I’ll be on a 9:35pm flight from Newark to Ft. Lauderdale tomorrow night for a week of baseball in Florida. I have about four vacation days to burn by the end of the month, so I’m heading down to Spring Training (and to visit my grandmother in Delray Beach).
This will be the third time I’ve gone down to shoot Spring Training games, although I’ve been making the trip for awhile, first obviously as just a kid who liked baseball. Spring Training might seem boring and irrelevant to the average baseball fan back north, but I became hooked instantly after my first trip to Ft. Lauderdale Stadium to see Cal Ripken Jr. and the Orioles almost 10 years ago. The park was old and green and sunny and had a great feel. Palm trees and blue skies and kids desperate to get autographs of Minor Leaguers they’d never heard of.
Suddenly in 2008 I had a chance to leave the seats and be on the field in Ft. Lauderdale. Sat next to Albert Pujols in the dugout, got to explore the place a little bit.
The Orioles relocated to Sarasota for 2010, so Ft. Lauderdale is history now. I’ll be in Jupiter, Fla. at Roger Dean Stadium, shooting the Cardinals and Marlins, so expect some updates soon. Looking forward to shooting Lou Brock and Mark McGwire at Cards camp (and cruising in my rental Mustang)!
-Danny