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the county have built two classy stadiums for the Minnesota Twins and the Boston Red Sox. They are now empty and forlorn.
It is the laidback lifestyle that resonates with the spring training cognoscenti. Since the games don’t count, there is no pressure to win which means that the players are more relaxed with the fans. In the old days at Dodgertown in Vero Beach, families would host players for dinner during spring training. Money or the love of it spoiled all that.
Many Dodger players, including the immortal Sandy Koufax, took up residency in Vero Beach. Koufax still has a winter home in Vero Beach and you might find him having dinner at Bobby’s, a popular bar and restaurant, where the best man in his wedding, Richie Auger, tends bar. Ron Perranoski, Dodger pitcher, coach and baseball lifer, spent his off season in Vero throughout his career. When he retired, you could find him at Bobby’s most afternoons where he enjoyed the local clientele and delighted the doting tourists who flocked to Vero before he passed on. Vero is a popular destination today even with the Dodgers having lit out for Arizona 14 years ago. It has to do with memories.
Spring training sites have a college football town atmosphere. For the most part, spring baseball has traditionally taken place in small towns or communities. Just like it is in college football. Fans exhibit a doting patronage of the teams and games, embracing the young players who are becoming established. Just like college fans, boning up on the new signees.
Local governments are bent on funding plush facilities while the touristbased constituencies bring in impressive revenues to help make spring baseball for big league clubs a profit center.
The labor disagreement has kicked the communities and the fan base intheteeth. Eventually the strike will end, and baseball will be played again.
For those who love spring training, however, especially the families and the little guy fans, there is that enduring question. How much longer will they take getting kicked in the teeth?
