Spring Training Help

My son is a bigger baseball / Yankee fanatic than I am. I'm thinking about taking him for a quick (1-2) day visit to Florida to visit camps. I have never gone. I know there used to be chances to meet players and get autographs. My natural inclination is to wait in line, buy a ticket and stay where I'm told to stay. I don't want him to miss out on the experience because he's with me. What can I do to make it special for him?
Also, I just checked on ticketmaster. The cheapest tickets were $65 each. Stubhub is a little better, but is that right? That's way more expensive than their regular season tickets.
Thanks in advance.

 

Maybe try to see if tickets are cheaper at other ballparks if the Yankees are the visiting team? Yeah, they won’t have many regulars in the lineup playing on the road, but he may still enjoy the experience anyways.

 

Yes, I started looking at that. It's only 2 tickets, so not that big a deal. I'm just stunned that the exhibition tickets are so much pricier than the actual games.
I'm more interested in hearing from people who have gone to ST camps- tips, advice etc.
Can you go when there is no game? is that better?

 

I’ve only been to one game, and it was a midweek day game in March, which mean there was a lot of senior citizens and adults in the stands and few, if any, kids in the stands. Seemed like some players signed autographs before and after the game.

 

It's been like 15 years, so I'm sure things have changed, but I went to Yankees camp on non-game day when you could see the players working out. The players were definitely signing things, especially for kids and it was a pretty relaxed atmosphere. A player or two gave bats and batting gloves to little kids.

 

Only suggestion I have is to wait until day of and see if you can get any of the comps players give back. I’m sure there are scalpers out there if you strike out at the box office.

 

My wife and I went to spring training for the first time last year. We saw the Orioles in Dunedin and the Phillies host the Tigers the next day (I had a really good view of Rhys Hoskins' nasty injury, happened right in front of us). We loved it and watching the games on TV this year makes me wish we were heading back. We had to order the Jays tickets well in advance and they were selling out quickly (as I recall they were $35 each, something like that, a long way from a Jays home game in the regular season).

Both games were packed and I remember parking in Clearwater being pretty pricey and beers in the left field tiki bar (which was great, it was so mobbed you'd never know there was a game going on) weren't cheap either.

I know people who went all the time when the tickets were cheaper, the crowds were smaller and access to players was easier but spring training is clearly big, big business now. Still, an awesome experience.

 

It's been a couple of years, but I attended games at both Fort Myers sites (Red Sox, Twins) and Lakeland (Tigers), and each time I was met by a scalper before I got 20 yards from my parked car.

 

The only spring training I ever attended was a few innings at Pirates (I think) camp in Bradenton when I interviewed there in 2005. Took the job at The Sun instead of the Bradenton offer — and the Fayetteville offer.

 

I can't speak to the Cactus League, but the Grapefruit League Spring Training experience is definitely overrated. Between parking, tickets and concessions, it's way more money than you should spend for a product that's mostly a roster of non-roster invitees playing someone else's non-roster invitees. Autographs? Maybe some of the less-known guys might stop on their way to the bus, but none of the stars, especially the visitors.

If you've never come to Florida or Arizona, then by all means, do it once. But prepare to be gouged at every turn. Quaint little ballparks in sleepy little towns went the way of 50-cent gas.

There was a time when you could roll up to the ticket counter in Lakeland or Fort Lauderdale, grab two general admission tickets and be the youngest person in the stands by about 45 years. In fact, I used to play hooky one day each spring and make the drive from Gainesville to see exhibition baseball in person. But Yogi Berra was right. Nobody goes there any more because it's too crowded.

There's one guy in the RV park who has spring tickets to the Pirates -- and basically gives away his seats if he's got something else to do -- so we may see a game on his dime this month. But after getting soaked in the wallet at Joker Marchant pre-COVID, I vowed not to spend a nickel on any more fake baseball.

I usually throw a folding chair and a Coke Zero in the trunk of the car and drive over to Pirate City about noon, where there's either AAA/AA or Advanced A/Regular A games simulateously on two diamonds for no cost. The Tigers, Orioles, Phillies, Yankees and Blue Jays are close enough to bus their farm teams to Bradenton and back, while the Braves and Rays usually play the Twins and Red Sox.

The top prospects wind up there after the first couple weeks of games, so you're way more likely to spot Termarr Johnson or Paul Skenes getting in their reps. Plus, it smells like chalk dust, rubbing liniment, chewing tobacco and bubblegum.

Even then, there are some lowlifes with rookie trading cards in plastic sheets, running over each other in an effort to score signatures and ruining the games for the kids and used-to-be-kids who just want to watch baseball.