Celebrity Autographs And Celebrity Addresses

Spring training and warm weather combine for the perfect getaway

SARAH JACKSON

Of course you do.
If you're a baseball fan -- and you want a getaway during the next couple of weeks -- look no further than Arizona, where the highs are in the 80s and baseball players from superstars to rookies are nearly everywhere, usually available for autographs and maybe even a quick photo opportunity or two.

Exhibition games started March 3, and they're going on through April 2.

It's not too late. Steal away to a weekend or week of summer and pump yourself up for the Seattle Mariners' home opener April 4 against the Minnesota Twins. All you need is a flight, probably a rental car, accommodations and a sense of adventure.

Mariners fans Bud and Mary Johansen of Olympia are going at the end of March to enjoy the warmer weather and to celebrate their birthdays on March 31 and March 28, respectively.

"My students would say that I'm an avid fan," said Bud Johansen, who owns Johansen School of Ballet with his wife. "I would say obsessive. I still listened to every game last year. I won't give up. I'm sorry."

While the Mariners didn't have a stellar season last year, spring training is a gloriously new start where what happens on the field and how is more important than the final score as fans look ahead to the regular season, full of potential. Here are the top six reasons to attend spring training in 2005:

- Variety: In addition to the Mariners -- who share a sports complex with the San Diego Padres in Peoria, about eight miles northwest of Phoenix -- players from 10 other major league teams (and minor league teams, such as the Tacoma Rainiers) all are in the same state trying to get their baseball grooves back and perhaps move up the food chain.

If you play your cards right, you can see games or players from many of the other "Cactus League" teams, including the Anaheim Angels, Arizona Diamondbacks, Chicago Cubs, Chicago White Sox, Colorado Rockies, Kansas City Royals, Milwaukee Brewers, Oakland Athletics, San Francisco Giants and Texas Rangers.

- Intimacy: Watching spring training -- also going on now for 20 teams in Florida, where it's known as the "Grapefruit League" -- is one of the greatest things a baseball fan can do, said Stephen Bray of Olympia, who has attended numerous spring trainings in Arizona, including many he covered for The Olympian.

"There is a romance and innocence about spring training baseball that's missing from the regular season," said Bray, who has attended with his sons, Joel and Aaron, as well as his wife, Diane. "There's the opportunity for most fans and kids to get closer to -- feel closer to -- the players than they can get at Safeco or any other major league ballpark."

During spring training, players and fans usually are separated only by chain-link fencing and sometimes -- especially on the practice fields where players do drills -- nothing at all.

"It's not like in Seattle, when you get no physical contact at all," Mary Johansen said. "I am interested in seeing all the new players."

The Peoria Sports Complex is the spring training and player development home of the Padres and the Mariners. It sits on 145 acres, and each team has six and a half major league-size practice fields, a 35,000-square-foot clubhouse as well as batting tunnels and cages.

Kids can hang around practices for free and see what it's like to prepare for a season.

Games happen in Peoria's 11,000-seat stadium, which creates an atmosphere that spring training veterans say is even more personal than Cheney Stadium, home to the Tacoma Rainiers.

- Ticket prices: Seats at the Peoria Sport Complex and other stadiums in the Phoenix area usually are much cheaper than at major league ballparks. Club seating in Peoria goes for $22, followed by infield box seats for $17, outfield box seats for $14, bleacher seats for $9 and lawn areas for $5, all compared to $50 infield box seats or low outfield seats, for example, at Safeco Field.

Tickets usually aren't hard to come by unless you're going to see a team with particularly die-hard supporters.

"Cubs fans are legendary for their enthusiasm," Bray said, adding that some Cubs games might end up being sold out.

Weekend games are busier, but it's usually possible to get tickets at the complex or online in advance, even before leaving town, so you can be guaranteed a spot.

"If you're going down just as a Mariners fan, you might just want to go to all the Mariners games," Bray said. "You have access to so many different ballparks."

- Autographs: Kids who love autographs might particularly enjoy spring training, of course.

"You can get right up to the fence, and many of them will come over and sign autographs," Bray said. "Players are more relaxed in the spring than they are during the regular season."

Bray's sons have met Mariners and other big-league players, including Joel Pineiro and Alex Rodriguez. They have side-by-side pictures with them to prove it, too.

"They all have their little baseballs and their Sharpie pens," Bray said of youngsters who attend spring training games, which also feature young prospects trying out for major league teams. "From a kid's point of view, anybody in a Mariners uniform is a star."

Bray has met plenty of famous players, too, including Edgar Martinez, whom he met at a restaurant during spring training when Martinez still was a minor league player.

Marc Pease and Suzanne Mager of Olympia went to spring training last year. Pease has attended in the past, too, with other family and friends, including his young baseball-fan nephew.

"You get the real energy and the feeling of what a major league baseball player is going through," Pease said. "It's such a great learning experience."

- Solidarity: Pease enjoys encountering other die-hard fans from Wisconsin to Texas.

"You're going to meet the most wonderful people who are in love with the sport of baseball," Pease said. "The camaraderie of people from all over the county that are there -- it's a wonderful experience."

All sorts of fans are drawn to spring training and the other tourist attractions in Phoenix, which include theme parks and plenty of other activities for kids.

"You'll see couples, you'll see families, you'll see single people," Bray said. "You have retired people, you have school teachers."

- Weather: It's a great feeling to sit back and relax in dry heat, even if South Sound's wonderfully mild winter days are holding strong this year.

"You're wearing shorts, Hawaiian shirts, sunglasses and straw sunhats. That's the deal," Pease said. "You can sit out on the grass outside in left field and have a picnic, or you can sit in the stands. It's a baseball vacation."