Cactus League bids Tucson Adieu

We made our first spring training road trips to Tucson when the Cleveland Indians were still playing at Hi Corbett Field in the late 1980s. We used to pack as many of us as we could into cars and hotel rooms for a weekend’s worth of ballgames and shenanigans when were just becoming old enough to drink beer legally in ball- parks and bars. Our Hunter S. Thompson-esque gonzo road trips to Tucson left indelible marks on the nostalgic hemispheres of our brains.

The 115 mile drive from Phoenix on I-10 was the beginning of the vacation and usually involved some kind race between two or three cars with coolers full of cold beer on the back seats or in the bed of a pickup. We always stopped at the Picacho Peak exit to pick up a load of pistachios at the Arizona Nut House (In a dreary coincidence the Arizona Nut House, closed for business on February 20th).

At first we stayed at the cheapest hotels we could find, like the “Sunny # 9,” on the Miracle Mile where I remember renting rooms with three-double beds lined up side by side and sleeping six to a room. Later we preferred the Embassy Suites on Broadway where an afternoon happy hour and morning breakfast are included. We loved hanging out by the pool and Jacuzzi and cooking on the grills provided in front of the ground floor rooms. More recently I’ve become a regular at the Hotel Congress return- ing for its casual comforts, great night life and gourmet dining.

Working on travel stories during the past five years, I’ve also had the opportunity to stay at the picturesque Loew’s Ventana Canyon Resort, Westin La Paloma, Canyon Ranch, J.W Marriott Star Pass, and La Hacienda resorts as well as the new Embassy Suites at Paloma Village, Wingate in Oro Valley and the funky restored La Siesta Motel. All of my visits to these places were in direct correlation to spring training baseball in Tucson.

When Arizona was granted a Major League franchise and the Diamondbacks moved into a brand new Tucson Electric Park with the Chicago White Sox for spring training it brought a new three- team dynamic to the city. We could plan long weekends or weeks with games at different ballparks on different days.

In the beginning there were only the Cleveland Indians at Hi Corbett Field since 1947. We used to hang out in the left field bleachers by the Indians bullpen, where Hall-of-Fame pitcher Bob Feller would sit on a short stool signing autographs for anyone and everyone between innings of Cactus League games. It was definitely a simpler time the ballparks were more intimate and less crowded, the players more accessible and of course everything was less expensive. I’m starting to sound like an old guy now, but it really was different back then. One day I jumped a concrete wall at Hi Corbett to sneak into the park and found myself in the middle of the batting cage. Another day my buddy Dave Richards was carrying a soft plastic insulated cooler filled with about 24 cans of beer on ice into the ballpark, while pass- ing through the turnstile, the strap hanging over Dave’s shoulder snapped and the contents of the cooler were spilled all over the floor, beer cans were rolling in every direction. As we scampered to gather them up the ticket takers and ushers simply looked away. Nobody confiscated our beer or kicked us out of the ball- park. It was simply a more innocent time.

The imminent departure of Arizona Diamondbacks and Colorado Rockies, brings a bittersweet taste to the games at Tucson Electric Park and especially historic Hi Corbett Field this year, where 69 Hall of Famers have tread over the years. It feels eeri- ly similar to 1992 when the Cleveland Indians pulled up stakes and left for Florida. Fortunately the Tribe was immediately replaced by the expansion Colorado Rockies at Hi Corbett in 1993. Five years later the arrival of the Diamondbacks and Chicago White Sox at a brand new Tucson Electric Park brought renewed enthusiasm for spring ball to the city.

In 2002 I had the pleasure of bringing the Babe Ruth Museum’s traveling exhibit all the way from Baltimore as an employee of the museum setting up our display on the concourse at Hi Corbett and Tucson Electric Park. We arrived at the park early to set up our exhibit and I was able to shag batting practice home run balls. It felt like something I had only experienced in dreams. Standing on the grassy berm beyond the left field wall position- ing myself under towering drives, snagging ball after ball, Luis Gonzalez gave chase after a deep drive in our direction realizing it was going over the wall, Gonzo yelled to me, “Make that play,” and I responded with, “got it,” and brought in cool. And it wasn’t a dream. Later I was able to bring a bat the Babe himself once used down on the field and let different Diamondbacks players hold it during batting practice. They posed for pictures with it and asked me questions about the bat and the Babe.

Many of my most vivid baseball memories happened in Tucson. I was escorted out of Tucson Electric Park by the police on a spring day in 1998 having been caught sneaking my own beer into the ballpark. We were sitting in a large bleacher section that used to be in the right field corner. I was the only one of our group to get busted. At the time I was writing a regular column for the Arizona Republic called The Fan in the Stands. As the cops were leading me down the bleachers my buddy Yodie yelled out “Isn’t that the fan in the stands getting kicked out of the stands?” Another friend, Brian photographed the entire sequence.

My buddy Charlie has been making the Tucson pilgrimage with me ever since I moved to Baltimore 11 years ago and making my spring annual spring return. The girls at the beer stand right behind home plate no us simply as Charlie and Charlie. They also know us also at Bob Dobbs Bar and Grill on Sixth Street, the best pre and post game haunt in town. Being extremely fair skinned, Charlie can go from tablecloth white to lobster red in just a couple of innings. Ushers at Hi Corbett are quick to hand Charlie lit- tle packets of sun block or invite him back into the shade of the ballparks offices and give him bottles of water.

Our spring training visits to Tucson have also included excursions into Mexico and Tombstone Bisbee and Douglas. We’ve climbed Picacho Peak and hiked in the Chiricahuas. We’re going to miss partaking of this tradition we’ve created.

But the evolutionary process of the league runs its natural course, the White Sox seized the opportunity to move into the league’s grand new Camelback Ranch cathedral with the Dodgers in Glendale and the Rockies and Diamondbacks new palace is sure to sparkle in Scottsdale next year. And we’re still

holding out hope that somehow spring baseball can be saved in Tucson. There’s always the possibility of more Grapefruit League defec- tions from Florida or perhaps Japanese major league teams com- ing to Tucson for the spring. In the meantime we’re really going to enjoy this last spring season.