30 Years As a Mets Fan – Part 6

30 Years As a Mets Fan – Part 6

Spring Training Annual

I just completed my 14th annual visit to Mets Spring Training in Port St. Lucie, Florida. I like to go down there for a long vacation, at least 1 week, and usually longer. I like to walk around the ballpark taking pictures from different vantage points. I’m always trying to grab a foul ball (or a home run ball). I like to go see other Spring Training ballparks. I like to buy a t-shirt from every team/stadium that I visit. I like to get autographs from players when I’m there. Spring Training is billed as a time when you can get closer to the players. At least in the Mets case, I like to spend the morning on the practice fields watching the players conduct different baseball drills.

Sometimes I’ll talk with people. I’ve met and become friends with a lot of fans over the years that vacation in Port St. Lucie similar to me, live down there for part of the year, or live down there permanently. I’m not the only person who makes this an annual trip. Some Mets fans have retired or relocated to Post St. Lucie because of the Mets. Several years ago, I joined the local booster club (which mostly supports the minor league St. Lucie Mets). After most home games, the group (or at least parts of it) will go out to dinner somewhere. I know some of the ushers and security guards at the stadium complex, mostly by face. I have my routines and my favorite spots there.

I spend every morning, except when there’s long travel necessary, at the "back" (practice) fields of the Mets complex. They stretch and throw together and conduct different baseball drills each day. If there’s a home game, everyone is there. If there’s a road game, only the players left behind are involved. The fans are usually allowed to stay back there until the workout is complete, which can be a couple of hours that we’re out there. Some players will sign autographs after their workout is finished. Sometimes the fans can stay to see the minor league teams working out or maybe playing in a game. Every day is different.

Inside the stadium, I’ll usually talk with people and then grab lunch and some shade until the players come out. Then it might be autograph time, time to get pictures from the bullpen, or time to get in position for a specific photograph. I like taking pictures of broad scenery and the Mets ballpark in Port St. Lucie certainly offers that. A high sky, sometimes clouds, bright sunshine, and many distinct features along with a baseball field filled with Mets jerseys is very photogenic. The left field terrace and right field berm both offer big blue and white shade covers. Left field has the scoreboard with the practice fields behind it and home plate has a big concrete covering. Even when I can’t get to the highest point, the inner concourse/walkway in the stadium works out well for most pictures. My favorite spot over the past few years is right behind the CF wall next to the batter’s eye. The wall is taller than I can see, but I can put my camera on top and get some great pictures.

I don’t chase down autographs as much as I used to. It used to be that I had to get at least one autograph at every game (Mets or not) and the game was a personal failure if I didn’t. With the exception of one stadium where it was forbidden to ask for autographs, I had one at every game for about 5 or 6 years. That’s what’s great about Spring Training, it was always possible just to go in and get an autograph. My first Spring Training autograph was actually Tommy Lasorda when he was sitting in the stands at my first game in 2004. Over the years, as I got older, I stopped finding the appeal of camping out at a spot by the dugout or down the foul line (and it didn’t necessarily matter which team it was) to wait for the players to come out, and/or to get crowded into an small area of seats and an aisle fighting people (adults and children alike) to try to get an autograph from a player who might come by that location to sign and might not. The waiting, pushing and shoving lost its appeal. I still like getting autographs. I keep it simple, usually having players sign the scorecard page in the program. I’m not one to try to get baseballs or baseball cards signed. These autographs are usually just for me. I still try to get autographs on the practice fields at Mets camp when I don’t have to run around the place to get it. I still wait after the game (when I don’t have some place to be) at the players’ parking lot gates to get autographs as the players leave (with some success). There’s still something about the chase for an autograph that makes me feel like a kid (even when these players are all now younger than me).

I also like to get around Florida to see other Spring Training sites. After this vacation, I can once again say that I’ve seen all of the stadiums currently in use – 13 active ballparks housing 15 MLB teams (2 stadiums are each shared by 2 teams) and 7 defunct ones. Those numbers have changed over my 14 years as teams have moved around Florida, built new ballparks, or moved to Arizona. Other teams have upgraded their ballparks making a case to come back and see the improvements. Those numbers will change again when the next team moves (rumored to be Atlanta) and then again when I can get out to their new location. Some of these ballparks are a short drive – less than an hour – from Mets camp in Port St. Lucie. Others are farther away and visiting them becomes a side trip (where I go see non-Mets games for a few days and stay in another part of Florida). I don’t go on side trips every year, but once every 3 or 4 years to see something new is okay. Exceptions are made if a Mets game can be seen in another part of Florida. I’m very biased towards seeing games in Port St. Lucie, but my favorite place to watch a game was at old Dodgertown in Vero Beach. This is the 9th Spring Training without major league Spring Training there and it’s still some place I try to get to every couple years.

Dynamic Spring Training

I think it's interesting that I've been reading a book about the history of Spring Training and how a lot of teams found their way to their current location. It's called Under the March Sun: The Story of Spring Training, and as much as it tells stories about figures like Al Lang, it also talks about the economics and politics around towns, counties, and states trying to secure (or walk away from) hosting Spring Training. It's interesting that I'm reading it because the current situation playing out on Florida's east coast could be a new chapter for this book, except that it's not quite done being written.

If you've noticed in the Mets Spring Training schedule, or heard the different broadcasters mention, there are only 4 teams currently playing Spring Training baseball on the Atlantic coast, and the other 3 regular Spring opponents of the Mets are between 1 1/2 and 2 1/2 hours away. That's a lot of time on the bus. If you've ever been down there to follow the Mets around (like what I've been doing for the past 9 Marches), you know that the Marlins and Cardinals are about 40 minutes south of Port St. Lucie in Jupiter (just north of West Palm Beach), the Nationals are about an hour north in Viera (just south of Cocoa Beach), the Astros are about 1 1/2 hours away up Florida's Turnpike in eastern Kissimmee, the Braves train at Disney's Wide World of Sports, which is a good 2 hour drive away, and the Tigers, a new regular opponent, are 2 1/2 hours away in Lakeland, about half way between Disney World and Tampa. Outside of the trip to Jupiter, that's a lot of driving. The Mets used to have the Orioles 90 minutes south in Fort Lauderdale (they moved to Sarasota a couple years ago), and the Dodgers were 30 minutes north in Vero Beach going back to the days of Jackie Robinson until 2008 when they moved to Arizona.

Teams move around. The current talk is that the Nationals are looking to move out of their facility in Viera (originally built for the Marlins for Spring Training 1993, the Expos traded spots in Jupiter with the Marlins when Jeffrey Loria sold the Expos to Major League Baseball and bought the Marlins in 2002) and are rumored to be looking in both Fort Myers (very far away from Port St. Lucie) and even in Arizona. The writing is on the wall that the Mets are going to lose another local Spring Training opponent. And the Houston Astros are also looking to move out of their facility in Kissimmee, and their new owner Jim Crane has business interests just south of Port St. Lucie in the name of a golf course in Palm City in Martin County (the next county south of Port St. Lucie). While the Astros have been rumored to be looking at every available baseball field in both Arizona and Florida, I have a strong feeling that the Astros will end up sharing the Mets complex in Port St. Lucie. Jim Crane (as well as the Astros GM) were seen touring the Mets facility in Port St. Lucie on Saturday, reportedly their 3rd visit there this year (based on the information that a local told me). It's also been reported that the Mets are interested in having the Astros as co-tennants so that they can cut down on the travel (even if it's just a little bit) and possibly not have to leave Port St. Lucie entirely.

That last point goes back to the travel. Let's say that a Spring Training season is 30 games - 15 at home and 15 on the road. Let's assume that it's 15 home-and-home series, so that it's balanced and fair. In those 15 road games, 6 will be in Jupiter (3 each against the Marlins and Cardinals), the shortest bus ride away at about 40 minutes. If the Nationals and Astros both move, they're out of the equation. The next shortest trip is 2 hours to Disney, which they may do twice. That's still only half of the road games, and there's just nothing else even remotely close by. The defection of teams from the east coast has been a cause for concern that basically has the Mets, Cardinals, and Marlins each considering at what point do they say that they can't stay there any more, pick up and move, and the whole I-95 baseball corridor comes crumbling down. The Mets are committed to Port St. Lucie (there were some off-season improvements in the stadium) and them welcoming the Astros into town shows that they don't want to be the ones to make the whole thing crumble.

So what the Mets want, really need, is for the Astros (or at least another team, and better the Astros soon to be of the American League, than the Nationals, of the Mets own division) to move to Port St. Lucie. Right away, it brings in probably 3 road games with absolutely zero travel (bringing the total up to 9 games on the I-95 corridor and 2 up at Disney, with 4 more long road trips left to schedule).

The Astros coming to Port St. Lucie would help the travel situation. But I don't think we're really out of the woods until the east coast can secure a 5th team, whether it's someone putting up the money to build for the Nationals (or another team, though no other team is known to be looking), maybe a bit further south, closer to St. Lucie and Jupiter. My idea is to have a new 2 team complex in Martin County along I-95 (there's already hotels at exit 101, and it looks like plenty of space there), but I've been told that Martin County wouldn't allow any new construction, so that idea may not fly. Again, this location would be about half way between Jupiter and Port St. Lucie, so a short bus ride for those 2 teams to each location.

One thing to consider is that in my possible schedule for the Mets, they visit the Tigers and Braves twice, so each of those teams comes to Port St. Lucie twice. If the Astros join the Mets in Port St. Lucie, will the Tigers make that 2 1/2 hour trip down there 4 times now, or the Braves making that 2 hour trip 4 times instead of twice? Somehow, I doubt that. There's still a lot of holes in the schedule without a 5th team on the east coast. I think the Tigers would rather play the Phillies and Blue Jays more (under an hour of travel) to make up for the lost games in Kissimmee than they would coming down to Port St. Lucie more often.

Jim Crane's visit to Port St. Lucie is a telling sign. My fear is that it may not be enough to save Spring Training on the east coast of Florida.


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A few last items from Spring Training

I addition to seeing the Astros owner and GM touring the Mets facility on Saturday, I did pick up these little items before I left.

Josh Lewin, the new radio broadcaster and noted keyboardest, will be performing dual functions at home games taking over on the Citi Field organ.

WNET (the PBS station in NY for those from out of town) will be taking over for WPIX broadcasting Mets games with a Friday night Mets pledge drive telecast every week.

And I have a few photos from my last day in Mets camp.


Or not...April Fool's.


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Leaving Port St. Lucie

The combination of exhaustion after 13 games in 11 days and a pre-flight insomnia has me up at 3:18am, just hours before I am scheduled to leave Port St. Lucie, Florida, ending my 7th annual Spring Training vacation. Putting aside what the Mets have done for me on the field (2 wins, 5 losses, and 1 rainout that wasn't their doing), and the 3 day break that I took from the Mets, I had a great time in Florida.

I got a good in-person look at players that we'll see on the Opening Day roster, players we wish we'd see on the Opening Day roster, and players we hope to see on the roster 6 months from now when the season comes to a close.

I had a great time traveling the Grapefruit League to familiar towns like Jupiter (Marlins and Cardinals), Viera (Nationals), and Disney (Braves - yes, I know "Disney" isn't the name of the town, and now it's not even the name of the complex, but it's easiest to describe where I was) and to towns that don't appear on my schedule very often like Kissimmee (Astros) and Lakeland (Tigers). I enjoyed spending a few days in Vero Beach, my 4th year staying there in 7 that I've been doing this, after a year's hiatus, and seeing the old Dodgertown complex on what might have been one of the last days that it beared that name. And I enjoyed my few days on what I call the "Disney Strip", named for the Vegas Strip because of all of the lights and signs for hotels, restrauants, tickets, mini golf and gift shops on Irlo Bronson Memorial Highway/US 192 outside of Disney World.

But there's no place like (Spring Training) home - Port St. Lucie, St. Lucie West, and Tradition Field. Last year's very short 3 night trip was the first time I had stayed in PSL since my first year in 2004, and I realized how much I had missed staying in town, in what is probably the only place in the country that is a Mets town without also being a Yankees town. Despite the record that the Mets put up on the field, and how good or not good the players have been at handling the fans' (and my) desire for autographs, I absolutely love coming here, driving or walking to what I'll keep calling "Tradition Field" out of habit, being at the ballpark, seeing the Mets, and seeing and talking to a ton of Mets fans - the latter two both for home and road games.

I love that the stadium, at least for Spring Training, has touches of our New York baseball experience like Lazy Mary in the 7th Inning Stretch, seeing Kevin, Gary, Keith, and/or Ron, and a beautiful mural of Mets history along the press box facade. I hope it isn't changed too much when they replace the last reference to the "Tradition Field" name.

Port St. Lucie is one of the very best places to watch a Spring Training game, at least in the Grapefruit League, where I've seen games in 12 of the 14 active stadiums and 4 of the inactive stadiums (some year I'll get to Clearwater again to see a game and I'll get down to Port Charlotte). That wouldn't be possible without the hard work of (in no particular order) the folks running the Mets Florida operations and the ballpark itself as well as the NY and St. Lucie Mets Booster club, who have a presence at every Mets Spring Training home game (as well as the St. Lucie Mets season). The Mets Booster Club does great things with the local community, troops overseas, and players. If you're a regular at Spring Training, you should check them out and consider joining. For everyone there in Port St. Lucie, thank you for a wonderful time.

To play off both the name of another Mets fan blog, and a reference from a semi-recent baseball movie...
To my Spring Family, I'll see you next year!


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Tradition Field naming rights

We saw it coming. Several blogs and bloggers posted this earlier today. I first heard it myself at the end of today's game at Tradition Field when they invited fans to return tomorrow at "Digital Domain Park". A new naming rights deal has been inked replacing the old one with Core Communities for the name "Tradition". Core Communities defaulted on their agreements, and the naming rights were terminated. Before this came out, I never even realized that there were naming rights at the former Tradition Field.

Here is the article from the local paper, TCPalm.com. The naming rights deal was signed on Tuesday. This company is bringing jobs and development to Port St. Lucie. One piece that I will quote from the article is interesting:

The new deal could enhance the experience for visitors to the stadium. [Digital Domain Holdings Chairman John] Textor said the company plans to do visual effects in both Port St. Lucie and at Citi Field, the Mets' stadium in New York.

Signage should be completely changed over by the middle of the St. Lucie Mets season. I'll report on this over the weekend if I see any changes this soon. We saw the logo on the scoreboard during the announcement for tomorrow's game (not completly realizing what it was).


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Spring Training Trip 2010 - Day 3

Read on to see why I have a picture of Jerry Seinfeld

We start this adventure with a stopover in Port St. Luice at Tradition Field to see a bit of the open workouts (for those players not attending the game in Jupiter) before heading down to Jupiter myself. What I saw was a lot of fans with the look of expression when pondering this question and answer:

Fan 1: What time do they open the gates for open workouts?
Fan 2: They open at 9:30am.
Fan 1: But it's 9:48am and the gates aren't open yet.
Fan 2: Ya, I know.

After 30 minutes of that, I gave up and went to the team store to do my shopping, and came back to find the crowd had moved from one locked gate in the parking lot to the next locked gate outside the fields. Goodbye Port St. Lucie, I'll see ya on Tuesday.

Game 4 - Mets vs Cardinals @ Jupiter
On to Jupiter and the Sea of Red. Those Cardinals fans are plentiful in Florida this time of year. And all wearing their universal colors - red and white. In Jupiter, they let you in during the visiting team's BP session. There, we go to see that the Mets left their biggest names at home and went with a bit of a scrubs lineup. But the kids are sometimes better at signing autographs for the fans. The two that did did so from inside their dugout and the fans all crushed along that wall trying to get what they could get. I tried to get in but I just refuse to push my way around or contort my body to get into a good position (I almost blew out my knees, ankle, and back doing that Thursday night).

BP ends, players go away to their hiding place to get ready for the game, and fans start coming into their seats, which pushes autograph seekers (kids, dealers and collectors, and the innocent fans) out. On a good day, we're not left with any assholes and it's not so bad. Today, the only asshole was the usher clearing the entire front row for a family of 6. We stayed and swarmed around the family. They didn't mind. Thursday night, some people had said, the Mets players were "forced" to all come over, for as many that did (about 8 in total) and sign. Today, it was nothing like that. Only those that wanted to come and sign did so. Nick Evans is a good kid for that. Razor Shines is not, because he said what we were all thinking - if he signed for the 2 kids, he'd have to sign on the entire wall, so he wouldn't sign for the 2 kids. I think he did end up signing for them and maybe 2 or 3 others.

In Jupiter, it's easy to get autographs from either the Marlins or the Cardinals opponents from the LF bullpen. It's also crowded when a big name team like the Mets or Cardinals is in town. Today there was both. Of course, who in the bullpen do you want to get an autograph from? Relief pitchers and extra catchers, especially for the Mets on the road, are not at the top of my autograph list. But catching candidate Chris Coste was nice enough to sign in between innings after his playing day was done. I could have had more if I chose to, but I didn't choose to.

For the game, John Maine started and went 4 innings. There was no radar gun display on the scoreboard, so I couldn't see exactly how the speed was (unlike watching Stephen Strasburg in Viera last night). But at times, it didn't look like he had his fastball. He got hit up a bit early in the game, but it wasn't a terrible outing. I think he has a lot of work to do, and maybe an extended Spring Training would do him well after all of the time NOT pitching in the past 2 seasons. I had heard something earlier in the Spring about his lack of innings since 2007 being a bit of a rust issue now.

Later in the game, Florida opened up their lead, the Mets scrubs mounted a 9th inning comeback, topped off by a shot to Left Centerfield by Ike Davis to tie the game with 2 out after the Mets manufactured 2 runs earlier in the inning. Kiko Calero comes in to pitch the bottom of the 9th and gives up a HR right back, and the Cardinals win.

Backing up to batting practice, we had a real celebrity in the house today. Jerry Seinfeld had his family at the ballpark. They arrived down the third baseline via golf cart, stopping off right in front of where the autograph crowd was standing. They got off, went over by home plate to watch BP, and when the Mets were done, they got a security escort up to probably a private suite to watch the game. He politely declined a few autograph requests.

But I got this picture as he was walking back.

And in honor of TheRopolitans.com, I give you today's Manuel's Musing.

As soon as the game ended, all of the beat writers hoped onto the field from the standing room area by the Mets bullpen in LF. They were there to intercept Jerry Manuel on his way back to the Mets clubhouse in LF. This is where the Jerry Manuel quotes in Spring Training come from some days.


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Tradition Field will be no more

From TCPalm.com covering Florida's Treasure Coast comes this piece of news.

Core Communities terminates Tradition Field naming rights contract. Core Communities is the builder of the Town of Tradition, and this is something that's been brewing for some time now.

The name "Tradition Field" went into effect on February 18, 2004, and coincided with renovations to the ballpark (adding the left field terrace and right field berm, and moving the scoreboard behind the LF wall). It was set to run out in 2013.


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Naming rights issues in Port St. Lucie?

An interesting piece coming out of the Treasure Coast in Florida about the naming rights of "Tradition Field" in Port St. Lucie, which you can read here.

To fill you in, it looks like the group that owns the name "Tradition" hasn't made their payment to St. Lucie County for the naming rights to the Mets' Spring Training ballpark (it was due a month ago), and there's speculation that they won't make their payment to the Mets in another month. You can catch up on the story here, here, and here.

While nothing's changing now, columnist Ray McNulty has an interesting idea for the Mets (from the first article linked above)

Pay for it yourselves — at least until Core Communities comes through (which now appears highly unlikely) or you can land another title sponsor.

Just write a check to the county for the $75,000 its not getting from Core Communities and, if necessary, eat the $75,000 you’re probably not going to get in March.
...
This is a wonderful opportunity to step forward during this economically challenging stretch and show your gratitude to the county and its money-strapped residents for 22 years of loyal support.

It’s a chance to buy a priceless amount of goodwill in the community at a bargain-basement price.

You’d come across as caring and compassionate, sensitive and generous, even noble.

All for a paltry $75,000.

And if you do this now, before pitchers and catchers report to camp, you’d create a feel-good buzz that would resonate throughout the team’s spring-training stay.

Some interesting stuff going on down there. It really shouldn't affect the Mets as a team at all. But Ray's idea of the Mets imposing some good will really could be a gold star on a blank sheet that they have right now.


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Game 3 recap

Game 3 - Marlins vs. Mets @ Port St. Lucie
Let's start by saying that it was a beautiful day for baseball. This is what I look for when I come to Florida (and it doesn't usually matter what teams I watch or what stadium I'm in when the weather is like this).

At last night's game, there was a bit of a buzz (helped by ushers) about getting autographs during the morning pre-game workout on the back fields of the Tradition Field complex. "Come at 9:30" is what I heard at least a few times. There were quite a few people there that early. This is the type of drawing power that the Mets have in Spring Training. But they didn't open the practice fields. They were telling us a little after 9am when you come in to the parking lot that they won't open up. It makes sense - it's a day game after a night game, so they won't be working out as early as they normally do. But I got there at about 9:20am hoping to be able to go to the back. No such luck.

So it's hanging out by Gate A and the media entrance. Gary Cohen came back and forth a few times, stopping (or getting stopped) to sign a few of those times. I think that makes 3 for me overall. He's a nice guy.

Around 10:30am the crowd waiting on line to get really swells up (basically, a sellout today). And around 11am there was a bit of a buzz when Ralph Kiner arrived in his parking space, and security set up a line for autographs for him. That was worth leaving the front of the line to wait for about 30 minutes to get his autograph. I wish I could remember what I said to him or what he said back.

My assessment of Ralph is that he's old. Sorry to say. He talked and wrote very slow. The actual signature is very readable and a very good one. And he still sounds good on air.

Inside the stadium, there was the expectation of getting somewhere between very little to nothing. That's about right. That's why I didn't mind staying outside for Ralph Kiner. During the Marlins BP, their star player Hanley Ramirez spotted a Marlins fan over by the Mets bullpen, and come over to sign a few. He came back a few minutes later to work the line, basically all the way down from the bullpen home plate over to the Mets dugout. Weird to see the visitor player come to the home team fans for a warm reception. So I got his autograph.

For the game, Dillon Gee went 3.1 innings before running out of gas in the 4th. some good relief, some was better than others, and a 4-run 3rd inning gave the Mets the win.

One more game tomorrow in Ft. Lauderdale. Maybe a stop at Mets practice before I head down there.

Game 2 in the books

Picking up the recap of Day 1 from last night...

Game 2 - Nationals vs. Mets @ Port St. Lucie
It was on to Port St. Lucie for game 2. Arriving at the ballpark (after a brisk 15 minute walk from the hotel) at 3:30pm for a 7:10pm game. Over to the team store to see what t-shirts they had in stock. i needed something to wear for Saturday and Sunday.

We don't get into the back fields until 4pm. Different from prior seasons, the team is warming up on the practice field who's centerfield is adjacent to the centerfield from the big stadium (they had always used the one adjacent to the clubhouse and parking lot). fans were allowed to go deeper inside the complex to see the team. after gym class (streching), they broke up into groups for different drills. I looked like fans were allowed to stay inside until 5pm, instead of 4:30pm which I had remembered. But they're working, so nobody signed (I have gotten one autograph out there during this point from Korean import Jae Seo in 2004, and teammates got on him for it afterwards).

Into the stadium, where several thousand fans got to watch the Nationals take BP, and mostly ignore the fans (to be fair, it was all our fans on the Mets side of the field), and then just sit and wait with music playing. Waiting until the point in the night when the Mets make an appearance to ignore the fans. It's getting kind of crazy who we usually don't even get acknowledged. sometimes they say they have to work (which is usually true).

I've gotten an autograph at every Spring game I've been to except for Legends Field (where it's strictly forbidden) and a few rainouts. I always knew that streak, if/when it ends, would end at Tradition Field. so i have to sweat out another long night trying to find an opening during the game for an autograph.

it's on to dinner time, picture time, and in the background, first pitch. Our ace, Johan, going in the game. For time's sake, it's a quick game. I got my "nighttime" photos, my real italian ices (best cold treat in the Grapefruit league), and got to watch a very fast ballgame. it moved on the pace of about 4 innings per hour, with Johan going 7 of them.

I know my only shot at an autograph is in the bullpen, late in the game, so it's now a matter of getting around the ushers to find a seat down there. Good ol' Nelson Figueroa was down there, and promised me an autograph after the 3rd out (i asked during a pitching change. i know they can't do it during actual play). but, at the inning change, he had to go to work warming up the right fielder and blocking for the guys throwing in the bullpen. no luck. After the game, a rare signing in the bullpen, Darren O'Day. He stayed for at least a few minutes and signed, so i could finally go home without having to stalk the player's parking lot.

Mets win 4-1, Johan goes 7, K-Rod made it interesting in the 8th (oy), and Feliciano in the 9th. I can't wait to catch the archived broadcast to hear Keith and Ron solo (although Kevin Burkhardt was in the ballpark).

End of one long day at the ballparks.

I loved Dodgertown, but I love Port St. Lucie

I'm here in Port St. Lucie (sorry if that gets annoying, but it's a personal victory for me to even be able to be in Florida this Spring Training), and I was walking around outside in the area off NW Peacock Blvd. thinking about how the area has changed since I last spent a night in Port St. Lucie in 2004. It's been a long long time. Every year, as I've driven into Tradition Field, I've marveled at how much more the area has grown. A new shopping center, new hotels (one of them coming soon), entertainment. This whole area was nothing in 2004, aside from the Friendly's (where I had desert tonight), the Hampton Inn, and the corner gas stations, this block was basically empty. (I was later reminded by some regulars here that the Spring Hill Suites where I'm staying was here back then, and actually assumed this name in 2001)

But I realized how much different the trip is when you're staying in a hotel filled with your kind - METS FANS. It's just so much better when you're staying within walking distance of the ballpark that is your "home" park, and there's lots of others here with me.

Dodgertown was a very special place. Very unique. The best place there ever was in Spring Training. And Vero Beach was good to me for 3 years. I loved staying there.

But I love being in Port St. Lucie.

One other note - back home (in NJ, but the same would be true in NY and CT), you have a mix of Mets fans and Yankees fans. Hats, jerseys, etc., for both teams. Here, it's only Mets. You really don't see any Yankees stuff anywhere (even the local Walgreens had a few Mets-themed items, but nothing for the Yankees). That's kind of nice.

I'M BOOKED FOR PORT ST. LUCIE

I didn't think it would happen this year, with a new job that started in January, but I managed to get a long weekend to make my annual vacation to Mets Spring Training. 4 games in 3 days, after a travel day (about 1/3 of my normal adventure). And for the first time since my first trip in 2004, I stay in Port St. Lucie itself (Vero Beach was nice and very under rated).