From today’s Enquirer:
Next year, after training in Florida since 1946, the Reds trade palm trees for cactus, the Florida sunshine for an Arizona suburb.
Sad, but true.
The town of Goodyear, Ariz., a suburb of Phoenix, gave the Reds everything they wanted in a spring training facility – a brand-new, 10,000-seat park, new training fields, a big clubhouse, all free of charge. Goodyear gave the Reds all of the things Sarasota County balked at before county officials changed their minds.
By then, it was too late, and Sarasota is looking at spring 2010 as its first season since John McGraw brought his New York Giants there to train in the 1920s that it will not be the spring home of a major league team.
Not much sports content, but for those that have traveled to ST in Tampa, Plant City, or Sarasota to watch the Reds, it’s the end of an era.