— The annual ritual of spring training is winding down. Most years for Chicago baseball fans, that means the last time warm weather coexists with hope. No wonder everyone always seems to be in such a good mood down here in the Cactus League.
That makes it even more unusual to hear grumbling this spring. The bad feelings stem from the so-called “Cubs tax,” a proposal that would raise fees on hotels, car rentals and even tickets to games — primarily to help the Cubs build a 15,000-seat stadium in Mesa so they don’t skip town.
The proposal’s future is uncertain — especially after baseball Commissioner Bud Selig panned it — but it just adds to the sinking feeling that the once-pure ritual of spring training has bowed to the likes of giant advertising signs in Wrigley Field and a park on the South Side named for a cell phone company.
Just getting into Hohokam Stadium in Mesa cost me an hour in traffic and a showdown with a scalper who sold me an $8 lawn seat for $30.
I had similar sticker shock at Camelback Ranch, the glitzy year-old Sox park in Glendale where the best seats go for $47, comparable to some regular-season tickets at U.S. Cellular Field.
That’s a lot of money to see the likes of C.J. Retherford and Josh Phegley, minor leaguers whom even diehards probably don’t recognize.
I’m not one to get mired in nostalgia, but I do recall games in intimate, rickety parks where we sat on metal bleachers just a few feet from the guys on our baseball cards. At my first spring training, about 20 years ago, future Hall of Famer Dave Winfield walked through the stands in full uniform to get to his car in the parking lot.
Those days are over. Tom Sadler, the president and CEO of the Arizona Sports and Tourism Authority, told me the palatial stadiums are the new expectation, and that fans will likely have to get used to paying more so the state can keep building them.
The opening of Camden Yards in Baltimore in 1992 and similar stadiums since then created an expectation that major league parks should be architectural gems with luxury boxes, gourmet food and in-seat cup holders — an expectation that has spread to spring training.
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The trend isn’t slowing. Next year, a $100 million complex by the same architects who designed the new Cowboys football stadium in Dallas will open to house the Arizona Diamondbacks and Colorado Rockies north of Scottsdale.
With the stakes rising, the Cactus League faces a cash crunch as the recession harms tourism. Average attendance took a 12 percent dip in 2009, and officials expected another decline this year. The revenue from hotel and rental-car fees that fund stadiums is down more than $8 million since 2007.
Tim Sheridan, a Cactus League historian and public address announcer for the Cubs in Mesa since 1984, fondly recalls calling games in such close proximity to fans that a retiree named Doris would turn around and correct him when he mispronounced names.
Now he spends much of the game reading ads from sponsors. There is money to be made, after all.
But the “good old days” weren’t all good, Sheridan said. His press box was a metal bench exposed to the elements.
“Fans get used to the changes. I’m not sure they’d really want to go back,” he said.
Maybe I’m one of those pampered fans who are to blame.
Buy some peanuts and Cracker Jack? Even as I pine for the old-time baseball experience, my spring training menu this year leaned toward Belgian-style microbrews and fried soba noodles with ginger.
Robert Brinton, the Cactus League president, said the upgrades are necessary. Yes, some fans can still spread out on blankets in the outfield. But spring training is popular enough that teams even fly in corporate sponsors from their home cities, making luxury suites a necessity, he said.
“I used to step over the fence at the end of the game and pick up broken bats. I’d be arrested today,” Brinton said between innings at a Cubs game. “I used to be able to see Ernie Banks come in and park his purple Cadillac.”
These days in Mesa, I’d echo Banks’ call of “Let’s play two,” but I’m not sure I could afford to watch both games.