Spring fans all for ball — the catch is virus risk
Erratic mask usage, fewer restrictions deter some Giants, A’s followers
SCOTTSDALE, Ariz. — The Cactus League isn’t alone in rolling out the red carpet for baseball fans as they return to the Phoenix area. Bars have seen an uptick in business, as have hotels and restaurants — even the more risque establishments are rejoicing.
“Welcome back, spring training fans!” reads a strip club marquee on Scottsdale Road.
“Oh boy,” A’s fan Derek Evans said. “That is encouraging people who are probably coming from out of state to go to something that is very unhealthy right now, and I just thought that is incredibly inappropriate.”
Evans, a Phoenix resident originally from Sacramento, was among the few allowed in to see the A’s play the Brewers this week, but he wrestled with the decision even with Milwaukee capping American Family Fields of Phoenix at 2,300 patrons, 25% of normal.
“I went back and forth so much,” Evans said. “I changed my mind five or six times, it was crazy. Initially I was going to go to two or three games, but then I started to freak out because of the possible health concerns, and was not going to go because I was just panicking. Ultimately, I decided to go because it is reduced capacity and because it is outside and because I will wear a mask. But I’m only going to go to one game.”
Cactus League parks were all at close to their capacity limits the first week, with tickets sold in groups of two, four or six to form socially distanced pods. Mask requirements were in place, as were health screenings. Actual enforcement of the facecovering rule has been haphazard, however, with fans and
media members reporting lapses during the early games. Two patrons behind home plate at Scottsdale Stadium for the Giants’ opener didn’t wear masks for the first four innings, despite having an usher stationed right by them. They eventually got the message.
Erratic mask usage is one reason many Bay Area fans will forgo their usual spring training trips this year, along with fears about lax dining restrictions in Arizona. Also in mind is the surge the state saw in January, when Maricopa County was among the major COVID19 hot spots worldwide.
“I don’t know if it’s coincidence but the two spring training states, Arizona and Florida, have the same general public attitude about the virus and they’re risking their lives and their families’ lives outside of the ballparks,” said Bob Moore, an A’s fan who lives in Carson City, Nev., and decided against the annual family reunion in Phoenix. “I find that just insane.”
Arizona’s virus surge was alarming enough that mayors of the eight Cactus League cities and the league itself sent MLB a letter in January asking that spring training be postponed for a month. The players union dismissed that as a bargaining tactic and many noted that the NHL’s Arizona Coyotes were playing in front of fans in Glendale.
Scottsdale Mayor David Ortega, a regular at the Giants’ spring games, told The Chronicle that he agreed with sending the letter because of the virus surge at the time, but is convinced now that limited attendance is safe. “Everyone is complying with the rules and there is pod seating,” he said.
Evans said he’d hoped the Cactus League would allow only local residents to attend games to prevent an influx of visitors, potentially bringing virus variants or another surge.
“I still think there would have been a fair amount of people going just in the Phoenix area alone,” he said. “That being said, is there anybody in Phoenix that truly wants to see the Reds play the Indians? Maybe not. So I understand why they did it this way.”
Some fans are more concerned about what they see in the nightlife mecca of Scottsdale, where restaurants are allowed limited indoor dining, but many appear to be close to capacity — and with minimal mask usage.
“I felt more secure and safer at the A’s game than I did walking around Old Town,” A’s fan Jeff Kane said. “Wow. It seems like business as usual, the restaurants are open, you can see inside there are people everywhere. I was very very surprised to see lots of people actually sitting at the bar.”
Ortega said the city regularly cites businesses that do not follow mandates. “We don’t want anyone gambling with other people’s lives, we will crack down to make sure the standards are maintained,” he said. “We respect that our fans need to be safe and they certainly will be safe here.”
In previous years, spring training games have pumped as much as $2 million per game into the local economy, according to Ortega. Even with reduced capacity this year, businesses are seeing a boost.
“The aftergame crowd was very nice,” said Rusty Spur Saloon owner Susan McLaughlin, whose bar had a line to get in after the Giants’ spring opener Sunday. “They were happy to be out, happy to have gone to a game and then head here for some live music, cold beer and a springtraining Tshirt. It’ll be a different season, but it’ll be a good one.”
There are benefits for the fans who attend games: parking is easier and the feel is more intimate with so few people.
Though he was disappointed he couldn’t add Giants autographs to the ones he collected in the past, 11yearold Brendan Forester of San Luis Obispo said, “Last year it was like everyone was here, this year we have the park to ourselves.”
Matt Simeone, an A’s fan from Davis who lives in Peoria, Ariz., watched the A’s opener with his son from a twoperson pod in Mesa. “Baseball is an inperson sport in my opinion,” he said. “Watching it on TV’s fine, but it takes away a lot of the game when you can’t see the entire game. So being at the field — even a $9 hot dog, it makes it worth it . ... I’m loving it — it’s great having all the space.”
Craig Imlach and Dale Krist of Hayward drove overnight from the Bay Area for Oakland’s opener because they missed live baseball so much. “It sucked,” Krist said of last season. “We had cardboard cutouts in our seats.”
Some fans had difficulty with the health screening app the Giants require; they were provided paper health questionnaires to fill out instead. But all of the two dozen or so fans The Chronicle spoke to this week said they’d have no qualms returning to Oracle Park or the Coliseum if there are similar safety requirements and restrictions. Kane said he already has his vouchers for the A’s regularseason games, once fans are allowed.
Others are less sure. Connie Whorton, a lifelong A’s fan who is usually a spring training regular, is 70 and has been vaccinated but said she won’t go to games until most of the population is vaccinated, figuring August at the earliest. She’s a retired registered nurse who also worked in risk management and, she said, “I’m concerned about the variants and if we might see another big surge from that.”
Neil Watter, a Giants fan and retiree in Napa, won’t go when masks are required. He’s not an antimasker, he wears them when appropriate, but he doesn’t find them comfortable. “I understand why you have to wear one at a game, but I don’t think I could sit there for a full game with a mask on,” he said. “That’s why I’m also not taking any flights.”
Giants and A’s fans in the Valley of the Sun this past week know this is something of a test run as baseball determines what might work during the regular season whenever attendance restrictions are lifted, and California Gov. Gavin Newsom has signaled that might be soon.
“We understand this is all part of an experiment, we’re going to kind of be guinea pigs here,” said Giants fan Rich Tournelle, a San Francisco native who lives in Washington, D.C., and flew in to see games with lifelong friend Manuel Morales of Novato. “But to actually be able to go to a game again, to be able to see the Giants, it’s just the best.”
Susan Slusser covers the Giants for The San Francisco Chronicle. Email: sslusser@sfchronicle.com Twitter: @susanslusser