Spring Training 2010: Hi Corbett Field

Today we went to Hi Corbett Field for Spring Training. We were planning to see the Dbacks at the Rockies, but at game start it was raining, windy, and cold for Tucson standards in March, so we let Mik make the decision. He may be a Dbacks fan, but he sure did not want to stay. Turned out to be a good decision, as it ended up being called after 7 innings and was mostly drizzling and raining all afternoon anyways.

On the trip rain delays did not stop us from sticking it out, but it does not really matter to us when we have been to the ballpark countless times in the fifteen years we have lived in Tucson. It is sad that the ballpark is going to no longer be used for spring training when it is the last remaining field in use that was used when the Cactus League started back in 1947. That streak will end after this spring training and as far as I am concerned the Cactus League loses its touch with history and becomes entirely worthless. They should at the very least rename the Arizona Diamondbacks to the Phoenix Diamondbacks next season, as the team is no longer for the whole state.

Spring Training 2010 Plans

This is a sad year for spring training for us, as it is the final year of having teams in Tucson. I was totally surprised to find out about the Dbacks and Rockies moving to a new spring training facility in the Phoenix area when we went to our final 2009 game (Dback Encore Game). I do not think I will go to a Dbacks home game this season due to the team moving their spring training, but I might still go for the a Nats game at Chase Field.

We have rarely gone to more than one spring training game in a season. Last year we did not even go to one game, as we could not decide on what game to go to since the White Sox left and we had been going to the Cubs @ White Sox game for most of the seasons the White Sox were in Tucson. This year we have tickets to three games. Mik only wanted to go to two games (one at each park), so the three of us are going to the March 7 game with the Dbacks at the Rockies at Hi Corbett and the March 13 game with the Dodgers at the Dbacks at TEP. Dad and I are also going to see the Cubs at the Dbacks game. That game is in the middle of the week and Mik has school, so we did not even give him the option to go if he wanted.

Getting tickets to the spring training games were so easy, as we could go do it in person. The Rockies are at a rather old ballpark and the wheelchair seating is very limited. Tickets have been on sale for almost a month there and we were happy that we were still able to get wheelchair seating for the game we wanted. They do, however, only allow one companion seat (the other ticket is for the section above), but that is a good policy to allow the maximum amount to be available to those that need them. The Dbacks spring training facility has a good amount of wheelchair seating, although it can be tricky to get seats together still.

Mik's Mini Bat Collection: In His Bat Racks

Last year for Christmas our Grandpa Kjos made Mik mini bat racks for his collection. Dad finally got it up in Mik's room and filled it with the mini bats from the trip. It looks really cool, although the photo is just from Dad's phone.

Photo Issue

The place I host most of the photos for this blog had a crash that seems to have affected most of the images on the blog. I do not currently have them on my computer and only on my external harddrive and some also on CDs because they were taking too much space on my laptop. I will try to slowly get the posts to have photos again. There are hundreds of posts and I think all, but some of the pre trip posts were affected, so it may take a while.

Update 3/7/10 - I finally got the photos all back in the posts.

Kj's Baseball Collection: Toros Inaugural Season

Back on Monday when Dad and I went to the Tucson Toros game I got a baseball for my collection. Mik did not go along, but we would have gotten him a mini bat if they were not all pink ones. The ball I got was a Inaugural Season Tucson Toros 2009 baseball.

Final Regular Season 2009 Toros Game

Dad and I finally got out to a Tucson Toros game tonight. They play at Hi Corbet, where Dad and I used to go to games all the time when the Triple A Toros played here. We also saw a lot of Arizona Heat games here the few years that softball team existed.

Mik's Food Scrapbook: Arizona Baseball Club at Chase Field

At the Arizona Baseball Club at Chase Field yesterday Mik enjoyed the Chinese selection of food. He especially liked the dumplings. He also enjoyed the Udon Noodle Salad. I forget what the sandwich thing is he had, but he did not really try it because he got full on the Chinese food first and wanted to make sure he saved room for dessert.

The best part, though, was the special dessert the chef made just for him/us. It was a giant ice cream log. It has three flavors of ice cream and an oreo crust on the bottom. The edge has nuts and M&Ms. It was awesome and we all enjoyed it, especially Mik. It was even more than enough ice cream for Dad, who tried to, but could not finish it off. The only other time that he failed to finish off an ice cream treat was when Mik, Dad, and I had the Sorcerer's Apprentice Sundae at the Disney Soda Fountain in Hollywood several years ago.