MLB teams
Tim Kurkjian, ESPN Senior Writer 8y

Baseball fans, rejoice -- spring training is finally here

MLB

Pitchers and catchers report.

For baseball fans, those are the four best words in the English language, words that suggest, despite the snow on the ground, that spring and warmth are ahead, followed by Opening Day, summer vacation and the family trip to the beach, or to all 30 ballparks. For some teams, pitchers and catchers reported Thursday; others arrive today, meaning, for baseball fans, last Wednesday was the last worthless evening.

Every spring training is special. There are always compelling storylines: the Cubs trying to win the World Series for the first time since 1908, the Royals attempting to become the first repeat world champions since the 1998-2000 Yankees, the Diamondbacks making a huge commitment with the signing of Zack Greinke and trade for Shelby Miller, the re-working of the Red Sox, the enigmatic Dodgers, the Mets' sensational young rotation and the (perhaps) best rookie class ever entering its sophomore season.

 Dusty Baker is back in the game, and hoping to restore order to the Nationals. Tim Hudson and Torii Hunter officially retired (as well as Aramis Ramirez, but hopefully not Mark Buehrle); we will miss their smiles, their wit and the way they played the game. This is the final season for David Ortiz, whose farewell tour will be many things, but mostly, it will be entertaining. There are milestones to be reached: Alex Rodriguez is 13 homers shy of 700 and 27 homers shy of tying Babe Ruth, and Ichiro Suzuki is 65 hits from 3,000.

It is a time for optimism. No one has lost a game, rookies have promise and veterans believe it will be their best year. It is a time to try switch hitting, changing positions, experimenting with a knuckleball or making a comeback, which Jim Palmer tried in 1992 in an attempt to become the first player to play in the major leagues after being elected to the Hall of Fame. It is a time for players, nearing the end of their careers, to join new teams. Hall of Famer Mike Piazza joined the Padres in 2006. He destroyed the club record for the highest score on the hand-strength test. "It was like Herman Munster joined our team,'' then-San Diego manager Bruce Bochy said.

It is baseball in its purest form, a time for wind sprints, endless fielding drills, fundamentals and split-squad games on a back field where only the scouts are watching. Millionaire players are not yet receiving enormous paychecks every two weeks; they're getting the same meal money as the rookie in his first big-league camp. No one is exempt from the tortuous three-hour bus rides in Florida, or facing some anonymous Class A pitcher who throws really hard, but has no idea where the ball is going. It is the one time of year that, most days, Greinke and the 20-year-old kid are on equal ground. It is the one time of year when a player gets on the bus in uniform, just like on the high school team.

In 2003, Indians pitcher Brian Anderson boarded the team bus at 8 a.m. for the two-hour drive to Vero Beach, Florida, for a spring training game. Thirty minutes into the trip, Anderson realized that he had forgotten his hat, his spikes and his glove back in Winter Haven.

"I was running late that morning because I knew I was going to get to hit in the game, so I was looking for the really important things: batting gloves and a bat,'' Anderson said. "When we got to Vero, I was in full panic mode. I borrowed a car and went to a mall, but there wasn't one glove in the whole mall, but I found some Adidas spikes. On the way back to the ballpark, I saw a Wal-Mart. I thought, 'Hey, Wal-Mart has everything ... tires ... produce ... it must have a baseball glove.' I found one: $29.95, already broken in. It was a softball glove. A Wilson. It was awful. I borrowed someone's hat and pitched in the game. Of course, I got three comebackers to the mound, and I caught them all because my new glove was as big as a butterfly net; it made [Greg] Maddux's glove look small. That day reminded me of when I was 17, playing legion ball. That is spring training to me.''

It is the only time of year when winning and losing, and the statistics of the game, are largely irrelevant: Jim Edmonds was getting so many hits late in one spring that he asked to stop playing so he wouldn't use up all his hits before the season. The Cubs went 7-20 in spring training of 1984, and went on to win the National League East that season. The 2002 Orioles went 20-9 in spring training, but lost 95 games during the regular season. There is an unconfirmed story that Yankees right fielder Lou Piniella purposely dropped a fly ball in extra innings of a night exhibition game because the players were tired, both teams were out of pitchers, and the Yankees wanted to go home more than they wanted to win.

Late in spring training in 1984, Rangers outfielder Larry Parrish told his teammates to purposely make outs against Royals starter Paul Splittorff, who was nearing the end of an excellent career but needed a good final spring training start in order to make the team. If Splittorff had pitched well against the Rangers, Parrish figured, they would get to face him in the first month of the regular season, when they could light him up when the games counted.

For some players, spring training marks their first major league camp, meaning a chance to locker next to, or play with or against, the star players on the team. In spring training 1985, Rangers reliever Mitch Williams, who later earned the nickname "Wild Thing,'' came to his first big league camp. In his first batting practice session against his own hitters, his first pitch missed the batting cage, hit one of the tires that roll the cage, and went flying in the air. Then Williams hit veteran Alan Bannister with a pitch. The veterans who were next in line to hit, Buddy Bell and Parrish, refused to bat against Williams, and were excused from BP by manager Doug Rader.

"That's OK,'' Williams later said. "I didn't want to kill a teammate in my first spring in a major league camp.''

It is a time to work on bunt plays, rundown plays and cutoff plays, situations and drills that are very difficult to practice during the season; the repetition done in spring training usually must last the entire season. In spring training 1971, the Senators were working on a rundown play, but there was confusion about the proper way to run it. A major argument ensued between the players and coaches.

"One of our coaches asked [manager] Ted [Williams] to settle the argument,'' Senators catcher Rick Stelmaszek said. "Ted hated those drills anyway, but he dragged himself out of the dugout and listened to both sides screaming that their way was right. Finally, Ted had had enough. He said, 'F--- it, let's hit!'''

It is a time of confusion because there are so many players in camp, some of whom have to wear a number in the 80s, like a wide receiver. In 1980, Scott Meyer, a non-roster catcher with the A's, wore No. 100 because there were 100 players in camp.

"We were training at the old Scottsdale Stadium, which had one field,'' said Mickey Morabito, the A's traveling secretary. "We had guys lined up 10 deep for drills. There was nowhere to go."

Only in spring training could this story happen. The Twins signed infielder Tsuyoshi Nishioka in the spring of 2011. He didn't speak much English, and didn't know anyone on the team. Several teammates convinced Twins outfielder Denard Span to introduce himself to Nishioka, to make him feel more a part of the team. Only they tricked Span, telling him that Ray Chang, another infielder, was Nishioka. So Span, ever respectful, approached Chang, bowed gracefully, introduced himself, and asked him if he spoke English.

"Sure I do,'' Chang said. "I'm from Kansas City!''

The whole team howled.

Only in spring training could then-Rays first baseman Carlos Pena make a mistake in a baserunning drill, then justify it by quoting Dr. Martin Luther King's "I Have A Dream'' speech.

"My first baseman is quoting Dr. King,'' then-Rays manager Joe Maddon said. "I love it.''

Only in spring training would pitcher Jeremy Guthrie, then with the Rockies, ride his bike to work in full uniform. "It was only five miles,'' he said of his daily ride two springs ago to the Rockies facility. Then-teammate Michael Cuddyer said of Guthrie, laughing, "He once pitched in a game in Scottsdale, then got on his bike -- still in full uniform, with his glove on the handlebars -- and rode back to our facility. It was like a scene from 'The Sandlot.'''

Only in spring training would then-Padres Chris Young and Will Venable pick teams for a free throw shooting tournament because both guys played basketball at Princeton. "That's as nervous as I've ever been for an athletic competition,'' Young said with a smile, "because I'm not a great free throw shooter, and my team was depending on me to be good.'' Only in spring training would the Twins hold a bowling tournament behind the KFC in Fort Myers and, said Twins manager Ron Gardenhire, "Joe Mauer would be high-fiving his teammates, guys he's never met in his life, after they rolled a strike.'' Only in spring training could Jeff Stone get thrown out at all four bases in one game, and only one of them was a force out (think about that). Only in spring training could Rockies pitcher David Lee, in an emergency, be forced to drive the team bus on a night trip, then earn the nickname "Diesel'' when he stopped the bus and announced, "We've got to get some diesel!''

Only in spring training is time taken to get in baseball shape. "We're always inventing drills and conditioning programs in spring training,'' veteran coach Rich Donnelly said. "Years ago, we would do 10 jumping jacks, touch our toes twice, then play the game. Today, these strength and conditioning coaches are always coming up with new stuff: rubber bands, parachutes, cones. I just can't imagine Ted Williams going to spring training and running with a parachute on his back, or Babe Ruth jumping over a bunch of cones.''

It is a time for the fans, especially kids. Families take vacations to spring training. Getting a player's autograph is easier because everything and everyone is more relaxed than during the regular season. Well, except for when the Red Sox and Yankees played for the first time in spring training 2004, their first meeting since Aaron Boone's home run sent the Yankees to the World Series, and sent the Red Sox home. Tickets were scalped for $500 for an exhibition game! Before the game, there was a fight in the parking lot at City of Palms Park in Fort Myers between a Yankees fan and a Red Sox fan -- both of whom were women.

It's spring training. Finally. We can't wait.

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