© The Baseball Bloggess
It’s pretty cheap to complain about the snow when there are only a few inches outside.
© The Baseball Bloggess
I’m sure someone in New England has just come in from shoveling snow off of his roof – again – and is cursing me for complaining.
(Fun Fact: If my local paper was using baseball players to measure snowfall, we’d be moving.)
Pitchers and catchers reported to Florida and Arizona this week. The NCAA college baseball season began last weekend. Because, when it comes to baseball, spring begins in winter.
I guess we’re always trying to speed up baseball.
There may not be eight feet of snow on the ground here, but there was still enough to run the University of Virginia baseball team down to Charleston, South Carolina this weekend to play its first “home series” of the season 450 miles away from home.
Virginia, snow. South Carolina, no snow.
This meant no baseball for me this weekend.
Charleston, South Carolina was one of the first locations to serve as a big league spring training spot when the Philadelphia Phillies set up shop there in the spring of 1886. (The Chicago White Stockings put together their own spring training in Hot Springs, Arkansas that same year.)
Philadelphia Phillies in Charleston, SC, Spring 1886. ~ Public Domain Image
In 1884, Cap Anson, of the White Stockings, told Sporting Life magazine that early spring workouts in a warmer climate would “relieve the men of all stiffness, soreness, and rheumatism, and [allow the White Stockings to] start off with a physically strong team.”
But, really, the goal was simply to dry out the drinkers.
And, slim down the overeaters.
Apparently, every generation has its Pablo Sandoval.
(The Chicago White Stockings of 1886, incidentally, eventually became the Chicago Cubs and not the White Sox, as you might have assumed. See, baseball can teach you something even in February.)
The snow is melting today. It never lasts long in Virginia.
And, the University of Virginia is 7-0 this season.
But, it took a historic 18 innings — and five hours — this afternoon to notch that last win versus Marist down in Charleston.
And, it’s not even spring.
© The Baseball Bloggess
The Baseball Bloggess 
Those 1886 Phillies look like a motley bunch. And if it’s so warm in Charleston, why are they all wearing coats and hats? By the way, the snow hasn’t melted at my house even through it’s an almost balmy 45 degrees out there today — are we still in Virginia?
It’s only 56 in Charleston today … so, certainly coat-and-hat weather by my standards. :)
The VIrginia snow is thicker than North Dakota’s, though I imagine your temperature is considerably higher than below zero and the wind isn’t howling day-in, day-out. Might you and Randy consider a fan bus to Omaha?
We might have to get a fan bus just to take us to a home game … UVa had to cancel tomorrow’s game, too, because of snow on the field. This coming weekend was supposed to be 5 games … vs. Seton Hall and Hartford. But, guess what’s in the forecast? Cold. And, snow. Grrrr…. or, should I say, Brrrrrr!
Here in Michigan, we haven’t had as much snow as New England, but it’s -35 again today. We still have plenty of snow, and I doubt it will be going anywhere for a long time. We were still able to fit some baseball fun in over the weekend, though:
http://minoringinbaseball.com/2015/02/23/whitecaps-snowpen-house-2015/
With pitchers and catchers reporting, it’s hard not to think spring, though.
-Mike
Your baseball day sounded wonderful! UVa is not quite as adventurous … they’ve had to cancel yet another game because of snow. That makes 5 games that have been postponed or moved. They have another home series this weekend … but I’m beginning to have my doubts … I see more snow and cold in the forecast! Spring can’t get here soon enough! :)
Beware the Red Foxes.
Those pesky Red Foxes! They made UVa work for that 18-inning win.