Special coverage -- baltimoresun.com

April 1, 2007

View from the stands

Lessons learned as spring traning comes to a close

Jim Crothers uses Cecil County as a starting point for baseball road trips, including an annual week-long outing with the Calvert Stogie and Rail Club -- a group of "otherwise normal, fat, old guys who destroy themselves by watching up to three games a day."

March 31, 2007

View from the stands

Scalping at a spring training game?

There are two phrases that strike fear in this baseball fan: "rained out" and "sold out."

March 28, 2007

View from the stands

The many faces of the spring training fan

The first thing you realize at a spring training game is that everyone is happy.

March 28, 2007

View from the stands

Exchanging tales with Red Sox nation

It is hardly more than what you would expect to find in an Iowa cornfield -- just a baseball diamond with a few bleachers on three sides and a scoreboard in the distance -- the complex is almost unworthy of the title "stadium" by today's colossal, major league standards.

March 26, 2007

View from the stands

Sunburn and an unexpected Big Papi sighting

Even though I am middle aged, I still get excited when I go to ball games.

March 26, 2007

View from the stands

Spring training is all about hopes

"Hey, Honey. Are the Orioles going to be in the runoffs this year?"

March 23, 2007

View from the stands

Rediscovering baseball in Fort Lauderdale

I was on the field.

March 19, 2007

View from the stands

Baby Bird watching in Sarasota

Watching spring training at the Orioles' minor league complex in Sarasota is a fan-friendly experience. There were about six of us in attendance today, and this "crowd" included one player's parents and a professional photographer who was there to take shots for a publication. Before practice started, she was trying to find Anderson Garcia, one of the last players she needed, so two of us had to tell her that Garcia played for the Phillies now. After deciding we weren't joking with her, the photographer crossed Garcia off her list. When she located James Hoey, he grabbed a bat and had his photo taken in a hitting pose, to the amusement of the other players. Eventually, the photographer realized her mistake and made him do it all again, this time striking a pitching pose.

March 23, 2007

View from the stands

Stadium-hopping in Florida

Welcome to paradise.

March 22, 2007

View from the stands

A perfect day in Fort Lauderdale

It cannot possibly get any better than this.

March 19, 2007

View from the stands

Minor league complexes a hidden gem

Jim Crothers uses Cecil County as a starting point for baseball road trips, including an annual week-long outing with the Calvert Stogie and Rail Club -- a group of "otherwise normal, fat, old guys who destroy themselves by watching up to three games a day."

March 19, 2007

View from the stands

Scouting the AL East, with a little male bonding mixed in

Our odyssey began when my son Michael suggested in January that we go to spring training to celebrate my 60th birthday. We'd taken the trip together several years earlier and I jumped at the second chance. I told him to set it up and gave him my credit card.

March 17, 2007

View from the stands

Keep score, just not at spring games

Jim Crothers uses Cecil County as a starting point for baseball road trips, including an annual week-long outing with the Calvert Stogie and Rail Club -- a group of "otherwise normal, fat, old guys who destroy themselves by watching up to three games a day."

March 8, 2007

View from the stands

Visiting the land of Boog

Jim Crothers' wife describes him as a "baseball nut" because he let her sit in the old Baltimore Greyhound station for two hours in 1966 while an Orioles-Yankees game went into extra innings. Forty years later, the Crothers now host players for the Single-A Wilmington (Del.) Blue Rocks and spend most summer evenings watching minor league baseball. Crothers uses Cecil County as a starting point for baseball road trips, including an annual week-long outing with the Calvert Stogie and Rail Club -- a group of "otherwise normal, fat, old guys who destroy themselves by watching up to three games a day."

March 6, 2007

View from the stands