MLB lockout could cost fans yet another spring training
PHOENIX – We’re not supposed to care about spring training, right?
If the lockout drags on, and spring training starts late, it’s no big deal as long as the regular season starts on time, we’re told.
Besides, spring training games are completely meaningless, we’re reminded. It’s impossible to judge a team by its spring training performance, or else the Giants’ 107-victory regular season wouldn’t have been such a shock.
Teams already know who they plan to keep, send to the minors or try to trade before they even arrive at camp.
But if spring training is so irrelevant, why does it mean so much to the fans and all of the spring training cities in Arizona and Florida?
The players will tell you they’re in the best shape of their lives and are anticipating the best season of their career, and we believe them.
Every single team feels they’ll be in the postseason if things break just right, and we agree.
Fans love spring training, flocking to Arizona and Florida to escape the cold and snow, getting a close and personal look at their heroes, working on their tans, mixing in some golf and nightlife, and vowing one day to retire in the land of sunshine.
There’s a reason why one of every 10 Phoenix area residents is from Chicago where the Cubs and White Sox have their spring training camps.
The price of spring training tickets is outrageous and you can go to regularseason games cheaper at home. But the opportunity to be out in the sun, drink cold beer and stuff your face with nachos, it’s priceless.
Spring training, which once featured 60-cent tickets where you could sit in sections by yourself, has become big business. Spring training used to be a financial drain on clubs. Now, it’s a valuable revenue stream with free marketing.
The Cactus League schedule, which features about 240 games in the 10 different ballparks, brings in $644 million in revenue, according to an Arizona economic study. Restaurants and bars owners say that spring training accounts for nearly 60% of their annual business.
But here we are a few weeks from when pitchers and catchers traditionally report, and no one knows when spring training will start, how many games can be played, or whether we will have another truncated schedule.
COVID-19 screwed up the past two years of spring training.
The labor war between the owners and players, with only their second meeting in 54 days occurring this week, may be responsible for the three-peat.
The drop-dead deadline for a new
collective bargaining agreement to ensure a 162-game season is about March 1.
The deadline for the start of spring training on time, with players needing at least a week to 10 days to arrive with visas and COVID-19 protocols, is about Feb. 6.
An abbreviated Cactus League and Grapefruit League schedule would be brutal to the local economies.
“It would be devastating,” says Don Carson, former owner of Don & Charlie’s in Scottsdale. “We’ve had interruptions before, and it is devastating for anybody that lives in the state of Arizona. Everybody looks forward to seeing baseball, but more importantly, it’s for the economic survival of many businesses.
“It would be like taking away Christmas and Thanksgiving from the retail business.”
Carson, 77, has long been everyone’s favorite Cactus League luminary where his restaurant was the mecca for spring training. His restaurant was responsible for the press room dining at every San Francisco Giants home game. If someone had a press conference and wanted a buffet, they’d call Carson.
You wanted to see Willie Mays, Ernie Banks, George Brett, Robin Yount, Mark Grace, Will Clark, Rick Sutcliffe or any of your other favorite players, you had dinner and drinks at Don and Charlie’s.
You wanted to give Bud Selig advice when he was commissioner, you stopped in the corner booth at Don and Charlie’s.
You wanted to laugh and hear stories from Milwaukee Brewers iconic broadcaster Bob Uecker, you stopped by just to say hello.
Places like Don and Charlie’s, which opened in 1981 in the heart of Old Town Scottsdale and closed on April 10, 2019, represented everything wonderful about spring training.
You walked in, and you’d see old friends and meet new ones. You’d see the 4,000 pieces of sports memorabilia lining the walls and ceilings. Visitors might have come in for the food, but they left with lifelong memories.
There’s nothing like the six weeks of spring training, particularly in Phoenix, where 15 teams are located in the Valley.
If it weren’t for the Cactus League, which nearly became extinct in the 1980s, Don and Charlie’s never opens, Carson says.
“The first year was miserable, I was striking out a lot,” Carson says. “Then, Frank Robinson started coming. So did Harry (Caray) and Uecker. Then, one day, we had baseball royalty, Roger Angell, Chub Feeney and Bill Rigney came in together, and I told my wife, ‘We’re on our way.’ ”
The rest is history, and Carson’s restaurant was an integral part of what made spring training so wonderful, a baseball reality version of “Cheers.”
Those days are gone, and considering what has happened with spring training the last couple of years, who knows what will be the new norm?
We were supposed to find out in February, but at this negotiating pace, the charm of spring training may have to wait another year.
“It was just an enjoyable, relaxing time that went on for almost 40 years,” Carson said. “It was just fun. It was a time for old friends to get together and make new friends. That’s what I miss the most, the people.
“I’d sure love to see it happen again.” Oh, man, wouldn’t we all?