Angels Spring Training: Two Games From the Lawn

In the regular and post season a team with a good atmosphere are the most boisterous fans around. Whether its the Cameron crazies at Duke, or the fans of any team in Seattle (both Sounders and Seahawks), its their encouraging behavior for their fans, and more importantly whether their noise can be a disruptive force for their opponents, which provide a great atmosphere.

Frankly there is nothing of the sort happening at spring training stadiums. There are no terrible towels and dog pounds, no waves, hardly any energy and excitement . . . and its awesome. The strong ties and loyalties that tend to makes fans act like belligerent buffoons are still there, but much of the energy that they usually use at the game, is spent in traveling to Arizona (or Florida) to watch their favorite teams.

What makes spring training great is the atmosphere.

Beginning before 6 am, after a 5 and a half hour drive from Los Angeles Friday morning, I arrived with my 3 buddies at my first spring training game at Maryvale ball park, spring training home of the Milwaukee Brewers in Phoenix, to see them take on the Angels. We had our tickets already, we had our board shorts and sandals, a brown bag filled with chips, hummus, and oranges, and we had no sunscreen—we must be ready for our first spring training game. The sun was hot and beat down, unrelentingly like on the ball defense from Tyronn Lue.

It was about 25 minutes before the first pitch. Dan Haren and the Angles were warming up still in left field, and hardly anyone in the stadium even noticed. The lines at the concession stands were the most exciting and bustling places in the stadium. There was plenty of room to choose from out in the lawn with the general admission tickets, but as the game started the lawn and especially the stands filled up quickly.

This game began as all Brewers game will this year, with at least a spattering of boos and taunts at the Brewers right fielder Ryan Braun. Staying consistent with spring training’s m.o., it was a much more muted jeering than, say. . . the Brewers first away game, April 9th at Wrigley will be. “Hey Braun, if your first name was ‘Le’ your name would be ‘Le-Braun.” That’s not really an insult, or a representative sample of what all jeering was like, that’s just funny. Unless you want to blame everything that goes wrong with the Brewers and MLB in general on him, in which case its pretty accurate.

The fans in attendance this Friday were in for a treat because of the All Star pitching battle, Dan Haren vs. Zach Greinke. Both pitchers had good stuff, and went into the fifth inning. The Angles got very little going off Greinke, who ended up striking out 9 in his 5 innings of work. Angels Mark Trumbo played at third. He looked comfortable, surprisingly agile, and from deep left field he started to look like Troy Glaus. In other news he didn’t take any grounders off of his face.

But being at the Brewers ballpark, what I did want to see was the Sausage race. The rockstars of Bratwurst, Italian, Kielbasa, Hot Dog, and newest to the race Chorizo strolled onto the field before the bottom of the sixth inning with something to prove. A slight buzz started in the stadium. The sausages towered over the club personnel who lead them in. My impression is that they should be playing in the NBA and not being a spectacle for Brewers fans all season. The mood was tense.

But the race was some letdown. The gun went off, the Sausages starting 40 feet closer to home than the right field foul pole. They started towards the visiting Angels dugout. Chorizo, our pre-race favorite as we had handicapped the race, went straight to the back and practically walked in. I waited for him or her to charge forward and catch the leaders in a triumphant effort of spicy glory as they approached the right field foul pole or maybe all the way around to where they started. I didn’t know where they were going to finish. But the race ended with the Polish sausage winning with an anti-climactic ten foot lead, at the finish line which came well before home plate.

I had such high expectations for this race made famous in Milwaukee, but it was a short dud of a race. Its probably their spring training too, they did not want to strain their sausage casing, and haven’t rounded into their midseason form yet.

After the race, in what is a spring training tradition, most of the fans left. Leaving early is commonplace to LA fans. Its not what we did though. At our first spring training game, we went the full 9 innings. We hit up this spring training game on our way into town, and on our way out of town on Sunday we went to Tempe Diablo Stadium to catch the Angels take on the two time American League champions Texas Rangers.

My first impression of Tempe Diablo Stadium was wow this is a nice ballpark. It rose up impressively as you approached the stairs leading up to the main gate. I walked up, and handed my ticket to the gate personnel, and the most amazing thing happened—he tore my ticket. He didn’t scan it, but tore off the perforated edge, handed me back 4/5 of my ticket, and I walked through the turnstile.

The stadium was packed. It was definitely a sell out. It could have been that it was a Sunday game and not a Friday afternoon game, but certainly the Albert Pujols factor was on primetime display this Sunday with the throngs of people out for the game. He hit a solo laser to the left field lawn in the first inning to the delight of all of the people in the left field lawn who showed up on time.

The relaxed atmosphere continued at the game despite there being around 33% more people at this game. Subsequent Pujols plate appearances brought applause and engagement from the crowd, but outside that, the community gathered and waited receptively to be consumers of the spring training product.

The best part of the game for me was meeting the two men standing in front of us, and hearing their story. It is this kind of community that can make spending a spring training game special compared to the other version of good fans that I normally tout. Those yellers and screamers and blasphemers all make for good fans, but from them you normally only hear who sucks.

This man, a native of Philly, and now a resident of Phoenix, told me the story of how he came to meet his cousin, whom he was watching the game with, but at the time he began his story I had no idea that this other man was his cousin or where the story was headed.

His father left him when he was 3 years old. He lived in Philly, and his father whom for all purposes he never met, moved to Phoenix. As a young man he went to Jersey to meet his cousin. The two had never met. A musician, and at the very least a local celebrity, his cousin was playing music at a bar that night. This man’s expectation was really just to have a drink, and hopefully listen to his cousin.

When he got to the door, he explained to the door guy, who was hassling him as he tried to enter, that he was just trying to see his cousin play music that night. “Wait, your cousin is playing music here tonight? My cousin is playing here tonight. . .” The chance encounter brought together these two cousins as well, who had also never met. They went into the bar and enjoyed themselves that night.

His cousin, the door guy, acted as an intermediary and got the contact information from his own mother of the man’s father who moved out to Phoenix. Through this chance encounter, he tracked down his father and met him for the first time. Now years after his father’s death, he himself has moved to Phoenix; and the man who is now joining him out in the lawn of Tempe Diablo Stadium with his wife and kids, is his cousin the door guy.

This extended family was brought back together at this spring training game, and they felt comfortable enough in the atmosphere of the spring training community to share this story about elements that were important parts of their lives.

I give credit to spring training as an idea, and especially in practice. Credit to all the staff at spring training games. Credit to the PA announcers, the fans, the racing sausages, everyone who traveled to and who is local for spring training games that contribute to a positive, enjoyable, relaxed atmosphere. Spring training is a community.

Yeah I saw Dan Haren and Zack Greinke face off on Friday. Yeah I saw Mark Trumbo hit an opposite field bomb. Yeah I saw K Rod get lit up on Friday. Yeah I saw Pujols (after he) hit a laser to left field, and the renovated Tempe Diablo Stadium. And those are the reasons that I drove 400 miles to get there. But I will remember sitting in the lawn with my buddies getting sun burned, the relaxed and beautifully small and full Tempe Diablo Stadium, and especially meeting this Philly native and his cousin, sharing in the relaxed atmosphere of this spring training community.