We’re enjoying following our favorite teams as the Cactus League and Grapefruit League are in full swing.
The 15 teams that train in Arizona make up the Cactus League, while the 15 in Florida comprise the Grapefruit League.
If you’re visiting spring training sites, Arizona has two advantages: fewer games are rained out, and each team’s facilities are much closer together than in Florida. Phoenix is the hub, and the Cactus League ballparks are a short ride from one to another – usually not more than 15 minutes apart.
The closest spring training site to my winter dugout in West Palm Beach, Florida, is only 2.8 miles up the street (Haverhill) from the front entrance of Century Village, where close to 500 Orthodox Jews reside when the baseball season ends until the next baseball season starts.
The Houston Astros and Washington Senators share a beautiful ballpark that can accommodate about 7,000 fans, and the only times you might need to buy tickets in advance are when the New York teams are scheduled to play. The Mets play about an hour north in Port St. Lucie, while the Yankees call Tampa, about three hours west, home.
The spring training memories that mostly pop up in the television of my mind are from 50 years ago in 1976.
I headed a national monthly baseball publication at the time and tried to line up as many interviews as I could in a day. I started in Miami, where the Baltimore Orioles were based at the time, and drove an hour north to Pompano Beach to chat with Gaylord Perry of the Texas Rangers. From there it was north again to Ft. Lauderdale, where I would take in an exhibition game between the Yankees and Dodgers and had time to interview Yanks owner George Steinbrenner and manager Billy Martin.
It was also a chance to renew a growing friendship with Los Angeles Dodgers manager Tommy Lasorda and Dodgers first baseman Steve Garvey, my favorite player at the time. Just when I thought it was the best spring training game possible, it got better.
I was placed in the press box on the roof of the ballpark next to the legendary Red Smith, considered by many to be the best sports columnist of all time.
He covered it all, from the Yankees of Babe Ruth and Lou Gehrig to Joe DiMaggio and Mickey Mantle and beyond. I assume he was called “Red” for the color of his hair, but I recall a completely white-haired gentleman, wearing a round white hat with a small brim circling it and topped by a blue band. It matched his light blue suit and open-necked light shirt.
Through the years I read many of his columns, but the thing that jumps out about Red Smith is the line he wrote well over a half century ago: “Ninety feet between the bases is the closest to perfection that man has yet to achieve.”
Those of us who follow baseball know that to be true, whether it was the Babe Ruth era or the Aaron Judge era. The next day, fifty years ago in 1976, I went to Lakeland, Florida, spring home of the Detroit Tigers and the oldest spring training site for any team. That’s where Hank Greenberg began training for the big leagues over 90 years ago.
The Tigers were readying for the 1976 season after trading star pitcher Mickey Lolich to the Mets for star hitter Rusty Staub. Rusty, a gourmet cook, became my closest friend on the team and the recipient of several kosher cookbooks containing recipes from the Orthodox community.