Photo of the author standing in front of Diablo Stadium in Tempe AZ the spring training home of the Los Angeles Angels (photo from Amaury Pi Gonzalez)
From My Baseball Notebook: Spring Training is Baseball’s Appetizer
That’s Amaury News and Commentary
By Amaury Pi-Gonzalez
Beginning in 2026, during Spring Training in the Arizona desert or Florida near beach resorts, every one of the 30 Major League Baseball teams is in first place. The Cactus and Grapefruit League schedules open on February 20th, with the Cubs playing the White Sox and the Yankees playing the Orioles.
A slate of games follows on Saturday, February 21st. But there are also exhibition games against World Baseball Classic games for March 3-4. An interesting game, especially for scouts, will take place from March 19th to March 22nd.
An English poet wrote in the 1700s that “hope springs eternal in the human breast.” In baseball which is a marathon of a season, where a team could play close to 200 games in a year, between Spring Training games, regular and postseason games, marathon applies perfectly for this game of balls and strikes, and even teams that usually live in or around the cellar, like Nationals, White Sox, Pirates, A’s, Angels or Rockies, erverybody, they all have hope in Spring Training.
Rookies and Veterans both report as they start their engines for another season. Rickey Henderson, in my opinion, the best position player ever to wear an Oakland A’s uniform, was always available and a joy to speak with the media at the A’s camp in Arizona. Rickey once told me with a smile, “Every Spring Training feels like the first time to me,” as he always called me “Chief”. Rickey already stolen 1,000 bases in Heaven since he left us.
Vladimir Guerrero was in Tempe, Arizona, for his first Spring Training with his new ballclub, the LA Angels of Anaheim, in 2004, after playing for the Montreal Expos for most of his career. Vladi, as he is affectionately called, sat with me for an interview in Tempe, in which he told me he felt very melancholic for leaving Montreal, Canada, where he was living for years, and where his son Vladimir Guerrero Jr. was born, today one of the game’s top players, his father was inducted into the Baseball Hall of Fame at Cooperstown in 2018. Many times after he stopped playing, Vladi would sit inside our Fox Sports Net/Spanish broadcast booth in Anaheim. He is truly one of the guys that I have met who truly enjoys the game of baseball.
José Canseco was the most fun to talk to in Arizona during Spring Training. I covered José since his first year (1986, when I was in Houston to cover the All-Star Game and he, along with another young star named Darryl Strawberry), José always seemed carefree and talked a lot about music and other things besides baseball.
Like his father, Jose Sr., whom I met and was his “número uno” fan. I always spoke in Spanish with José, who was born in Regla, a little fishing town across Havana Bay. In Spring Training, he was a joyful Canseco, always telling me stories about his childhood, his career, and stuff. When I once asked him who his favorite singer or group was, he responded, ‘Foreigner’. José arrived in the US very young, so although I wanted to ask him for real Cuban music, he was not up to date with it. But José (pre-roids) was as pleasant of a player I ever met. I told him I wanted to write a book about him (en Español), he seemed to be fine with it. Later in his career, for obvious reasons, I dropped that project.
In the San Francisco Giants camp, one of the most interesting players I interviewed was Marquis Grisson. He was toward the end of his excellent and long career. He told me about reporting to Spring Training, when I asked him, as a veteran, what are your goals ” I know there is a young man here someplace that will replace me, so I have to work very hard every year to keep my job”.
Stan Javier played for both Bay Area teams during his career. The A’s and the Giants, he came from a baseball family, Royalty in the Dominican Republic, his father Julián Javier was an All-Star second baseman for the St. Louis Cardinals. Stan was kind of shy, but I always appreciated it when he talked. He always felt optimistic about his season. Stan Javier began his career with the Oakland A’s and, towards the end, also played for the San Francisco Giants, among other teams. The versatile outfielder played for 17 seasons. Stan would tell me, “What are we going to talk about? This is only Spring Training.”, However, later he came back to me and told me, “ok, vamos,entonces:” trans “OK, let’s go then…” He was a hard worker, intelligent, and always a gentleman. He was part of the 1989 World Champion A’s who beat the Giants during the Loma Prieta earthquake. He would fill in for Canseco when José needed some rest or was injured. Stan Javier was an excellent outfielder and a great asset to the A’s during those championship years.
Spring Training is indeed Baseball Season Appetizer.
Quote: For some reason in Spring Training, everything just clicked. You don’t try to do anything in Spring Training but get ready, but things fell into place. -Bobby Bonilla
Amaury Pi-Gonzalez – Cuban-born Pi-González is one of the pioneers of Spanish-language baseball play-by-play in America. Began as Oakland A’s Spanish-language voice in 1977 ending in 2024 (interrupted by stops with the Giants, Mariners and Angels). Voice of the Golden State Warriors from 1992 through 1998. 2010 inducted in the Bay Area Radio Hall of fame.
While in the Bay Area, great food and great prices. 998cuba.com
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