Peoria Sports Complex – Spring Home of the Mariners

I’m a big baseball fan.  Big, big, big!  So is M.  We tend to feed each other’s obsession.  Which is a good thing.  Last year we went to Spring Training with a couple of other friends.  I had been other years but that was M’s first time.  We had a great time and decided to go again this year.  As I mentioned a couple posts ago, we just returned on Sunday night.  (And we are already thinking about planning for next year!)

This year we only attended Mariner home games.  Last year we also visited a couple of other ballparks. (Saw Barry Bonds hit a couple out of the park at Scottsdale Stadium.) And I’ve probably been in two three others over the years.   If you’ve never been to Spring Training – and I’m guessing that’s most of you – the cool thing is how small the stadiums are.  There really and truly are no bad seats.  Even the grass seats are good.  And the players are all pretty relaxed and interact with crowds.  It’s easier to get autographs if that is your thing and there’s a good chance you’ll see players while you’re out at dinner. 

It’s like baseball should be – afternoon games, sitting in the sun, drinking a beer and eating a dog and watching the boys of summer.  Ahhhh.  Makes me happy to just think about it.  The only bad thing is that sometimes you get sort of attached to a player but he’s not on the roster come April 1.  :-(

I arrived in Phoenix on Friday; M was already there.  After a little mix-up at the airport, we stopped by the hotel, I changed my clothes and we headed out to Peoria.  We lost the game that day but only by 1 run.  And actually that makes me happy because if you look at the M’s history if they do well in Spring Training they have a sh!#+y season and vice-versa.  But another highlight of the day was eating my first dog of the year. 

Technically it wasn’t a dog but a Louisiana Turkey Sausage.  Grilled to perfection, placed on a toasted-on-the-grill hoagie roll, covered with grilled onions & peppers and finished off with a selection of mustards and sauces.  (This stand has about 15 different sauce options.)  Along with smaller crowds in the stands there are smaller crowds at the food booths, which means you get personalized attention.  M and I placed our order and then stood around the grill with a couple other fans, chewing the fat about baseball, sausages and how the food gets spicier the closer you get to the equator and why that is.  As each of us moved to the front of the line the grillman asked our preference, toasted our hoagie, then built our dog just like we ordered. 

And this particular sausage was really good! I wish I had thought to ask the brand but by the time I knew how good it was I was back in my seat on the opposite side of the field and it didn’t occur to me to walk back and check it out. (If you go down there, check it out for me!)  The sausage had a red tint from the cayenne and paprika in it.  But what I loved about it was that the heat didn’t overwhelm the taste.  And although you felt the heat when you bit into it and as you chewed, it didn’t linger.  And I had nary a bit of indigestion at all – not even later.  None.  Ditto for M.  They were miracle sausages!

This same stall also had chicken kabobs which M had the following day.  A bit spendy but oh-so-good.  Lots of big chunks of chicken, the same peppers and onions that graced the sausages and maybe a couple of other veggies tossed in.  I only had a couple of teeny bites so I can’t tell you much about the sauce they used but that chicken was moist, tender and smoky.  Yu-um!

They are several other stalls that offer decent food so you have several options.  But I can’t recommend any of the others nearly as highly as I can recommend the grilled sausage and chicken kabob booth!  However, if you happen to visit Scottsdale stadium they have a really nice option of fresh fruit.  Last year I got a big container of red, ripe, sweet-sweet strawberries with a little cup of real whip cream.  On that day it was in the high 90s (F) and those strawberries were the perfect refreshing treat. 

Can’t wait until next year…