“The intimacy of spring training has a lot to do with the relatively modest size of the Florida and Arizona stadiums, says Alan Byrd, author of “Florida Spring Training: Your Guide to Touring the Grapefruit League,” who has gone to hundreds of spring training games since 1977…

Among Byrd’s favorite parks is Osceola County Stadium in Kissimmee, Fla., where the Houston Astros train. “I get to the park about an hour and a half early and watch these guys take batting practice,” Byrd says…

“The furthest seat in Kissimmee is 50-100 feet from the field. Often you’ll have opportunities to talk with the players…and get their autographs. You’re watching them so close you can hear every pop of the ball in the glove.”

Pick a hotel that suits your plans.

If you need to jump start your planning, consider booking a spring training travel package through MLB.com. Also look to your favorite hotel chains for specials. For instance, Phillies fans can tap into a deal at the Hyatt Regency Clearwater Beach Resort that includes game tickets and a rental car, and Hilton Garden Inn in Sarasota is bundling a room with Pirates tickets and transportation to and from McKechnie Field. If you’re not getting a car as part of a package, absolutely rent one before you go.

Byrd observes that Florida’s ballparks fall fairly neatly into four clusters: central Florida, the Tampa area, southwest Florida, and the state’s eastern coast. Pick one whose nearby sites also pack appeal for you, as you won’t be watching baseball all the time. While you can ballpark hop and see night games, you probably won’t average more than one game a day, usually from about 1-4 p.m.

Know the deal with tickets.

It’s a good idea to buy at least some of your game tickets through MLB.com before leaving home. Yankees and Red Sox seats can sell out as early as January when tickets go on sale, but given there are 30 teams training – 15 each in Arizona and Florida – you ought to be able to score at least some of the seats you want. Ticket prices can be upwards of $30 but usually hover in the $15-20 range. As with the major stadiums, you’ll find reserved boxes and levels as well as general admission seats. But unlike the majors, you might find standing room only-admission as well as inexpensive lawn seating or, in the case of Hi Corbett Field in Tucson, where the Colorado Rockies train, you can sit on a sand pile for just $4.

Know the secret strategies and spots.

If you’re hoping to get a glimpse of your favorite team’s heavy hitters, bear in mind that they’re usually played in the first five innings, after which they’ll sometimes leave, Posada says. Byrd concurs that by that point in the game “most of the regular players have sat down” but if you stick around after that you’ll be “seeing the future of the team.” Salguero made his Arizona trip late in March, which was nice because that’s when the starting lineups are being worked out and the ‘no name’ players have been cut.” Byrd says that getting access to players in Legends Field can sometimes be difficult, as fans are not often permitted in the lower levels without a ticket.

However, the Yanks play many of their games at Dunedin Stadium, which is “very friendly for access to players,” he says.

Relax your expectations.

Before the Dodgers moved to Arizona for spring training, Byrd recalls seeing then-Dodger Nomar Garciaparra follow a specific routine at spring training games in Vero Beach. After stretching, Garciaparra would walk “straight on to the stands and move either to left or to the right,” signing autographs. “You start learning players’ tendencies. You might not get [an autograph] the first time but you might get it the second time. ” ( via foxnews.com ) by Paul Eisenberg – FOXNews

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“Opening day for Major League Baseball is April 6. But fans don’t have to wait that long to see their favorite teams. Spring training games are scheduled from Feb. 25 to April 5 in Florida and Arizona.

In Florida, attendance at so-called Grapefruit League games averages a total of 1.56 million each spring. In Arizona, the Cactus League set an attendance record of 1.31 million fans in 2008.

Kevin Reichard, author of “The Complete Guide to Spring Training” (August Publications, $14.95), says there are even more opportunities than usual this year for travelers interested in spring training. For one thing, “this is the longest spring training period in years,” he said. In addition, he said, ticket sales “are a little bit slower because of the economy.”

Premium seats usually sell out fast, and it can also be hard to get tickets for a few teams like the New York Yankees, Boston Red Sox, Chicago Cubs and San Francisco Giants. But for others, regular seats will be available right up until game day.

And prices for most games are reasonable. General attendance or lawn seating is $10 or less for many games, and the stadiums are smaller, minor league-size arenas where you’re never too far away from the action.

Highest-priced tickets for most teams do not exceed $20 or $22, though the Yankees have a $35 category and the Los Angeles Dodgers made news this year by charging $90 for the best 692 seats in their new Glendale, Ariz., facility. The $90 price tag includes a $20 coupon for food, beverages and merchandise, free parking and other freebies — a hat, water, sunscreen and cool, scented towels. The top ticket in their old spring training stadium in Vero Beach, Fla., was a mere $20, but with no perks.

Opportunities for autographs
In both states, many spring-training facilities are geographically so close that you could see several different teams play over the course of a week without driving too far. In Arizona, two teams play in Tucson and the other 14 play in the Phoenix metro area. Although spring training facilities for the 16 teams that play in Florida are located around the state, many are within a half-hour drive of two or three others.

“You could schedule an entire vacation around spring training for baseball fans,” said Lauren Tjaden, a sports and adventure expert for VisitFlorida.com. “You’ve got three or more teams playing very close together, so you could go to a different team in a different city every day — the Blue Jays in Dunedin, the Phillies in Clearwater, the Yankees in Tampa, the Detroit Tigers in Lakeland.”

Tjaden added that “one of the really fun games” scheduled for this season is the March 12 faceoff in Charlotte Sports Park in Port Charlotte, Fla., between the 2008 World Series rivals, the Tampa Bay Rays and the Philadelphia Phillies.” (via  .msnbc.msn.com)

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