In March of 1977, my late father, younger brother and I boarded a Delta DC-10 to West Palm Beach, Florida for my first Atlanta Braves spring training experience. I was 7. For some, the rite of passage to spring training is a mythical journey where they can pay homage to their baseball diamond heroes like visiting a holy shrine. Some just like to escape winter, sit in the sun and drink beer. For me, as a seven-year-old, it was a time to find a deep connection with my father over a shared loved: baseball.
To commemorate that trip 30 years ago, as well as to mark the coming birth of my own son, my brother and I made the pilgrimage ourselves—this time to Orlando, the Braves current Grapefruit League home at the Disney Wide World of Sports complex.
We arrived in Orlando on Friday evening, picked up the requisite mid-sized American sedan rental car and headed downtown to the hotel. After checking into the Embassy Suites, we downed a free “Manager’s Reception” watered down well drink and readied to go out for the night.
We take a taxi—a seemingly infinite ride on a never-ending highway (think driving from downtown Atlanta to Cumming)—to the Marriott World Center, a sprawling 200 acre compound of hotel, restaurants, bars, spas and golf courses for dinner. A fraternity brother of ours just so happened to be in town who also just so happens to be the Jerry Maguire of Braves starting ace, Tim Hudson. We meet them, along with Braves rookie hopeful, Anthony Lerew, at Mikado Japanese Steakhouse for some sake, beers and Benihana-style cooking.
Dinner is somewhat tasty and mildly entertaining and at the Marriott Complex, like just about everywhere else in Orlando, families and adults commingle is a strange mix of cultures where vodka tonics and Shirley Temples are consumed with similar frequency and enjoyment. We walk across the hotel lobby, choked with prepubescent youth and their chaperones to Champions Sports Bar where a few timid Braves fans recognize Hudson and ask for his autograph. I tried several times, to no avail whatsoever, to pass myself off as Jeff Francouer. Not one fan opts for my signature.
My brother and I wake up late Saturday, barely make the line for our free Embassy Suites breakfast, and head out for the ballpark. Another 45-minute car ride and we arrive Disney’s Wide World of Sports, the Grapefruit League home of the Braves for the past 10 years.
I recall on my first spring training trip arriving at the field in West Palm Beach with my Dave Concepcion signature mitt and Braves cap ready to see it all. Back in 1977 the then perennial loser Braves actually shared their meager facility in West Palm with another pathetic team, the Montreal Expos. The place was a shabby structure with a few hundred parking spaces, concrete-slab seats, and a tin roof—not much more impressive than my own Little League facility. How things have changed in 30 years.
As you pass under the giant Disney arches on your way to the current park, you quickly realize that this is not—for lack of a better term—going to be a Mickey Mouse experience. Soon we enter the parking area which encompasses thousands of spaces. In the distance, like a mirage, Cracker Jack Field stands. The park is a gorgeous yellow stucco park, lined with palm trees and looks in many ways like a tropical Turner Field. It is clean, Disney-sterile but a fun place to watch a game. The Braves, thanks to home runs from Andruw Jones and Brian McCann defeat the Toronto Blue Jays in a completely meaningless game. We bask in the sun, drink overpriced beer and relish the spring training experience.
We return back to downtown and this time stay downtown. Soon we discover that there is, in fact, a place in Orlando without families or teens: the after-dark oasis of downtown Orlando—the adult Magic Kingdom. The easy-to-navigate downtown grid host dozens of bars from high brow to low brow and everything in between. Bikers, yuppies, flat bellies and old schoolers all revel together with no signs of that damn mouse anywhere.
After dinner at a great little downtown sushi place called Amura, we walk over to a free outdoor concert sponsored by a local radio station where we catch sets from the Gin Blossoms and Lindsey Buckingham of Fleetwood Mac. Afterward, we walk back to the Wall Street area—a small conclave of bars with different themes and atmospheres. The 2 am closing of the bars send us stumbling back to the room but we feel like we at least found a playground for kids our age. At long last, I can say that Orlando does offer something to just about everyone.
In the past 30 years, both I and the Braves have grown up quite nicely. My brother and I miss our father and wish he could have been there for this return to spring training with his older kids and the Braves as a dynasty. But with my family about to grow, I see the future layout before me like a long road. I see Mickey ears, I see little baseball mitts and I see long, sweltering lines to get on rides. I see a lot more Orlando in my future. And you know what? I know that I will always find my place there.
The Skinny on Orlando
There are dozens of daily non-stop flights every day from Atlanta. Delta (www.delta.com), Air Tran (www.airtran.com) and upstart Spirit Air (www.spiritair.com) can get you there.
We stayed in downtown Orlando this trip at the Embassy Suites (doubles starting at $179). The location is a haul from Disney but a great place to stay for the nightlife. There are also two other Embassy Suites in the Orlando area. www.embassysuites.com
Tickets to spring training games are available through Ticketmaster at www.ticketmaster.com
