Spring Training Online

We all knew this would be a rough spring in Vero Beach, the first for the community after the departure of the Dodgers from Dodgertown. Now Indian River County is scrambling to bring back baseball, but the chances are amateurs, not pros, will on the field.

We are already planning the next version of Spring Training Online for 2010. And as we do so, we'd like to hear from you.

By all measures, the revamping of the site was a tremendous success: we doubled site traffic and the number of unique visitors to the site. The site and our book, The Complete Guide to Spring Training, were featured in literally hundreds of newspapers this spring (thanks, AP!), and high sales forced us into a second printing of The Complete Guide to Spring Training. So let's just say we're really, really happy with all the support you've shown us.

We want to hear more from you. We've set up an online survey (click here to take it) with some questions about you, how you approach spring training and what you do when you go. We also set up areas for you to tell us what else you'd like to see from Spring Training Online in the future. The entire survey is 45 questions; it should take you less than five minutes to complete.

And as a thanks for your time, we'll enter all respondents to the survey in a drawing for August Publications books. One out of every 10 respondents will receive their choice of a book, including The Complete Guide to Spring Training, The Complete Guide to Big League Ballparks, Homer, or Cradle of the Game: Baseball and Ballparks in North Carolina. We appreciate the attention each and every one of you has thrown our way this spring.

Spring-training games begin on Wednesday, and we'll be there, as Kevin Reichard signs copies of The Complete Guide to Spring Training at the Astros spring opener. Reichard will be in the concourse of Osceola County Stadium from 11:30 a.m.-2 p.m., signing the second edition of The Complete Guide to Spring Training. Drop by, say hi and chat about baseball on what's projected to be a lovely spring day.

Anyone visiting Vero Beach’s Dodgertown knows one of the joys of that historic complex was the ability to wander around and view the whole gamut of player development, ranging from scrimmages at bareboned practice fields to games at Holman Stadium.

That power to wander around in mimicked in the impressive new Camelback Ranch spring-training complex now shared by the Los Angeles Dodgers and the Chicago White Sox. And while there’s little at Camelback Ranch that’s a direct homage to Dodgertown, the same atmosphere of openness and transparency can be found throughout the complex.

With Goodyear and Glendale dramatically raising the bars when it comes to new Cactus League spring-training facilities, many expect the new owners of the Chicago Cubs to opt out of its HoHoKam Park contract and seek upgrades.