Take Me Out to the Ballgame

One of the best times of the year in the Phoenix area is when spring kicks into high gear. For the entire month of March, Spring Training baseball takes over the Valley of the Sun. A total of 15 teams — exactly half of those represented in Major League Baseball — play their exhibition games as part of the local Cactus League. It’s a tradition that dates back to 1947 when the Cleveland Indians and New York Giants set up shop under the AZ sun to prepare for the regular season. The tickets are affordable, the fans are friendly, and there’s plenty of peanuts to go around. Baseball was a big deal for me growing up.

I played for several years and always enjoyed when pops would take us to a White Sox game. So it’s great to experience a piece of Chicago out here in Phoenix. I recently got a chance to go to a Sox spring training game with a couple friends from the W. P. Carey Full-time MBA program. We spent the Friday before finals week at the Camelback Ranch stadium in Phoenix taking in a White Sox-Dodgers game. It was a nice break from studying and a great way for our families to have some fun. There’s also a lot of excitement in Mesa this year, as the Chicago Cubs just opened a brand-new stadium in February.

My wife and I were very impressed with the new Cubs Park — as were my brother and his wife, who were visiting us from Chicago — when we all went to a game on Sunday. The layout of the stadium even shared some resemblance to Wrigley Field. There were also Hall of Fame players on hand signing autographs, which made the day feel even more nostalgic. We are fortunate at W. P. Carey to have such a prime location to enjoy “America’s Pastime.” There are four stadiums within six miles of ASU's campus, and the beautiful Salt River Fields (Spring Training home of the Arizona Diamondbacks) is just a few more miles north of campus. If you’ll be visiting us in the spring, take advantage of the area and attend a game!