Catching an Angels game in Arizona spring training

Tweet

The Phoenix area is spring training home to 15 major league baseball teams playing in 10 facilities. The Angels play in Tempe, home of Arizona State University. Celebrating its 50th anniversary, Tempe Diablo Stadium is the oldest and smallest venue in the Cactus League. The small size affords the advantage of being so close to the field that almost every seat is a good sightline. Good shot at autographs though few name players stopped. I saw Mike Trout sign a few but Albert Pujols and other stars kept walking. Since players enter and exit in right field by the stands, fans can get some fairly decent photos as they slowly walk by. The downside of Tempe Diablo Stadium are hard concrete “benches” with no dividers, some distance walking to parking though free spots can be found on side streets, sort of hard to get to location and the hot Arizona sun unmercifully beating down on the crowd. It is a sunburn waiting to happen. I was last there 20 years ago and the stadium underwent a renovation in 2005 which explains changes. Gone are wide open fields where you could follow ballplayers. The stadium stands alongside the I-10 so that is the right field backdrop. Left field sightline is a hill and Marriott resort. As to the game I saw, the Angels played fourwall’s “team” the Cincinnati Reds and on the mound for Cincinnati was fourwall’s favorite pitcher ever Homer Bailey. True to his name, he coughed up a lead off homer to Ian Kinsler. I got to see most of the Angel regulars play like Trout, Pujols and Japanese sensation Shohei Ohtani at DH. Sort of a dull game with the Angels winning. The best moment was Reds’ star first baseman Joey Votto losing a pop fly he should have caught. Fans jeered and mocked him and Votto glared into the stands and said something that must have been naughty. After the game, I got autographs from Angel broadcasters Jose Mota and former big league pitcher Mark Gubicza. Oldsters like me cannot compete with kids for a Trout autograph.