If you love baseball, I mean really love baseball, you need to go to spring training at some point. You may have heard this before, you may think "yeah, that might be cool", but I'm telling you right now - you need to.
I'll be leaving for Tampa on Wednesday morning for what I consider my 'yearly pilgrimage' to Yankees Spring Training. While this will only be my third time there and second in a row, this trip is something I can hopefully do until my hair is gray.
Imagine going to a high school baseball game. Imagine sitting on the grass watching the game, sitting in sun soaked bleachers, going for a better look and standing up against the fence 15 feet behind home plate. Now imagine the batter on the other side of that fence is Derek Jeter, the guy stopping grounders at third is Alex Rodriguez, and the player throwing warm up tosses along the 1st base foul line is Mariano Rivera. That is what spring training is like. At no other time during the year can you be so close to icons that you can usually only see on tv, or from far away if you're lucky enough to get to a game in person.
A fond memory is of last year, walking into Steinbrenner Stadium where the Yankees hold their spring training for the first time and walking right down to above the Yankees dugout on the first base line. Batting practice and fielding drills were going on. Jeter was at short taking grounders and throwing them across the diamond to who? Tino Martinez. Perched at second base observing everything was who? Yogi Berra, with Yankee skipper Joe Girardi next to him. Next to the batting cage giving a quick hitting lesson to some Yankees of the future was who? Mr. October, Reggie Jackson. The list goes on from there - Ron Guidry, Goose Gossage, David Wells, Graig Nettles, Mickey Rivers, and more. To a casual fan, this was a cool experience. To a huge fan of the current team and the team's history, this was a slice of heaven.
Looking around the spring training complex you don't just see other fans, you see friends. Like minded people who have the bug, just like you do. People crazy enough to stand around watching people throw a ball back and forth. People who have taken time off from work and planned a vacation solely around standing there watching guys throw a ball back and forth. There doesn't even need to be a spring training game going on - actually I think I prefer laid back nature of the practices even more than games. In the air is the smell of freshly cut grass and hope for a new season.
No matter what team you are a fan of, spring training is a time to celebrate. Your team is in first place. Enjoy it.
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