Sunday, March 15 1998
Good morning and welcome to Day 2 of the 5th Annual
Spring Training Trek 1998!
Where you live it may be raining, or snowing, or just plain
cold. But
in Florida, the weather has broken and today was a beautiful
sunny day
in the high 70's. The hotel room is nice, so I had no
problem sleeping
late after yesterday's hectic travel day. Naturally I was a
little late
leaving for Winter Haven, the Spring Training home of the
Cleveland
Indians.
About an hour southwest of Disney and neighboring Cypress
Gardens
Winterhaven has opened its doors and the Chain of Lakes
ballpark to
the Indians. According to one gentleman who hails from
Cleveland but
lives in Clearwater, Florida, the Indians were originally
supposed to
take a new facility in Homestead, but hurricane Andrew took
care of
those plans. Winterhaven made an offer, and some locals
believe that it
was their new spring home that provided the stepping stone
for their
1995 and 1997 AL championship runs.
Driving through the heartland of Florida, off the main
highways, you see
small isolated developments of RVs, trailer homes, and
housing
subdivisions but mostly vast areas of undeveloped land.
Every now and
then you come across an intersection where businesses pop
up, from gas
to fast food. And of course there are the obligatory fresh
fruit stands
every few miles. The name brand of the region is Indian
River fruit,
for the river that feeds fresh water to the area.
On arriving in Winter Haven, I came across a semi sphere
structure made
to look like half of a baseball. Turns out this is not part
of the
Indian's Spring Training facility but the Ice Palace Family
Skating
Rink. As I said, Winter Haven is really big into the
Indians, and I
must have gotten one of the very last parking spaces, off a
dirt road
behind a minor league practice field. The announced
attendance was a
park record.
Of note during the game, both teams were scoreless going
into the 8th,
with Martinez pitching 5 strong innings, important after his
pounding
last time out. Embree pitched a couple before John Rocker
got rocked in
the bottom of the inning, giving up a run. The Braves got
it back in
the top of the 9th with a Curtis Pride single, only to lose
it in the
bottom of the inning with a no-out pop fly with a runner on
3rd. Of
note, Galarraga stole 1 base in two attempts. Also, I sat
next to
someone who was friends with the grandparents of #88, Gene
Schall who
came in the game late as a designated hitter.
After the game I returned to Disney and spent the evening at
the Magic
Kingdom. I hadn't been since I was a kid but it looks much
the same,
albeit a little smaller. I got to the park just in time for
the
Spectacular light parade, then hit Adventureland (Jungle
Cruise, Pirates
of the Caribbean). But you haven't seen anything until you
try the Big
Thunder Mountain roller coaster in the dark Quick trivia -
how many
Mickey Mouse ears can you find at Walt Disney World? Hint:
think infinity...
Monday is an off day for the Braves, but there will be
plenty of action
tomorrow with the Disney Institute and a return to the Magic
Kingdom.
Fuskie
