Farewell to Spring Training 2017

Spring Training is over for 2017 and the baseball teams are making their way back to their home stadiums across the country full of eager hopes and dreams for the soon to start regular season. Having worked the final game yesterday between the KC Royals and the Texas Rangers, which perhaps fittingly ended in a 0-0 tie, I turned in my shirts, punched out and am heading toward my next destination of San Diego. My wife Sophie has an ASCM (American College of Sports Medicine) annual conference she'll be attending but we'll also get to spend some time together sightseeing and relaxing.

A special thank you to Chris, Danny, Bob, Larry, Griselda, Sue, Nadine, Shoey, and all the rest of the Aramark 2017 Spring Training crew. It was quite an experience! Though the names will slowly blur with time the friendliness of this great group of folks will not soon be forgotten.

At the end of yesterday's game there was a celebration for the "Sundancers", the volunteer group that act as ushers, parking attendants, and general help around the stadium during games. Founded in 2002  the group boasts more than 750 members and raises charitable donations supporting area youth-related programs and projects. In 2016 the Surprise Sundancers gave out more than $200,000 in college scholarships. I don't know if I'll ever reside in the area but if I did this is a group I'd love to be a part of. When

Sundancers pose for their 2017 end of
Season picture at Surprise Stadium

my wife was down visiting me a week or so ago she was 'adopted' by one of the Sundancer volunteers by the name of Melvin during one of the games. He couldn't have been nicer to her and for that and all the larger group does, many thanks.

They say it's a small world and yesterday I had Sara B., another Pinnacol retiree, swing by and say hi during the game. She and her family were down enjoying a couple of games and the excuse to escape the cold wet weather at home in Denver. She had retired after 30 years with Pinnacol and was looking fresh and rejuvenated as it seems a lot of Pinnacol retirees appear. Sarah had been a Sr. Underwriter at Pinnacol, something I would have loved to be if I hadn't gotten called to the 'dark side' 😉 of Human Resources way back when.

A word to the wise for future fans planning on coming to Spring Training. If you want Spring Training gear - hats, shirts, pins, etc. - try to attend games early in the season. The merchandise ordered for Spring Training's run of six weeks is gone when gone. Yesterday's final game saw all merchandise discounted 40% but fans were selecting from what little merchandise remained. Some seemed surprised at how little was left, especially of Royals gear, but a 2017 Spring Training shirt isn't worth much at the start of the 2018 season so Aramark, the retail vendor at Surprise Stadium, had been careful not to over-order.

So that's it from Surprise Spring Training 2017. Thanks for bearing with me through this chronicle and I hope to see you on down the road!