Spring training baseball is an important part of life in Florida and Arizona during the last days of winter. Although spring training games have been around for almost as long as professional baseball has existed, these games have gained more interest each year. Possibly because there are now more retirees living in Arizona and Florida coming to watch these games, attendance records are being set almost every year, and the Cactus League (training in Arizona) is estimated to bring in $300 million a year in revenue. economic. impact for the Phoenix metropolitan area.
So, to test your knowledge of this growing hobby for some of the country, let’s see how you can do it with a few trivia questions.
1. How many states now host spring training baseball in the United States? Only two now, but that wasn’t always the case. Currently, Arizona and Florida are home to 15 teams each, the only two states to have spring training baseball.
2. When did spring training baseball start? It first started in the 1890s, and by 1910 most teams had gotten in on the act.
3. Have teams always held spring training in Arizona and Florida? At first they trained in a variety of places. They were scattered in a variety of places. For example, the Pittsburgh Pirates trained in Honolulu, Hawaii for a time, the Brooklyn Dodgers trained in Cuba and the Dominican Republic in the 1940s, and the Yankees in the 1950s. Practices and games were also held at the northern Mexico and Puerto Rico. California was also popular before Major League Baseball came to the state in 1958.
4. Was spring training suspended during World War II? It was not discontinued entirely, but most had abbreviated hours. And in order to conserve rail transportation for the war effort, they moved their training sites closer to their respective cities. This meant that all of spring training was held in an area north of the Ohio River and eats of the Mississippi River.
5. Who was credited for starting the Cactus League in Arizona? That would go to that charming maverick and former club owner, Bill Veeck. According to his autobiography, after an incident in Orlando, Florida that offended him for being racist, later when he bought the Cleveland Indians he decided to break tradition and train in Tucson, Arizona. He then convinced the New York Giants to move to Phoenix, thus starting the current Cactus League.
If you’re in Florida at the end of February and most of March, there are plenty of places to go watch baseball. It’s just another great thing to do when you’re on vacation in Florida, and by the time you’ve had enough of the snow and cold weather up north. I hope you’ve learned a little more about the history of this truly American rite of spring.
