If you're new here, you may want to subscribe to my RSS feed. Thanks for visiting!

It’s that time of year again. Dad and I are gearing up for our annual pilgrimage to Florida for spring training baseball. March is a good month.

For those of you who don’t know, Dad and I go down to Florida every year. We started in 1993 with a group organized by Winning With Encouragement. In 1994, the baseball strike kept us away. In 1995, we returned with another group organized by WWE. Then 1996-1999 I was in college (in Florida, ironically) and unable to get away to see Spring Training games.

We decided to go without WWE (since they don’t do the father/son Spring Training trip any more) in 2000 and in 2001. In 2002, I moved to Atlanta in March, so we didn’t go that year. Since then, we’ve not missed a year. So 2008 will be our 10th trip down there.

So here’s the itinerary for the trip, in case you’re wondering:

3/12 - After work, drive to SC.
3/13 - Drive to Sarasota and see Phillies vs. Reds at 7pm.
3/14 - Braves vs. Phillies in Clearwater at 1pm, then Senators vs. Indians in Winter Haven at 7pm.
3/15 - Yankees vs. Tigers in Lakeland at 1pm. Supper will be at Capogna’s Dugout in Clearwater.
3/16 - Indians vs. Yankees in Tampa at 1pm. Legends Game (retired players, some HOFers, and celebrities play for charity) in Clearwater at 6pm.
3/17 - still planning. Red Sox vs. Yankees in Tampa was sold out, so we’re looking at options.
3/18 - if necessary. Depends on choice for Monday.

Play Ball!

Well, it’s over. The autographed balls are stored with all my other ones. The suitcase is unpacked. The souvenir t-shirts have been handed out to the kids. And I’m back at work.

Monday’s game was really good. Usually the games in spring training aren’t high-stress because teams are worried about their pitcher’s pitch count, how many plate appearances the players get, how a young prospect does in a certain game situation, etc. The score is the last thing they worry about. Monday’s game was really good.

We sat in the second row back, just to the 1st base side of home plate. The Braves on-deck circle was 15 feet away. Yeah, great seats. There were a lot of great defensive plays that added to the excitement as well.

Autographs on Monday were good. Dad stayed over on the Braves side of the park during batting practice and got several prospects’ autographs as well as Ryan Langerhans, Terry Pendleton, and a couple other starters whose names escape me.

I stayed over on the Astros side, hoping to catch Craig Biggio. He walked by, and I asked, but he said he had some things to do. He was really polite though, and he came back to sign later, but I wasn’t lucky enough to get to the front of the crowd in time to catch him. I was able to get Woody Williams, Mike Lamb, and Brad Ausmus to sign.

We really enjoyed the stadium there in Kissimmee.  The ushers were courteous, they checked our bags before the gates opened, they weren’t trying to keep fans from getting autographs (like that idiot usher at the Phillies’ stadium the night before).  We’re going to make Kissimmee a regular stop in our annual trip.  We enjoyed the visit there, and we felt like the Astros were glad to have us there to watch a game.

I’ve got a bunch of photos to upload.  Those will come when I can get to them…probably a couple of days.

This post will be short because it’s late and I am seriously in need of a shower.

Today we saw the Yankees play the Tigers.  Giambi and Torre signed autographs, and I got some decent pictures.  I’ll upload to Flickr later.

Tonight was the Baseball For Kids Legends Game.  It’s a relaxed, for-charity event that’s really a lot of fun.  I got to chat with Goose Gossage for a minute, which was pretty cool, and got some autographs of a few has-been players as well.

Oh, and I got yelled at by a rude usher at the Phillies’ stadium.  I’ll be posting more about him (and a picture, muwahaha) later.  That’s right, people; you don’t mess with Ronzilla, or you just might get called an idiot and have your picture posted to my web site.

So it’s after 1:00 a.m. now, so I’ll close for tonight.  We are in Kissimmee tonight, and we’ll see the Braves and Astros here tomorrow.  Then we’ll be making the drive back to SC.  I’ll post again from there.

Are we already 3 days into this?  Wow.  Time flies when you’re having fun.

Today we were in St. Petersburg to watch the Red Sox and the Devil Rays.  It ended in a tie (they play no more than 10 innings in exhibition ball), which was ok with me because 1)it was hot, and 2)the Sox didn’t win.

Red Sox fans are the most obnoxious people on the planet.  Especially that guy with the big logo tattooed onto his back.  (Yes, really.)

It was a fun day.  We saw Don Zimmer, got interviewed (sort of) by the local ESPN radio station because we were 2 Yankee fans watching a Red Sox game.  That was interesting.

This was a new park for us.  We try to add a new stadium each year so we can eventually watch a game in each of them.  This stadium is really pretty, but it’s not the greatest spring park (by far) in the Grapefruit League.  Our seats were about 25 rows up from 1st base.  I imagine you could get better seats if you saw someone other than the Red Sox playing there.  Still, the seats were pretty good…there aren’t really any bad seats at these games.

I’ve got more photos up on Flickr.  Check out the one with the view of the horizon behind the stadium.  It’s pretty awesome.

Tomorrow morning we’re up early and on the road to Lakeland where we’ll watch our beloved Yankees play the Tigers.  It’s going to be a zoo up there.  That is a fairly small stadium and, as you may suspect, the Yankees draw a pretty decent crowd.

Tomorrow night we’re going to be in Clearwater to watch an old timers game.  Players scheduled to be on hand include Wade Boggs, Bob Feller, Jim Palmer, Gary Carter, Ken Griffey Sr., and Goose Gossage.  It’s a charity event to benefit some children’s hospital.  That’s one of the highlights of my year, so there will definitely be some updates posted tomorrow night.

I don’t know what you did today, but today I met Bob Feller.

This morning we left my parents’ house at 8:00. After a long drive (which really wasn’t all that bad), we parked at Chain of Lakes Park in Winter Haven, Florida. This is where the Cleveland Indians have their training camp.

We watched the 7pm game between the Indians and Astros. I got a foul ball (with the help of Dad) by leaning over the wall on the 3rd base line and having him hold my legs to keep me from falling. I got a couple Astros to sign the ball (read: “not Biggio”), and then we went to find Bob Feller.

For a $5 donation to his museum, you can get Feller to sign just about anything. Bats and shirts are a little more, but all I wanted was a ball and a picture. I got both. He was actually a pretty nice man.

Now for those of you who have lived under a rock for the entire span of your existence, Bob Feller was quite possibly the best right handed pitcher to play baseball. (If not the best, he is very close to the top of the list.) Feller pitched 16 out of 20 seasons from 1936 - 1956. Four of those years (the prime of his career), he was serving his country in the U.S. Navy. Stats here.

I don’t usually have a lot of pictures to share, but since I’ll have a good number this week, I decided to try out flickr. Geof does it, so it must be cool. Right? I’ve got a thing or two more to figure out (perhaps tomorrow), but I uploaded a few pictures here.

We’ve got a long day ahead tomorrow, so I’m going to get some sleep. We watch the Devil Rays (hopefully) beat the Red Sox, then we’ll be heading into Clearwater for some awesome pizza. More on that tomorrow.

Tonight I leave for SC where I’ll pick up Dad and head to Florida for our 2007 trip.  For those of you who may not know, we drive down to Florida every year to watch Spring Training baseball.  I’ll be posting from the road as I’m able.

Tomorrow morning we leave South Carolina for Winter Haven, Florida.  We’ll see a game tomorrow night at the Indians complex there.  It’s a really nice place.  We’ve only been to that stadium once, and it’s an older, smaller park with crazy women who won’t let you take bottled water into the park.  Stupid women.

Bob Feller was there last time we were, and I’ve been told he’s at most Indians home games.  I’m also told that he’s regularly got a table setup where you can get his autograph for like a $5-10 donation to his charity.  I’m not usually one to pay for autographs, but if any autograph would ever be worth $10 to get, it’d be Feller’s.

More tonight (probably) from SC.

(from home)

This post is about a week delayed because things got really busy here once I got home.

Monday it was 88 degrees in Lakeland, where we saw the Yankees and the Tigers play. It was a literal zoo. Sometimes in spring training, the visiting team only brings part of its starting lineup because they’re watching the prospects in game situations. That wasn’t the case this time. Most of the starting Yankees were in Lakeland for the game.

During the regular season, when the Yankees go to a city, tickets are hard to find. Even when they play the Devil Rays, ticket sales go up. We ordered our seats in January, so we were really close to the action (8 rows back, between home plate and the Yankee dugout).

That little stadium in Lakeland was packed. It was a standing room only crowd of about 6,500 people who crammed in to see the 2006 AL East Champions. (yeah, that’s right…I made that prediction.)

The Tigers beat the socks off of the Yankees, but it was fun being in such a small crowd to see the game. Mussina got beat up pretty badly, but we saw some decent defense. Fortunately spring training games don’t matter.

After the game we headed back to South Carolina. I slept in a little Tuesday morning and drove back home before it was time to eat supper.

So the trip is over now. I’ve got pictures, autographs, and memories from the trip. It seems like every year it’s a new experience. This did seem like the first year that we didn’t get lost (”geographically confused”) on the way to a game. I’m officially ready for the season to begin now. The annual spring trip is a nice way to end the long, cold winter of no baseball and welcome the new season.

If you’re one of those “one day I’ll go down there” people, don’t delay. Start planning early. The spring schedule will be out around Thanksgiving. Tickets go on sale the first week of January. So you’ll have 6 weeks or so to plan the trip and decide which games you’ll get to see. I’m already excited about going next year.

(From Tampa, FL)

What a day!

After a big breakfast at Perkins (a different one than before), we went up the road to Legends Field to see the Yankees play.

Legends Field is a nice place, but it’s not the most fan-friendly park you’ll ever visit. The autographs were decent; before the gates opened, Farnsworth, Leiter, and Veras signed. Once we were inside, I spotted David Justice in a broadcast booth and was able to get to speak with him for a minute. I told him I watched him play Single-A ball in my hometown, and we had a good laugh at the overall pathetic size of Sumter, SC.

We left Tampa for Clearwater for the Wade Boggs Legends Game at the Phillies’ stadium.

The game and home run derby are all for a children’s hospital in the area. Lots of HOFers, lots of non-HOFers, and some actors come out to help raise money for the children’s hospital. There were some good autographs there, but the best for me was one Mr. Brooks Robinson. See the old guy in the orange shirt in this picture? That’s him.

Tomorrow morning we head up to Lakeland to see our beloved Yankees one more time before heading back to Carolina. We’ve got awesome seats for tomorrow’s game, so I’m really looking forward to that. I’ll post about that tomorrow night from the road if my cell signal is good enough.

(from Tampa, FL)

This morning we drove the 2 hours from Ft. Pierce to Lakeland to see the Tigers. Tigertown is an old facility that was given a facelift by the city of Lakeland a few years ago. The Tigers have been there for many, many years, and their fan base here is really loyal. Going into Tigertown is like going to a really hot Michigan. People were talking about Michigan sports teams, in that semi-whiny, almost Chicagoland accent they have.

After the game, we checked into the hotel here in Tampa, and then found our way over to a sports bar that has awesome pizza. A guy I work with recommended this restaurant to us a couple years ago, and it’s become a highlight of the trip for us. Yeah, it’s that good.

Last year on the way back to Tampa from the same restaurant, there was a motorcycle accident on the Hwy 60 causeway between Tampa and Clearwater that held up traffic for more than 2 hours. Tonight, like last year, there was a motorcycle (we think) accident on the causeway. We got delayed about an hour and had to get routed through St. Petersburg to get back to Tampa, but we made it.

Tomorrow we see the Yankees here in Tampa, and then we see an old timers’ game over in Clearwater. Good times, indeed.

(From Ft. Pierce, FL)

We woke up this morning at this Motel 6 in Jacksonville. We hit the road again after about 6 hours of sleep.

We had to guess at a few variables: travel time to get out of Jacksonville, time to Orlando, time required to eat. We made it to Orlando in pretty good time, so we stopped at a Perkins to grab some breakfast.

Several hundred calories later, we left for the Braves spring training field at the Disney complex. We made it to the stadium about 10 minutes after we had hoped we would. We weren’t too upset over that though, because 10 minues in Orlando traffic isn’t really all that bad.

We watched the Braves and the Astros this afternoon and then headed to Vero Beach to Dodgertown.

Within 5 minutes of being at Dodgertown, we ran into (almost literally) Eric Gagne’ and several other Dodgers as well. We decided that Dodgertown might just be the most fan-friendly place in the Florida spring training sites. Players are really easy to get to there, and the Dodgers were really good about signing autographs for us.

During batting practice, one of the Mets’ balls came our way. I grabbed it, and found that it was a little different than most batting practice balls. It was from the 2005 All Star game. It’s pretty beat up, but it’s a cool souvenir. Check it out…

Then we watched the Dodgers and Mets. It was an exciting game, as the 2 lineups were pretty evenly matched. I really love this stadium. Here’s a shot of the field.

The last time I was at Vero Beach was 1993. I told Dad that it’s kind of funny…the last time I came here, I absolutely hated all things Dodger. Now, 13 years later, I’ve got a son named after one of them. Go figure.

Tonight we’re in Ft. Pierce, FL - just south of Vero Beach. We get up early tomorrow to go to Lakeland to see the Dodgers and Tigers at Tigertown. I’ll post again from Tampa tomorrow night.