Spring Training photos

Well this has nothing to do with 1988 Topps, but to get you baseball fans excited for the upcoming season, here are some photos from the Orioles-Cardinals spring training game I went to today. Click on any image for a larger version.


For those of you who've never been to spring training, here's what the front of Fort Lauderdale Stadium looks like:



This is it--the only real entrance to the stadium for the general public. This stadium is home to the Orioles, and we went here because it's by far the closest to Miami, where my wife and I are staying on vacation.



This is what you see inside the gate. What you see are about half of the total concession stands in the stadium. I love the orange flowers--a nice Oriole touch. (The colors are washed out from my cell phone, but they were nice and bright.)




Here's the name and press area of the stadium, although I managed to cut off the first letter.



Here's the view from our seats. These are about in the middle, in terms of distance from the field. (In other words, there were about 15 rows in front of us and 15 rows behind us, and that's the whole seating area.)




Here's a bit more of the stadium, plus the outfield wall and scoreboard. (It is electronic, not manual.) In the distance, that's Ft. Lauderdale / Hollywood airport.



Here's a shot of the Cardinals taking batting practice. I'm in the front row, which is easy to get to. That photographer is just about 15 feet or so away from me, so you can get an idea of how close you get to the players.





There's Tony LaRussa talking to one of the young players.




This guy named Pagnozzi (son of Tom Pagnozzi perhaps?) was very friendly with kids and other autograph-seekers. I also noticed that he warmed up the pitcher during the game when Yadier Molina was changing his gear after batting.




Here's a nice shot of my beautiful and very pregnant wife, and my father-in-law in the front. The real point of this photo is to show you the luxurious leg room in between all the rows. For tall people, it's awesome.






Here's the last photo I'll share today, taken during the top of the first inning. See the on-deck hitter? Yep, it's Juan Gonzalez. He got a hearty "boo" from the crowd, along with numerous shouts of "STEROIDS!"

I'll post more photos next week when I download them from my good camera.

Hope you enjoyed this!