This past week, I was back in Phoenix on another work assignment for ABF Freight. This was my second trip to Arizona, so I was a little bit more familiar with my surroundings and baseball opportunities this time around. 15 MLB teams call Arizona cities their Spring Training homes. Spring Training games in Arizona are known as the Cactus League (as opposed to Grapefruit League in Florida) and were in full swing last week. And, knowing that my hotel was just about 5 miles from where the Los Angeles Dodgers and the Chicago White Sox Spring Training facility was just the opportunity I needed to check out my first Cactus League game.
Many years ago, I attended Grapefruit League games in Florida. My dad lived in Fort Myers Beach, FL for many years. So, when I would visit him, I would check out the Red Sox at Jet Blue Park and previously at City of Palms Park. In addition to the Sox, I have attended Braves, Yankees, Cardinals, and Twins Grapefruit League games on various other trips to Florida. My last visit to Arizona about two weeks ago, I visited a number of Major League Baseball Spring Training stadiums, which was awesome. No games going on, just prep work for the Spring games. So, with a full schedule of games now active, I set my sites on Camelback Ranch for either a Dodgers or White Sox game.
I should probably add something here in the story about why I chose Camelback Ranch. Typically on work trips, I have my own rental car. For this trip, I was without a rental car because the week prior, my wallet was stolen out of my car in Virginia Beach. My license and credit cards were stolen, thus no chance of renting a car with just my good looks. I was able to travel out to Arizona and a work friend helped me out with rides to and from work, so it all worked out in the end. So, I researched the cost to travel to various stadiums via Uber and Camelback Ranch was the closest. So, I ended up taking an Uber to and from the stadium, which was actually pretty convenient. Okay, on with the story.
My original plan was to see the Dodgers vs White Sox at Camelback Ranch on Tuesday, February 27th. Dodgers have Mookie Betts, enough said and Betts alone is worth the price of admission. White Sox have Andrew Benintendi, another former Red Sox favorite of mine and probably the second hardest player’s last name to spell. Yaz is the hardest and by the way, my favorite to misspell. Win, win – except this game was slated to be the first home game for one massive free agent signee, one Shohei Ohtani. So the ticket prices went through the roof, even for general admission tickets. Time for Plan B – Padres vs. White Sox the following day. Ticket prices dropped to reasonable levels, plus the added bonus of Xander Bogaerts, another former Red Sox great who is now a 2nd baseman??? for the Padres. 22 bucks for general admission, yeah I’m all over that.
The weather could not have been more ideal. Sunny skies, wispy clouds, light winds, 70 something degrees. There were picturesque views of the field from every single corner of the stadium. With the beautiful blue skies and pristine field conditions, all I had to do was point and click on my camera phone. I started behind home plate and made my way towards right field, stopping to snap a few photos along the way, and of course watch the game. Many of the White Sox and Padre (typical MLB game) starters were playing, which was awesome. Padres had familiar names in their lineup like Bogaerts, Kim, Cronenworth, even top prospect Ethan Salas played. White Sox had Benny Biceps, along with Yoan Moncada, and Luis Robert, Jr. play multiple innings. Fans were spread out all over the stadium, so it was tough to gauge just how many were in attendance. Most of the fans were actually in the grassy areas beyond the outfield fences.
In the right field bullpen area, you could see the White Sox logo on a large building. Executive offices, perhaps. And a list of retired numbers just above the bullpen wall. I recognized Fisk, obviously Jackie Robinson’s 42, Frank Thomas, Paul Konerko right away.
The Dodgers logo was on the left field side, again maybe a workout facility or executive offices. The numbers were located just about the left field bullpen area. Not knowing the retirees off hand, I’m guessing Koufax, Lasorda, Duke Snider are probably up there somewhere.
I chatted it up with some of the ushers and stadium attendants. And met a local Arizona man who worked for the White Sox, helping the team with lodging while they were in Arizona for the Spring. Nice guy, very personable, tons of baseball stories, and one awesome baseball shirt. Great meeting you Steve!
The game went by really fast. It was the 7th inning before I made my final pass around the stadium for one last time before calling my Uber. I was taking a photo or two behind the White Sox bullpen in right field. The Padres’ Brett Sullivan got ahold of one and bashed it out of the park, landing about 5 feet from where I was standing. A throng of kids sprinted to the grassy area next to me and wrestled each other for the souvenir home run baseball. Ah, to be young again. That would have been me at that age, scratching and clawing for a baseball. I let the lads have their fun and laughed at the experience of fans going nuts over foul balls and home run baseballs.
What an awesome first Cactus League game experience. White Sox vs Padres did not disappoint. Hitters are still knocking off the Winter rust. As are the fielders, pitchers, and managers – the game only featured 4 runs and a total of 7 hits. No matter, the weather was amazing, the stadium was open for me to walk around and explore with my general admission ticket, and the experience of watching 10 or so lads go professional wrestling for a home run baseball was worth the price of admission alone. I will be back in Arizona shortly and will look to add some more games to my Cactus League resume.
The Rhiter 