Talk:Spring training/Archive 1

Question
What sort of games are played? How competitive is it? Choalbaton 15:45, 20 January 2006 (UTC)


 * the games are generally just like any other baseball game. some exceptions:  the game can end in a tie if both managers agree, more players are used, sometimes the team plays two different games at once (twenty-some-odd players go to an away part while the rest play at home; referred to as a split-squad game).  the records have no effect on the regular major league baseball season or the post-season.  the games are competitive, but one major reason for spring training is to give the less-established players a chance to try out for the major-league team (which is limited to 25 players at the end of March).  consequently, the players with little or no experience and the veterans who are still trying to play major-league ball past their prime will try a bit harder.  the established players--the ones who know they're going to make the team--sometimes use spring to work on specific skills.  for example, an established fireballing closer who knows only one pitch will try to work on offspeed stuff.  hope that helped. Streamless 15:16, 2 March 2006 (UTC)

What exactly are the cactus and grapfruit leagues? How did they get their names? --69.114.73.180 14:15, 15 June 2006 (UTC)

Perfect Game
If anything, the tidbit about the perfect game is relevant to an article on perfect games. A perfect game isn't noteworthy for the part of the season in which it is accomplished, it's noteworthy unto itself. The trivia is rambling and does nothing to elucidate spring training. JPeetey 13:13, 22 Februrary 2007 (UTC)

Geographical split
Is it worth mentioning that the Grapefruit league is predominantly eastern teams while the Cactus league is predominantly western terms? Daveharr (talk) 19:50, 6 March 2008 (UTC)

I'm pretty sure that the split used to favor Florida over Arizona by quite a bit. At some point (1980s?) there were only six or eight teams training in the southwest. WHPratt (talk) 16:34, 20 June 2011 (UTC)

Why would Astros and Cardinals being in Grapefruit be an "exception" to the geographical split? Houston is on the gulf. St. Louis is on the Mississippi. It would seem that both would really be borderline, not an "exception" to the rule. Cubs, White Sox, and Twins too, for that matter ... all borderline. The only true exceptions would be the Ohio teams. — Preceding unsigned comment added by 173.21.126.195 (talk) 21:22, 5 March 2019 (UTC)

Vancouver, BC and NPB?
I noticed it mentioned Vancouver, BC hosting some Japanese Spring Training. What are the details behind this? Shootmaster 44 (talk) 05:31, 14 November 2008 (UTC)


 * Actually, any NPB team known to spring trained in the USA are in Hawaii or adjacent to Japan (i.e. Taiwan, Guam, Saipan, South Korea, Thailand, Manila, Australia and New Zealand) during spring training sessions. They rarely are in the continental United States or Canada but the Chiba Lotte Lions were in Salinas and Yakult Swallows in Yuma in the 1990s/2000s (unsure if this is out-of-date). + 71.102.3.86 (talk) 19:59, 8 October 2009 (UTC)


 * The community of Salinas, California has a strong historic connection with the Japanese people, and collegiate level/minor league baseball for three reasons: Salinas had an all-Japanese American team in the 1930's played against segregated white and Negro League teams in exhibition games, but the town had an internment center during WWII when Japanese-American civilians were gathered before transfers to war time detention camps across the Western U.S. and after the war's end, the internment housing blocks were torn down to make way for a parking lot to a baseball field already there, and the internees used some time to play baseball, part of Japan's and America's favorite past-times. 71.102.26.168 (talk) 14:11, 6 June 2011 (UTC)

Maps
The maps seem to have disappeared from this page in the last few weeks. Since they were the special clickable name kind I can't seem to figure out how to restore them. —Preceding unsigned comment added by 174.140.78.64 (talk) 20:17, 21 March 2011 (UTC)

Wrigley Field, Long Beach and Spring Training in southern Cal.

 * There is a Wrigley Field in Long Beach, California, and from what I hear was used for spring training and was the preseason site for the Chicago Cubs from 1925 to 1959 except for a few intervals. The Wrigley company owned most of the properties in Catalina Island, 26 miles from the Ports of L.A./Long Beach, and no coincidence the Wrigleys along with the O'Malleys, and Del Webb and Gene Autry liked the idea of introducing major league baseball in California when it became possible by the arrival of commercial aviation during WWII (1940s). Spring training were also held in Anaheim and Orange, California (the Detroit Tigers and Philadelphia/Kansas City A's), Pasadena, California (Chicago White Sox and Cubs), Riverside, California (Pittsburgh Pirates) and San Bernardino, California (Cincinnati Reds), Palm Springs, California (Chicago White Sox), San Diego, California (St. Louis Browns/Baltimore Orioles and New York Yankees when Del Webb owned them); and Santa Barbara, California or Ventura, California for the Boston Braves and Brooklyn Dodgers before their relocation to L.A. in 1958. Also to note Palmdale, California/Lancaster, California two desert cities north of L.A. (Boston Red Sox or Brooklyn Dodgers), Bakersfield, California (also the Brooklyn Dodgers and the Washington Senators 1901-61 while the 2nd gig Senators in Arizona), El Centro, California (Kansas City A's and San Diego Padres) and Yuma, Arizona (Cleveland Indians, Milwaukee Brewers, Seattle Mariners and Texas Rangers) as well Las Vegas, Nevada (Oakland A's) and Hawaii (Detroit Tigers, Kansas City Royals, Pittsburgh Pirates, Seattle Pilots, Seattle Mariners and major league San Diego Padres) held spring training camps, while the New York/San Francisco Giants and St. Louis Cardinals were in Phoenix, and the Cleveland Indians and Houston Astros in Tucson, Arizona jumpstarted the Cactus League in the early 1970s along with the major league California Angels in Palm Springs where Gene Autry lived and the state nickname equally represented Palm Springs (all of Southern Cal) as well Anaheim (major league facility) and Los Angeles (metropolitian area). In 1941, the St. Louis Browns of the American League attempted in relocation to Los Angeles when a deal was made on December 5th, but 2 days later came the attack on Pearl Harbor forced the Browns cancelled the plan to bring major league baseball to the West Coast. 71.102.26.168 (talk) 14:06, 6 June 2011 (UTC)


 * Your statements about the Wrigley Field in Los Angeles is not correct. It was located in South Los Angeles (formerly known as South Central), not Long Beach, CA, and it was not home to the Cubs during Spring Training.  Rather, it was home to the Pacific Coast League Los Angeles Angels from 1925-1957.  The PCL Angels were a minor league affiliate of the Cubs from 1932-1956, but for the first 7 seasons of time in Wrigley Field, they were an independent minor league team.  The Cubs did call Los Angeles their spring training home from 1921-1941 and 1946-1951, but they played on Catalina Island. The field at their Catalina Island spring training camp was informally known as Wrigley Field, but never officially carried that name. In fact Wrigley Field in Chicago was known not named Wrigley Field until November 1926 (it was known as Weeghman Park from 1914-1920 and Cubs Park from 1920-1926).  hus the Cubs spring training facility on Catalina Island was the first field to unofficially be named Wrigley Field and Wrigley Field in Los Angeles was the first stadium to officially be named Wrigley Field. This link has a description of the Cubs' spring training history in LA. 199.107.16.121 (talk) 22:25, 8 March 2012 (UTC)


 * Actually the Cubs trained in both the Wrigley Field and Catalina Island facility, as well the "Wrigley Field" facility in Long Beach, California the anon IP above may been referring to. The Phillies spring trained in the early 1950s in San Bernardino, California and had the class-D (triple-A) affiliate San Bernardino Pioneers team before they merged with the minor league San Diego Padres, the Red Sox affiliate when the major league team starred San Diegan native Ted Williams. And the St. Louis Browns later the Baltimore Orioles had spring training facilities in Ontario, California and Pomona, California, but coincidentally the Ontario Orioles and Pomona Browns/Pomona Arabs/Coronado Arabs franchises played in Chaffey College and/or the L.A. county Fairground stadium, as members of class B or C level leagues from the 1920s to 1950s. The 1969 Seattle Pilots were in Honolulu, Hawaii then the 1970 Pilots were in Yuma, Arizona just when the Pilots moved to Milwaukee to become the Milwaukee Brewers that year. + 71.102.6.15 (talk) 06:34, 1 April 2012 (UTC)

Maps of Florida and Arizona would be a welcome addition
I would ask that the major contributors to this page entertain the idea of adding a map of Florida and Arizona (possibly a close-up of the Phoenix metroplex in the case of Arizona) highlighting the cities where spring training is conducted. There is a great example of how this can be highly effective at the end of the List of fatal bear attacks in North America article.--Hokeman (talk) 02:38, 24 February 2014 (UTC)
 * I agree with this request. Previously there were maps on the page (prior to 2011), but I don't remember why they were removed.  After their removal sometime, the templates that created them were deleted: Arizona and Florida respectively.  If you are interested in achieving this again I would ask at Graphics Lab/Map workshop where one could potentially be created by professionals.  Cheers, -- TLSuda (talk) 20:14, 24 February 2014 (UTC)
 * Thirded. I dropped a note at the map workshop. oknazevad (talk) 16:04, 25 February 2014 (UTC)

Bill Veeck and the Cactus League
I removed the citations to David M. Jordan et al.'s "A Baseball Myth Exploded" and to Jules Tygiel's "Revisiting Bill Veeck and the 1943 Phillies", because neither of them was relevant. Both articles are concerned with whether Bill Veeck actually planned to purchase and integrate the Philadelphia Phillies in 1943, as he later claimed he had planned to do. But neither one mentions the incident in which the local authorities tried to stop Veeck from sitting in the black spectators' section of the Ocala ballpark or addresses whether that is what inspired him to begin holding spring training in Arizona. The topic never comes up in either article. --Metropolitan90 (talk) 22:41, 19 July 2014 (UTC)