also was fun to see. Yanks won 11-7, and even though the spring games don’t matter, it was fun to see the Yankees beat the Tigers.

After the game, I caught up with an internet friend. It was cool to see her since we’ve only actually ever met once.

Then Dad and I drove down to Tampa and checked into the hotel. After settling in, we headed down to Capogna’s Dugout in Clearwater, a regular stop on our spring tour. Now we are settled back in (with full stomachs) and are going to get to sleep early.

Tomorrow we’re heading down early to see the Yankees. We hope to get there around 8:00 hoping to see some of the early workout sessions. In all of our years coming down to Spring Training, we’ve never gone extra early just to see teams practicing on the practice fields. That should make for some interesting pictures and blogging.

After the Yankees game, we drive to Clearwater for the Legends charity game that Wade Boggs hosts every year. I’ll have lots of fun pictures from that as well.

Anyway, pictures from today are with the rest of the Spring Training 2008 pictures on flickr. I’m going to sleep now.

This morning started with me wishing death upon Dad’s alarm clock. I woke up exhausted. We showered and headed to Perkins, a regular stop for us when we’re in Clearwater (it’s less than a mile from the Phillies stadium).

We were hanging out on the first base line while watching batting practice. Dad got a ball (that he practically stole from a kid…it’s ok though, because the kid’s grandma was really irritating me and was very close to getting hit in the head). Yes, when provoked, I would totally hit a kid’s grandma.

The Braves took the field for batting practice, and we watched Jeff Francoeur crush pitch after pitch. It was unreal. When he was done, the kid that Dad practically stole that baseball from asked Jeff if he’d sign autographs. Francoeur said that he would sign after he got done doing his workout.

Then it started raining.

They kept BP going for a little bit, but eventually the grounds crew came out and covered the field. I figured we were just out of luck with the Francoeur autograph time. It’s hard enough to get those guys to sign for you when it’s nice and sunny.

Then Francoeur did something none of us expected. He signed. Then he signed some more. He joked with fans. He answered questions. (He told me he’s going to hit 34 home runs this year. Check back at the end of the season to see how he did.) He signed some more. He stayed and signed autographs - in the rain - until every fan that wanted one had their turn. I’ve done a lot of autograph hunting, but I’ve never seen anything like this. When he was finally done, he got a huge ovation from the fans standing around. I switched my camera into video mode and captured about 4 minutes of it.

The game was delayed about 40 minutes. We didn’t get to see Hudson pitch. We did see Escobar hit a grand slam. That was cool. The Phillies staff was in an unusually good mood, as I wasn’t verbally abused by any of their ushers today. (That, unfortunately, isn’t normal.) We’ll be there again Sunday night, so there’s still a chance…

After we left Clearwater, the drive over to Winter Haven was rainy. As we suspected, batting practice at Winter Haven was canceled. We were able to get to see some of the Indians players interviewed on some sports radio show. Bob Feller signed the picture he posed for last year. And Dad got Jim “Mudcat” Grant to sign an old baseball card. Mudcat was a really nice guy.

The game started on time, but it ended after 6 innings because of rain. Indians pitching looked really good against the Expos Nationals. Defense was sloppy (probably partially because of the weather). A Red Sox fan wearing a shirt that said “I hate Yankee fans” tried to pick a fight with us. We ignored him, and he pretty much left us alone. I would have thoroughly enjoyed throwing him down those stairs…

We found our way from Winter Haven back up to Lakeland. The Yankees are in town to play the Tigers tomorrow. It’s a split squad game, so we’re not sure which Yankees we’ll see. If we’ve done our calculations correctly, we should see either Kennedy or Chamberlain pitch. I’m really looking forward to that.

I put some more pictures up in my Spring Training 2008 set on flickr. I’m heading to bed now so that I can be rested up for lots of fun tomorrow.

We left for Florida this morning shortly after 7am. The trip was uneventful. We arrived in Sarasota a little sooner than planned, and after a stop at Chili’s, we headed on over to Ed Smith Stadium for the Reds/Phillies game.

This stadium is one of my favorites. First, the stadium staff is courteous. Not all stadiums have courteous staff. I won’t say which team consistently has rude staff, but you may have an idea after I blog about our adventures at the Phillies’ park.

Second, player access at Ed Smith stadium is great. The Reds have to walk down the first base line to exit the field, and many of them will sign autographs or talk with you. Our experience is that the Reds are generally a very fan-friendly team (excluding current and former players whose last name rhymes with Griffey). The visitors can get to their clubhouse through the dugout, so autograph hunting of visiting teams at Ed Smith Stadium isn’t all that great.

Third, foul balls. We get to the games in time to watch batting practice, and we usually do pretty well getting batting practice balls at the Reds games. Tonight we got 3.  If you’re keeping score at home, it was Dad 2, Ron 1.

We sat on the first row on the first base side, about 20 yards behind first base. The view was amazing. Watching a MLB up close like that is something you don’t get to do often. Out of all the years we’ve been to Spring Training, I think this was only the 3rd time we managed to get front row seats.

The game was good. The Phillies beat up on Reds pitching pretty badly. Even the outs seemed to be hit really hard. There was a total of 4 shattered bats, which I think is about 3 more than I’ve ever seen in a game.

After the game I took a turn driving, and we found our hotel in Clearwater with almost no effort.  Oh yeah, we accidentally went to a strip club.  That was interesting.  Now that we’ve settled in the room for the night, we’re planning out tomorrow’s breakfast (Perkin’s), and we’ll be deep in sleep very soon.

Tomorrows games are Braves vs. Phillies here in Clearwater at 1:00, and then Nationals vs. Indians in Winter Haven at 7:00.  Then we’ll be staying in Lakeland, where we’ll see our beloved Yankees on Saturday.

Ok.  I’m going to bed now.  Pictures from today are here if you want to see them.

Well, the Spring Training 2008 trip is underway.  I left the office about 6:30 this evening and arrived here safely at my parents’ house about 5 hours, 291 miles, and 3 bottles of Diet Mt. Dew later.

We leave at 7:00 for Sarasota (566 miles) where we’ll see the Phillies and the Reds play.  I like seeing Griffey play, so maybe he’ll be in the lineup.  With the way frequency that guy’s injured, it’s like a 20% chance that he’ll be playing, but maybe we’ll get lucky.

After the game, we drive to Clearwater (58 miles) where we’ll find the hotel and get some sleep before Fridays games.  Friday will include Clearwater and Winter Haven.  Those 2-game days are exhausting, but well worth it.

So currently the Spring Training odometer is at 291 miles.  I’m going to get some sleep now so I can be rested for a long day tomorrow.  More from the road tomorrow…

• Abundant supply of official MLB baseballs for autographs…check
• Backpack with nifty convenient pockets for swapping out baseballs during the autograph rush…check
• Long-life lithium batteries for camera…check
• Pens and Sharpies for autographs…check
• Proper spring training attire…check
• Haircut so I don’t look/feel like a hippy…check
• Tickets to games…check
• Printed list of 40-man rosters (and non-roster invitees) of teams we’ll be seeing…check
• Laptop with charger and tethered Blackberry service for guaranteed internet access from anywhere…check
  
• Ability to wait patiently for Wednesday evening…

With the excitement of spring training baseball getting started this week, I offer this quote by Hank Steinbrenner.

“Red Sox Nation? What a bunch of [expletive] that is. That was a creation of the Red Sox and ESPN, which is filled with Red Sox fans. Go anywhere in America and you won’t see Red Sox hats and jackets, you’ll see Yankee hats and jackets. This is a Yankee country. We’re going to put the Yankees back on top and restore the universe to order.”

Yeah, he’s a Steinbrenner…no doubt about that.

Play ball! (and go Yankees!)

There are finally enough people who read this blog that actually have interest in my annual pilgrimage to Florida for Spring Training baseball so that I don’t feel bad when I post about the trip and bore the rest of you.

The itinerary has been finalized; the tickets have been purchased; the motels have been reserved. Here’s where we’ll be:

March 13 (Thursday)
7:05 p.m. - Phillies @ Reds (Sarasota)

March 14 (Friday)
1:05 p.m. - Braves @ Phillies (Clearwater)
7:05 p.m. - Nationals @ Indians (Winter Haven)

March 15 (Saturday)
1:05 p.m. - Yankees @ Tigers (Lakeland)

March 16 (Sunday)
1:15 p.m. - Indians @ Yankees (Tampa)
6:00 p.m. - Legends Game (Clearwater)

March 17 (Monday)
10:05 a.m. - Astros @ Dodgers (Vero Beach)

March 18 (Tuesday)
1:05 p.m - Nationals @ Detroit (Lakeland)

We’ll drive back to S.C. on the 18th. I’ll get a few hours of sleep and then head back to Georgia the morning of the 19th. Then we’ll probably wait a week before we start to plan for 2009.