A Spring Training Tour of Phoenix

Who needs groundhogs and robins to tell you that winter is almost over when you’ve got Pitchers and Catchers—the day the first baseball players report to camp to get ready for the season ahead? For fans, the start of exhibition games in late February is practically a national holiday. Throughout March, 30 Major League teams draw nearly 2 million people to intimate fields in Florida, home to the Grapefruit League, and Arizona, the Cactus League’s turf. The latter is a home run if you’re trying to pull off an easy, affordable trip: seven of the nine ballparks sit close to one another in the Phoenix metropolitan area; hotel rooms are plentiful; and tickets can be snagged online for $5 to $25, or even scalped—it’s legal. The Cactus League has a trip planner and ticket information on its extensive Web site, CactusLeague.com. The grass here is achingly green, the sky blazingly blue, the ball a white meteor. And it’s hot—night games are a big plus. Bring your mitt and arrive early to take part in a great spring ritual: standing outside the warm-up field and scurrying after balls hit over the fence. Chances are you’ll also catch an autograph.