Everyone is supremely optimistic about their upcoming season chances during Spring Training. For the fans, that's the real enjoyment of Spring Training - constructing scenarios that end in winning the World Series. Well, last year we Ranger fans come within a whisker of our optimistic Spring Training dreams coming true. Our run to the big contest was so unexpected that I wish I'd had money on getting to the Series in Vegas. It was a really thrilling season that happened to a team whose successful seasons were able to be counted on one hand. I must tell you that as a veteran of Spring Trainings - this is our third - that it's too early to really construct a plausible pie in the sky occurrence, which would, of course, be not only returning to the Series, but winning it this time.
I do realize that very few people that read this blog are as fanatical as Drake and I over baseball, so instead of regaling everyone with Ranger analysis, let's talk about who comes to Spring Training games. First, Nolan Ryan comes to every Ranger game. He wears his cowboy boots (working boots, not fancy ones), a polo shirt and a gimme cap, which of course, is a Ranger's ballcap. It's fascinating to watch him, and I've observed lots of people doing just that. He sits in the stands right beside the dug-out and right behind the coaches and manager. The aisle keepers actively discourage 'regular people' from approaching him, but there are two groups of people who seem to have pretty much unlimited access to him between innings: Guess who? (If you said soldiers in uniform and kids, you would be a winner.)
Yesterday, there was a seven year old boy wearing his Ranger's shirt, cap and carrying his very brand new glove. He was also wearing coke bottle bottom glasses, so we are not talking early major league prospect here. (Excellent eyesight is a make it or break it quality of a major league ballplayer. Almost all good major league hitters have BETTER than 20/20 vision.) Anyway, this little boy marched over by himself and talked to Ryan between innings. When he returned to his parents he had a look of pure adoration on his face. His little four year old sister was completely attired: She had a french braid, a special Texas Rangers hair ribbon - we are talking multiple layers of red, white, and blue ribbon with a special Texas Rangers button anchoring it all and her Ian Kinsler T-shirt on. Her mission was to re-do her mother's hair and amuse her adoring grandmother during the game. I don't think she saw a single pitch. Snow cones was the height of her afternoon.
There are lots of adult children and aging parents - especially sons and fathers. There were a couple of multi-generational groups that caught my eye. One was the daughter with the new baby - and I mean NEW - it's still in the fetal position. She was attending the game with her father (and his trophy wife) and the new baby. I guess no one told her that small of a baby shouldn't really be out in public with so many germs so soon. The baby is so small that it's the size of the grandfather's two hands. I've seen this group twice. You see lots of babies - not newborns, thank heaven, but infants strapped to their father's chests in the harness arrangements with the mom lugging the "stuff" about 3 steps behind. I worry about line drive foul balls, but no one else seems to have taken this into consideration. I'm glad we sit behind the screen. My absolute favorite though was the father (with backpack), the grandfather, and the three year old little girl with taffy blond hair. No mom or grandmom. The little girl talked to both men continually for 9 innings. It seemed to be an arrangement that suited everyone perfectly. The guys sat in their seats, watched the game and she walked up and down in front of them or sat on their laps gesturing, posturing, laughing and talking. It was sort of fascinating to watch. Now, three year old boys............they just run wild around the concourse shrieking - nobody gets to watch the game.
Surprise Stadium is really lovely and very intimate. It holds about 10,000 people, but on the weekdays only about 4,000 show up. You can actually talk to the ballplayers in the on-deck circle from where we sit. I love to make them smile. Sometimes they laugh at my jokes. I also like to look out across the field to the lawn area above the outfield. There is a large lawn berm that perches above the outfield wall. It's a lush green grass hill at about a 30 degree angle and is about 30 feet wide. It runs completely around the outfield (except for the hitter's background in dead center field), People bring blankets and court skin cancer as they sunbathe and watch the game, but the real fun is to watch the children climb up the hill, fling themselves to the ground and roll over and over down the hill until stopped by the fence that separates the lawn berm from the playing field. It looks like delirious fun.
Surprise Stadium also has the Sundancers. These are unpaid volunteer retiree attendants who park cars, take tickets, ferry wheelchairs, and patrol their individual aisles. Woe be it to the patron who tries to sit someplace other than their assigned seat. It doesn't matter if there are 100 empty seats in a section, a Sundancer will chase you out of any seat you don't have a ticket for. They especially love to hassle teenagers. A hallmark of a Sundancer is aggressive friendliness. Upon arriving at the stadium I'm greeted usually no less than five times "Enjoy the game!" "Hello!" "Cheer for those Rangers!" "Welcome to the stadium!." "Have a good time!" I understand it's supposed to be good customer service, but it's all sort of frantic and slightly hysterical. I do like to play the 50/50 raffle - you buy a ticket and split however much money is raised that day from ticket sales 50/50. The Sundancers' 50% goes to charity. They announce the winner at the top of the 8th. Interestingly, the raffle ticket sellers are the least aggressive greeters.
Spring Training is its own little world with year in year out returnees. The vendors greet the returning fans like long lost friends - "Well, how are you? I'm so glad to see you again this year!" Some booth vendors have been there at Spring Training for years - like the snow cone lady - five years. The only thing that changes is where her free standing booth is placed. Fans settle into the rhythm of the games which are different from the regular season - new pitcher almost every inning, wholesale changes in the field a couple of times each game. You have to scramble to learn the names - well, I do since I keep score at every game. A team like the Rangers had an almost set line-up when they arrived, so there's not quite as much drama as on other teams with players fighting it out for a spot on the field. However, there's always a lot of buzz about young outstanding players who have been invited to Spring Training. There is no expectation that they will 'make the team', but it's an acknowledgement that the team management considers them special. -Two years ago it was Elvis Andrus that had everyone buzzing, and look how that turned out. This year it's an 18 year old from Curacao' - he looks like a child, but has amazing skills. (He only turned 18 in FEBRUARY! and he's being looked at in major league Spring Training. He won't make the team, but will go to A ball in Spokane.)
Spring Training is an experience that's such a pleasure for a baseball fan. It's a micro-season. It's a time of great optimism. It's a courtship wooing the fans to fall in love with this year's team. It's the time to construct those scenarios that will result in your team arriving at one of the two hallowed spots in the World Series. Oh yes, the Rangers are definitely going back to the Series this year - we've made it there, now it's time to return and win! That's Spring Training for you...........really never too early to be over the top for your team.
Go Rangers!
