What a Wonderful World (An #AtoZChallenge Post): S is for Spring Training

The view of the baseball field at Hammond Stadium from the stand behind home plate

My husband recently re-retired, and we are front-loading travel. My #AtoZChallenge posts this year will explore our adventures—some pre-retirement, some post. Today’s location: Spring Training.

I recognize that “Spring Training” isn’t actually technically a location, but my husband assures me it means one of two places, so it counts. 😊In our case, we went to Fort Myers, Florida, to watch a game between the Minnesota Twins and the Baltimore Orioles. 

A whiteboard in the stadium displays the starting lineup

Baseball is America’s pastime, and has significance to my family, too. I grew up hearing how my great-grandpa played for a professional ball team, how my grandpa and his brothers were invited to try out for the St. Louis Cardinals during spring training and (although neither my grandpa nor his brothers made the team), my grandpa was catcher during the try-outs when both Paul and Dizzy Dean were hitting.  I recently came across a photo of my grandpa and his brothers in their baseball uniforms. 

Chuck, Jack, and "Red" Brockett in their baseball uniforms circa 1918

So, baseball isn’t just fun and games and a patriotic pastime, but also a way to connect to my family history. My husband has rooted for the Twins since he was a teen, so when we realized that we were going to be in Florida at the same time as spring training, we knew we needed to get tickets to the game.

The stadium was clean and comfortable, the weather was perfect, and the Twins took an early lead. One of their star players, Carlos Correa, used to play A ball in Lancaster, California during the years that we regularly watched the JetHawks play, so it was fun to see his progress. Also, another player, Trevor Larnach, played for the Oregon State Beavers (my dad’s college team), and he hit a two-run home run that I somehow managed to get a photo of at just the right time. 

The ball sails off the bat of Trevor Larnach

Although the Twins were up by five, they ended up losing when the Baltimore Orioles scored 8 runs in the top of the ninth inning. Final score: 13 to 10. Even though it’s a shame they didn’t win, it was an enjoyable afternoon. I’m glad we were able to “root, root, root for the home team” and I would gladly attend another spring training game in the future. 

Come back tomorrow to see where in the world we’ll visit next!