By Ed Piper
Spring Training in the Cactus League is alive and well after COVID, as evidenced on my (nearly) annual trip to the Valley of the Sun in greater Phoenix March 7-11.
We got rained out--with big flashes of lightning during the Dodgers-Reds game--in the middle of the fifth inning Fri., March 8. Rain wasn't originally forecast for the evening game, broadcast on MLB and other outlets due to the day and time slot.
"The game has been called. Please exit" the stadium, I'm guessing the P.A. announcer said, as I couldn't hear his announcement clearly as thousands of us in a sold-out crowd massed under concessions awnings, trying to get protection from the suddenly pouring rain.
It was the highlight of our trip, as I re-introduced my faithful wife to Spring Training and my hyper schedule of one game, even two (Friday) a day--and a Padres morning workout scheduled in beforehand.
My goal, as always, was to see as much baseball as possible, in as many of the 10 area Spring Training sites as possible (15 teams hold their preseason workouts in the 15 parks in the Phoenix area). I made five parks, my wife four of those. Plus, as I stated, we visited Peoria for the Padres workout Friday morning, then Sloan Park (Cubs) Monday morning, getaway day, for some hat pins on the merchandise side.
The visit to Arizona was a slice of heaven. We reconnected with two couples we're close to, enjoyed driving the interconnecting freeways of the Valley, but didn't enjoy Grand Ave., which is a surface street that goes northwest to southeast from Surprise up top past Peoria through Glendale and below. Grand is almost always packed with traffic, and traveling on it, especially when you're in a hurry, can be quite frustrating.
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