Ground Breaking

I went to a ground breaking today. The Cleveland Indians are saying goodbye to the Grapefuit (spring training) League and moving to the Cactus League. My wife is an urban planner at the law firm representing the land owner for the Indians' new stadium. It's going to be right here in our little City of Goodyear, AZ. My wife was also a former city planner for the city. Anyway, the groundbreaking for the new training facility was today, or yesterday because it's now almost one in the moring. Spring training ball is a lot of fun, if you are ever in the Phoenix or Miami area around February and March. The Cactus League now hosts 11 teams, with the Indians being the 12th team. Soon, the Dodgers and White Sox will be in Glendale, AZ bringing us to 14 out of 30 teams. I can't believe that.

The ceremony was pretty fun. I had never been to a groundbreaking before. It was in a big open field (shocking) with a couple of tents and a big blow up baseball. There was a local marching band and they chalked out a small baseball diamond. All of the major big wigs were there including the Indians Owner, and the city's Mayor. Other special guests were Bob Feller (Hall of Fame Indians pitcher before and after WWII) and the little league, state champion, Goodyear, baseball team. Bob threw out the first pitch to the little league catcher and signed autographs for everyone. They gave out some baseballs with the city and Indians' logos and the date. Pretty cool stuff. They also served up some ballpark dogs and chips and soda while the actual ground breaking was happening. The shovels were silver and the wooden parts were autographed Louisville Sluggers. I had a pretty good time and it was fun to go to a real groundbreaking and see what they are really like. I've only ever seen them on movies.