Why You Shouldn’t Be Excited About Spring Training

Mariners Pitchers and Catchers reported to camp yesterday and Spring Training is just around the way.  Most teams report back next week and there’s much to be excited about.  To borrow from David O’brien at the Atlanta Journal Constitution, who writes the best Braves blog out there:

“The one thing that’s notably different about baseball spring training and other pro sports. Unlike an NFL or NBA training camp, most baseball players want to be there and don’t mind saying so. Baseball teams, with 6-7 weeks to train together in the February and March sunshine of Florida or Arizona, don’t generally work at a frenetic pace. The crack of the bat and the comforting sound of the ball hitting leather, nearly constant during a spring training day. The dew on the perfectly manicured ball fields. The aroma of coffee colliding at 8 a.m. (or earlier) with the smells of pine tar, chewing tobacco and an occasional cigar. Later, the smell of brats and BBQ from grills beneath the stands. Pretty girls behind the backstop, trying to get players’ attentions. Little kids with sunburned noses, shouting players’ names and asking pleeeeease for an autograph. Tape-measure homers onto grass berms during batting practice. Acrobatic double-play ballets from middle infielders who still get a kick out of putting on a show during drills.”

We get shots like the one to the right of Chipper Jones chatting with Hank Aaron.  We get Yogi Berra hanging out with current Yankees.  We get autographs and small stadiums.  There’s many great things about Spring Training, but there’s one thing I can’t stand.

Again from David O’brien:  “The whole rebirth/renewal theme, where every team starts fresh each year with high hopes regardless of how the previous season ended. It’s true; they do.  Just about every player and manager goes into spring training talking about how excited he is and how he believes his team has a real chance to compete if it stays healthy and does what it’s capable of and blah blah blah.  Regardless of whether he believes it entirely or is trying to convince himself or others that it’s true, there is excitement in virtually every player’s voice as he prepares for spring training, and then even more once they’re in Florida going through the first workouts.”

I can’t stand it.  Undoubtedly we’ll get reports about how great Miguel Cabrera looks at third base and about how good the Mariners can be despite the fact that they have 5 regulars who had OBPs under .300 last year.  We’ll get overzealous reports about how much weight Aubrey Huff lost or how Carl Crawford is ready to go.  You know somebody will write about 40 times how the Red Sox have looked past their September collapse and are ready to go into the year fried-chicken-free.

I’m excited for baseball and for John Kruk’s spikey hair in a polo shirt outside Walt Disney World.  I’m excited for baseball and the various teams to be excited.  I’m just not excited to hear about it for a month-6 weeks before anything worthwhile happens.

Stat of the Day Has to Do With Last Years’ Grapefruit League Champion

-Sean Morash