Well we're back from Spring Training. Unfortunately Krisdee was unable to travel with us as i'm sure she would have enjoyed the trip, but my father and I made it to the following stadiums: Goodyear (Home of the Indians and Reds), Peoria (Padres and Mariners Home), Glendale (Dodgers and White Sox Home), Tempe (Diablo Stadium, Home of the Angels), and a quick look at Chase Field (Home of the D-Backs), University of Phoenix Stadium (Home of the Cardinals), Jobing.com Arena (Home of the Phoenix Coyotes).

The time flew past; we'd arrive to the stadium by 10am, tour the grounds and check out the team shops, watch bp and warm ups (i'd hound for some autographs), then go into the stadium where i'd hound for some more autographs. At the Indians facility I managed to get Bobby Feller on a ball which is great given his age, and his HOF status.

All said, the Dodgers had the best facilities by far, but this is to be expected as the inaugural season was this spring. At the Dodgers team store I purchased a inaugural season pin, Dodger blue bat for the boy, a polo shirt for myself, a Spring Training shirt for Krisdee, and a Manny Wig for Kayla. She loves it.



The Angels facilities we much older but apparently Arte Moreno has invested heavily in rennovating the stadium, which was very nice given its age.

The worst stadium by far was the Padres/Mariners facility. The seating in the left and right field was TEMPORARY bleachers! One other funny note: The road coming in was named "Mariners Dr." -- I guess the Padres really do get no respect.

All in all it was a great trip.

Some highlights: Meeting Brendan Wood, Rob Quinlan, Nick Adenhart, Mike Napoli, Sean Rodriguez, Joe Torre (2x!), Don Mattingly, Jason Repko, Chin Lung Hu, Doug Meinkevitz, and seeing Manny sign a ball for someone 3-4 people away from me ;(.

I also managed to talk/joke around with Keith Olbermann for a bit and got him to sign a ball for me as well.

Hey Joe!