MLB is a year long business.
There was an old-time tradition that seems to have disappeared. The countdown to when pitchers and catchers report to spring training. There doesn’t seem to be too much interest in a countdown anymore because the baseball season is so long and the off-season fills the void of no games. Of course, there are winter league games available for consumption. The 2022 Major League Baseball season ended on November 5th, MLB’s problems that day included two markets with stadium problems, Oakland and Tampa Bay. There seems to be a daily back and forth going on between Oakland and Las Vegas in the pursuit of John Fisher’s Athletics business and in the Tampa Bay market, there seems to be some interest from either side of the bay in giving the Rays’ franchise ownership a new ballpark but then the question is raised. How will a Rays’ ballpark be funded? Will Rays ownership foot the bill or will taxpayers pay for the facility? One team definitely up for sale, Washington and another possibly on the market, the Los Angeles Angels of Anaheim. The owners of the Arizona Diamondbacks franchise seem to be looking for a new or renovated Phoenix or Phoenix area stadium. The Baltimore Orioles ownership continues to talk to Maryland officials about renovating the team’s stadium. So little has happened in the past three months to solve a number of problems and there is the negotiation with the new minor league baseball players group.
Generations ago baseball’s spring training was the starting line to spring and summer in many east coast and midwest locations. The Boys of Summer were getting ready. The first series of TOPPS baseball cards hit the candy stores which bear little resemblance to today’s convenience stores and kids headed out to play, unsupervised by adults, baseball. The countdown has faded.
Evan Weiner’s books are available at iTunes – https://books.apple.com/us/author/evan-weiner/id595575191
Evan can be reached at evan_weiner@hotmail.com
