2014 SPRING TRAINING PREVIEW (PART III)

2014 SPRING TRAINING PREVIEW (PART III)

& KENT STATE BASEBALL

The start of another baseball season is less than a week away and I just got my hands on some 2014 Topps baseball cards. I can't stop looking at team websites, gathering player photos and sorting out the baseball cards to team sets and moving players who have been traded or signed as free agents to their new team stack. I have baseball fever and my temperate is rising.

CUBS OPEN HOUSE 

I kept my promise and went to the Cubs open house for their new Spring Training stadium. When we arrived both the wife and I were shocked that it was decked out with live band and hot air balloon rides. Looked like a festival with the stadium and training complex as the main event. They even had sports cards and memorabilia dealers with guest Michael Floyd (NFL Cardinals & Notre Dame $40-$50) and Bill Madlock (Cubs 74-76 15 year MLB player with 163 career home runs $20) signing autographs. I did not know it would be this big of an open house, I thought we would be in and out in less than a hour and it turned into a full afternoon event. This time, they had pocket schedules. No give-a-way games, but did see the Cubs and Mets are going to play two games in Las Vegas 15-16 March. Not sure why a Grapefruit team and Cactus team  are meeting on natural ground in Las Vegas? Both teams are using split squids, will it be a mix of major and minor, I guess we just have to wait and see.

After fighting the traffic and finally finding a parking space we walk into the stadium. We stop at ever point taking pictures and resting in the seats taking in the view. The players enter the field just outside the teams dugout and that section is blocked off for press only, so getting autographs will be hard at this stadium. Unless, they sign along the rails around the first and third base line. The back stop had a brick wall just like Wrigley Field, the only thing missing was the ivy on the outfield wall. From the right field lawn to the party deck in left field to behind the plate it's a nice park. It was a little pass 2:00 pm and most of the stadium seats were cover from the sun, however the sun was hot in the outfield area. If your going to a game keep this in mind when you get your tickets. From what I have read, Cubs have one of the best attendance in spring training and the only tickets left might be the outfield lawn.

We could not get into the team complex, but the weight room was open and we walked around the practice fields. There are two fields up front, most likely the Major League field, one in-field, pitching mound 8-10 can pitch at a time, 12 indoor batting cage and in the back 4 Minor League fields. There is a look out patio you can stand and see all four minor league fields. A good place to stand when you want to find that prospect your looking for his autograph or just take in the practice and get out of the Arizona sun.

WHITE SOX & DODGERS

CAMELBACK RANCH
http://web.camelbackranchbaseball.com/index.jsp

Located at 10710 W Camelback RD, Phoenix AZ. This complex is huge and lots of parking. Speaking of parking, it free on game days. Of all stadiums to have free parking I would not have thought this would be one of them. The stadium was closed and there are no tours, so I did not take any pictures. Game tickets range from $8-$44. The White Sox complex is closes to Camelback road and the Dodgers complex is on the other side of the stadium. The good news is spring training starts early this year for the Dodgers 9 Feb  9:00 am - noon as they open the season Australia.  Not sure why they would start practice on a Sunday, but I will find my way out to Camelback and get a early taste to the start of the 2014 season. The White Sox will start spring training on 15 Feb 9:00 am - noon. I asked about autograph days, but there are no players commented to a certain days yet. I was told that players autograph day would be posted on camelbackranchbaseball.com or one of the teams other media sites. More than likely, these autograph days will be part of the spring training games played in the stadium. I would like to find Frank Thomas walking around practice one day and get his autograph with HOF 14.

BREWERS
MARYVALE BASEBALL PARK
http://phoenix.gov/parks/sports/marystad.html

Located at 3600 N 51st Ave, Phoenix AZ. Of all the ballparks I have seen, this one is located in the middle of busy town with one entrance in and out and having to cross over the intersection may be hard unless cops/ security control traffic. Parking is $6 on game day. Game ticket range from $8-$23. To my surprise there are 9 give-a-way days and 8 of them are bobbleheads. March 1 Carlos Gomes (2,000),3rd Hank Arron (2,000), 6th Ben Oglivie (2,000), 7th Cerveceros day, 10th George Scott (2,000), 15th Polish Racing Sausage (2,000), 17th Gorman Thomas (2,000), 22nd Harvey Kuenn (2,000) and 27th Ryan Braun (500). The stadium was open and we were allowed in to walk around. It was the first day of business for the stadium as they had workers stocking the team store and workers putting the seat in at the stands. There is only one entrance on and off the field and it's located near the right field wall. The wall is a little high, but you can still drop a ball over the wall to get signed. I would not try cards, books or photos unless they are on a clipboard with string.

I have to make at least one stop to a minor league practice to get a Kent State Alumni.



I have complete 8 of the 10 teams complexes. The remain two are Angels and A's. However, their box office do not open until after spring training has already begun. I will not have a chance to preview these two complexes, but may still make a trip and try to get some autographs. From some blogs I have read Mike Trout is very fan friendly and I may have a chance to get his autograph. The Angels only visit Goodyear once this year and there is only a 50% chance he will travel and play an away game.

I have already gotten my tickets for the first five games at Goodyear, Reds and  Indians play each other the first three game and the next two are give-a-way games. I'm asking around the RV park looking to see if anyone wants to get discount tickets with me instead of getting all 30 game tickets at one time.


KENT STATE BASEBALL

My school, Kent State will kick off the 2014 baseball season with three games against Arizona on 14-16 Feb. I have already gotten the tickets for all three games and will continue to work on my Kent State Alumni autograph collection. They are custom made photos with the player in his college uniform, the school logo and the players name with open space in the middle for the player's autograph. I also have several more for the players who now play for MLB teams who will be in Arizona for MLB spring training. The hardest part was finding the right photos with large pixels to fit and look good. Kent State looks good this year for another run at the MAC title (13 MAC Championship and/or MAC Tournament tiles in the last 14 years) with seven players (four under class men and three upper class men) on the team who have been drafted by MLB teams (but, decided to attend college), along with a few more upper class men who have a good change at getting drafted in June. Kent State has had 5 or more player drafted 4 out of the last 5 years.


Arizona is ranked #33 and they have a really good team, but ... I am, Kent State. GO FLASH!

LAS VEGAS, NV

LAS VEGAS, NV

DAY 1

This week our RV Resort had a three days two nights trip to Las Vegas. However, we turned it into a four days three nights trip. We don't mind bus trips, but they only stop for scheduled stops and we like to stop whenever we like, so we left a day early and drove ourselves. Almost a 7 hour drove we knew it would take most of the day and crossing into the Pacific Time Zone we would gain one hour. Like most of our drives this winter, anytime we leave the major city we see nothing but desert and no surprise we saw nothing but desert most of the way to Nevada. Once we got close to the Nevada boarder we started to see Lake Mead National Recreation Area. Another stamp in my book... or so I thought. When we arrived at the visitor center they are closed on Monday and Tuesday, so we would have to wait until our drive back to Arizona to check it out. However, we did stop at the look-out from 95. We also made our way to Hoover Dam. There has been lots of work since our last visit. All-in-all we spent about 1 1/2 hours in and around the area before heading into sin city for our check-in time at 4 Queens.

The first night we did a little gambling, sightseeing and ate chopped steak diner two for one deal. I remember back to our first visit to Las Vegas (mid 1990's) meals were cheep ... not any more. The best way for us to eat was look for coupons for 2 for 1 meals. This gives us a chance to spread out and eat at other places then just our hotel restaurants. Looking for those deals are part of the fun. We walk around and saw the 350 lbs eat free buffet, souvenir stores and some street acts. We then return to the hotel and after a long day on the road we called it an early night.

DAY 2

Just in case you did not know, there is more to Vegas then just gambling and staying on the strip so we made a trip to Nellis AFB. We like to go to Military bases to use the exchange and commissary. I've earned the right to use them, and when we can we try to stop at a base. Then, we headed to an Asian market, the wife had to get her food. We got food for the next two days for breakfast and lunch then we would eat out for our dinners. When we got back we started to see our fellow RV campers show up and checking into their rooms. We caught up with some of them and hung out gambling until it was dinner time. With 90+ people from the RV Resort I guess everyone got hungry at the same time as the line to the casino restaurant was backing out the side door, so we made our way to another casino.  With another couple from the RV Resort we made our way out into the streets and found anther place to eat dinner. We had the prime rib. This place was not stingy at all with the prime rib and the cuts were thick and long. I think this was the first time, in a long time I could not finish a meal. Unfortunately, I could not take it with me as there is no refrigerator or microwave in our room. I just hated to leave it behind knowing it would be thrown away. We made our way back to Fremont Street just in time to see the top of the hour experience LED light and music show. Afterwards, we hit a few slots and turned in for the night.

Now that, is SUPER SIZE

DAY 3

There were exhibits on the strip the wife wanted to see. We ask the couple from last night if they wanted to go and the four of use drove to the strip. First on the list was the Bellagio's Botanical Conservatory. It was decorated in the theme of Chinese New Years.

Next, was the Flamingo's Wildlife Habitat. Basically, an outside water pond where they had of course flamingos, along with fish and birds.

Last visit was the Mirage's Salt Water Aquarium. The aquarium was nice and full of fish, but it was behind the check-in desk making it hard to take picture with guest checking-in getting in the way. I think it would have been better if the aquarium was in the lobby making it easier to view.

Some pictures from the strip.

We finally, got a chance to eat dinner in our hotel restaurant and of course it was a 2 for 1 coupon. We felt a little lucky and the wife hit triple 7's on the penny slots and left with money in our pockets. $.75 bet turned into $12.30, the winnings paid for dinner. We went outside to see another Fremont Street Experience LED light and music show and turned in for the night.

DAY 4

Our RV Park had one stop at the Ethel M Chocolate Factory in Las Vegas before heading back to Arizona so we met them there, but on our way out of the casino we saw a slot machine that had money on it. We tried to cash it out, but could not. It must have been free play money so we took turns playing the money. 15 spins latter not one win, I guess better us trying then letting the money sit for someone else. We still left Vegas with money in our pockets, better than none at all.

We arrived at Ethel M Chocolate Factory before the buses, so we just waited. When the buses arrived we all walked in as a group, but I was disappointed that the factory was dead and not making any chocolate and the prices was too high... can you say tourist trap.

$90 WHAT!!!

We said our goodbyes and left our fellow RV'ers and made our way to Lake Mead National Recreation Area. As we arrived I got my National Park stamp in my book, watched the park video and walked the exhibit room. We could see Lake Mead from the top of the hill and wanted to go inside to take a look at the docks. With our National Park Pass in hand we drove though the gate ($10 for 1-7 day pass). We drove down to the docks and walked around. As we got on the dock you can see almost to the bottom. There was carp and strip bass everywhere along with birds and ducks looking for someone to throw food in the water. As we stood by the water edge and looked out into the lake we can tell where at one time the water level stood a lot higher than it does today.

 Look at the white lines around to rock. That means at one time where I was standing was under water.

Before we know it, it was close to 1:00 pm with the 7 hour drive and losing an hour after crossing into Arizona we called it the end of our trip and started home.


 As I'm about ready to publish the post I have noticed that a lot of articles are starting to hit the web about the danger of Lake Mead shrinking and what it will happen to the States that relies on Lake Mead for it's water and power that Hoover Dam creates.