With the beginning of 2008 Spring Training sitting upon our door step I thought what better way to kick it off then reviewing, Florida Spring Training: Your Guide to Touring the Grapefruit League. This is Alan Byrd's first book, and you can tell he has picked a subject that he loves and is passionate about, spring training baseball. Byrd is a native New Englander who was transplanted in Florida at a young age. He may have ended up missing out on a slew of Fenway games, however he was given one of the best gifts a baseball fan can receive, and that's Spring Training.
The magic and hope that spring training brings each year is well documented, and something I'll talk about in more detail later this week. Needless to say I'm definitely a little jealous of the research Byrd was able to do for this book, as well as the countless spring training games he's been witness to over the years. I've yet to attend spring training, however if I was, Florida Spring Training: Your Guide to Touring the Grapefruit League, would be one of the first things I'd pack.
This is not the type of book that you sit down with and read cover to cover (although you could), it's to be used much more as a guide in planning your trip as well as using once you're at your destination. It's very much like a Lonely Planet or Frommer's book on traveling, except the destination of choice here is the Grapefruit League, which isn't too bad of a destination at all.
City of Palms in Ft. Myers, the Red Sox spring training facility, has about 10 pages dedicated to it which are helpful. Each facility discussed mentions things such as food, parking, place to go after the game, where to find good shade, etc.
Overall: 6.5/10
Have a baseball book you'd like reviewed on SawxBlog? Please e-mail webmaster@sawxblog.com for more information!
Comments