My son and I returned last night from a quick trip to Winter Haven for Spring Training.  We flew down on Thursday night, came back Sunday night.  Saw the game Friday at the Braves and Saturday at home against the Mets.  

I had asked for advice on LGT a few times over the last year about this trip, so I thought I would post some of my thoughts about the trip.  I have mentioned some of these on other threads.

I wish my son's Spring Break was this week.  We would have loved to stayed longer.  We were just figuring things out when it was time to come home.

Lots of Ohio folks down in Winter Haven.  Chatting with other fans was nice.

We stayed at the Hampton Inn - very convenient to the park.  It isn't often that I can lower the average age of a group.  I think I did that among Hampton guests this week.

We read the story on indians.com about the move to Arizona and a comment from Shapiro about being embarrassed by some of the facilities in Winter Haven.  I was a little surprised at how outdated some of them were.  While we could not see the clubhouse, the weight room was out in the open for all to see.  Open all sides, with some of the weights moved outside, it looked liked an oversized picnic pavilion at your local park.  I am sure the equipment was top notch, but I also imagine it is a far cry from the weight room at The Jake (err Progressive Field).  It will be interesting to see what Goodyear is like.

The two games we went to were a contrast in how to do Spring Training.  The Braves game was at Disney's Wide World of Sports.  A modern facility with most of the bells and whistles - only a video replay board was lacking.  Total bombardment of your senses during the game and between innings - contests, noise, etc.  All the slick presentation one would expect from Disney.  

Winter Haven was very laid back during the game.  only one contest I can remember.  Congratulating the couple in Section E who had been married for 36 years and giving them free flowers for six months.  Winter Haven was more the relaxing Spring Training that I thought it would be.

The biggest shock of the comparison was the price of a bottle of water.  $2 at Disney, $3.75 at Winter Haven.  Something that is actually a bargain at Disney??

The one thing that surprised me at Disney was that the field is oriented so that home plate faces South.  What that meant was all of us in the stands were in the sun all game long.  80 degrees, dark green seats, plenty of concrete.  I am not ready for that kind of heat at this time of the year.

We were grateful for the roof over the main stands at Winter Haven.  Saturday it kept us dry and out of the rain that the last few innings were played through.  Of course the big red pole that helped hold up that roof was situated between my seat and home plate.  Kind of a reminder of Municipal Stadium, although not as big as those girders were.  somehow I imagine the stadium at Goodyear will not have poles blocking your view.

My son was collecting autographs on a metal Indians baseaball sign to hang in his room.  He was able to get a dozen signatures - Sowers, Westbrook, Byrd, Betancourt, Dellucci, Asdrubal, Masa, Blake, Lewis, Carroll (twice) and Bob Feller.

Westbrook, Blake, Carroll and Byrd were great with the fans.  They signed autographs for everyone around - Jake probably signed for at least 15 minutes on Sautrday as there were a lot of people there early.  Crowds were much smaller at Chain of Lakes Friday and Sunday while the games were on the road.  The autograph signers were those who did not make the trip - thus a lot of pitcher signatures.

Byrd was nice enough to pose for a picture with my son on Sunday.  There were about 20 people outside the gate to the weight room.  Instead of signing over the fence, Byrd walked up to the gate and posed for pictures and signed autographs.  Only took about 10 minutes and there were a lot of happy people.

Sunday Masa and Blake signed for all who were there.  Several people mentioned Casey is always good with fans.  Guess I need to cut him some slack for a few LOBs.

Talked to Jensen Lewis on Friday - asked him when Vandy played.  He knew the time and told us he would be there (game was in Tampa).  He had to be one disappointed Commodore after that performance.

Meeting Bob Feller was a treat for my son who actually knows someting about him because of the MLB Showdown card game that was made a few years ago.  Feller stopped the autograph line in front of my son to go through out the first pitch.  While we were waiting for him to come back, Andy Call of the Canton Rep came up to wait to interview Feller and the gentleman who helps Feller at the signings (Rodger, formerly of East Canton).  Talked to Andy for several minutes while we waited - said it was a camp without much news.  Always enjoy reading Andy and will probably look his stories more often now.

Before we left early Sunday afternoon, we watched some of the minor league scrimmages.  Buffalo and Akron guys were playing on the AAA field.  We hung around the bullpen and watched the pitchers warm up - JD Martin and Buzzie were out there most of the time.

We headed inside the main stadium and watched a game between the Lake County and Kinston guys.  Welgarz belted a monstrous shot over the right field screen.  Right fielder never moved.  Welgarz is a big guy - really thick - saw him out on the minor league field earlier in our trip.  He and Mills were the guys we wached the most.

I wish this knowledge would do someone good for fuure years, but everything changes going to Goodyear.  Hopefully some of the access for the fans to the players remains out there.  Talked to a co-worked today who went out to see the Cubs earlier this month - he mentioned that it was not very fan friendly.  I don't know when we will get to Goodyear, but I hope it is fan friendly.

I am glad we went, even if it was just for a long weekend.  Fulfilled a life long dream of mine and gave my son a lifetime memory.

If you have read this far, thanks for reading.