Spring Training 2011 – Part 1
Well it’s opening day already for Major League Baseball, and boy did that sneak up on me, I just returned from a trip where I covered Spring Training and wanted to share some of my favorite moments with my readers, hope you enjoy it.
I spent much of February and most of March in South Florida covering MLB Spring Training, my trip began on February 16th and my final game concluded on March 20th. It was a long trip, but a great experience. In Florida 15-of-30 major league teams train all throughout South Florida, and during my month long tenure I covered 13-of-15 stadiums and 14-of-15 teams only missing out on the St. Louis Cardinals during my trip.
Much of my time in Florida was spent on the west coast where I covered a lot of the Boston Red Sox in Fort Myers where I met a Brita Meng Outzen a photographer for the Boston Red Sox who I quickly struck up a friendship and made for some fun days in the photo wells at City of Palms Park in Fort Myers. A special thanks to Brita for helping me out at Red Sox camp and for the heads up on line drives heading towards me.
Check out Brita’s blog “From the Pit” for an inside look at the Red Sox.
Covering Spring Training was completely new to me and early on I was bouncing between team camps and didn’t feel I was getting the photos I needed, but after the first couple days I settled in for what would be a wild ride, a ride where I covered 5,469 miles by it’s completion.
The first team to cover upon my arrival in Florida was the Boston Red Sox and my favorite photo from the first few days wasn’t something I expected, Boston designated hitter David Ortiz the star with the Red Sox had his son at camp with him for the first week of workouts and his son D’Angelo Ortiz acted as a shadow working along side his dad and mimicking his every movement like in the photo below.
February 19, 2011; Fort Myers, FL, USA; Boston Red Sox first baseman David Ortiz and son D’Angelo Ortiz stretch during spring training practice at the Player Development Complex. Mandatory Credit: Derick E. Hingle
I found the interaction between the two of them intriguing and created a special slide show with the interaction between the father and son duo of David and D’Angelo Ortiz.
David and D’Angelo Ortiz Spring Training – Images by Derick Hingle
Next up was a trip of about 40-miles up the interstate to Port Charlotte, FL the spring home of the Tampa Bay Rays, the big storyline for the Rays was Manny Ramirez and Johnny Damon joining the lineup so I was excited to get out there for the team’s first official full team workout, the problem, the information I was provided was wrong and it was just a pitchers and catchers workout. I was disappointed I wouldn’t see the new stars, but I came away from that practice with one of my favorite images from the entire spring.
In the photo below I was able to capture some of the elements that tells you this photo was taken during spring training, the palm trees known throughout Florida are seen in the background along with rows of pitchers working out, the low angle of the sun allowed me to create a silhouette capturing the scene.
February 20, 2011; Port Charlotte, FL, USA; Tampa Bay Rays pitcher J.P. Howell (front) throws with teammates during spring training at Charlotte Sports Park. Mandatory Credit: Derick E. Hingle
After missing out on seeing a full team workout for the Tampa Bay Rays I next headed up the highway another 40-miles to Bradenton, Fl where the Pittsburgh Pirates hold their spring training. My favorite photo from this outing was another feature image. I saw a basket full of baseballs near where I was shooting so I changed to my widest lens and stuck the camera in the basket and fired off a few frames just in time before the team started taking batting practice.
February 21, 2011; Bradenton, FL, USA; A detailed view of baseballs in a basket during Pittsburgh Pirates spring training at Pirate City minor league training complex. Mandatory Credit: Derick E. Hingle
The Baltimore Orioles were next up and upon arrival in Sarasota, FL I quickly discovered things were run a little bit different here, the access was reduced, for some of the workouts I had to shoot from behind a fence, like in the photo below, of Orioles starting pitcher Brian Matusz who I shot a picture of from behind the backstop.
February 21, 2011; Sarasota, FL, USA; Baltimore Orioles starting pitcher Brian Matusz (17) during spring training at Ed Smith Stadium. Mandatory Credit: Derick E. Hingle
The next day I was in for double duty as I shot my first ever photo day which was immediately followed by the team’s workout and I was in for a treat I was assigned to a 2011 World Series favorite in the Philadelphia Phillies.
Rather than post a bunch of photos, I have created a slide show of some of my portraits from photo day, I went in nervous, a photo day is something I had never done, I’ve taken portraits, but in the case of a media photo day you have about a minute or less with each player that comes to your photo station, but it wasn’t as bad as I originally envisioned, and I left pretty happy with my portraits. Check out a few of my portraits below.
Phillies Portrait Day – Images by Derick Hingle
February 22, 2011; Clearwater, FL, USA; Philadelphia Phillies players prepare for practice during spring training at Bright House Networks Field. Mandatory Credit: Derick E. Hingle
Another photo from the Phillies workout seems simple enough new star and starting pitcher Cliff Lee flips the ball in the air, that photo landed me a cover of USA Today’s MLB Preview for the Phillies.
February 22, 2011; Clearwater, FL, USA; Philadelphia Phillies starting pitcher Cliff Lee (33) during spring training at Bright House Networks Field. Mandatory Credit: Derick E. Hingle
The following day I was back in Fort Myers for another Boston Red Sox workout.
February 23, 2011; Fort Myers, FL, USA; Boston Red Sox starting pitcher Clay Buchholz (11) during spring training at the Player Development Complex. Mandatory Credit: Derick E. Hingle
February 23, 2011; Fort Myers, FL, USA; Boston Red Sox players (from left to right) Jacoby Ellsbury (2) Drew Sutton (70), Kevin Youkilis (20), Adrian Gonzalez (28) and David Ortiz (34) run sprints at the end of a spring training practice at the Player Development Complex. Mandatory Credit: Derick E. Hingle
Finally after just over a week, the games began, the first game was an exhibition of an exhibition game as the Philadelphia Phillies took on Florida State University in Clearwater, FL.
February 24, 2011; Clearwater, FL, USA; Fans watch Philadelphia Phillies pitcher Michael Stutes (68) throw in the bullpen during spring training exhibition game against Florida State University at Bright House Networks Field. Mandatory Credit: Derick E. Hingle
The next day I was back in Port Charlotte for again what was expected to be a full team workout, but this time I received a good surprise as instead of a workout them team held a scrimmage and this time I was able to see Manny Ramirez and Johnny Damon in action.
February 25, 2011; Port Charlotte, FL, USA; Tampa Bay Rays left fielder Johnny Damon (22) during a spring training split squad scrimmage at Charlotte Sports Park. Mandatory Credit: Derick E. Hingle
February 25, 2011; Port Charlotte, FL, USA; Tampa Bay Rays left fielder Manny Ramirez (24) during a spring training split squad scrimmage at Charlotte Sports Park. Mandatory Credit: Derick E. Hingle
Later in the same day I headed up the road to shoot the Pittsburgh Pirates opener against State College of Florida.
February 25, 2011; Bradenton, FL, USA; Pittsburgh Pirates pitcher Justin Wilson (74) pitches during a spring training exhibition game against the State College of Florida Manatees at McKechnie Field. The Pirates defeated the Manatees 21-1. Mandatory Credit: Derick E. Hingle
I was back in Sarasota, FL the next day for my second team photo day, this time the Baltimore Orioles, and this time when I arrived I had to scramble to find a spot to shoot, I orginally planned for an out door scene this time expecting the shoot to take place in Ed Smith Stadium, but instead the shoot was in the Orioles administrative building and outside on a couple of small fields, the problem was the backgrounds were terrible. Looking around with a little help for associated press photographer Eric Gay, I spotted a dark wall that blocked the rising sun, luckily I had a vagabond portable battery system since there was no power outlet I could only hope the battery would last me for the entire duration of the photo shoot and it did, below are some of the results.
Orioles Portrait Day – Images by Derick Hingle
Finally on February 27th the first real exhibition game between two major league teams, and my first game was the New York Yankees and the Philadelphia Phillies in Clearwater, FL. I was excited to see I shooting the Yankees until I discovered the Yankees didn’t send their stars.
February 27, 2011; Clearwater, FL, USA; New York Yankees infielder Eduardo Nunez (67) breaks his bat on a swing during a spring training exhibition game against the Philadelphia Phillies at Bright House Networks Field. Mandatory Credit: Derick E. Hingle
The final day of February I was back in Fort Myers for a game between the Boston Red Sox and Minnesota Twins, and a picture of new Red Sox outfielder Carl Crawford landed me another USA Today Sports Weekly cover.
February 28, 2011; Fort Myers, FL, USA; Boston Red Sox left fielder Carl Crawford (13) during a spring training exhibition game against the Minnesota Twins at City of Palms Park. Mandatory Credit: Derick E. Hingle
That concluded my first twelve days covering Spring Training baseball, I will follow up with another blog on the remainder of Spring Training 2011 soon. Until next time.
