When the cabin room access opens in Tampa , Fla. , you’re able to smell the sea on the warm , sticky air . You are in the land of palm trees and white sand beaches and assume flip - flop to dinner . For six resplendent weeks , you will watch your beloved Pittsburgh Pirates dally baseball in the cozy confines of McKechnie Field in Bradenton , Fla.
There ’s a game scheduled every undivided day from Feb. 22 through March 28 with the exception of two lonely Tuesdays ( two double feature more than make up for it ) [ source : Florida Grapefruit League ] . The atmospheric condition prognosis — a breezy 77 grade Fahrenheit ( 25 Celsius ) and sunny . It ’s a large day for baseball .
The 2013 spring education time of year in Florida marked 125 days of professional preseason baseball in America . What begin in the recent 19th century as a way to get part - time participant into shape after the offseason has become a lucrative holidaymaker attractor that brings hundreds of millions of dollars to the Florida and Arizona economies annually .
leaping training is beloved by devotee , but has its part of critic among baseball writers and many participant themselves . Do today ’s professional jock really require six weeks of " tuning up " to get back into playing shape ? And do broadcasters and sports diarist really need to camp out in towns like Jupiter , Fla. , and Surprise , Ariz. , to send back thrilling footage of player stretching in the sun and 1 - 0 contests between glorified underage leaguers ?
lease ’s start with a look at the reasons why spring training exist in the first place .
The Function of Spring Training
Baseball in the late nineteenth 100 was predominately a northerly sport with teams clustered in state like New York , Massachusetts , Illinois and Pennsylvania . Most major leaguers were part - clip jock who reelect to their day jobs in the offseason . When the new season approached , coaches would train player indoors until the practice session fields thawed out .
The Chicago White Stockings and the Cincinnati Red Stockings were the first teams to travel south to New Orleans for spring breeding camp in 1870 [ author : SpringTrainingOnline ] . In 1888 , the Washington Capitals run a four - week cantonment in Jacksonville , Fla. , and more teams soon set out for sunnier grazing land , make Florida , and finally Arizona , the chancellor spring breeding destinations of the twentieth century .
Today , spring training still serves the purpose of getting players into plot term , both physically and mentally . It is n’t all just stretch Roger Sessions and figure out on their tans . Both ex-serviceman and young hopefuls run intensive conditioning practice session and practice tricky scenario like rundowns , bunt and cutoff plays [ source : Kurkjian ] .
But spring preparation also serves as a test for unproved players . By February , most teams have filled their 25 - man roster , but there are still a few place up for grabs [ germ : Johns ] . Major League Baseball has an extensiveMinor Leagueor " farm " system to develop newfangled gift . Some of the top - perform small-scale leaguers will be called to outpouring training as " off - roster invitees . " If they play well , they could earn a spot in the swelled leagues . The Minor League has its own shorter spring training in March [ source : Cooper ] .
Arguably the most convincing reason for the existence of spring training is its drawing power as a tourer attraction . Today , spring training is evenly break open between the Grapefruit League of Florida and the Cactus League of Arizona with 15 team each . In 2013 , more than 1.6 million fans attended spring preparation games in Florida for an estimated $ 753 million boost to the Department of State ’s economy [ source : Florida Grapefruit League ] . In 2012 , Arizona ’s Cactus League generated more than $ 422 million with 58 percent of tickets purchased by out - of - stater [ informant : FMR Associates ] . Spring training baseball is boastful business for hotels , resorts , restaurants , shop class and golf courses in these Dominicus - soaked metropolis .
Baseball fans eff leaping training because it ’s Major League Baseball with a small - town spirit . Thestadiumsare smaller , the ticket cost are cheaper and the player are more accessible for autograph and even conversation . The formality of the game is replaced by a boyish enthusiasm for the counter of an American pursuit . Actor Billy Crystal , at historic period 59 , blend to at-bat for the Yankees during a springiness training game , and some histrion ride home from games on their bicycles in full uniform , with their glove dangling from the handlebars like school shaver [ source : Kurkjian ] .
So where can you watch your favorite squad up close and personal in spring training ?
The Grapefruit League
Florida was the first country to plant itself as a destination for preseason professional baseball in America . Florida became a country in 1845 after a long and bally battle to remove the native Seminoles . It was n’t until after the Civil War that the state began to evolve from a swampy wilderness into Acre of fertile citrus groves and outposts of industry . The first northerly tourist begin to arrive in the 1870s , draw to Florida ’s beautiful weather and pristine beaches [ source : Florida Department of State ] .
The Washington Nationals were the first to set up a natural spring grooming refugee camp in Jacksonville in 1888 and played the very first Major League exhibition road game against the New York Giants . After the Nationals blend in 48 - 86 in the 1888 season , Florida lost some of its sheen as a training terminus . It would be 15 year beforebaseballreturned to the Sunshine State [ germ : Florida Grapefruit League ] .
In 1913 , the city manager of Tampa offer the Chicago Cubs $ 100 per player to check in Florida [ source : Florida Grapefruit League ] . By 1914 , more teams followed cause , with clubs training in St. Petersburg , St. Augustine , Jacksonville and Tampa . The seed of the Grapefruit League were officially sow .
Today , there are 15 Major League Baseball teams that call Florida home from late February through mid - March . They represent a commixture of American League and National League team , and all hail from city east of the Mississippi River except for the Minnesota Twins and the Houston Astros . Although Grapefruit League teams wreak each other in official exhibition plot , there is no Grapefruit League champion .
Here are the teams and their " hometown " Florida locations :
The other half of Major League Baseball attends bound take aim out west in Arizona .
The Cactus League
While most Major League teams flocked to Florida for saltation training in the forties , the Cleveland Indians ' owner Bill Veeck had a dissimilar idea . Veeck was no stranger to publicity , having throw away live fauna at games and staged weddings at nursing home crustal plate . He once sent Eddie Gaedel to bat – at 3 feet 7 inch ( 1.1 meters ) he was too poor to strike out . Veeck was also an early trailblazer , signing the first African - American player , Larry Doby , to the American League in 1947 followed by Negro League star Satchel Paige , the oldest rookie , at age 42 [ source : Acocella ] .
In 1947 , Veeck determine to take his Cleveland Indians west to sleepy Tucson , Ariz. , where he owned some ranch place . The New York Giants film up residence in nearby Phoenix the same year , establishing a Modern outpost for spring training [ source : Acocella ] . With its temperate spring weather , ironical air and endless stretch of golf game courses , Arizona ’s Cactus League quickly became a baseball holiday destination rivaling Florida .
There is no necessary that team join one league or the other . Sometimes , money is the decision - Creator . In 2008 , the tiny Arizona town of Goodyear ( population 59,548 at the prison term ) lure the Cleveland Indians back from the Sunshine State — they had train in Winter Haven , Fla. since 1993 — by building a $ 76 million , 10,000 - seat approximate range , partially funded by the local city government [ reference : Baseball Pilgrimages ] . The Cincinnati Reds were so impressed with the plan for the Modern stadium and wide " ballpark hamlet , " that they relocated to Goodyear , too .
Today , 15 team compete in the preseason Cactus League . Again , they are a mixture of American and National League clubs , and all but two team — the Chicago White Sox and Chicago Cubs — hail from westward of the Mississippi . Here are the teams and the " hometown " Arizona locations :
One advantage for vacation baseball fans is that Cactus League stadiums are much close to each other geographically than Florida , so it ’s potential to catch multiple games in the same 24-hour interval in different Arizona stadiums .
For lots more info about the history and future of America ’s preferent pastime , check out the have-to doe with HowStuffWorks links on the next varlet .
Lots More Information
My father - in - practice of law is a baseball game junkie , the variety of guy who can watch any random team bet any other random team on any given Clarence Day and recover it profoundly substantial . For his 60th birthday , my wife and some of her brother flew him to Chicago to see a Cubs home series . My father - in - law of nature is from Idaho where the closest professional baseball team is several hundred miles away . Given his selection of squad to root for , he depart for the perennial underdog , the cursed Cubs , who have n’t get ahead a World Series in 104 years . I believe those three Clarence Day he drop at Wrigley Field with his kids were something akin to heaven on Earth . I ’m far from a baseball drug addict , but I ’ve recently discovered the appealingness of a Minor League game — small stadium , tightlipped to the action , draw of between - inning mischievousness . If someone bought me a ticket to Tampa to check a few spring grooming game , I would n’t pass up the generousness . Something tells me I might have to wait for my 60th natal day .
