For the fifth year in a row, I decided to make the trek to Spring Training in Florida.  However, this year, I would travel with my girlfriend Amy instead of my dad, who is recovering from surgery.

There was some early airport drama, where we arrived at the security checkpoint 12 minutes prior to the boarding of our plane due to flooding of rivers in Pittsburgh which led to the closing of 376 west, the highway that leads us to the airport.  However, Amy did some smooth talking to a TSA agent and got us moved to the front of a lengthy security line, and we arrived at our gate just as the plane began boarding.

We arrived in Tampa at 10:30 and awaited our first spring training game the next day.

We arrived at McKechnie Field bright and early at 9AM and took the obligatory picture in front of the stadium:

And in front of a Spring Training sign posted there:
After taking several more photos, we walked around to the back of McKechnie Field, where I would do my ballhawking for the day.

Here’s the entrance to the area behind the fence:

The building that you see there to the left is a Boys’ and Girls’ Club that was closed since it was a weekend. 

We actually got there too early, as the cage wasn’t even up yet,

and the players were just starting to stretch

and have a meeting in the outfield.

Batting practice wouldn’t even get started until about an hour later around 10AM, as the players would do some baserunning drills and infield work first.

That left us ample time to explore the area behind the outfield wall.  There were a few changes from last year in the area behind the fence.

First, there were a bunch of picnic tables installed, which would lead to crazy bounces and limited range if a ball hit in that area.

Second, the garage where two mechanics used to work on cars had apparently been bought out by the Boys and Girls Club, as evidenced by the logo on the side of the building.  This would lead to decreased competition, as the mechanics would typically try and compete for baseballs and subsequently sell them for $3 each at their garage.

Finally, an orange fence was installed to protect bus windows from being shattered by baseballs, and a basketball hoop had been erected in the area.

We made our way behind the old garage,

and over to the area behind the batter’s eye in center field. 

All the while, I was keeping an eye out for easter eggs, but there were none. 

In the area behind the wall in right center field, there is a small practice field. 

After a while, Pirates pitchers came out to do some PFP, Pitcher’s Fielding Practice.    Working with pitching coach Ray Searage, the pitchers first worked on taking grounders and making a throw to second base. 

Then, they fielded bunts and threw the balls to third base. 

Finally, the pitchers took line drive comebackers.  The players appeared to be having fun, but none as much as Searage who was extremely cheery and enthusiastic.&nbs
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This was my view from the security fence.  I didn’t bother any of the players by calling out to them or getting their attention, I just stood and watched. 

My girlfriend took a video, about halfway through or so, Evan Meek recognizes me and waves to me.  You’ll also see Joel Hanrahan say hello to me.  Both of the pitchers were very kind to me at batting practice and have had conversations with me on several occasions.

Check it out in Amy’s video:

There still wasn’t much going on, so I took a video of the area behind McKechnie Field.

Check it out:

Batting practice wouldn’t start for another 30 minutes or so, and the waiting took forever.  There was a lot of standing around.
Followed by some pacing.

It allowed Amy to take some random photos, such as this one of a squirrel:

Or this one of an inch worm.

When batting practice finally got underway, it was more of the same.  Standing around.

And pacing.

And kneeling.

At McKechnie Field, you can’t see the ball until its about to leave the field.  I absolutely hate it.  It’s very tedious.  Imagine doing that for two hours.  I was kind of frustrated with the whole process, but I had my girl there to keep me calm.

There were only two competitors there with me.  A man in a Barry Bonds shirt,

and his friend. 

The two worked as a team.  Later, they would be seen selling the balls on the street as we exited the stadium.

They stayed close to the secondary fence and had that whole area covered thanks to a 20 foot long ball retrieving device:

Since they played up, I waited back for any balls that would clear both fences.  Unfortunately, there was NO wind at all today, so most fly balls died in left field before even reaching the fence. 

I did get my first ball of the day near the end of the Pirates’ batting practice.  Amy spotted it first and shouted “Erik! Erik! Erik!” and pointed towards the building.  A ball had landed on the roof.   

It rolled off the roof and I raced over to scoop it up before ballhawk #2 could get there.

We had arrived at the stadium almost 2 hours ago, and I finally had a baseball to show for it.

I wouldn’t have gotten that one had it not been for Amy’s heads up.

The Phillies than came out to hit.

Their session was ama
zingly disappointing.  Since the Phillies had a split squad today, they brought all of their scrubs, and very few home runs were hit.  

To pass the time, the guy in the Barry Bonds shirt offered to play catch with me.

It was much better than standing idly, so we began to throw:

We caught for about 10 minutes.

This was all during Phillies’ BP.  That’s how dead it was.

Near the end of the Phillies’ BP, a batter crushed a home run that bounced on the pavement and into the cypress tree moss above.  I crouched down and used my glove to snag it on the bounce.
Moments later, presumably the same batter struck again and ripped a home run that landed in the same place as ball #1, on the roof.  I raced over and grabbed ball #3.

That would be all that I would get today.    Three balls.  I had fun with Amy, but I really disliked ballhawking in this venue.  Not being able to see anything takes away a lot of the fun and skill needed.  Despite having tickets to tomorrow’s Red Sox / Pirates game, I vowed not to return to McKechnie to ballhawk again.

We entered the stadium and snapped a picture in front of the field:
The game itself was a blow out, as the Phillies sprang out to an 8-0 lead.

Some pictures from the game:

The field from our seats, in Sec 8, Row 1.

Ahead of us was Pirates president Frank Coonelly who looked visibly agitated at the amount of runs given up, as well as four misplayed balls by outfielders during the first three innings. 

I really like Ross Ohlendorf, but he didn’t have his best stuff today, and four missed catch-able balls by outfielders didn’t help his cause.  Keep your head up Ross.  That’s what Spring Training is for.

Pedro Alvarez has put on some weight and his range looks very limited, but I only saw two balls hit to him that he didn’t get to, so I’ll have to see a larger sample size to say for certain if he’ll be a liablilty at third.

Lyle Overbay, the Pirates new first baseman.  Hopefully he brings a line of .275-20-85 this year at least.  We’ll see.
The Phillies didn’t bring many of their regulars, but at least Ryan Howard was there. 

Ryan Howard at bat:

Pedro Alvarez digs in.  I’m hoping for 35 home runs from Pedro this year, but I fear it may come with a .240 average and lots of strike outs.  He’s still young though. 
Neil Walker, the Pirates’ second baseman at the plate:

And finally a panorama of McKechnie Field from our seats:

We left after a few inning
s to go enjoy ourselves in Florida.

We headed to the beach.

There weren’t too many people there.

We went for a long walk.  And found lots of sea shells.
We eventually came to parts of the beach where there weren’t any people around.  So we went exploring.

The second best highlight of going back there was finding a Sting Ray skeleton.  Check it out:

We found it here:

After about ten minutes in the brush we emerged and saw this sign: 

We would go on to find about three other small sting rays that had washed ashore.

Soon, the sun began to set, and it got cold.

We decided to call it a day soon.

But not before snapping a few pictures of the sunset and taking a video or two.

Sunset on the beach:

It was a great first day in Florida.

Check back for Spring Training Day 2.