FLORIDA - The other sports don't have anything like it.
Football? Sure, you can drive down Route 1, sit in the sweltering sun, and watch two-a-days in July at Gillette.
If you're a hockey krishna, you've probably made the trip to Wilmington to view the early skates at rusty Ristuccia. And plenty of us remember Celtics rookies running up and down the court at Marshfield High School back in the day. I'm pretty sure Ming Dynasty on Route 139 opened just to accommodate Red Auerbach.
But baseball is the clear winner when it comes to preseason ambiance and expectation.
School vacation ends today. How many of you went to Florida to watch the Red Sox? How many of you wish you went? How many watched live workouts on NESN?
This is my 30th spring training. It never gets old. All the clichés are true. Pitchers and catchers. The crack of the bat. The smell of the grass and suntan oil.
Spring training is where Roger Angell saw the longest home run of his life - a majestic blast off the bat of Dave Kingman in Fort Lauderdale in 1975. Hall of Famer Catfish Hunter threw the pitch. Kingman's blast sailed over a light tower ("three palm trees high" wrote Angell) and bounded onto a practice field beyond the left-field wall. Yankees manager Bill Virdon decided it was a six-bagger - a home run at Fort Lauderdale Stadium and a double on the adjacent diamond.
Spring training is where I saw a Montreal left fielder crash into a fence in Winter Haven chasing a fly ball. Back in 1976. The kid was out cold for a spell. Fans applauded when he finally got to his feet. He wound up spending most of his career behind the plate. Gary Carter. Hall of Famer.
It's where Bill Lee told baseball writers of the Sox' acquisition of Dennis Eckersley in a six-player blockbuster in 1978, screaming, "Send lawyers, guns, and money, the [expletive] has hit the fan!" Eck wound up in Cooperstown.
Spring training is where Eddie Murray caught live batting practice at Bobby Maduro Stadium in Miami in 1978. Murray had been the American League Rookie of the Year in 1977 as a designated hitter, but Earl Weaver's goal was to have 40-home run potential at every position. So Earl ordered Murray to go behind the plate in spring training. Eddie hated it. He wound up at first base. And in the Hall of Fame.
Spring training is where a 5-foot-8-inch Orioles catcher named Dave Criscione caught three foul pops in a single inning against the Braves in West Palm Beach in 1978. Anybody ever see that, at any level? Criscione played only seven big league games. Not a Hall of Famer.
Spring training is where Ted Williams and Carl Yastrzemski played a steel-cage tennis match at the Winter Haven Ramada Inn in 1979.
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