I attended the March 5, 2012 spring training game in Port Charlotte featuring the Rays versus the Orioles. When my friend and I arrived we were alerted to the fact that you are not allowed to bring baseball bats into the stadium for autographs. A few days before we were in Kissimmee for an Astros game and bats were allowed, so if you collect bats check with stadium policies before showing up. I brought with me a stack of cards, 5 Rawlings baseballs, and 6 mini replica helmets. The biggest signers of the day were Matt Joyce and Ben Zobrist, both of which signed cards for me. I was sitting in the second row of the section directly behind first base. I found that the best place for graphing was either on the grass berm down the right field line and at the dugout. The Orioles also exit down the right field line and several Orioles players stopped and signed as well, the biggest being Josh Bell.
The stadium is very fan friendly. I found the boardwalk and tiki area to be great places to take in the game. There was also a large variety of food and found the quality to be much better than at the Astros. The team store was large, but as expected very expensive. There is a playground for kids on the first base side.
In the end I loved the stadium, and not because the Rays are my team, but because it really encompasses, and then some, of what you would expect from spring training baseball. I definitely enjoyed a beer, hot dog, sun, baseball, and of course snagging some sigs from my team.
A bonus to our day was that the Baseball Tonight crew was there filming.
Next week I'll be heading to Sarasota for an Orioles game! We'll see how Ed Smith Stadium compares!
