Directories
Quick Searches
Find a Job
Quick Search
For Employers
Yahoo! HotJobs Local Search
Which is best spring training league for fans?
By: LOREN NELSON - Staff Writer | ∞
By: JAY PARIS - Staff Writer
CACTUS LEAGUE -- Cactus League vs. Grapefruit League? Sorry to be sour, like that fruit enjoyed by senior citizens, but it's no contest.
In Arizona, fans absorb the dry heat and comforting rays while watching one of 12 teams.
In Florida, fans' shirts absorb the humidity, which makes one sweat just keeping score. Try sitting through nine innings of a Orioles-Pirates thriller with perspiration as a constant companion.
Teams are fleeing Florida for Arizona as if yet another hurricane was approaching. The Dodgers are finally ditching Zero Beach ---- oops, Vero Beach ---- for the Valley of the Sun in 2009. The Indians' smoke signals reveal them heading to our neighbor state as well.
Nearly everyone prefers the desert to the swamps, the ever-warm to the Everglades.
Weather alert! This argument, in honor of the Grapefruit League, will experience a two-hour rain delay.
The Cactus League reigns supreme because there's more than baseball to entice seamheads. Once the game ends, the play begins. How about a steak at Monti's in Tempe, a prime rib at Don and Charlie's in Scottsdale, or an Old Style while reading the shipped-in-special Chicago Tribune in Mesa?
Even cities sprouting west of Phoenix, where the Padres hang their hat in Peoria, are maturing. These are no longer sleepy outposts ---- Glendale hosts the Super Bowl in February.
The Grapefruit League remains a super bore. Steady my beating heart ---- is that the bright lights of Lakeland, Fla.? The stadiums are just too spread apart; there's always a thunderstorm on the horizon.
It's not worth trekking across country when a better product is thisclose. Southwest has 14 nonstops leaving Monday for Phoenix, arriving in about 50 minutes. Or, there is a three-stop special to Tampa, Fla., requiring about eight hours.
Loren Nelson, my colleague, is a big Grapefruit League honk. It's not surprising he's that far off base because he actually eats grapefruits.
Since I was a little squirt, the Cactus League was the source of my spring ball. It's where baseballs fly, like time, whether you're watching an up-and-comer or an aging star trying to hang on.
Which reminds me of the dwindling Grapefruit League. Florida once dominated with its number of teams. But when Dem Bums and Tribe skedaddle, Florida's lead is sliced to 16-14.
No matter how it's cut, Arizona kicks Florida's horsehide. Nelson should admit it.
All the citrus-loving Nelson needs to know is the first Cactus League game's winning pitcher was Bob Lemon.
The Cactus League has juice, while the Grapefruit League shrivels like a prune.
Contact staffwriter Jay Paris at jparis8@aol.com.
GRAPEFRUIT LEAGUE -- Spread across Florida are bandbox ballparks oozing history, the sort of joints that are filled with electricity even when the seats are empty.
All across suburban Phoenix are condos, pawn shops and Jack in the Boxes.
In Florida, there's Dodgertown, where outfielders zigged and zagged around palm trees as they chased fly balls until they finally erected a fence in the outfield.
After the game, you can grab a big beef at a place called the Quik Snak Family Restaurant located not far from the intersection of Duke Snider Street and Vin Scully Way.
After games in The Valley of the Suburbs, you can choose between Taco Bell or El Pollo Loco.
If you want a spring training seat with a view, there are none better anywhere than those perched above right field at the Tampa Bay Devil Rays' stadium in gorgeous downtown St. Petersburg. There you can see sailboats bobbing in the harbor and small planes landing and lifting off at nearby Albert Whitted Airport.
In Phoenix, depending on the day's smog index, you might get a glimpse of Piestewa Peak, formerly known as Squaw Peak.
In Florida, there's Legend's Field in Tampa, the appropriately named home of the Yankees, and the massive billboard that trumpets each and every World Series won by the Bronx Bombers.
In Arizona, Randy Johnson and his walker are reunited with the Diamondbacks, Greg "Methuselah" Maddux is pitching for the Padres and Cy Young reportedly just signed a tender with the Angels.
The Red Sox train in Fort Myers, where a short drive takes you to Sanibel Island and the sort of paradise that inspires Jimmy Buffet songs.
In back cactus country somewhere east of Mesa there's a gigantic copper mine.
In Florida, you can get a grouper sandwich, use Canadian money to buy a Canadian beer and learn how to talk like Bob and Doug McKenzie ("Take off, eh. You hoser!") at the ballpark in Dunedin, home of the Toronto Blue Jays.
In Arizona, Dodgers infielder Jeff Kent likes to ride his dirt bike.
In Florida, Babe Ruth once refused to play the outfield because he was being stalked by a nearby alligator.
In Arizona, Barry Bonds routinely refuses to play the outfield because ---- well, that's just Barry being Barry.
Florida has lakes, Arizona has rattlesnakes.
Best spring training locale? I'll take a slice of grapefruit ---- and heaven ---- every time.
Contact sports editor Loren Nelson at (760) 740-3551 or lnelson@nctimes.com.
More Stories
Advertisement
Advertisement