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unusual facts about Spring Training



1949 Cleveland Indians season

On March 5, 1949, Indians minority owner Bob Hope donned a Cleveland Indians uniform and posed with manager Lou Boudreau and vice president Hank Greenberg as the World Series champions opened spring training camp in Tucson, Arizona.

Arizona Summer League

All teams are based in the Yuma, Arizona, area playing all games at Desert Sun Stadium (home of the Scorpions) and utilizing the Ray Kroc Complex which used to house the San Diego Padres and Yakult Swallows spring training operations.

Brandon Maurer

In spring training in 2013, Maurer competed with Erasmo Ramírez, Jeremy Bonderman, and Blake Beavan for one of the final two spots in the Mariners' five-man starting rotation, behind Félix Hernández, Hisashi Iwakuma, and Joe Saunders.

Colby Rasmus

On January 23, 2009, the Cardinals gave out 20 non-roster invitations (including three free agents) to spring training, including their top minor-league players Rasmus, and Brett Wallace.

Gene Stack

Late in the year, Chicago White Sox manager Jimmy Dykes announced that the promising youngster had been invited to join the White Sox team in 1941 at their Pasadena, California spring training camp.

Hiroyuki Nakajima

As of March 25, 2013, Nakajima was batting only .150 with 1 double and 1 RBI in spring training, and John Shea of the San Francisco Chronicle reported that he may start the 2013 season in the minor leagues.

Hotel Valley Ho

Some of the baseball players, coaches, and managers taking part in the spring training Cactus League of Arizona stayed at the hotel, including Joe DiMaggio, Ted Williams, and Leo Durocher, the latter requesting Room 103 every time he visited, for its nearness to the lobby.

Jackie Robinson Ballpark

One reason the stadium is named for Jackie Robinson is the fact that Daytona Beach was the first Florida city to allow Robinson to play during the 1946 season's spring training.

Larry Yount

At the end of spring training, 1974, he was traded along with another minor leaguer to the Milwaukee Brewers for outfielder Wilbur Howard.

Marie Mahoney

Thanks to a recommendation by fellow AAGPBL catcher Mary Baker, Mahoney became one of two hundred players to attend the first AAGPBL spring training outside the United States, which was held in Cuba at Gran Stadium de La Habana before the 1947 season.

Marshall Bridges

During 1963 spring training in a Fort Lauderdale, Florida, bar, a disagreement between Bridges and a female patron resulted in her shooting him in the leg.

Rick Wise

On March 30, during spring training, he was traded by the Boston Red Sox with Ted Cox, Bo Díaz and Mike Paxton to the Cleveland Indians for future Hall of Famer Dennis Eckersley and Fred Kendall.

Riverside Park, Dawson Springs

Riverside Park was built in 1914 and served as the Spring Training Home of the Pirates from 1914 until 1917, when moved on to Hot Springs, Arkansas.

Wally Kopf

At the start of the 1922 season, Kopf was a member of the Giants second team, which was compiled of players who were cut from New York's spring training roster and assigned to a team that played minor league teams in Texas.

Wilbur Huckle

Wilbur's reputation — presumably developed from spring training dispatches and broadcasts, and augmented by the assonance of his name — was such that fans began appearing at Shea Stadium, during the building's inaugural season of 1964, wearing "Wilbur Huckle for President" pins.

Zach Miner

Miner did not make the 25-man roster at the end of the 2006 spring training, but he was called up to the Tigers in May 2006 to replace the injured Mike Maroth.


see also

Al Lang

Lang travelled back to Pittsburgh and asked Dreyfuss to consider moving the Pirates to St. Petersburg for spring training, but Dreyfuss was already using Hot Springs, Arkansas for spring training and did not want to move his team.

Alfredo Fígaro

He beat out fellow reliever Donovan Hand as the last player to be added to the 25-man roster after spring training.

Andrew Steele

Andrew spends a few months each spring training at the Australian Institute of Sport, in Canberra.

Anna May Hutchison

Nevertheless, Hutchison was able to make the adjustment to pitching before the 1946 season, when Leo Murphy, former Pittsburgh Pirates catcher and Belles manager, helped her to throw a fastpitch underhand delivery during spring training.

Arizona Sports and Tourism Authority

In February 2002, AZSTA made its first spring training decision when it voted to increase the funding commitment for the City of Surprise spring training facility.

Boardwalk and Baseball

The Royals moved their spring training home and entire Florida operations department to Surprise, Arizona in 2003.

Bob Rodgers

Rodgers was fired by NESN in March 2004 after he left spring training without permission to coach the Whitman-Hanson Regional High School boys' basketball team.

Brian Aungst

Aungst was instrumental in putting together a public-private partnership to build a new Community Sports Complex Bright House Networks Field to host Philadelphia Phillies Spring Training Baseball and their minor league team the Clearwater Threshers and other community events.

Charlotte Sports Park

During the 1994 Spring Training, the Rangers played host to the Chicago White Sox who featured basketball star Michael Jordan.

City of Palms Park

The Nationals, who currently train at Space Coast Stadium in Viera, Florida, are looking for a new spring training location due to the fact that their stadium is far away from other teams' locations, making travel to away games inconvenient.

Drew Smyly

Smyly competed with Rick Porcello in spring training for the fifth spot in the Tigers' 2013 starting rotation.

Eugenio Vélez

In 2008, Vélez made the Giants out of spring training, but he was sent down to the Grizzlies in May for Travis Denker.

Francisco Cervelli

In 2011, Cervelli entered spring training as the backup to Russell Martin.

Gene Garber

Prior to the 2009 season, he was invited by the Braves to be a guest instructor for a week during spring training, working with fellow side-armer Peter Moylan.

Gwen Sebastian

Gwen Sebastian sang the National Anthem for the New York Yankees' Spring Training game against the Detroit Tigers in Tampa, Florida on March 28, 2010, and received a congratulatory hug from actor Richard Gere who was in attendance.

Ian Desmond

On March 28, 2010, after a solid spring training in which he led the team in RBIs, Desmond was awarded the Nationals' starting shortstop job, beating out incumbent Cristian Guzmán.

Jaycee Park

Branch Rickey, the Pirates General Manager, visited several prospective spring training locations for 1954.

Josh Rodriguez

Pirates general manager Neal Huntington stated Rodriguez proved during spring training that he is adept enough defensively to hold his own in the big leagues.

Jung Soo-Keun

In February 2003, Jung was arrested in Honolulu, Hawaii on charges of battery after slashing two men in a Korean restaurant when he was joining the Doosan Bears spring training camp.

Justin Germano

Despite pitching well in spring training and not giving up a single run, Germano did not win a spot on SoftBank's Opening Day roster, as the Hawks were at the limit of foreign players on the roster (Chris Aguila, Kameron Loe, D.J. Houlton, and Brian Falkenborg).

Ken Brett

Shortly after the 1967 World Series, Brett spent six months in the Army Reserve and missed spring training in 1968 and, in his first Triple-A outing back, was left in the game for nine innings.

Kevin Gregg

Gregg competed with Carlos Mármol for the position of closer during the 2009 Spring Training.

Kyle McClellan

On January 15, 2013, McClellan signed a minor league deal (with invitation to spring training) with the Texas Rangers.

Lou Piniella

Lou and Anita lived in Allendale, New Jersey, and she thought Seattle was too far away from their family and children and spring training was in Arizona instead of Florida.

Pat Olsen

He was signed to the New York Yankees organization and was a spring training roommate of Lou Gehrig, but he never made the Yankees major league roster.

Pat Perez

When asked if he had the locker during spring training, he replied "No, the whole thing. I would hit balls with Jimmy Rollins, go out on the field and play catch, whatever. I was like one of them team for that year."

Randall Simon

Upon his release from the Phillies in spring training, Simon played in the Mexican League, for the Rojos del Águila de Veracruz and Potros de Tijuana.

Rockland Boulders

The team's primary color, blue, alludes to the former Brooklyn Dodgers, which held their spring training events at Bear Mountain State Park during the 1940s.

Roger Dean Stadium

Cliff Politte threw the first pitch in the stadium's history in spring training, 1998.

Salt River Pima-Maricopa Indian Community

In February 2011, the community opened Salt River Fields at Talking Stick, the first Major League Baseball spring training facility to be built on Indian land in the nation.

Season Ticket: A Baseball Companion

A tour of 1984 spring training camps includes talks with players Reggie Jackson, Rusty Staub, and Oakland Athletics owner Roy Eisenhardt.

Tim Purpura

He worked as an assistant in player development for the California Angels during Spring Training from 1990–92 and headed special projects for the San Diego Padres minor league department in 1991.

Vince Lloyd

When beloved Cubs radio play-by-play man Jack Quinlan died in an auto accident during spring training, 1965, Lloyd was promoted to that position and Lloyd Pettit was brought in to back up Brickhouse.

Yuma Desert Rats

From the 2005 season to the 2011 season, they were known as the Yuma Scorpions and played their home games at Desert Sun Stadium at the Ray Kroc Complex, former spring training home of the San Diego Padres.