Closing day Spring Training 2018

They say it ain’t over until... well, you know.  I don’t know about that, but yesterday was a wrap for Arizona Spring Training at Surprise Stadium. They packed a lot into one game as it saw the Kansas City Royals taking on, and ultimately losing to, the Chicago Cubs whose fans, as I’ve mentioned before, tend to pack the stadium. They didn’t disappoint yesterday as the announced attendance topped 11,000 which fills every seat in the stadium and the lawn seats as well. I suspect a lot of fans elected not to actually sit in the overcrowded grass areas so it was really standing room only for this one.

It was also the annual Thank You lunch that the Stadium puts on for the Sundancers volunteers, or as they are referred to in the stadium - the yellow shirts. If you attend a game at Surprise you won’t be able to miss them. From parking attendants to ticketing, to monitoring the stands and hosting the 50/50 Raffle this volunteer group helps raise funds for needy causes and has awarded more than one million dollars in scholarships to area youth in recent years. If I lived in the area this is an organization I’d join in a heartbeat. They definitely add a special character to the atmosphere at Surprise Stadium and a nicer and more helpful bunch of folks you could not meet.

One of the worst kept secrets is that a lot of Spring Training merchandise is deeply discounted the last day as the vendor would rather move it than pack it and save it for next year. Thus the Pro Shop was full with fans for most of the game and by the end was looking pretty darn empty. I’ll be helping close down things over the next couple of days before making my way back north to Denver. It feels like it was just yesterday I was departing home in a snowstorm and from what I’m hearing weatherwise I may be returning the same way.

If you’ve been reading some of these blogs thanks for tagging along for Spring Training 2018 Arizona style. Hopefully we can take it all in again in 2019!