Springing Along
Updates from the Desert, plus Mark Grant as Larry David
It’s hard to believe, but Spring Training, at least in the traditional sense, is winding down for the Padres. One week from today, following the game against the A’s, the team (and broadcasters!) will file onto a plane and fly across the Pacific in preparation for the season opener against the Dodgers in Seoul.
Not that the regular year will begin the moment we arrive, nor will the start of this season be regular.
Upon arrival in Korea, there will be community events and I’m sure some team and/or MLB events as well. And then a pair of exhibition games that will be played on back-to-back days.
Sort of.
In Korea, they’ll be played on consecutive days. In San Diego, they’ll actually both be played on Sunday, 3/17. The first, against the Korean National Team (minus Ha-Seong Kim, I would imagine), will begin at 3:00am Pacific. Then, later that night, the Padres will play 2023 Korean Series champs LG Twins at 8:00pm Pacific. Time zones!
We’ll have both games on the radio and I expect all of you to listen to every pitch of both.
Then, of course, the two-game set with the Dodgers to begin the regular season, with both games played at 3:05am Pacific on the early mornings of March 20th and 21st.
We’ll fly back to SD after the second game and ready ourselves for a whirlwind week: the public celebration of life for Peter Seidler on Saturday 3/23, FanFest on 3/24, exhibitions at Petco against the Mariners on the 25th and 26th and then finally the Petco opener against the Giants on the afternoon of the 28th.
So like I said, not a regular start to the regular year, but a realllly fun and special one. To state the obvious, I am very excited about going to Korea. I’ve never been to that part of the world and I’m thrilled to be able to take in the culture, food, and baseball there.
Expect some fun newsletter content from the other side of the world (assuming I don’t screw up the voltage adapter situation and fry my computer).
For You
This past week, the Padres released their 2024 Anthem Video. I’m guessing most of you have seen it, but if not, here ya go. And frankly, if you have seen it, I imagine you’re more than happy to watch it again. It’s the perfect mix of excitement, love, run-through-the-wall and goosebumps. Major kudos to everyone involved in the production of this thing, and I know there were a lot of you.
Meet the New King
I recently had the chance to hang out with Michael King, one of the key pieces the team received in the Juan Soto trade with the Yankees back in December. I’ll emphasize the December part, because as you may have heard, not only was King traded to a team on the other side of the country at the beginning of the last month of 2023, he was also preparing to get married a few days later.
We talked about that and much more in the first installment of this year’s edition of Covering the Bases:
Huge thanks to Michael for the time. If you watched that and thought to yourself “boy, he seems like an incredibly nice human,” that has definitely been my takeaway in starting to get to know him. And, oh by the way, he’s looked absolutely stellar on the mound as well. Best is yet to come for this guy.
Platinum Glove
Fernando Tatis Jr.’s move to right field in 2023 was obviously quite a success. Not only did he look incredibly at home out there from the first moment he took the field in late April, but he went on to win the National League’s Gold Glove at the position and was also voted the Platinum Glove award winner as the top overall defender in the NL.
To the victors go the spoils, which in this case is the sweet platinum-colored patch for his glove. And because he’s Fernando, there’s matching webbing, to boot:
Funny story, though.
Earlier this week, Mark Grant and I were giggling (literally) about something in the first base dugout of one of the practice fields just before the guys came over to take pregame batting practice. And Fernando, before hitting, walked in so that he could put his sweet new glove down on the bench.
I asked if that was the platinum one and he flashed his smile and handed it over. Obviously very cool.
Mud, in a moment straight out of Curb Your Enthusiasm, looks at it, points, and unintentionally channeling Larry David, said to Tatis, “Little small, isn’t it?”
There was a moment where no one said anything and when I saw Fernando smiling—he’s way too nice sometimes—I couldn’t help myself. Incredulous, I said “He literally just won the award as the best fielder in the league and you’re questioning the size of the glove??”
We all shared a laugh and then Fernando went to hit missiles over the fence of Field 1.
Sometimes life doesn’t feel real.
12 and 3/4”, if you’re curious1.
The Show For All
Neat one this week, as our friends at MLB The Show unveiled a new game mode called “Women Pave Their Way.”
Their website states “For the first time ever, you can create and play as a female ballplayer, with a unique Road to the Show story that evolves with the player over the course of your career.”
The Show has long been at the top of their game, but they keep finding innovative and brilliant ways to add on. Great stuff.
Cactus League Ballparks Ranked, Part II
If you missed Part I last time, here ya go.
This is all based on my own criteria, which I am making up and altering on the fly. These are my opinions, they don’t have to be yours. I am not ranking the Peoria Sports Complex, which is home to the Padres and Mariners. I love it and it feels like home. This is more for your road trip planning purposes. Also, there aren’t any Cactus League stadiums I don’t like—it should really go without saying that they’re all lovely places to watch baseball.
4: Hohokam Stadium (A’s): This is the Cubs’ old place, but you’d never know it. When the A’s took it over for the 2014 season, the city and the club did an incredible job of making it look like it’s always been their home. Green seats, all of it. It’s not modern but doesn’t feel aged…just a really solid place to watch a game.
3: Salt River Fields at Talking Stick (D-backs & Rockies): This is sort of most peoples’ default answer to the question of which Cactus League facility is the “nicest,” and it would be hard to argue with them. It’s beautiful. It’s well kept. Just a truly shining example of what a place like this can be. It also has all the bells and whistles. Just a really lovely, modern ballpark. Does it have a traditional Spring Training “feel?” Probably not. But that’s OK.
2: Sloan Park (Cubs): The newest of the 10 Cactus League ballparks, the Cubs’ “mini-Wrigley” opened in 2014. It’s very special. Unlike Talking Stick, it doesn’t necessarily feel brand new to me, even though it’s three years younger. But I mean that in a good way. Like a brand new house that still feels lived in. There are definitely times when you’re there that your brain is able to trick you into thinking you’re at the corner of Clark and Addison. The outfield dimensions are meant to mimic Wrigley’s (in shape, if not size) and the brick backstop behind home plate is also very evocative of the team’s home park. There’s organ music and just overall, the great feel of the North Side, but on a Spring Training scale. Chicago dogs and ice cold beer seem to abound, as well.
1: Scottsdale Stadium (Giants): Like the Angels’ place, it has a legitimate throwback feel. But in the best ways possible. To me, this place just feels like Spring Training. Part of that is having grown up attending countless Grapefruit League games in the 80’s and 90’s, but like most things baseball, when the right flavor of nostalgia hits, it can be almost transcendent. It helps that outside of the pandemic-impacted seasons, I don’t think I’ve ever been to a game there that wasn’t sold out or close to it. That obviously has a big impact. The location is also great (Old Town) if you’re looking to grab dinner afterwards or just walk around. Parking can be a bit wild west, but that’s the price ya pay.
As I noted last time, this was a copy/paste job from last year. I think I’ll commit now to updating the rankings in 2025. Just to mix things up. So check back then.
Scorebook Talk
First, thanks so much to the brilliant Danny Kim and his incredible group of designers for putting together this sweet Spring Training scorebook cover for me:
I regularly post pictures on social media of the inside of my scorebook and regularly get asked what design I use. The answer is, my own. Yes, I am the dork who created a custom scorebook in Excel.
Before Opening Day last year, I posted a PDF of it so that anyone who wanted to score along could do so. Figured it was worth sharing again. Enjoy!
Q&A
First off, it appears we now have a fancy button that allows you to submit questions directly2:
So we’ll give that a shot. You’re always welcome to send yours in the old-fashioned way, of course.
Caleb: If you could call a game with any broadcaster past or present, who would it be?
Jesse: Man, this one is a lot of fun. I’ll give you one of each.
For present, I think I have to go Jon Miller of the Giants. No disrespect to any of my wonderful colleagues around the league, but Jon is not only an icon, he is also a wildly delightful human being.
After the game in Scottsdale on Saturday, we spent close to an hour catching up. First in the booth, then down the stairs, then on the empty concourse. We talked for so long in fact, that I ended up locked inside Scottsdale Stadium and was lucky enough to find a security guy to let me out.
He’s truly one of those people that while we’re standing there, my brain is just like “Holy crap, Jon Miller!” the entire time. Embarrassing but true. Doing a game with him would not only be fun, but a heck of an education, as well. He’s as good as it gets and as good as there’s ever been. And did I mention DELIGHTFUL.
For the past, the obvious answer is Vin Scully, but I was nervous enough speaking to him off the air that I’m not sure I could handle it. I do have a voicemail from him saved, though, which is incredibly special.
As far as who I’d love to do a game with, though, I think the answer would be Tim McCarver. Watching the Mets as a kid, he was one of the voices of baseball that helped me fall in love with the game and he also had a brilliant baseball mind. To learn from him, even for one game, would be really cool.
This feels long, so we’ll call it a day, but feel free to submit your questions with the fancy orange button and we’ll do it again soon!
We actually went on to have a really cool conversation about what it takes to get the glove ready for the season
Though at present I have no idea how to retrieve these, I am confident in my ability to figure it out