2009 Spring Training

by Graham Knight

Camelback Ranch-Glendale was one of three ballparks that joined the Spring Training ballpark ranks in 2009.

More games meant more fans, as 3,234,439 attended spring training games in Arizona and Florida in 2009, when a collective 536 games were played in 26 ballparks.

In the Grapefruit League, 288 games were played by 16 teams in 15 ballparks. Total attendance was 1,664,605, an average of 5,780 per game. Only two games were rained out, both in Fort Lauderdale.

In the Cactus League, 248 games were played by 14 teams in 11 ballparks. Total attendance was 1,569,834, an average of 6,330 per game. All games were played as scheduled.

The average attendance for a spring training game in 2009 was 6,034, which was down 828 fans per game from 2008, when 436 games drew a total of 2,991,685 fans to Cactus and Grapefruit League ballparks.

Spring training was expanded by a week in 2009 to accommodate for the World Baseball Classic, which was played between March 5 and 23. To help teams prepare for the WBC, Major League teams played participating countries in 36 exhibition games that added an international flavor to Cactus and Grapefruit League schedules. Those games helped in part to account for the additional 100 games that were played in 2009 from the previous year.

The 2009 season saw two new ballparks added to the Cactus League roster, as the Indians moved from Winter Haven, FL into Goodyear Ballpark and the White Sox and Dodgers left their previous homes in Tucson and Vero Beach, FL for Camelback Ranch in Glendale.

In the Grapefruit League, the Tampa Bay Rays moved into a completely refurbished ballpark in Port Charlotte, leaving behind Al Lang Field in St. Petersburg, which joined Winter Haven's Chain of Lakes Park and Vero Beach's iconic Holman Stadium on the league's list of recently abandoned ballparks.

2009 Attendance Rankings

(home games only, ranked by per game average)

Grapefruit League	City	Average	Total
1. Yankees 2. Phillies 3. Braves 4. Red Sox 5. Twins 6. Rays 7. Tigers 8. Cardinals 9. Reds 10. Mets 11. Orioles 12. Pirates 13. Blue Jays 14. Marlins 15. Nationals 16. Astros	Tampa Clearwater Orlando Fort Myers Fort Myers Port Charlotte Lakeland Jupiter Sarasota Port St. Lucie Ft. Lauderdale Bradenton Dunedin Jupiter Viera Kissimmee	10,292 7,972 7,801 7,473 6,820 6,453 6,196 5,591 4,938 4,851 4,555 4,320 4,090 3,960 3,665 3,463	185,251 143,500 140,419 134,515 129,589 103,255 117,724 106,226 79,014 87,322 77,428 90,728 73,624 75,238 54,968 65,804

Cactus League	City	Average	Total
1. Cubs 2. Dodgers 3. Giants 4. Diamondbacks 5. Mariners 6. White Sox 7. Royals 8. Indians 9. Angels 10. A's 11. Rangers 12. Brewers 13. Padres 14. Rockies	Mesa Glendale Scottsdale Tucson Peoria Glendale Surprise Goodyear Tempe Phoenix Surprise Phoenix Peoria Tucson	10,690 9,130 8,476 6,738 6,652 6,119 5,694 5,338 5,305 5,271 5,073 4,839 4,799 4,722	203,105 136,944 177,995 121,281 119,734 91,782 96,798 96,080 100,789 94,872 86,249 82,271 86,377 75,557

2009 Grapefruit League Standings

W L GB

Yankees 24 10 -

Braves 21 12 2½

Cardinals 19 12 3½

Twins 19 13 4

Red Sox 20 14 4

Mets 18 15 5½

Pirates 17 15 6

Rays 15 16 7½

Nationals 15 17 8

Tigers 15 17 8

Blue Jays 13 17 9

Phillies 13 19 10

Reds 13 20 10½

Marlins 12 19 10½

Orioles 13 21 11

Astros 12 20 11

2009 Cactus League Standings

W L GB

Angels 26 8 -

Brewers 22 10 3

Rangers 21 14 5½

Royals 18 14 7

Giants 21 19 8

Cubs 18 18 9

Rockies 17 17 9

A's 17 18 9½

Mariners 16 18 10

White Sox 16 20 11

Dodgers 15 22 12½

Indians 12 20 13

Padres 10 21 14½

D-backs 11 23 15

Graham Knight spent most of spring training in 2009 at a ballpark, compiling the guides written for this Web site. He visited all 26 ballparks, starting in Goodyear on February 25 and finishing in Fort Myers on April 4.