Spring Training Baseball

It’s March in Phoenix, which means the weather is perfect, my allergies are killing me, and Major League Baseball is in town. For those of you who don’t follow baseball, half of the major league teams play pre-season ball in Arizona and the other half in Florida.

 

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I’m not a huge baseball fan, but I try to make it to at least one spring training game each season. It’s good for my pale skin to actually see the sunlight once in awhile =)
 
Over the past six months or so, the City of Mesa has been busy building a brand new stadium for the Chicago Cubs. We live in Mesa (I remember voting for the new stadium a few years ago), so of course we wanted to check out the new park.
 
A couple Fridays ago my boyfriend and I decided to play hooky from work to catch a ball game at the new stadium. I bought the tickets from StubHub and we ended up with great seats for cheaper than face value.

Anyway, the new stadium looks great and the game was definitely more fun than spending the afternoon in a cubicle.

Speaking of new stadiums, the Arizona Diamondbacks and Colorado Rockies share a stadium in Scottsdale that was built just a few years ago. I’ve been wanting to check it out, but just haven’t made it over there for a game yet…
 
Well, I finally got a chance to watch a game there on Saturday. My dad is a huge Los Angeles Angels fan and he wanted to see a game while they are in town. There were only two Saturday games left on the schedule and one happened to be against the Rockies at the new stadium…it was meant to be! I bought our tickets off of StubHub again and we had great seats, but I did pay over face value this time. My dad LOVES baseball, but usually only gets to see one game in person each year, so it was worth the money.

The stadium is really nice and the weather was bright and sunny – it was a great day at the ballpark. Plus it was fun spending some one-on-one time with my dad. If you are wondering about my mom, she also drove down to visit, but doesn’t like baseball so she spent the afternoon shopping.

Anyway, if you live in Arizona or Florida I encourage you to check out a spring training game, even if you don’t like baseball. The tickets are cheap and the weather is usually perfect. Plus it’s fun for kids because most of the players will sign autographs before the game. Just don’t forget to bring something for them to sign and a sharpie!
 
And don’t forget the sunscreen!