The Wildest Week (My Trip To Spring Training)

[Legend_Of_Joey]

At the start of this trip, I only knew a few things about this week: I was about to see Spring Training baseball, I was going to be driving a lot, I needed this trip for multiple reasons, and the coronavirus was an issue, but would blow over quickly.

By the end of the week, I knew that this was a week that was unlike anything else I have experienced.

I left Baltimore bright and early Monday on a flight that was very, very empty. Everyone got their own row. It was strange, confusing, but a little pleasing. Who knew that might be the most normal thing this week?

I had a tentative plan for the week. All good plans tend to go to waste.

Landing in Tampa was an experience. The flight and landing was fine, but the vast emptiness was a little jarring. This is one of the major airports, during a major time…And it was empty.

I got my car and headed to Dunedin to meet up with a friend and watch the Rays/Blue Jays game. Nothing was unusual about the game. Strong wind, the trio of second generation Blue Jays players, full seats, ect. Rays players even stopped to sign for people. I didn’t check out Blue Jays players. The game went on, with the Blue Jays hammering the Rays and Blake Snell, including a grand slam in the first inning. The whole experience felt like any normal Spring Training game. Warm weather, lots of players being subbed in that you go “who?” and the quality dipping later in the game. Some minor sunburn seemed like the worst thing.

Tuesday was a long day. Met up with @Eric-OH and @weams at the Minor League Complex after wandering around a bit. By this point, the coronavirus scare had been kicked up a notch. We stayed far from the players and traded observations and stories. It was great talking baseball with these two. Eric is super knowledgeable and a great asset to this site. He gave a lot of great pointers on some GCL guys he had seen the year before and we traded information about some players I had seen. All around, a great time.

Left the complex, grabbed some food, then went to Ed Smith Stadium for the Orioles game that night. The Orioles weren’t hitting when the stadium opened, so I got to watch the Braves go at it. After warm ups, I made my way to the Orioles bullpen, not expecting much. Ended up talking with Wynns and Paul Fry, who both said they use plenty of hand sanitizer and drink Emergen-C. A few players actually signed for people, shook hands, and gave fist bumps. Ushers and security didn’t stop anyone from talking to the players, reaching for the hands of the players that were held out for fist bumps, or anything like that. They did have the “players will not sign anything” signs posted everywhere, but…

The game went as usual. The Orioles won, I met up with Eric and Weams (and @justD and saw @DrShorebird), we talked more baseball, and made tentative plans for Thursday.

Wednesday started off about the same as Monday, but would end unlike any other day I have ever experienced. Went to Dunedin to watch the Orioles play the Jays. Even more “business as usual,” as the Orioles players signed for all 5 people who were there and asked. The only big “concern” this day at this time was that there were FAR fewer fans than Monday. Probably close to 2,000 less, which is a huge difference in a Spring Training stadium. The highlight of the day was Stevie blasting a home run to center field while I was wearing a “Wilkerson” jersey. He actually was having a great game until he fouled the ball off his shin. Once the game ended, players still signed, though the “starters” had all left the field during the game and weren’t around. No big deal.

As the night got later, dinner was needed. I ended up grabbing a late dinner at an Outback and was half paying attention to the TV, which had ESPN on. Nothing major was being talked about, as they had already announced they would play in empty arenas and MLB would issue a statement Saturday. Plus, basketball was on the other TV’s. I don’t like basketball, so why should I care and pay attention?

I was starving and pounding down the bread, soup, and salad like a man possessed. I was still hungry when the main course arrived. I dug in, took a bite, looked up, and that’s when it happened.

“BREAKING NEWS: RUDY GOBERT TESTS POSITIVE FOR CORONAVIRUS, NBA SUSPENDS SEASON”

After choking on my food, coughing up a lung, and having to reassure the people nearby it was food and not the virus that nearly killed me just now because no one was trying to do the Heimlich Maneuver, I realized that this was about to a historic few days. Little did I know what the extent would be. I was going to the Orioles at Twins game in Fort Myers Thursday. I thought about going to the Minor League Complex Thursday morning, or hitting up Bradenton for the Jays vs. Pirates. But I was worn out and didn’t know exactly what was going to happen. I spent the night looking for any information, but kept getting the NBA news. It still seems like a dream. I still doesn’t seem real.

Thursday morning, I slept in and was making plans for the day. I kept pouring over Twitter, ESPN, Orioles Hangout, anywhere I could look for news about the games. I saw the 1 PM games start and decided I would still go to Fort Myers. Nothing had been announced yet, Wynns told me the game was still on, and he was starting. But I had an uneasy feeling as I saw more and more news about colleges suspending and canceling things.

At 1:30, I started up the car and started the drive, after reading Roch saying the team was on the bus and leaving for Fort Myers. 10 minutes later, I got a text from Wynns telling me to turn around, the game was cancelled.

For over an hour, the only news about it was “Orioles bus returned, will leave later.” Maybe, just maybe, there was a chance. Hope was the only thing to hold onto at that point.

Then, Rob Manfred announced the end of Spring Training, effective at 4 PM and the delay of the start of the season.

The baseball world, sports world, and entire world was turned upside down.

Over the next 48 hours, I checked on the players I had numbers for. No one was informed of anything. No one knew what was going on, even as news spread across social media. Everyone was “safe” at this time. But now the panic was real. Before, it had been out there. However, now that an athlete had gotten it (and given it to a teammate,) it was going into overdrive. Meetings, deep cleanings, quarantines, shutting down everything…

Driving past the empty stadiums, driving past all the areas that were closed, was surreal. Listening to the news and reading as much as possible, scraping for every detail. I spent Thursday in a trance after the news, as every time I looked, another sports entity was shutting down. MLB, NHL, NCAA, MLS, ect.

Even typing this up, the events for the week did not seem real. It really does seem like something about of a movie.

I had gone to Florida to watch baseball, catch up with some players, and escape some personal issues going on at home.

When I returned, it felt like the whole world had changed. Mainly because it had.

I know plenty of people who didn’t get to go to Spring Training this year. I know plenty of people who had to cut things short due to this. I feel bad for them. Baseball is the best game in the world and one of life’s joys. To have it cut like this can’t be described in words. I took up 3 pages in a Word Document to type up about my trip and I feel like it came off as me being a rambling idiot. But this whole week was really just a small portion of what is going on in the world and how life events are changing by the second.

To Eric, Weams, and Just D, it was a pleasure to meet you. Hopefully when we see each other next year, the week goes a lot smoother. To @Tony-OH, I’m sorry you didn’t get to go to Florida this Spring (and, screw Allegiant…)

To everyone else on this board, if you made it down this far, thank you. I wanted to come back and write about the experience of the trip, the details of the stadiums, key notes about the games (especially in Dunedin against the Jays,) catching up with Wynns over dinner, and maybe throw in some funny anecdotes. Instead, the entire first 2 ½ days experience was completely wiped out and overshadowed by the events over dinner Wednesday night.

I can’t wait for this to be over and things to be back to normal.

[scOtt]

Really sorry how that worked out for you Joey. This is a bad situation for everybody involved (and not involved.)

 

VERY cool of Wynns to do that!

28 minutes ago, Legend_Of_Joey said:

At 1:30, I started up the car and started the drive, after reading Roch saying the team was on the bus and leaving for Fort Myers. 10 minutes later, I got a text from Wynns telling me to turn around, the game was cancelled.

 

[Legend_Of_Joey]

1 hour ago, scOtt said:

Really sorry how that worked out for you Joey. This is a bad situation for everybody involved (and not involved.)

 

VERY cool of Wynns to do that!

Saved me a long drive there and a LONG drive back. Greatly appreciated.

[Frobby]

I’m glad you got a couple of decent days in before the stuff hit the fan.