April 7, 2025
The Boys of Summer (Or, In This Case, Winter)
By Mary Schricker Gemberling
It’s the fans that need spring training.
You gotta get them interested.
Wake them up and let them know that their
season is coming, the good times are gonna roll.
……. Harry Caray
The phrase “boys of summer” first came from the pen of Welsh poet Dylan Thomas in 1934. It was a bittersweet expression about vanished youth. Later sportswriter Roger Kahn used it to title his story of the legendary 1950’s Brooklyn Dodgers baseball team. The team dominated the sport of baseball for a decade, winning five National League pennants and two World Series title. Players such as Jackie Robinson, Roy Campanella, Sandy Koufax, and Tommy Lasorda became household names, even among those of us who knew little about the sport.
Today there are approximately 500 million baseball fans in the world, making it the eighth most popular sport worldwide. With 171.1 million fans, baseball is considered the national sport of the United States. So why do people love baseball so much? Here is one of many explanations:
“People love baseball because it offers a unique blend of history, tradition, strategic complexity, exciting moments and a strong sense of community, making it more than just a game, but a cultural experience with the thrill of victory and the agony of defeat, all while providing a nostalgic connection to past generations; many also appreciate the slower pace and the ability to follow individual player statistics and storyline throughout a long season.”
I grew up in Missouri, home to the St. Louis Cardinal baseball team, and although sports was not a topic at the dinner table, my dad did follow baseball most of his life and even left my sons two baseballs filled with Cardinal players’ signatures, the most notable being Stan Musial. Even though I was never interested in the sport, I am married to someone pay attention to it. My interest is also spurred on by the fact that we winter in Spring Training country! Fort Myers, Florida has not one but two major league Spring Training stadiums. The newscasters and many of the residents here in our community begin talking baseball in late January with the anticipation of the players arriving in early February. The Minnesota Twins and Boston Red Sox fans, if they are not already here, begin arriving in droves mid February.
References to baseball date back to the 1700’s when in England John Newberry referred to the game as Rounders. The first baseball game was played in Canada in 1836. The popularity of the game grew in the US, and amateur men’s ball clubs were formed in the 1830’s. Semi-professional clubs followed in the 1860’s, and the first professional leagues arrived in post-American Civil War. In 1871 the National Association of Professional Base Ball Players was founded. Five years later the National League was created, followed in 1901 by the American League. The first World Series was played in 1903 on the grounds of Northeastern University’s Boston campus.
Before the days of multi-million dollar contracts, most baseball players had to work extra jobs during the off-season to feed their families. Not all players stayed in shape over the winter, so organizers began looking for ways to help players improve their skills and regain their form. The best evidence of the beginning of Spring training was in 1870, when the Cincinnati Red Stockings and the Chicago White Stockings held organized baseball camps in New Orleans.
Other baseball historians argue that the Washington Capitals of the National League pioneered spring training in 1888, holding a four-day camp in Jacksonville, Florida. In either case, the roots of spring training history go deep. The 1888 manager of the Cincinnati Red Stockings convinced the team owner to allow the team to train down south. It was a unique proposition: the players and the team would split the costs of training, and the two would also share in any profits. Approval to the plan was granted on the basis of it being a cheap way to figure out what veterans were expendable and what young players were worth keeping. Most teams still did not view spring training as being an activity that warranted out-of-town travel, but the idea of playing exhibition games did take root. Many teams trained locally and combined workouts with exhibition games. By 1890 most teams were playing off season games in one way or another. Many teams encamped east of the Mississippi, and the Grapefruit League became a formal organization in 1910.
By World War II baseball was firmly entrenched as the national pastime, and team owners were conscious of their responsibilities as national leaders while also recognizing the need to continue making money. With the rationing of gas and food, and other wartime stresses, Americans’ interest in baseball was compromised. Most minor leagues shut down. And while the major leagues kept playing, they scaled back. Baseball players were exempted from the draft, but many stars chose to serve their county in wartime.
After the war the economics and schedules of spring training were very different, and it was not uncommon for teams to train in California and Arizona and barnstorm their way back home. The Cactus League became a reality in 1947, when the New York Giants and Cleveland Indians took up residence in Phoenix and Tucson. By this time, teams realized there was money to be made and spring training became a formalized institution. Today the 30 MLB teams are evenly distributed between Florida’s Grapefruit League and Arizona’s Cactus League.
The balmy, warm weather attracts fans from all over the world to spring training games.The teams’ presence is a boom to business for lodging, restaurants, retail shops, and more. Records indicate that just under 3 million fans attended spring training games last year and generated nearly $1.5 billion dollars in both Arizona and Florida.
Each year Gary and I attend a game or two here in Fort Myers and have also driven to Jupiter on the east coast of Florida to cheer on our favorite team, the St. Louis Cardinals. Last week on a cloudless 75 degree day we joined some friends at Hammond Stadium to watch the Minnesota Twins play the Tampa Bay Rays, ending in a tie game. Of course no baseball game would be complete without a hot dog washed down with a cold beer! What a great way to spend a winter day!
I see great things in baseball. It’s our game, the American game. It will repair our losses and be a blessing to us all”……….Bull Durham
Mary Schricker Gemberling
Mary, a former educator and Senior’s Real Estate Specialist is the author of four books: The West Kid, Labor of Love; My Personal Journey through the World of Caregiving, Hotel Blackhawk: A Century of Elegance, and Ebenezer United Methodist Church: 150 Years of Resiliency.
