It’s That Time Of Year Again

The cheap and easy way to skate on a hard day’s work is to extol baseball when pitchers and catchers report for spring training.

Rites of spring, rebirth, the old made new, baseball is also the herald of spring for the frozen northern climes.

Here in Florida? Yes, but that not because we’re cold.

It’s business here. Tickets, hotel rooms, bars and restaurants, hotels, everybody gets a piece of the romance. Jupiter, Fla., is the spring home to the St. Louis Cardinals and Miami Marlins, and the Cardinals outdraw the Marlins by far. Their fans descend from the Midwest for a respite from the winter and they loyally attend these preseason contests.

Marlins fans? Not so much. They also don’t show up during the season.

Now Palm Beach County has a new stadium, called the Ballpark of the Palm Beaches (sponsor forthcoming, one may be sure, and nice work on that catchy name). The Houston Astros and Washington Nationals forsook (???) venues further north in Florida to share a ballpark and have closer access to not only the Cards and Marlins but the New York Mets in Port St. Lucie.

Me? I’m happy to see their fans here. Enjoy the weather, the stadiums, the in-season prices (I’ve not met a Budweiser worth $9 but the first rule of economics is to charge the highest price the market will bear). Slurp up sunshine, blue skies and (oh, God help me) that sense of rebirth when pitcher and catchers report for spring training.

Ah, the rites of spring (did I just do that?).
 
 
Post By: Larry Weisman, a longtime sportswriter for USA TODAY, blogs for Twistity.com. Follow him on Twitter @MrLarryWeisman