"Spring Training Survival Guide" Part II - The Report Date

There are very few pieces of mail more exhilarating to open than your annual contract renewal and spring training invite package. Just the thought of your pay going from $1,100 to $1,150/month is enough to make a young 20-something cry tears of joy. More importantly, your report date and travel itinerary contained therein confirm what you already know - Baseball Season is around the corner...are you ready?

If you're like me, you've been working out like a mad man, eating tuna and egg whites non-stop, taking 1,000 swings in the cages, and running 5 miles a day, every day, for the entirety of the offseason. Maybe that's what I'll tell my kids some day when I'm trying to instill in them the same blue-collar work ethic my father instilled in me...

The reality of the situation is you're working a low-paying part-time job because minor leaguers don't get paid in the offseason, you're squeezing in lifts whenever you can, you're eating fast food because it is pretty much all you can afford, you're taking swings in crappy, dimly-lit cages and you are bored to death of your treadmill because running outside is impossible when you live in Boston where it is 9 degrees outside and there is 3 feet of snow on the ground.

Receiving that letter in the mail is like a B12 shot to your training intensity. Once that report date is set, the countdown begins - you are officially X number of days away from hitting white baseballs on a professionally groomed baseball diamond under the Florida sun. Here are a couple tips that I wish someone had told me before I reported to my first spring training:


1. Drive. Don't Fly. Flying down to spring training is too easy. You are in your early 20's - Make this an adventure! The window of opportunity to load up your car and head cross country with your friends/teammates is smaller than you think. Talking baseball, listening to loud music, and playing Guitar Hero on my 3-inch dashboard TV with RHP Nick Abel was the perfect way to kick off the season. Nick Abel's slider defied the laws physics by the way - it bent in a direction that right-handers should not have been able to accomplish - but he was also a perfect road roommate and great friend and you lose opportunities to bond with your fellow Mets by taking the flight down to PSL.

Driving to camp also provides the added luxury of HAVING A CAR DURING SPRING TRAINING. I cannot stress this enough - You NEED a car when you are in camp. The last thing you want to do after a 10-hour day at the ballpark is wait for the cramped shuttle to schlep you back to the team hotel. Having your own car gives you the freedom to follow your own schedule, with the added bonus of being able to skim precious gas money off of your unknowing Australian teammates (No seriously guys, it costs $90 to fill my Honda Civic in the states).

**Random sidebar - Two teammates leave the states of New Jersey and Massachusetts, respectively, in separate cars at different times of the day for Port St. Lucie, Florida. What are the odds that those 2 cars find themselves randomly side-by-side at some point on a 1,200 mile stretch of I-95? Yeah, that happened. Somewhere in South Carolina, a silver sedan with Mass plates and Tim Stronach behind the wheel pulled up along side me and Nick. Small world we live in...**


2. Get to camp at least one day early. This will require you to stay in a hotel (or with a friend who lives in the area) the night before you're supposed to report, but it is well worth it. The designated arrival day at camp is chaos. It is 240 men running around to various check-ins with no discernible structure. It is loud. It is confusing. It is a pain in the ass. Getting down a day early allows you to settle into your locker, take note of all the free swag they are giving players that year, and most importantly, raid the bat locker before everybody else takes the best lumber. The equipment room is loaded with all of the big league leftovers from the previous season and if you're not one of the first to get in there, you'll be stuck with the same tired old Louisville's available in any minor league clubhouse.

There is also an outside chance that you can get some of your medical requirements completed before the whole camp arrives. Depending on whether or not the team doctor's have arrived yet, you can get a head start on your physical and forgo the 4 hours of waiting in line while you and 60 other players wait to have your EKG's completed.


3. Wear a decent shirt and a pair of slacks on the day you report. As I mentioned earlier, coaches & administrators are just itching to write up reports on you as soon as you step onto their turf. Looking professional will help you make that ever-so-important first impression on people who are likely getting their first look at you. Who would you rather be - the professional in the ironed polo shirt and khakis, or the kid wearing flip flops, a backwards hat and an ironic t-shirt? (Please note - the author was both of these at one point; You live and you learn)


4. Review the schedule and write down your responsibilities. Never be the player that just follows the herd around the camp. Be a leader - know where you are supposed to be and when you are supposed to be there. This will be an important point I touch on when camp is in full swing, but it is especially important on the day you report. Management will be running around amidst the chaos just like everyone else, and they will take note of the people who help make things run smoothly.


5. As long as you keep in mind that you are being sized up at all times, report day can be one of your best opportunities to present yourself to the organization in a good light. Make sure to introduce yourself to coaching staff and team executives making the rounds, and make nice with the teammates in the direct vicinity of your locker. Not everybody will like you - there are enough fast-talking Yankees from the North, laid back Californians, dip-spitting Southerners, bible-thumping Mid-Westerners, and broken-English speaking Latin's to ensure that there will be those who do not get along - but a firm handshake and a genuine demeanor go a long way and can help get your Spring Training off on the right foot.