15-to-20 years ago, the difference between the Cactus League and the Grapefruit League was night-and-day. Prior to 1993 expansion, Florida hosted 18 of the 26 total big league clubs. The Sunshine State was the prime location for baseball teams for great weather, its pristine beaches, theme parks, its proximity to the Northeastern power center of MLB, and the scores of players that make Florida their off-season home. Long before the urban development boom in the Greater Phoenix area, the arid desert, countless tumbleweeds and myriad of RV parks and retirement communities simply didn’t measure up.
Once upon a time, the Cactus League was a logistical nightmare. An eight-team circuit, three of the clubs were well out of the way from the five teams centered in the Phoenix area.
The California Angels played closer to Los Angeles than to Phoenix in Palm Springs, California. In Yuma, Arizona, the San Diego Padres trained closer to their hometown than the Valley of the Sun. Sonorans and Baja Californians had easier access to the club.
The landscape forced the Phoenix area teams to book motels and make long bus rides reminiscent of the minors.
Despite being second class in comparison to the Grapefruit, the landscape of clubs was stable in the Cactus League until the Florida town of Winter Haven lured the Cleveland Indians away after 1992, a significant blow since the Tribe had been training at Tucson’s Hi-Corbett Field since 1946 when Hall of Fame owner Bill Veeck set up shop there.
There was uncertainty surrounding the league’s future after the Indians move, but Arizona governor Rose Mofford involved the public sector, knowing that spring training was an economic asset to the state. The state helped out towns and upstart suburbs financially so they could compete with Florida in developing state-of-the-art parks.
Then began the recruiting drive. Cactus League officials didn’t get mad, they got even, luring Los Angeles Dodgers to Glendale and the Cleveland Indians to Goodyear next spring. The Cincinnati Reds announced on April 7 they will leave Sarasota, Florida and share the same Goodyear facility with Cleveland.
Seven new facilities have been built or are scheduled to be erected by 2009. Six of them are in the greater Phoenix area, which provides short and easy access for clubs when traveling to away games, a distinct advantage over Florida where the travel time is much further. While they don’t have Disneyworld, the Greater Phoenix metropolis offers golf, activities and nightlife, and a ton of newer hotel rooms to house players, coaches, and front office staff.
This past spring, the Cactus League set an attendance record by drawing 1.31 million fans which outdid the previous mark by three percent, set in 2005. With the anticipated moves of the, some are projecting the Cactus League could finally challenge the Grapefruit for the throne in attracting the most fans.
The league's promoters have achieved a success that seemed beyond anyone's expectations even just a few years ago. They may regret what they wished for.
Increased traffic, particularly from Dodger fans driving into the area, and the high concentration of teams in a very small region is likely to put a strain not just on roads, but on hotels, restaurants, and other resources. Winter is already peak time for Arizona's snow bird population of seasonal residents. An already congested Phoenix can only look forward to more crowding as a result of all of the teams moving in.
Between the Cactus League, the Arizona Diamondbacks, the Arizona Fall League, Arizona League rookie ball, instruction leagues, and the indy Golden Baseball League, the greater Phoenix area has stripped Florida of its role as the center of the pro baseball universe in a just over a decade. With Florida governor Charlie Crist on an anti-tax crusade, and their state legislature already unhappy about payouts to the Florida Marlins and, potentially, the Tampa Bay Rays for new major league stadiums, it is unlikely that the Grapefruit League will be luring away Cactus League teams any time soon.
After the Reds leave Florida, there will be an equal 15-15 team split between the Cactus and Grapefruit, a far cry from the early 1990s when Florida hosted 18 out of the 26 big-league clubs. It would seem that, for the next decade, Major League Baseball will have two separate, but equal spring homes.
